If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan

Author:Han Nolan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

It was March before Jakub could arrange things on the outside and gather the shoes and clothing appropriate for a grandmother and granddaughter traveling through Poland. We had known Jakub would not want to go with us. He had his own life now, one of which I knew Mama and Tata and even Zayde would be proud. Still, as the night of our escape approached, the idea of leaving him behind, of saying good-bye to yet another member of the family, became unbearable, and I begged Jakub to go with us.

"No, it is too late to be changing plans," Jakub told me in a voice that had recently become deeper, richer—his adult voice. "If this is to work, you must not be thinking about me. You are moving away, forward, into the Aryan world, and all your attention must be focused there. It is your life, Chana."

"Yes, but I need—"

"You are not serious about leaving then. I have made all these plans. Henrick will be waiting. For nothing I have made these plans?"

"No, Jakub, I am going. But I will miss you. Can you let me at least say that?"

"There will be no time to spend missing me. We will see each other again. Keep that in your mind. We will stand together at Hitler's execution."

"Oh, Jakub, do you think it will ever happen? Will this ever be over?"

Jakub moved forward in his chair and grabbed my hand. He lowered his voice. "I have learned that the German Sixth Army has surrendered to Russia."

"What? When? Where? Oh, Jakub, really?"

He nodded. "February second, in Stalingrad. Seems the winters are a bit too hard for the Germans. You will see, before the end of 1943 this war will be over."

I grabbed Jakub around the neck and hugged him. "And we'll all be together—you, me, Bubbe, Mama, Anya, and Nadzia. Oh, what a celebration!"

"Chana, you must listen. We need to keep our minds on the plans. Now, tell me again what you are to do."

"Bubbe knows the plans. You know I will be safe with Bubbe. She won't forget."

"Chana! You are being foolish and unrealistic. You could be separated or Bubbe could get—killed. It could happen, you know it could."

"I am to get into the car that is waiting in the alley. There will be a doll with a missing foot lying in the back window. We will get in and Henrick—not his real name—will take us to a house where he will take our pictures and give us papers that say that we are Rachela and Ewa Krisowski. Then we are to get ourselves into the roundup of Polish workers going to Germany, which you say is easy to do because of all the chaos, but we will see. Then we will ride to Germany—phfutt—where our false papers will be less suspicious since all the Jews have been rounded up there already, and we will work beside the Germans— phfutt. There now, did I leave anything out?"

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