All My Love, Detrick (4 page)

Just as Dorothy was getting up to leave, the door
opened, and both girls turned to see Karl enter. Even with his clothing disheveled and his eye bruised, he more than passed for a handsome man. Tall and muscular, he had thick, wavy chestnut hair and penetrating eyes.

“Oh Karl, you were fighting again.” Leah shook her head in disappointment. “My brother…he’s going to defeat Hitler all by himself. Of course
, that’s if he doesn’t get killed first.” She glared at Karl who looked back at her; his eyes black with conviction.

“Leah, if we don’t fight back, they will think they can do as they please with us…and they will. Not just the Nazis - all
goyim
, non-Jews are Nazis in the making. They just don’t know it yet. Just wait and see. We should get the hell out of Germany before they do something drastic.”

“What will they do Karl? They cannot do more than they already have. They
boycott our businesses, treat us like dirt… If we just go along and ignore them, they will get bored with all of this and find something else to put their attention on.”

“I don’t think so, little sister.” He grabbed a piece of
hamantaschen
from a china plate in the center of the table. At seventeen, Karl appeared more of a man than a boy.

“Hello, Dorothy, I’m sorry. I got so busy arguing with my sister here that I forgot to say hello.”

“Hi, Karl.” A slight blush crawled from her forehead down to her neck and she turned away so that he would not see it.

“Go and clean up for dinner, please. Papa will be home in a little while and you look a fright.”

“Yes, Leah.” He bowed in mock servitude. “Excuse me, Dorothy, my sister commands!”

After he’d left the
room, Dorothy whispered to Leah. “He is so handsome. Does he have a girl?”

“Are you kidding?
Karl? A girlfriend? He is too busy trying to build a Jewish state and waging his own personal war on the Nazi Party.”

The following afternoon Leah and Dorothy sat under a sturdy old oak tree eating their lunch. Fall’s arrival seduced the tree to begin shedding her leaves, rewarding the ground with a multitude of rich colors. Their full skirts spread across the leaf-covered grass as the girls shared a bunch of grapes. Lewis Shapiro stood just a few feet away talking with a group of boys, all of them wearing
yarmulkes
.

“He’s looking over here. I see him glancing your way every few minutes.”

“You really think so, Dorothy? Maybe he’s looking at you.”

“I don’t think so. You should see his face.”

Leah looked down at the camel-colored wool of her skirt, too shy to glance at Lewis. Her stomach fluttered nervously. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to do a thing, Leah. He is on his way over here right now.”

Leah’s nerves tingled, making her stomach churn, and she thought she might vomit. She tried to think of something to say, but words eluded her.

“Hello, you’re Leah Abdenstern. Am I correct?”

His hair cradled his head in an ocean of blue-black waves. “I’m Lewis Shapiro.”

“We know. Yes, her name is Leah Abdenstern and I’m Dorothy Silver.”

“It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Likewise.”

Leah still had not spoken. She’d opened her mouth but no sound emerged.

“And you…Leah? Are you happy to meet me?”

Forcing a whisper, Leah smiled wryly. “I’m sorry, forgive me, I was thinking about an assignment for class,” she answered sheepishly. “Yes, of course I am.”

The school bell rang indicating the end of the break period.

“May I walk you? I believe we share the same class.”

“Yes, why not?
” Leah felt as if every word she said sounded more foolish than the last.

Lewis swept up her books and after they both bid farewell to Dorothy they strolled silently back to the building.

5

Wi
nter rushed in with a flurry of white snow. Its frigid fingers forged their way into the school and many times Leah and Dorothy wore their coats in the building during class. Lewis had moved his desk from across the room to right bedside Leah. Flattered, Leah watched as Lewis had offered the boy who sat there previously a few coins to change seats with him.

One afternoon, as school let out, Lewis asked Leah if he could walk her home, and she agreed. From then
on, it became a ritual.

“I think my parents are giving me an auto for
Hanukah
, which will make it easier for us to get around when it’s cold like this.”

“Yes I suppose, but after sitting all day in class I love to get outside and walk. I enjoy the fresh air.”

“Well, then if you prefer, we will continue to walk and freeze.” He smiled at her.

A week before winter break, Lewis scrounged up the nerve to ask Leah to have dinner with him.

This would be their first official date.

6

On a chilly morning following a night of snowfall, Leah sat wrapped in a blanket.

Dorothy arrived unexpectedly, and sat on the bed in Leah’s room where the girls had spent so much of their youth. Tears ran wildly down her cheeks and she dried them with a handkerchief.

“What are you talking about, you are moving away?” Leah felt her face grow hot and tears stung the back of her eyes.

“My father wants to go to live with his brother in Chicago, Illinois, in America. He says the Nazis are getting too bold and the anti-Semitism is getting too dangerous for us to stay here.”

“Oh, Dorothy, I will miss you so much. What will you do there? You must learn English. Will you finish school?” Leah took Dorothy’s hands into her own, concerned not only for herself, but for her friend’s welfare.

“Yes, I plan to. My cousin, Hette is only a few years older, and she works downtown in a store called Marshall Field selling hats. She promised that when I finish school she will help me find a job there.”

