In My Enemy's House by Carol Matas

Author:Carol Matas [Matas, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781443124577
Publisher: Scholastic Canada Ltd
Published: 1999-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Within weeks of arriving at the Reymanns’, all I could think about was killing myself. I hated everybody and everything. The nicer the Reymanns were to me the more I hated them. My only pleasure was in deceiving them.

They had no inkling of this, however. In fact, my duties quickly expanded to helping Frau Reymann with the children because they found me to be polite, smart and efficient.

One day, I was sitting with Charlotte quizzing her on her geography, when an idea hit me. We were going over the cities in Germany. Before I had time to think about it, I spoke.

“You know,” I suggested casually, “my great-grandparents came from Berlin.”

She looked at me, stunned.

“Do you mean you aren’t a Pole?”

“Well, of course I am now. But I do have some German Aryan blood in me.”

“That explains it!” she exclaimed. “You’re so cultured and well spoken. And you’re so beautiful!”

“My parents died in a house fire,” I said, “and all our documents were burned with them. My grandmother and I were out shopping. That’s why I survived. The Germans couldn’t give me any special treatment. After all, we had no proof.” I lowered my voice. “Frankly, I don’t blame them. You have to be careful not to mix the bloodlines. And my grandmother did marry a Pole. But my mother met and married a German boy, so you see I have quite a lot of Aryan blood in me.” I allowed a tear to trickle down my face.

“Oh, you poor dear!” Charlotte began to weep as well. “So close. Almost one of us, but doomed to be forever on the outside. Still, maybe Father can help you. He’s so important he can do anything!”

I smiled to myself. Stupid Jew? Maybe not so stupid. What would Charlotte do, I wondered, if I told her right then that I was a Jew? Would I have changed in front of her very eyes? Would I have gone from beautiful and smart to evil in one second? Yes, I would have. I suddenly would have become a carrier of disease, and even though I seemed nice, obviously I would have been ploting against them. I suddenly would have become evil inside, rotten. Well, I could be what they wanted me to be. Couldn’t I?

At dinner Charlotte encouraged me to tell my story to her father. “I can’t,” I protested, pretending to hold back tears. “You tell it, Charlotte. It’s too hard for me.”

Charlotte told my story with enthusiasm. Frau Reymann dabbed her eyes before Charlotte was even finished.

“Heydrich,” she said to her husband, “you must help this child. She speaks perfect German, look at her. She needn’t be treated like the other Poles. She’s part Aryan, isn’t she?”

“You’re correct,” he agreed. “Charlotte, why not take her to your meeting tonight?”

“Could I?”

“Tell them I have ordered it. You need help carrying all the refreshments we are supplying tonight, don’t you?”

“Yes, Father.” Charlotte smiled, clapping her hands together in glee. She turned to me. “It’s called the League of German Maidens.

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