The Indigo Rebels: A French Resistance novel by Ellie Midwood

Author:Ellie Midwood [Midwood, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-05-17T07:00:00+00:00

17

Kamille made her way along the street in between the German lorries, pulling her daughter’s hand and urging the girl to walk faster.

“Violette, you need to put some pep in your step, chéri,” Kamille spoke, after glancing at the big clock, which was crowning the bell tower of the church. “Madame Marceau will be very upset if we’re late again. You wouldn’t want your favorite teacher to repeat the beginning of the lesson just for you personally, would you? That would just be rude and inconsiderate.”

“I’m hurrying, Maman,” the girl argued, tucking a loose strand of hair back under her navy blue beret. “My feet are smaller than yours, that’s why I can’t walk as fast.”

“You can walk – and even run – fast enough when you play with Monsieur Horst and Monsieur Jochen outside, mademoiselle. So, don’t give me that.”

They crossed the street almost running, and Kamille dived under the heavy iron gates of the school together with a few other parents. Nowadays, children mostly walked to school and back by themselves, rarely escorted by their mothers, and even more so fathers, and Kamille praised God daily that she didn’t have to worry about her little girl wandering the streets alone because her mother had to rush to work or to buy food and didn’t have time to take her to school.

“Ah, Madame Marceau, I’m so glad you haven’t started yet.” Kamille rushed to greet the teacher, who stood on the steps of the school together with her daughter, Lili. Violette waved at her friend and the teacher, smiling widely. “I was afraid that we would be late again.”

“Bonjour, maîtresse,” Violette chirped, standing next to the woman, who gave her a sad smile in response.

“Bonjour, chéri. Only, I’m afraid I’m not a maîtresse anymore,” Madame Marceau spoke softly. “You better get inside, girls. I heard your new teacher is very strict when it comes to being late.”

“But…” Violette’s searching eyes wouldn’t leave the woman, and Kamille hurried to push the girls towards the doors before they both could see the tears that stood in Madame Marceau’s eyes. She looked even gaunter and wearier than when Kamille had seem her last.

“No ‘buts.’ Do as you’re told,” Kamille spoke with authority, nudging the girls further. “You don’t want to get in trouble with your new teacher on the first day, right?”

As soon as Violette and Lili disappeared inside, Kamille took the teacher by the crook of her arm and pulled her away from curious ears.

“Madame Marceau, what happened?” she inquired when they both took a seat on the bench in a school yard.

“The headmaster told me this morning when I came to work.” The woman sighed, brushing the tears away. “Apparently there is a new law, according to which Jews can’t be teachers from now on. So, I was dismissed, together with the rest of the Jews.”

“I didn’t know you were Jewish,” Kamille muttered, not knowing what to say.

She had seen all the new posters with anti-Semitic propaganda, which had started

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.