Margot: A Novel by [email protected] Page A

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18 In 1944, when we were held against our will in Poland,
19 Mother had a plan. She always had a plan. Even when we
20 were girls and we first moved from Frankfurt to the Mer
21 wedeplein and she fed us books in Dutch to integrate us into
22 our new world, or when she filled our soup with extra chicken
23 fat in an attempt to get us to gain weight when my sister and
24 I grew sickly in the new world of Holland.
25 I believe, even now, that the plan she had in the camp, she
26 had worked out for a long time, before we even needed it, just
27 like Father did, with the annex. When I received my call-up
28S notice from the Germans, he was ready. But the difference
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was, Father never believed we’d be found in the annex. 01
Mother, I suspect, did. 02
Mother whispered her plan to me in pieces, late at night, 03
after the others in the camp were asleep, once our heads were 04
already shaved, our arms marked, our bodies falling apart. 05
She was sick by then, and her voice came out of her in gasps. 06
There had been whispers that they’d be moving us soon, to 07
another camp, but not Mother. She was too sick. I did not 08
want to leave her behind, but I was in no position to protest, 09
and I knew she would never let me, anyway. 10
“When they put you on the train, you run,” she whispered 11
to me. “You grab your sister and you run. Wait until the train 12
is moving, but not too fast. Wait until he is watching. He will 13
not shoot you.” 14
I knew who she meant, the one guard, who I vaguely 15
remembered from our life in Germany. A neighbor. A Nazi. 16
His name was Schmidt—I could not remember his first 17
name, and I did not want to. I could still picture watching 18
him out our front window in Frankfurt, watching as he 19
watered his grass with a long green hose. Once, when I was a 20
very young girl, not even in school yet, I walked across the 21
yard and played with his shepherd puppy. Schmidt smiled at 22
me then while he tossed the puppy treats and cooed sweet 23
things at her. Schmidt was a different man in his Nazi uni 24
form, his arm wound tightly with the red swastika. His face 25
had grown hard, unyielding. 26
“He will not shoot you,” Mother repeated. 27
I nodded, not because I thought she was right, but because S28
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    01 by then, I was not afraid of being shot. It sounded like an easy
02 way to die, almost a relief.
03 “You run,” she told me, “and you take your sister.” She
04 paused. “And when you are free, you find Eduard, in Frank
05 furt. He will help you.”
06 I nodded again, the rhythm of her whisper tickling in my
07 ear. It was like she was telling me a bedtime story, lulling me
08 to sleep, winging on a fantasy.
09 “Promise me,” she said again.
10 “I promise,” I finally said, my throat so parched that the
11 words barely formed.
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Chapter Fifteen 04
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Friday morning Ezra Rosenstein is not at work, hav 14
ing already departed for Margate, but Joshua comes into the 15
office and announces to me and Shelby that he will not be 16
heading to Margate this weekend. 17
“This fight must be serious,” Shelby whispers to me after 18
he goes into his office and shuts the door. She is frowning, I 19
think because she knows Joshua’s presence means she won’t 20
be able to start her weekend early. 21
“Maybe,” I say. “Or maybe he just has a lot of work to do.” 22
Shelby shakes his head. “He’s a lawyer,” she says. “And he’s 23
rich. It’s not about the work.” 24
Joshua buzzes me, just as I am beginning to wonder if 25
Shelby is right, if their fight is the reason why he’s here. “Yes, 26
Mr. Rosenstein,” I say. 27
“Margie,” he says, “did you get me those papers I asked for?” S28
“Papers?” I ask. N29
01 “After work yesterday . . .”
02 “Oh yes,” I say, thinking of the four different