Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright by Justine Saracen

Author:Justine Saracen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781602826922
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2012-01-28T22:00:00+00:00

*

Fallen. That terrible ambiguous word that really meant killed. But surely an entire army would not be slaughtered before surrendering. Some men must have been taken prisoner. Some men, surely, had been carried out.

Each day she waited for another letter, saying Dietrich had come out in the last transport of wounded, or that his regiment had broken out before the others fell. But no letter came, and after two weeks, she learned to live with near-certainty. He was gone from her life, and she slowly absorbed the new reality as she worked, both for and against Germany.

The late-winter snow falling gave a yellowish tint to the evening light while Katja crossed the street to the familiar building. She stomped loose snow from her shoes and let herself in. The hall and stairs were still ice-cold, but when Frederica opened the apartment door, a fragrant warmth enveloped her.

“Come in.” She slid her arm under Katja’s and guided her to the sofa. “The Reichsminister is just about to talk.”

The little Volksradio on the table by the sofa was tuned to the national broadcast. Katja listened to the announcer describing the packed Sportspalast while Frederica went to make some ersatz coffee. In a few moments she was back with two cups of a drink that, with enough sugar, reminded vaguely of real coffee.

Frederica sat down close to her and, as always, spoke in a voice lower in volume than the broadcast, so that Katja had to look at her to catch every word. They had fallen into the habit in the years they had talked about dangerous things, and now it was particularly soothing. “He’s going to talk about Stalingrad, of course. He has to, and so do I. I want you to know I’m sorry, I’m so very sorry about Dietrich. He was a good, kind man, and he loved you. I liked him for that, that he loved you, and I respected your marriage.”

Katja drew up her knees. “I think, at the end, you respected it more than I did. I found it harder and harder to be a wife. If he had come back, I would have told him it was over. It was a mistake from the beginning.”

Frederica took her hand. “Why did you marry so suddenly anyhow? I remember you saying you were not in a hurry, but then one day you just did it.”

Katja winced at the realization. “It was because of you.”

“Me? I was the last person who would have wanted you to marry. I was half in love with you myself, even back then.”

“I didn’t know that. I only know that you were strangely close with Goebbels, and one day I saw him put his hands on you in a way that made me assume you were his newest lover. I had no claim on you anyhow. How could I possibly? The limping goat had won, and to spare myself humiliation, I ran away.”

Frederica pressed Katja’s palm against her own cheek. “Oh, my dear. That

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