Wave After Wave: A Novel by Sarah Ansbacher

Author:Sarah Ansbacher [Ansbacher, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Casa Mocha Books
Published: 2024-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

‘Don’t eat the mouldy parts,’ Erika cautioned her friends, sitting in the lifeboat.

Lilly examined her piece of bread and picked off two green patches before biting into her slice. The food she was eating with appetite, if not quite verve, would have disgusted her old self. But she was hungry, and this was all there was to eat. She had almost run out of her stock of food and wanted to preserve what she had left. Hannah, sitting opposite Lilly, grimaced as she chewed.

‘This is the third day with no decent food. If they don’t give us some soon, we’ll starve before we ever leave Tulcea,’ Janka said.

The morning air, following the previous night’s deluge, was fresh and breezy. They were finally sitting down for something to eat after having returned to the deck, where they spent an hour bailing out the water that had pooled in the lifeboat. The wet clothing and blankets they had abandoned in their rush for shelter were now hanging on makeshift washing lines.

The night before, while Alexander and Isaak had run for the catacombs, the rest of them had made their way to the dining room, where they waited out the storm crouched on the floor beside Gisela. Lilly had caught a glimpse of Max and Alma from the Schönbrunn among the throngs of people. Alma, in the late stages of pregnancy, looked particularly uncomfortable, sitting cramped in a corner.

Jenny and Stefan had also joined them in the dining room until Jenny started heaving from the stench. She fled with a hand clamped over her nose and mouth, Stefan close behind her.

Lilly had already learned to endure the smell. She had made a point to visit Gisela twice a day with a bucket of river water, so Gisela could use the facilities with a semblance of dignity. For most of the elderly passengers, the effort of navigating the crowds to reach the upper deck, fetching the water, and lugging the heavy bucket back downstairs was simply too hard. Some had difficulty waiting in the queue for an hour or more and had become incontinent. The situation was pitiful and the foul odour unbearable.

As Lilly sat beside Gisela, fully experiencing conditions in the dining room, she decided that she would have a word with Alexander. Since he was a Haganah member, he should be able to raise the issue with the leadership who could help improve the situation.

Later that morning, as she and Hannah carried buckets of river water for Gisela and a companion of hers, Lilly spotted Alexander navigating the passageway with a sense of urgency. She initially hoped it would be a good chance to speak with him, but he seemed preoccupied at that moment and he strode by without noticing them. He marched up to the entrance of a cabin and rapped on the door. A simpering blonde in a pink dressing gown opened it.

Hannah nudged Lilly, then leaned closer to whisper, ‘That’s the horrible woman I told you about. The

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