Page 89 of The Watchmaker of Dachau

Liesl saw Friedrich come out of Isaac’s shed and her eyes narrowed. Anna held her breath and waited for her to scold the boy when he entered the kitchen, but she did not. Instead she grabbed him by the jumper and dragged him from the kitchen into the hallway, then told him to sit on the bottom step whilst he waited for his father.

‘It’s worse when she’s quiet,’ Greta said. ‘I had chills all over me.’

‘What will she do to him?’ Anna asked.

‘Probably spank him – what else can she do? Poor lad.’

Anna could hear Herr Becher’s voice as Liesl explained where Friedrich had been.

‘Well, what are you going to do?’ she screamed at him. ‘What? You’re so useless – I never should have married you. I knew you had no backbone and I was right – look at where we are now!’

Herr Becher adopted his calming voice, one not heard for some time, and then he spoke to someone else – a guard at the door. ‘Take him away,’ he told the guard.

‘I thought you said to leave him here?’ the guard asked.

‘It’s his punishment for corrupting my son,’ Becher added, then slammed shut the front door, leaving the family in the hallway. Anna understood then that the punishment was not for Friedrich.

She looked to Greta whose eyes were wide. ‘Go – go now to him!’

Anna ran from the kitchen, beating the guard to the shed. Isaac was sitting on the floor, his eyes closed, his breath raspy, the writings of J. A. L. wrapped in a piece of cloth on Isaac’s lap.

‘Isaac!’ she screamed at him.

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. ‘Take these.’ He tried to lift the papers.

‘They’re coming to take you – you need to try and get away!’

‘It’s all right, my dear Anna.’ His smile was fixed in place. ‘Take this.’

‘No – I can help you. Please—’

‘Hush, my dear.’ His eyelids flickered as if he were about to fall asleep, then he opened them and placed his hand on her cheek. ‘I love you, Anna. I am a silly old man, I know. But you have made me feel love again.’

Anna could barely see him through her tears. She held him to her. ‘When we danced, I saw you, Isaac, I saw you as you were, as a strong young man,’ she said. ‘You can be strong again. You can. Let me help you.’

Then, just as Isaac started to speak, the guard grabbed Anna by her arm, pulling her upright, bruising her skin and dragging her away from Isaac. She kicked at his shin and took the few steps towards Isaac, holding him in her arms, her tears wetting the top of his head.

‘Go to the infirmary,’ he whispered to her. ‘Pretend you are dead, or hide somewhere in there. That’s where you need to go – trust me. Jan said it was true so it must be.’

As he spoke to her, her hand found the wrapped bundle and she held it to her chest.

There were arms around Anna now, pulling her away. She kicked and screamed at them, and all the time, Isaac smiled and told her it was all right, it was all right.

She hit the damp grass with a thud, and for good measure, the guard kicked her in the stomach. Lying there, clutching her sides, she saw another pair of shining black boots on the ground walking towards the shed. The wind taken out of her, she could barely move, but with each breath she tried to scream out for Isaac.

Hands were underneath her once more, pulling her upright. Greta. She helped her move towards the kitchen door, her arms around her waist to stop her from running towards the shed once more.

She waited, her vision blurry, the greens of the trees merging with the blue of the sky so that she did not know where the sky began.

The guards emerged with Isaac who could barely walk. His feet scuffed the ground, his head to the floor, unable or unwilling to raise his eyes.

‘Pointless,’ one of the guards said.

‘You can do it,’ the other said. ‘But take your time,’ he added as he walked past Anna, grinning at her, a scar above his eye.

Anna fell to the floor, her hands tearing at her dress as she had done when Piotr had died. Huge waves of pain overwhelmed her so that she could barely breathe.

‘Hush now, come on, hush, breathe – in, out, in, out.’ Greta’s voice was firm.