You Are My Sunshine: A Novel Of The Holocaust (All My Love Detrick Companion Novel) (21 page)

“May I help you?” The receptionist
asked.

“Yes,
my boss, Dr. Goebbels arranged for us to see someone here about adoption.” Manfred said.

“
Of course, you must be Mr. and Mrs. Blau.” She smiled her teeth slightly sharp. “Please make yourself comfortable.” She stood up and walked them over to the living room area where she motioned for them to sit at on a plush white sofa. “May I offer you a coffee or a cold drink?”

“No thank you, nothing for me.” Christa said.

“No, thank you” Manfred answered.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back.” The woman said. Then she turned her high heels clicking on the marble floor.

They sat together on the sofa and waited. Manfred held Christa’s hand it was wet with perspiration. He knew how nervous she was and he wanted this to go smoothly for her sake.

It was only a matter
of a few minutes before an elderly woman, heavy set, with a salt and pepper bun limped into the room. Her hair frizzed around her face and Manfred could not help noticing the three black hairs that sprung from a mole on the side of her cheek.

“Welcome, Sturmann and Mr
s. Blau. I have heard so much nice things about you. My name is Beatrix, and I will be here to help you with anything that you might be of need for.”

“Thank you
Beatrix, but it is now Rottenführer Blau.”

“Oh, congratulations, y
ou should be so proud.” She said a little too loudly.

“Thank you
.” Manfred said and looked away his face burning with embarrassment.

“Have you decided whether you would like a boy or girl?”

“Actually we have, we would like a little girl.” Manfred said.

“As I am standing here looking at your wife, I can see that we
gonna have the perfect child for you. In fact, there is such a resemblance you’re not going to believe.”

Christa smiled. “Can you tell us a little about
her?”

“
Of course, I would be more than happy to. The child is a little over a year old. Her naming ceremony, well, Himmler performed it, himself. He gave her the name of Katja. A pretty name? Ya?”

“
It is. Can we see her?” Christa asked.

“
Of course, you can. Wait until you see, this is a beautiful little Aryan girl. And she is so good. Hardly ever cries. Come on you’re gonna follow me. I’m gonna take you to the waiting room outside the nursery, then I’ll have one of the nurses bring Katja out so that you can see her.”

The waiting room
outside the nursery looked like a comfortable living room in a prosperous country estate. There were large overstuffed chairs in a deep hunter green fabric embroidered with a gold thread design. On the white marble floor lay a large wool rug mostly the same green color with touches of gold and deep burgundy. Two lamps stood across the room from each other on similar mahogany coffee tables. Manfred and Christa sat together. He reached for her hand, patted it, and she smiled.  A half hour passed before a nurse wearing a starched white cotton uniform and small head cap entered accompanied by Beatrix. The nurse carried a bundle swathed in blankets so white they looked brand new.

“This is
Katja.” Beatrix said smiling as the nurse turned the infant so that Manfred and Christa could see her face.

Christa stood to get a better look.

Katja’s miniscule eyelashes brushed against her cheek as she slept. A dusting of golden hair covered her small head.

“She’s beautiful.” Chri
sta said, as tears glistening in her eyes.

“W
ould you like to hold her?” The nurse asked.

“Yes, oh yes. May I?”

“Of course,” The nurse placed the baby in Christa’s arms and Christa sat back down to hold her.

“You look radiant
with that child in your arms.” Manfred said. Once again, he was reminded of how fortunate he was to have won this beautiful woman as his wife. He remembered how he had watched her from a far, wishing, hoping, dreaming, and eventually scheming so that some day she would be his. And now, here he was beside her, Rottenführer Blau, her husband, Goebbels friend, and the father of their soon to be child. Rottenführer Blau, that was he, the man who’d dined at the same table as Adolf Hitler. Manfred, he thought to himself, you have so come far from the weak and uncoordinated boy who failed at every sport in the Hitler Jugend.  A secret smile crept across his face. He had done it. He’d created the life he longed for as a child and now things were only going to get better and better. In his mind’s eye, he saw himself rise in the party. Maybe someday, maybe just maybe, he would replace Himmler as Reichsführer. Dare he dream so big? Why not, look at where he’d started, and where he was now. There was no telling how far he might go in his career.

Manfred watched Christa she seemed to glow as she tenderly touch the infant
’s cheek.

“I love her already.” Christa said
biting her lower lip.

“Are
you going to want to see anymore of the children?” Beatrix asked.

“I don’t
, I am happy with Katja. But, do you Manfred?” Christa said sounding hopeful that he would agree with her decision.

He walked over and looked closely at the baby. She was lovely, and it was true, there was a
n uncanny resemblance to Christa, the light hair, the soft blue eyes. Why look at any other babies, this child made Christa happy and that was all that mattered. Little Katja was perfect.

“I don’t need
to see any others. She’s a lovely child. I’d like to begin the adoption process for this one.”

“Her name is
Katja.” Beatrix said.

“Yes.” Manfred said “Katja.”

“Katja,” Christa repeated as she looked at the perfect little face. “You are beautiful.”

“Just look at how pretty that baby is. Why she is the
perfect Aryan child.” Beatrix smiled. “Look at that light hair, it looks like an angels halo around her head, and them blue eyes. She is surely gonna grow up to be a beauty and make you both very proud.”

Manfred smiled. It would have been better to have their own, but this did make life easier. Now he could concentrate on his career.

