My Bridges of Hope by Livia Bitton-Jackson

Author:Livia Bitton-Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Gina’s Secret

Bratislava, November—December 1947

The lights are still on as I reach the dormitory. My roommates are preparing for bed. Malkele is nowhere to be seen, and I head for the shower room as unobtrusively as possible. Martha notices me and calls, “Elli, where have you been?”

“Shush. I’m going to the shower room. Talk to you later.”

Martha follows me alongside the corridor. “People were looking for you.”

“What people? Malkele?”

“No, Sori and Eva. They were anxious to know if you went to the square to watch the dancing. They, too, wanted to go, but Malkele stopped them and the others. She didn’t let anyone go. No one knew where you’d disappeared to.”

Thank God. I am safe. Martha Frohlinger is a loyal friend. To her I can divulge my secret.

“I did go to the square.” I don’t reveal what I did there. “It was ... it was . . . you should have been there. All the girls should have been there!”

“We all wanted to. But Malkele did not let anyone go ...”

“Martha, don’t tell anyone I went, okay?”

“Okay, Elli. I won’t breathe a word.”

When I tiptoe into the bedroom, my friend Ellike Sofer sits up, agitated: “Elli, is it you? Thank God you’re home! Where did you go? You said nothing about going out. Eva and Sori and the others saw you in the other bedroom, and then, suddenly, after the radio report, you disappeared. WHERE DID YOU GO?” Ellike’s whisper turns into a hiss.

“I’ll tell you later,” I whisper. “After lights out.”

Our beds are adjacent, and it is possible to whisper secrets without anyone else hearing them. I can trust Ellike implicitly, so I tell her everything about my adventure in the square. Although Ellike is happy for me, she is bitterly disappointed to have missed the momentous happening.

You were dancing with the Mizrachi kids, boys and girls?” She is incredulous. “Elli, were you holding hands with the boys? Who was there? Was Albert there?” Eva has a secret crush on Albert but never has an opportunity even to speak to him. We are not allowed to talk to the Mizrachi boys, or any boys at all, let alone dance with them! “Did you speak to any of the boys?”

“I did not speak to anyone in particular. We were caught up in the excitement of it all. We just sang at the top of our lungs and danced as if we were links in one unbroken chain.”

We talk late into the night. For Ellike, tonight’s event has deep implications. She has been waiting over two years for her turn on a transport to Palestine. Her cousin Moshe has been anxiously awaiting her arrival. As we talk, Ellike can barely contain her excitement. Who knows? She may be reunited with her cousin Moshe in Tel Aviv, perhaps in a matter of weeks! “Can you imagine? I may be in Eretz Israel for Hanukkah!”

We talk and cry for hours. Finally fatigue overtakes our excitement, and we grow silent. But I cannot fall asleep.

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