The Aftermath by Ellie Midwood

Author:Ellie Midwood [Midwood, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

For some time, Tadek shifted from one foot to another, two possibilities at war within him. Leave the room and pretend it didn’t concern him? Or take a step forward and make it his business, no matter how much the prospect terrified him? He looked at the door behind him, at Otto Neumann’s daughter digging herself into a pile of her father’s clothes and made that one step in the direction that felt right for some reason.

“Gerlinde?”

“I miss him so much!” She only sobbed harder.

“Of course, you do. He’s your father.”

At once, she straightened herself and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “You think it’s so simple, don’t you? You think a little girl cries because she misses Vati. No, Tadeusz. I cry because I miss the old him. I miss the father that I knew so well, not this new one whom I’m getting to know now. I cry because whatever happens in the future, I shall never look at him with the same eyes ever again and that breaks my heart and I hate you and the Yanks and Mann’s son and whoever painted this damned thing for—”

Another attack. Tadek let her cry until it passed and didn’t point out the fact that it was Otto Neumann himself to blame for it and not them. He didn’t have to, for he sensed it deep inside that Gerlinde knew it as well but some sort of a protection mechanism made her hurl all these accusations at someone much like she’d hurled all these clothes before because it still wasn’t possible for her to say openly what she’d begun to feel inside. He stood before that pile of suits and silk ties and suddenly found himself feeling infinitely sorry for her. His own father was dead but at least Tadek would carry his untainted memory around for as long as his own heart was beating. His father was a good man and he’d always remain such. Gerlinde’s father was a murderer and she would have to live with that knowledge. It couldn’t have possibly been an easy thing for her to realize.

“What are you going to do with all these clothes?” he asked when she got possession of herself once again.

“I’ll give them all away. To those Wehrmacht fellows who haven’t anything else besides their army-issued rags to wear. And the rest – to the Red Cross. He has no use for them anymore, after all.”

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