Before they left Berlin, Manfred and Christa had set up a nursery for the baby they planned to bring home. It was painted yellow. Shelves lined the walls covered with stuffed animals. There was a white bear with a pink and blue ribbon around its neck, a tall dog with a huge black nose, and a fat little pink pig.  There was a brown teddy bear and a wooden rocking horse. The cradle was made of wood and painted white. Manfred had it suspended from the ceiling enabling it to rock slowly back and forth. A white wooden dresser that matched the cradle stood beside the bed 

Now that they’d decided upon a little girl, they left the institute to wait for the papers to be processed.  That afternoon Manfred and Christa went into town where
they purchased a pretty blond haired doll. Her eyes were royal blue and she had full red lips.  The doll wore traditional German attire similar to what Christa had worn at her wedding, a white blouse with a puffed sleeve and a full green skirt.

 
They purchased blankets in all different shades of pink to be stacked in her closet on a shelf. Before the couple had gone to Steinhöring, they’d received gifts from all of the people at Manfred’s office for the new baby. But since no one knew if it would be a boy or girl, everything that they received was yellow. There were little yellow undershirts, and sleepers, little yellow socks too. Christa mentioned this fact to Manfred and he suggested that she go ahead and buy some frilly pink dresses for the baby because he knew it would make her happy.

The following day they went back to
Steinhöring to pick the baby up. All of the papers had been signed and notarized. After placing an envelope filled with documents in Manfred’s hand, the baby was placed in Christa’s arms. She was officially a mother.

Katja slept on and
off all the way home, waking only to take a few sips from her bottle and then falling back off in peaceful slumber. The motion of the automobile acted like a drug keeping the baby calm and quiet.

When they arrived back in Berlin, Manfred placed the manila envelope in the bottom
of his desk.

Christa laid
Katja into her crib. The baby fussed until Christa gently rocked the cradle helping the child to drift off to sleep.

Manfred entered the room and stood beside his wife.

“Are you happy?” He asked, knowing the answer.

“I am, I am so happy.”

“I am too. When you’re happy I am happy.” He said.

Sh
e turned and kissed him. He hated to return to work, it was so lovely to spend the time with his wife. Manfred decided to bring her a dozen roses the following day from the vendor outside his office.

Chapter
34

A shroud of darkness covered the street as Dr. Henkener walked almost hugging the building staying carefully out of the lamplights. It was nearly midnight as he hurried towards his office carrying a small bundle of food for the Rosen family. Passing an alley, way he thought he heard footsteps behind him. He shivered, the Gestapo. If he were caught with the food, there was no explanation.  From now on, he would bring lunches to work and save them in his desk. Then bring them up when he was sure everyone had left. This method of carrying large quantities of food was far too dangerous. He whipped around quickly, but no one was there. The wind whistled through the trees and in the distance, he heard a crash of thunder. Thomas Henkener jumped. It was going to rain. He sped up walking as fast as possible without running. Then he heard the footsteps again.

“Thomas.” It was a whisper in the dark. “Thomas, it’s me Hershel
Shulman.”

“Hershel? Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me and my wife.”

Out
of the darkness, Dr. Shulman appeared, he wore a ragged black wool overcoat and was accompanied by a tiny woman with long dark hair pinned up into a messy bun.

“Come follow me, hurry.” Dr.
Henkener said. He glanced around. The street was bare. Another crash of thunder followed by lightening the storm moved closer.

The
Shulmans followed Dr. Henkener into his office building. “We must not turn on any lights. Come…I have a candle in my office.”

They navigated the building by holding on to the walls until the
y found Dr. Henkener’s office. 

“Wait here.” Thomas Henkener
said.

Henkener went into his office, lit the candle, and returned.

“Follow me.” He said.

Dr. Shulman and his wife followed Henkener up into the attic their way lit by the tiny flicker of light. Once they were upstairs, they saw the Rosens.

“Do you know Dr. Rosen?”

“I think we’ve met. I’m Hershel Shulman and this is my wife Perle.”

Dr. Rosen nodded.

“Now, Hershel, what can I do for you?” Thomas asked.

“We need your help, my wife and I. We were in hiding. Our neighbors were trying to hel
p us, but they became afraid. People began to suspect, we were forced to leave.”

“Where is Meyer?”

“Meyer, our son, God Bless him, he is in America with his wife. He has been trying to get papers for us, but so far, he is unable to do anything. We need help. Jews are being arrested every day. I have heard frightening things. I have heard that the camps are not work camps but death camps. There is murder being committed at these concentration camps.” Hershel Shulman was covered in sweat, the perspiration from his brow was dripping into his eyes, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. “I am sorry, Thomas, to come to you and burden you with my problem, but frankly, I have nowhere else to turn.”

“There is not enough room
here; we hardly have enough food for ourselves. We cannot take on another two people, Thomas.” Zalaman Rosen said.

“We must and we will” Thomas
Henkener said. “This man is my friend. He saved my daughter. Without his help, she would be dead. My Christa, my precious child was born a blue baby. Dr. Shulman was the only one who could help her. He stays.”

“How will we manage?”

“We will manage the best we can. These are bad times. I am doing what I can to help you. But selfishness isn’t the answer.” Thomas said. Then he turned to Hershel Shulman. “There is not much to be had, only this small room and whatever food I am able to bring. I wish it could be more. You deserve only the best, but I am afraid this is all I can give.”

“It is everything. You are giving us our lives. What could be more than that?” Dr.
Shulman said tears had begun to form in his eyes. He embraced Thomas Henkener. “You are a good man. God Bless you, my friend.”

Dr
Henkener turned away in embarrassment. Then he opened the package. “Here is food. Please share it among you. I will bring more as soon as I am able. And Hershel…”

“Yes?” Hershel
Shulman gazed at him, his eyes illuminated in the flickering candle light.