My Dark Angel

08. It's All A Matter Of Listening (Juli)

I reread what I had just written, over and over again until a knew it almost by heart. I had to pass the time somehow, right?

My head snapped up as I heard footsteps and voices.

I scrambled to my feet, shoving the piece of paper into my pocket with the pencil and quietly backed into the shadows.

The voices came closer, and I pressed myself harder against the building, sure that whoever it was would find me.

Now I could hear what they were saying.

"We can go there. We'll be safe, at least. And I heard from Tobias that there are other unmarked Jews there too," the first man said.

"Yes, we won't be alone," the second one said.

I sighed in relief. Jews. Unmarked Jews. Who didn't have the Yellow Star. Like me.

I took a tentative step forward and into the sunlight.

"Um, excuse me." I cleared my throat.

The two Jews turned around and squinted at me.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" one asked gruffly.

"My name is Mary Angelin. I am a Jew, if that's what you want to know. Unmarked, just like you." Both men looked at me in surprise at this.

"How-"

"It's just a matter of listening," I interrupt.

"So, I gather that you also heard that we were going to the ten Booms' house to hide?" the second one asked me.

"Yes, and I was wondering if I could go with you," I said hopefully, not having the slightest clue as to who the ten Booms were.

The men looked at each other, surely debating wether they would let a sixteen year old like me go with them.

Finally, they looked back at me and the first one, which I had started calling 'Fatty', since he was a bit overweight, said, "Fine, you can come with us, but if you get us caught, I swear you'll pay for it."

I waved a hand at him. "Oh, don't worry, I have experience at hiding."

"Also," Shorty (the second man) started, "do you have food or something?"

I shook my head, suddenly realizing how hungry I was.

"The only thing I have is this," I said, showing them the piece of paper and the stub-pencil. "I'm a writer," I added.

"And how is that useful?" Shorty snorted.

I shrugged and put both things back in my pocket, embarrassed that I didn't have anything the could be of use.

"Never mind. Let's go before the Nazis come and get us," Fatty called, already walking down the street. "We're going on a train trip to Holland."

I stopped in my tracks. "To Holland?" I asked, frowning.

"Yes. Haven't you ever heard about the ten Booms?" Shorty asked, turning around to look at me.

"Uh, no," I replied.

All my life I had lived in Germany; my only link to the rest of the world, newspapers people threw away. The last thing I had read was that a very big bombing had happened in Britain. The Blitz, I think it was called.

"Well, the ten Booms are a family of watchmakers that offer a hiding place for unmarked Jews like us," explained Fatty.

"And they live in Holland," Shorty added.