The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff

Author:Pam Jenoff [Jenoff, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Park Row Books
Published: 2021-02-11T22:48:49+00:00

13

Ella

Standing beside Sadie and looking down into the empty space where the food should have been, my heart sank. “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling the weight of her disappointment wash over us. Sadie did not answer. She stood still, her eyes sad and hollow.

“We should go,” I said after a few minutes had passed. It wasn’t safe for us to linger in the ghetto building.

Sadie shook her head. “It has to be here. I can’t go back without it.”

What now? My mind raced. “We can look around,” I said, although I really had no idea where. Despite the war, Ana Lucia did not keep extra food stores in the house because she feared attracting mice. Instead, she trusted that her money and contacts would always allow us to have enough to eat. So I could not steal what Sadie needed from her. Krys appeared in my mind. We had not parted well and I was unsure he would help me. But he was my only option and deep down I knew that he would not refuse me if there were something he could do. “I have a friend who might be able to help.” I instantly regretted my offer. I had no reason to think he could manage to find food in such a short amount of time. But I had to try.

Krys had said he was staying in a flat above the café, I recalled. “Come with me.” We slipped from the cellar of the apartment building, through the charred rubble. As we made our way among the ruins that had once been the ghetto, I walked faster, wanting to get Sadie away from her painful memories of this place.

I led her along the riverbank away from Podgórze in the direction of Dębniki. Though I was unfamiliar with the neighborhoods that blended without a clear border, I knew that Dębniki was just a few kilometers to the west of Podgórze along the industrial southern banks of the Wisła. As we neared Dębniki, we turned away from the riverbank and climbed the road toward Barska Street and the café. I looked up at the apartments above the café, wondering how I could figure out which one was Krys’. It was after eleven and the café was supposed to be long since closed for the curfew. But behind the smudged glass window, I could see that a few patrons still lingered. I did not see Krys, but perhaps if I asked, someone might know where to find him.

I started for the door. Then, looking at Sadie, I stopped again. She could not go inside the café. Her soiled clothes and emaciated, ghost-pale appearance would surely attract attention. There was an arched passageway between the café and the adjacent building leading from the street to the alley behind. I led Sadie there and hid her behind some trash cans. “You need to wait here.”

“You’re leaving me?” She looked terrified.

I patted her hand. “I’ll be just a few minutes.” Before she could protest,

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