Page 3 of The Storyteller of Krakow

‘I knew a Wojtek once,’ I said. ‘He was a bear. A bear in the army,’ I said.

Her eyes lit up. ‘Wojtek. The actual Wojtek? They’re putting a statue of him in Henryk Jordan Park in May. Mama says we can go to the unveiling. I love him! He was so smart. You knew him?’

‘I did,’ I said. ‘He was my friend for a while.’

Hana shook her head. ‘But it was so long ago.’

‘I know. It was. I was a young woman then. In my twenties. Not this old thing you see now.’

‘I don’t see anything old,’ she said.

‘Pah. Well. I am. Old and ready for the dirt.’

Her eyes widened.

‘Not yet. Not this minute,’ I said, assuaging her fears.

‘So, Wojtek—’ she started.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Lena.’ Kasia reappeared. ‘Is everything okay?’

She looked at her daughter, then at me as if somehow I had managed to malign her in the past few minutes.

‘Mama, Lena knows about Wojtek.’

Kasia gave a brief smile as her eyes went from her daughter and then back inside, where the man sat looking at her. ‘I’m sorry, she’s obsessed with bears.’ Then to Hana, ‘It’s just a fairytale. She never met Wojtek.’

Hana crinkled her brow.

‘I’m sorry, Lena. You don’t have to engage with it. She really is obsessed. Always has been. This whole Wojtek statue has sent her into a frenzy. Please, pay her no mind, Lena.’

I shrugged. ‘Say,’ I said, as I rose from my chair, ‘say she wants to know about this Wojtek, she can come and speak to me, you know. I know a lot about him. No fairytales.’

Kasia gave a small snort, though it wasn’t unkind. ‘No fairytales,’ she repeated. ‘You say that, but you’re one of the biggest storytellers in the whole place, Lena. When you don’t have your nose stuck in a book, you’re telling stories. Grażyna still tells anyone who’ll listen about the story you told her about how you once danced with some British prince. And Stanisław, he’s been quoting you at breakfast like you’re the radio – saying all these things that you saw and did.’

I shrugged again. ‘Those aren’t stories. That’s maintenance,’ I said. ‘It’s just keeping people happy and the bored and infirm entertained.’ Then I added, because Kasia was still looking at me, ‘Besides, some things are true and some things are… arranged. It depends on who you’re talking to. Some people want the truth straight. Some people need a softer version so they can get through the day. And sometimes’ – I nodded towards Hana – ‘they need to believe something good is possible, even if it’s only for ten minutes.’

Kasia placed a hand on her daughter’s head. ‘It’s all right, Lena. She knows enough about Wojtek. Enough of the stories, eh, Hana?’

I saw the daughter look up to her mother and give a wan smile.

‘Still,’ I said, ‘in case she gets sick again at school. You know where I am. She can always sit with me.’

I let Kasia take me back to the home and all the while, Hana held tightly to her hand as if her mother would disappear at any moment. I recognised that feeling – that feeling of being scared to lose an anchor.

As we walked, I thought again of the man that Kasia had gone inside to see. I wondered who he was. She seemed flustered when she returned, red-faced, her eyes all scrunchy like she was either about to cry or yell something. It reminded me of my brother when he was young, how he didn’t know what to do with his emotions at any given point. Me, it was easy, I always chose yelling.

‘Was that—’ I started to ask about the man, but Kasia spoke over me.

‘You really shouldn’t keep going out on your own,’ she said.

I looked at her but she wasn’t looking at me. Instead, she was focused on Willa Nadziej as we closed in on it.

‘It’s really not safe,’ she said.

‘I can look after myself,’ I replied.

She looked at me then, and I realised my tone was harsher than I’d meant it to be.