“I am so sad to see you go. Nothing will ever be the same.”

“Oh, Leah, me too;
I always thought we would grow old living down the street from each other, our children playing outside together, just like we did when we were little. I imagined them jumping rope as we sat drinking tea and sharing recipes. This Hitler is a monster! He has changed everything in our world in so many ways.”

Leah ran her finger along the embroidery on her bedspread. “When are you leaving?”

“Next week, on Monday; we’re taking a ship.”

An uncomfortable silence hung like a thick fog. Several minutes passed before Leah could speak.

“You will write?”

“Of course I will. And you?”

“You know I will.”

7

Det
rick stood beside the workbench, a hammer held firmly in his hand, as he studied the broken handlebar on a customer’s bicycle. Jacob had taught him to repair most problems and he’d become astute at diagnosing what needed to be done. As he worked diligently, Jacob entered the shop with a platter.

“I brought some
mandel
bread. My daughter baked it this morning.” Jacob set the platter on the table and sat down “So, Detrick, how was your Christmas holiday?”

“Very nice, we took the train to see my grandparents. They are getting old, and it was good to spend time with them. My father didn’t go, of course.”

“Ach, well, don’t be too hard on him. He is going through a lot.”

“My grandfather gave me his pocket watch. It’s been in the family for generations.” Detrick showed the watch to Jacob. “It’s real gold.”

“It’s beautiful, son. Wear it in the best of health.”

“Thank you. I treasure it
because my grandfather chose me of all of his grandchildren to give it to.”

“That does make it special.”

“Yes, very.” Detrick’s blond hair fell over his eye as he worked. Jacob secretly watched him, and thought what a good-looking young man he had grown to be. Easy in his body, his long, lean muscles stretched over his tall, well-proportioned frame, with broad shoulders and slim hips.

Detrick stopped for a moment and reached beneath his bench. “I have a gift for you, for
Hanukah
.” He placed a small wrapped box in front of Jacob. A tear came to the older man’s eye as he opened it to find a leather key chain with an A for Abdenstern made of sterling silver, in the center.

“Oh, Detrick, it’s beautiful. Thank you. I have a gift for you too.” Jacob walked behind the register and pu
lled out a brightly wrapped box, “Merry Christmas.”

Tears of affection threatened to fall from Detrick’s eyes as he opened the box.

“It’s a sweater, it should keep you warm.”

“I love it, Jacob. Thank you so much…for everything.”

“Listen Detrick. I have a favor to ask of you.” Jacob began to put his plan into action. He would help the boy and his family, he just had to be sure that Detrick never suspected he didn’t really need him. “As I’ve told you, after sundown on Friday night, we Jews do not do anything. It is our religion, our day of rest. We cannot turn a light on or off, nothing. So, I wondered if perhaps you would come and do this for me. I will pay you well. A day’s pay just to come and turn the light off on Friday night and another day’s pay to turn it back on Saturday morning. What do you say?”

“That seems a great deal of money for just a half-hour's work. You don’t have to pay me to turn your lights on Jacob; I will gladly do it without payment. Why do I get the impression that you are trying to help me again? Jacob, I don’t know what I would do without you. You have been a friend and a father to me. I don’t know if I’ve ever thanked you for coming to all of my track meets. If you hadn’t been there, no one would have been there for me.”

“Yes, you’ve thanked me…a hundred times. So, you’ll do it?”

“Jacob…”

“You’ll do it. That is the way you can thank me.”

Detrick nodded and smiled shaking his head.

“And I insist on paying you. I don’t want to hear any more about it.”

8

With Dorothy gone, Leah thought she might die of loneliness. She’d begun to see Lewis regularly. Once he’d planned a lovely evening, including a dinner at a fancy restaurant and a visit to the opera. Another time they’d shared a soda after school, and he’d taken her for a ride in the new automobile he’d received from his parents for
Hanukah
. But something about him left her unfulfilled. He always treated her respectfully, but with an unspoken air of superiority and entitlement. She did not feel she could confide in him, and their time together never felt relaxed and comfortable. The warmth of familiarity was missing. Her middle-class home looked like maid's quarters to him; he never verbalized his feelings, but even with his attempts to hide it, the disdain showed plainly on his face. Still, without Dorothy, Lewis passed for companionship.

“Would you like to meet my family? Perhaps you could come for Sabbath dinner this Friday night?” she asked, deciding it would be good for him to meet the rest of the Abdensterns and for them to get to know him.

Lewis glanced over at Leah. He found her exceedingly attractive, and in a strange way, she made him feel more alive than the other girls he’d dated. She didn’t fawn over him. Somehow, he felt he must constantly work to win her affection, and the challenge appealed to him. An only child, Lewis knew that his parents would demand he marry within his own social class. They had pressed that point for as long as he could remember. Neither his father nor mother would approve of Leah; that much he knew for sure, but his desires made it impossible for him to walk away from this girl who exuded class and refinement. When he looked at her slender body with the grace of a doe, a passion within him stirred and his hunger could not be denied.

“That would be very nice. What time is dinner?”

“At sundown - about six o’clock.”

“I’ll be there.”