that had made her turn in her notes on Fräulein Meiser last week. And she loved her parents, and she knew her parents loved her. What could be more important than love?
She couldn’t imagine.
“Why was Fräulein Meiser’s father arrested?” she finally asked.
“I don’t know, and I think it’s best not to find out,” her father said somberly. Then his face brightened slightly as he smiled at his daughter. “Don’t you have any schoolwork to do?”
Korinna stood up. “Yes.” She walked over and gave her father a hug. “I’m glad you’re home, Papa.”
“I am too, Korinna.” He gave her a fierce hug. “Now, go do your homework.”
Korinna kissed her mother in the kitchen, then went upstairs. Her kitten was sleeping in the middle of her bed. She stroked the silky head once, then picked up her book bag which sat neatly by the side of her bed. For a moment she just stood there. Hadn’t she left her bag next to the Schrank? She always left her bag in the same place, next to the wardrobe, not next to the bed. She shrugged. Her mother must have moved it for some reason. If she thought of it, she’d ask her about it later.
She took out her books and sat down quietly at her desk, deciding which subject to tackle first. Then she heard it—a soft rhythmic noise that sounded like something trapped behind her wall. Her heart started to race.
It was the mice in her walls. They weren’t gone after all! She turned to her bed and saw her kitten stretching and washing its paws.
Korinna’s heart pounded so hard it felt like it was more in the middle of her throat than in her chest somewhere. If only she could find the mouse hole. Her kitten would surely scare the mice away for good!
She decided the noise seemed to be coming from the middle of her wall. Holding her breath, she pushed away from her desk and tiptoed to her wardrobe. She crouched down. The back panel of the Schrank almost came down to the floor against the wall. Maybe she’d find a concealed mouse hole back there, she thought. Carefully, she pressed her shoulder against the heavy wooden piece of furniture. It wouldn’t budge. She pushed again. Nothing. It couldn’t be that heavy, she thought with despair. She knew if she could just move her wardrobe, she would find the source of her mouse noises.
Korinna straightened up and faced the front of the Schrank. She placed one trembling hand on either side of it and pulled. Finally it seemed to be moving! She tugged a little harder, and the wardrobe moved silently away from the wall a bit more, but only on the right side.
The mouse noises stopped. She grabbed her kitten and clutched the squirming animal in her arms. With a thudding heart, she peered around the right backside of the piece of furniture. But there wasn’t a little mouse hole leading into the wall—practically the entire wall behind her wardrobe was missing!
Korinna thought her heart would explode in her throat. She dropped her kitten. Frantically she slammed her shoulder against her wardrobe to close up the gaping, black void.
That was no mouse hole—there was something much bigger hiding back there! She had smelled the rank smell of unwashed bodies, and she had seen the pale glow of skin, and the gleam of eyes.
Chapter Four
Feet pounded up the narrow stairs, and her parents burst into the room. “Liebling, what is it? Stop screaming!” Her mother wrapped her up in her arms.
Korinna took a sobbing breath. She hadn’t even realized she was screaming. She pointed a shaky finger. “Back there! Something’s back there!”
“Hush, hush,” her mother crooned.
Korinna tried to pull out of her mother’s arms. Her father pulled the thick curtain over the window. The room was dark until he lit a couple candles.
Korinna scrubbed away the tears on her cheeks, wondering why her father didn’t just turn on the overhead light. “Monsters, Papa! I have monsters behind my wall!” Her stomach churned with fear.
“It’s not monsters, Liebling,” Herr Rehme said softly. He looked at his wife and his shoulders sagged as though he carried some great weight. “Those are people back there.”
A fierce dread washed over her, strangling her. Korinna gasped for air.
“Jews,” her mother said, still holding her daughter’s shoulders. She gave them a little shake. “Did you hear me, Korinna?”
Korinna nodded mutely. Tears burned her eyes, and her fingers ached from clenching them so tightly.
With a heavy sigh, Herr Rehme gently pulled the Schrank away from the wall. The candles flickered with the movement. The wardrobe moved silently. Now Korinna could see someone had carefully hinged it to the wall on the left side in such a way that the hinges were invisible from anywhere in her room. Only when someone pulled the wardrobe away from the wall were the hinges visible. Also, the hinges held the wardrobe a millimeter off the floor so its legs wouldn’t rub noisily on the wooden boards.
When her father completely “opened” up the wardrobe, Korinna once again stared at the gaping hole in her bedroom wall. Even knowing it was not monsters hiding in the blackness did nothing to calm her heartbeat.
Jews were worse.
Korinna’s mother crouched down next to the opening, which was half as tall as the shoulder high wardrobe. Korinna and her father stood behind her.
“Sophie, it’s okay. This is Korinna, my daughter,” Frau Rehme said gently.
A pale face, creased with lines of worry and fatigue, inched into the candlelight. Sophie’s thin neck ended in a drab green coat collar, which added a green pallor to her skin. Her dark and suspicious eyes stared up at them. “She’s the Nazi?” Her voice came out rough and crumbly, as if she didn’t use it much.
Ignoring the question, Frau Rehme said to Korinna, “This is Sophie Krugmann, and this is her daughter Rachel, who’s five.”
Rachel had a mass of curly hair that tumbled to her shoulders. Her wide eyes roamed the room and finally fell on Korinna. She smiled. Korinna glared at her until the little girl pulled back into the shadows, her smile gone, lips trembling.
Sophie hugged her daughter close and kissed the top of her head. When she looked up again, her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Are we safe with her knowing we’re here?”
Herr Rehme said, “It’s too dangerous to move you right now. Maybe in a week or two, but right now ...” His voice trailed off as he placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Right now we have no choice.”
Sophie turned to her young daughter and said, “I told you to wait until later.” Then she looked at Korinna’s mother. “I told Rachel to wait, but she gets so restless with nothing to do and no one to play with. She likes to walk back and forth, back and forth.”
So that’s what she had heard, Korinna thought, staring into the shadows. It had sounded like a trapped animal.
