Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #3)(59)

Something strange is happening inside Livi’s chest: it’s as though her heart wants to get out. She scrunches her eyes, rubs them hard, but she’s not mistaken, she would recognise this man anywhere. She feels hot and then very cold when she sees the woman beside him.

Mumma!

Shifting from foot to foot to get a better look, Livi doesn’t know what to do. She can’t leave, she can’t stop looking at her mother, but she has to move, she has to find her sisters.

Cibi and Magda are sorting through mail when Livi bursts through the door of the post office. From the look on Livi’s face, from her glittering eyes and blood red cheeks, Cibi knows something has happened. She needs to take Livi outside before she gets them all in trouble.

‘Stay here,’ Cibi tells Magda, and pulls Livi through the doors. ‘Tell me.’

‘It’s Mumma, Cibi! She here, and Grandfather.’ Livi pauses to catch her breath; she points to the front gates of the camp. ‘The train, they just arrived on the train.’ Livi places her hands on Cibi’s shoulders and shakes her. Her sister’s eyes have glazed over; she too is struggling to breathe, but they don’t have time for that. She shakes Cibi again. ‘We have to help them!’

‘But Magda .?.?. We need Magda, too,’ Cibi pants.

‘Two of us running out is bad enough, Cibi.’ Livi is tugging on Cibi’s sleeve to move. ‘Magda is new here – she gets caught, she dies.’

The girls cross the short distance between the post office and the train. Standing side by side, they watch the hundreds of new arrivals dragging their feet along the platform as the prisoners in their familiar striped uniforms dart in and out of the cattle wagons grabbing their possessions.

‘I can’t see them,’ says Cibi, her eyes desperately searching the faces.

‘Over there!’ Livi points. ‘I just saw them over there.’

Cibi freezes as her eyes come to rest on the SS officers who will be handling the selection. ‘Kramer, Livi. I have to talk to him,’ she says.

‘No, Cibi! You can’t. Please!’ Livi grabs hold of Cibi’s arm, but Cibi isn’t listening to her. She shakes free and strides towards the officers. As she approaches, the men turn and look at her. Cibi feels very small, a weak animal in the midst of powerful hunters, but she gathers her courage.

‘Commander Kramer. I have just seen my mother and grandfather on the platform. I beg you to spare them.’ Cibi doesn’t cry – she’s too scared to cry, but her hands are shaking. She digs her nails deep into the palms of her hands, and the pain makes her brave. ‘They are all I have left in this world.’

Kramer looks her up and down and gives a sharp shake of his head. ‘I have decided their fates – not you, little girl. Your mother and grandfather will be with their god soon enough.’

‘I am begging .?.?.’ Cibi doesn’t see the hand that strikes her. It happened so fast, knocking her off her feet. From the ground, she stares up into the sneering, hateful face of the German officer. She feels the urine slip out of her body. Suddenly, there is a commotion on the platform and, for a moment, Kramer turns away, distracted. Cibi feels herself being dragged to her feet as someone whips the scarf from her head. She is surrounded by other girls, all of whom have removed their headscarves. Kramer turns around again, looking for Cibi, but the girls, identical in their emaciation, stare back. Unable to identify Cibi amongst them, he turns away.

‘Come on, run!’ Livi says urgently as she grabs Cibi’s hand and pulls her away towards the fence that divides them from the new arrivals.

The trauma of having been assaulted by Kramer flashes away as she and Livi once again turn their focus on the hundreds of men, women and children slowly walking towards the building, where she knows they will be told to strip naked before being taken to their deaths.

‘There! There they are!’ Cibi suddenly screams. Her hands grab the fence, shaking it as if to bring it down. Livi is frozen, her mouth open and soundless. Cibi tries to call out but her voice too, has suddenly deserted her. Another girl joins them. She doesn’t need to be told the sisters are looking for their mother. It’s obvious.

‘Mrs Mellerova!’ the girl shouts. Once, twice, three times.

Chaya hears her name and turns around.

‘Mumma,’ Cibi cries, banging her fists on the wire. ‘Mumma! Mumma!’

The snaking line of prisoners draws closer, there are only a few feet between them now.

‘It’s me, Mumma! Cibi!’

Chaya is looking around, her eyes failing to find her daughter. Yitzchak’s head is cocked, catching Cibi’s words in the air. And then Chaya sees her, and stumbles. Yitzchak catches her. ‘Cibi? My Cibi?’ her mother cries.

Mother and grandfather hang on to each other, diminished.

‘Yes, Mumma, it’s me!’ Cibi is struggling to speak – she can barely stand to look at them; her proud, once erect mother is gaunt, hunched, hanging on to an old man.

‘And Livi?’ her mother cries. ‘My baby?’

Cibi has forgotten Livi is standing mute beside her. She realises her mother and grandfather have not recognised her. She puts her arm around Livi’s shoulders, drawing her close.

‘She’s here Mumma. Here’s Livi.’

‘Mumma,’ Livi croaks. ‘I need you.’