My Name is Eva(56)
‘It’s delicious,’ Eva said, ‘but I’m not sure how many more I can manage. It’s so strong!’
‘I’ll help you out,’ Sally said, laughing. ‘It’s too good to waste.’
Children of all ages had their noses pressed to the windows and when she saw the girls looking curious, a proud mother explained, ‘They are looking out for the first star. We cannot begin to eat our Christmas feast until the first star of the night has been seen in the sky. We call it the Little Star. It is how we all remember the story of the star of Bethlehem.’
Suddenly there was a cry from one of the children: ‘It’s here, it’s here! The star has come!’ Everyone immediately began to offer food as well as drinks. One elderly grandmother insisted they sample her beetroot soup with mushroom dumplings and another family offered pancakes filled with mushrooms and cabbage.
‘However have you all managed to put on such a magnificent feast?’ asked Eva, when they found Irene Komorowski graciously offering refreshments to all the visitors crowding her quarters.
‘We have been making preparations for quite some time, of course. Everyone who could spare the time went out into the forests in the autumn, picking mushrooms, which we dried for just this occasion. There is food to be had, my dear, if you look hard enough, and for those who have survived these years through eating scraps from the floor, there are great riches to be found all around us.’
‘But just look at this beastie!’ Sally pointed to the large whole fish, laid out in resplendent glory on the table, its glistening surface decorated with thin slices of carrot and hard-boiled egg. ‘Wherever did you get this?’
Irene smiled at her and said, ‘Ah, the carp is always the centrepiece of our Christmas Eve meal. Until very recently it was living in the bath, so it is the freshest of carps. You must both try it.’
She cut a small portion for the girls to taste, then said, ‘And you must take this too, my dears, for good luck.’ She held out two paper-thin silver discs on her forefinger. ‘Here, take one each and slip it inside your undergarments, against your heart, and it will bring you good luck. You must keep it there all tonight and then if you give it to someone else tomorrow, they too will have good fortune in the coming year.’
Sally and Eva stared at the little pieces of transparent silver, mystified. Then Eva said, ‘What is it?’
‘The scales of the carp. Do you not do this in your country?’
Eva pulled a face and shook her head. ‘No, we just kiss under the mistletoe.’
The girls held out their hands and let Irene slip the scales onto their fingers, then they looked at each other, burst into giggles and simultaneously slid their hands inside their sweaters. Sally said, ‘And to think I was really hoping for scent for Christmas this year.’
‘Not too much aquavit this early in the evening, I hope, girls?’ Brigitte popped her head round the door. ‘I could hear you two laughing down the corridor.’
‘Come and join us,’ Irene beckoned to her. ‘You must have a good-luck token too, my dear.’ She offered another carp scale on an outstretched finger.
Brigitte took it, then looked at the other two girls. ‘Pop it down your titties,’ said Sally. ‘That’s what we’ve just done.’
They burst into giggles and Brigitte obediently reached into the sweater she wore under her nurse’s uniform. ‘I’ll be needing some luck before the end of the night,’ she murmured. ‘We’ve got two mothers vying to have the Christmas baby, so I’d best get back and see who wins.’ She turned on her heel and left, leaving a faint whiff of carbolic soap.
‘And I have another gift for you both as well,’ Irene said, reaching behind her chair to bring out two sheepskin hats. ‘With the warmest thanks from all of us.’ Sally and Eva took the thick fleeces and pulled them over their hair and ears.
‘It really is Christmas at last,’ said Eva and then she began, in a timid, wavering voice, to sing a carol she knew from childhood and all around her other voices picked up the same tune, some singing in their own tongue, others in German, so ‘Stille Nacht’ harmonised with ‘Silent Night’ until they all ended on the one quiet note. And in that single moment of peace Eva glanced outside, hoping that tonight would indeed be peaceful, with no revenge-hungry Poles taking shots to pierce the celebrations.
‘Happy Christmas,’ Sally said. ‘Now let’s show them that the British know how to have a good time and sing them all some of our best carols.’ They broke into ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’, followed by ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, and toured the barracks arm in arm, singing at the tops of their voices.
52
25 December 1945
My darling Hugh,
How I wish you could be here to share this special Christmas with me. It has given me such hope and joy to see the happy faces all around me. They have suffered so much, but they are so brave and so optimistic. And the children, the dear children, are delighted by the smallest treat.
If we had been able to have children, my dearest, I would have wanted to spoil them with wonderful toys, but now I can see that we don’t need much at all to be blissfully happy. There are sad stories all around me, but people are determined to make the most of life again. They are alive and they are celebrating with all their hearts.