Night Angels(60)

“Will the children go with their parents?” I asked.

“No, they are not allowed to be accompanied by any family adults. Miss Bracey and her group will be the escorts on the train. Captain Heine said the transportation must remain secret for the children’s safety. There will be exclusive carriages for the children with windows sealed so no one outside the train can see through, and it is unknown where they’ll be bound when they arrive in Britain. But I think this is still an option for your tutor’s niece.”

I shook my head. “No, Lola won’t agree to this.” Eva was only nine. She couldn’t travel to a foreign country alone and live there without family.

“This is a drastic measure, I concur. However, given the circumstances that the charity groups have disbanded and Miss Schnitzler has no other family member who offers to look after the child, she might wish to consider it. Could you call her?”

I couldn’t. Lola was in a slum, and I had forgotten the unpronounceable German address.

“Captain Heine said many parents have signed their children up. As I mentioned earlier, only a limited number of children are accepted to enter Britain. You must make a decision as soon as possible.”

But I couldn’t decide. Then, two days later, on the day the train was scheduled to leave, Lola called me, and when she heard about the transport, she instantly agreed to have Eva sent to Britain. Hurriedly, Fengshan made the last-minute arrangement for Eva to join the group on the train, and Lola promised to do all she could to slip out of the slum to see her niece off.

I said, “Lola, if you wait, the ocean liners will return from China in a few months. I’ll help get you tickets, and you can sail to Shanghai with her.”

“Who knows what will happen in a few months, Grace? Eva has a chance to escape. She must take it.”

Part of me agreed with Lola, and part of me resisted. Had Eva been my daughter, would I have chosen to send her away, or would I keep her by my side, no matter what would happen?

Still, I packed all the new clothing I’d bought for Eva, gave her my suitcase, and told her she was going on a trip that Lola had arranged, and then we waited for Lola.

Half an hour before the train was to leave, Lola still hadn’t shown up.



I had no choice but to take Eva to the train station myself. At the entrance of the consulate, Eva stepped back, shaking her head. Who would say that she was the only one afraid of the outside world? I picked her up and carried her to the car.

When we reached the train station, it was ten minutes before eight o’clock. The train was ready for departure. Children, some looking to be Eva’s age, some older than Monto, were boarding two carriages, numbered 14a and 14b. The parents were weeping, dabbing their eyes, giving their children goodbyes and last advice.

I got out of the car and nearly flew to the platform with Eva in my arms. Near a post with a gaslight, I was greeted by Miss Bracey, a woman in a plaid skirt and a black coat, standing next to a uniformed officer who was jotting down something at a desk. In her polite manner, she asked for the transportation fee and Eva’s name and birthday, which Fengshan had filled out earlier; then an officer gave me a placard with a three-digit number attached to a string—Eva’s seat number, also her identification number. The train was ready to depart; most children had already boarded.

“I guess it’s time to go, Eva,” I said, trying to stay cheerful. Lola had decided to send her niece away, and she couldn’t even come to say goodbye to her. And really, this was thoughtless, sending her niece to a foreign country. Would Eva have food to eat on the train? Would she be able to sleep? And what if the train was stopped by the Gestapo? Who would look after her in England? I wished Lola had given it more thought.

“Is Tante Lola coming?” Eva asked.

“She got caught up with something, I think.”

Eva’s lips trembled; she glanced at the children boarding the train, their suitcases, and the parents crying and kissing their children. “Do I have to go?”

I knelt in front of Eva and straightened her coat collar. “Tante Lola arranged this trip, Eva. She wants you to be safe.”

“I want my music box.” Which we had left behind in her apartment.

“In England, you might be able to find another music box.”

The last child had boarded the train; Miss Bracey looked at her watch.

“Is Tante Lola going to meet me in England?”

It was cruel to lie to a child, but it was even crueler to tell her the truth. “Oh yes.”

“I’d rather stay here with you.”

Just like that, I wanted to hold her and tell her she didn’t need to go. I wanted to keep her, for I had grown attached to her, her small body, her German accent, her trusting eyes. But how unfair this world was—even though I wanted to be hers, she could not be mine.

Miss Bracey was walking toward us; the officer was holding the door. “You have to go now, Eva.”

Eva lifted her suitcase with both hands and shuffled to the carriage. She looked so small, delicate, carrying the suitcase half her size, the only thing she had, a nine-year-old with a splintered family, without a friend, without a country.

The door shut behind her; the steel-toned light from the station’s bare bulbs grazed the shuttered windows. A chain of squeaks rattled in the air. The train chugged forward, diving through the icy shards, into the ridge of darkness.