Binz’s guards began waving prisoners into the truck.
“Nothing. Don’t worry. We’ll all be back in Lublin before you know it. Back with Pietrik. He will be happy to see you.” She said this with a real smile. The old Nadia.
“It’s you he loves,” I said.
“Do you know how many times he asked me if you liked him? Hey—I left the book for you before I went. In the spot. You’ll love chapter five.”
“I think the spot may be long gone, but we’ll both check it together when we get back.”
“Yes.”
Nadia gasped, one fist to her chest, her gaze fixed on my bad leg. One of the mismatched woolen men’s socks I’d traded some of our toothpaste for had slid down to reveal it—by then healed, but withered and shrunken, missing whole tendons and bones, the skin shiny and taut. “My God, Kasia, what happened to your leg?” Water came to her eyes.
To be crying for me while in her situation? This was a good friend.
“I’ll tell you later, but now I can get you a drink—I have a bit of rainwater saved.”
Nadia smiled again. “Always resourceful, Kasia. Matka would love that.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said and set off back to my block.
My leg slowed my progress, and by the time I returned with the water, the guards were loading the last of the prisoners into the open truck. They closed the back gate and banged twice on it, and the truck started off down Beauty Road.
Nadia. It had been like medicine to see her! Would she be safe at the youth camp? I’d never heard of anyone going there from Ravensbrück before. I said a prayer that what I’d heard about the new camp there was true. Was God even listening to prayers from us?
The truck continued down Beauty Road, and tears came to my eyes as I caught a glimpse of Nadia cradling her mother.
“I’ll see you soon, Nadia,” I called, running as best I could after the truck.
She craned her neck above the crowd, smiled, and raised her hand.
I watched the truck rumble off, the red taillights a blur. I wiped the tears away. Were they really going to a safe place? It was hard to believe anything the Germans told us, but no matter what, the Danish girls in the front office said the Russians would be arriving soon to liberate the whole camp. At least Nadia and her mother would have shelter. Nadia was the strongest person I knew.
I hurried on to the administration building to pick up my package, darkness descending on the camp. A family of rats, big as cats, walked across the road ahead of me, no longer afraid of people. I claimed my bundle at the postal window and glanced at the return address: Lublin Postal Center, Lublin, Poland, written in Papa’s hand. I opened it as I walked back down the hallway, my wooden clogs echoing on the polished floor, and pulled out another spool of red thread.
I never tired of seeing that. He’d sent two more since the first. Had Papa gotten word out to the world? If we were to die before the camp was liberated, at least everyone would know what happened, and the Germans would be punished for what they’d done. His packages had helped Zuzanna with her dysentery, but she’d then caught something else going block to block to doctor other prisoners. Headache, chills, fever. From the rash on her arms alone, we both knew what it was: typhus. Nothing but liberation could help with that.
I passed the desk of Brit Christiansen, a Danish girl I knew, one of many Scandinavian prisoners who worked the front office. She was tall with a short blond bob and a pretty constellation of beige moles scattered down her cheek. I’d never even met a Danish person before the camp and now found they were among my favorite people. Gentle. Trustworthy. Kind.
“I have two things to tell you, and we must be quick,” Brit said in a soft voice. “One is an SS man, high up, came today inquiring about your mother.”
“What? Who?”
“Not sure, but he was very tall.”
Lennart! Here at Ravensbrück? Was Matka here too somewhere?
Brit pulled me closer. “And also, they are hunting Rabbits today.”
Those words gave me gooseflesh all over. “But it’s almost dark. A night selection?”
“Binz is on the warpath. Suhren is coming too. They doubled the liquor ration for the guards.”