Norway Wasn't Too Small by Irene Levin Berman

Author:Irene Levin Berman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Hamilton Books
Published: 2012-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Next—Women and Children

Oslo, November 3–25, 1942

Life went on, out of necessity. Most of the Jewish women in town continued to follow a makeshift routine, for lack of a better word. The rumors and nightmares persisted, and each family attempted to prepare a long-term plan or in some instances, two.

Rebekka’s family was no exception. They waited for good news. And they were fearful of bad news. They learned the meaning of the expression “to live in limbo.” The most surprising was the realization that life still went on, day by day, hour by hour.

And despite knowing they were in line to be brought to Sweden, no one spoke about it. Everyone knew it was a matter of time.

November 4, yet another young man from the underground, unexpectedly knocked on the door instead of ringing the doorbell. The batch assigned to the Davidson family seemed to consist of five or maybe six men. Occasionally one failed to show up for two or three weeks, and no one commented on this. It appeared to be an unwritten law to ask no questions, although it was impossible not to wonder. What happened to the one with the red hair, and the scar on his left wrist? Had he escaped to Sweden, or had something terrible taken place? Rebekka never dared to bring it up, only hoped that he would “check in” to reassure them that he was still in action.

The messenger who arrived that day had been there several times before. He was around twenty years old, well built, with strong muscular arms, that belied his boyish face. One might even wonder if he ever needed to shave. They used to call him “Haakon with the smile!”

The attractive young man asked politely for Sarah. Rebekka noticed that he turned his head briefly in the direction of the kitchen, as if he wanted to see who was there. Perhaps he was looking for Ruth, Rebekka thought, nodding briefly to the visitor after he flashed his beautiful teeth and exceptional smile.

When he saw Mor, he got right to the point. “It appears the milk truck arrived at its destination very early this morning. All four milk containers were intact with no leakage. They were removed from the large cardboard box which had been used for protection and were delivered to the designated dairy. You will most probably receive a list within the next few days as to where the milk can be purchased.”

He stood still, waiting for Sarah to confirm that she understood the coded message. She looked at him, holding her breath. At that point he couldn’t help himself, and broke into a large smile. She covered her mouth with her left hand, and said, “Thank you, God. Thank you, thank you!”

Oh, thank you, God, Rebekka immediately thought as well. This must mean that Far and her three uncles had arrived safely in Sweden. There were two armoires in the apartment that were chosen to get them down the stairs and out of the house without being seen by anyone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.