10. Let Us Open the Casket
"You are all here now," Uncle Henrik said, looking around the
living room. "I must go."
Annemarie stood in the wide doorway, looking in from the hall.
The baby slept now, and its mother looked tired. Her husband sat
beside her, his arm across her shoulders. The old man's head was
still bent.
Peter sat alone, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. It
was clear that he was deep in thought.
On the sofa Ellen sat between her parents, one hand clasped
tightly in her mother's. She looked up at Annemarie but didn't smile.
Annemarie felt a surge of sadness; the bond of their friendship had
not broken, but it was as if Ellen had moved now into a different
world, the world of her own family and whatever lay ahead for
them.
The elderly bearded man looked up suddenly as Uncle Henrik
prepared to go. "God keep you safe," he said in a firm but quiet
voice.
Henrik nodded. "God keep us all safe," he replied. Then he
turned and left the room. A moment later Annemarie heard him
leave the house.
Mama brought the teapot from the kitchen, and a tray of cups.
Annemarie helped her pass the cups around. No one spoke.
"Annemarie," Mama whispered to her in the hall, "you may go to
bed if you want to. It is very late."
Annemarie shook her head. But she was tired. She could see
that Ellen was, too; her friend's head was leaning on her mother's
shoulder, and her eyes closed now and then.
Finally Annemarie went to the empty rocking chair in the corner
of the living room and curled there with her head against its soft,
padded back. She dozed.
She was startled from her half sleep by the sudden sweep of
headlights, through the sheer curtains and across the room, as a car
pulled up outside. The car doors slammed. Everyone in the room
tensed, but no one spoke.
She heard—as if in a recurring nightmare—the pounding on the
door, and then the heavy, frighteningly familiar staccato of boots on
the kitchen floor. The woman with the baby gasped and began,
suddenly, to weep.
The male, accented voice from the kitchen was loud. "We have
observed," he said, "that an unusual number of people have
gathered at this house tonight. What is the explanation?"
"There has been a death," Mama's voice replied calmly. "It is
always our custom to gather and pay our respects when a family
member dies. I am sure you are familiar with our customs."
One of the officers pushed Mama ahead of him from the kitchen
and entered the living room. There were others behind him. They
filled the wide doorway. As always, their boots gleamed. Their
guns. Their helmets. All of them gleamed in the candlelight.
Annemarie watched as the man's eyes moved around the room.
He looked for a long time at the casket. Then he moved his gaze,
focusing on each person in turn. When his eyes reached her, she
looked back at him steadily.
"Who died?" he asked harshly.
No one answered. They watched Annemarie, and she realized
that the officer was directing the question at her.
Now she knew for certain what Uncle Henrik had meant when
he had talked to her in the barn. To be brave came more easily if
you knew nothing.
She swallowed. "My Great-aunt Birte," she lied, in a firm voice.
The officer moved forward suddenly, across the room, to the
casket. He placed one gloved hand on its lid. "Poor Great-aunt
Birte," he said, in a condescending voice.
"I do know your customs," he said, turning his gaze toward
Mama, who still stood in the doorway. "And I know it is the custom
to pay one's respects by looking your loved one in the face. It
seems odd to me that you have closed this coffin up so tightly." His
hand was in a fist, and he rubbed it across the edge of the polished
lid.
"Why is it not open?" he demanded. "Let us open it up and take
one last look at Great-aunt Birte!"
Annemarie saw Peter, across the room, stiffen in his chair, lift his
chin, and reach slowly with one hand toward his side.
Mama walked quickly across the room, directly to the casket,
directly to the officer. "You're right," she said. "The doctor said it
should be closed, because Aunt Birte died of typhus, and he said
that there was a chance the germs would still be there, would still be
dangerous. But what does he know—only a country doctor, and an
old man at that? Surely typhus germs wouldn't linger in a dead
person! And dear Aunt Birte; I have been longing to see her face,
to kiss her goodbye. Of course we will open the casket! I am glad
you suggested—"
With a swift motion the Nazi officer slapped Mama across her
face. She staggered backward, and a white mark on her cheek
darkened.
"You foolish woman," he spat. "To think that we have any
interest in seeing the body of your diseased aunt! Open it after we
leave," he said.
With one gloved thumb he pressed a candle flame into darkness.
The hot wax spattered the table. "Put all these candles out/' he said,
"or pull the curtains."
Then he strode to the doorway and left the room. Motionless,
silent, one hand to her cheek, Mama listened—they all listened—as
the uniformed men left the house. In a moment they heard the car
doors, the sound of its engine, and finally they heard it drive away.
"Mama!" Annemarie cried.
Her mother shook her head quickly, and glanced at the open
window covered only by the sheer curtain. Annemarie understood.
There might still be soldiers outside, watching, listening.
Peter stood and drew the dark curtains across the windows. He
relit the extinguished candle. Then he reached for the old Bible that
had always been there, on the mantel. He opened it quickly and
said, "I will read a psalm."
His eyes turned to the page he had opened at random, and he
began to read in a strong voice.
O praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing psalms to our God!
How pleasant to praise him!
The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem;
he gathers in the scattered sons of Israel.
It is he who heals the broken in spirit
and binds up their wounds,
he who numbers the stars one by one...
Mama sat down and listened. Gradually they each began to
relax. Annemarie could see the old man across the room, moving
his lips as Peter read; he knew the ancient psalm by heart.
Annemarie didn't. The words were unfamiliar to her, and she
tried to listen, tried to understand, tried to forget the war and the
Nazis, tried not to cry, tried to be brave. The night breeze moved
the dark curtains at the open windows. Outside, she knew, the sky
was speckled with stars. I low could anyone number them one by
one, as the psalm said? There were too many. The sky was too big.
Ellen had said that her mother was frightened of the ocean, that it
was too cold and too big.
The sky was, too, thought Annemarie. The whole world was:
too cold, too big. And too cruel.
Peter read on, in his firm voice, though it was clear he was tired.
The long minutes passed. They seemed hours.
Finally, still reading, he moved quietly to the window. He closed
the Bible and listened to the quiet night. Then he looked around the
room. "Now," he said, "it is time."
First he closed the windows. Then he went to the casket and
opened the lid.