Chapter Two
Gabrielle had been deposited on a queen size bed in an enormous house. Joe Liebgott had had stopped out side a huge house and carried her inside. A woman met them. She was older than Gabrielle or at least looked it. She was shorter though around five six apposed to Gabrielle's 5'8".
She had a pale complexion and long dark hair. She was in a nurse's uniform. When Joe came in she started running beside him unable to keep up with his strides. "Isabelle I need a room!" He demanded.
"Up the stair's follow me." The woman answered. Joe had followed her into a blue bedroom. Gabrielle's eye's had widened. It was gorgeous. "Who is this? What the hell is going on Joe?"
"I found her in the good old Commandant's basement." They were speaking in rapid English. "The fucker had her locked up."
"Jesus Christ! I have got to get a hold of the Surgeon General." Isabelle turned but Joe grabbed her by the arm.
"No! She stays here."
"I can't treat her here Joe, god knows I would! But she is malnourished, I only have a few medical supplies, not enough to treat her she could be ill! What then?"
"I won't let you call the dick!"
"Joe watch your language!" She snapped. Gabrielle had to hand it to Isabelle; she wasn't intimidated in the least.
"Fuck my language!" Joe let go of Isabelle and put his hands over his eyes turning on the spot and then turning back to Isabelle. Gabrielle stayed quiet and listened to them. "Look, I think she is Jewish, I don't know. If you tell him he will send her to one of those hospital's with the people from the camps. I won't let that happen."
Isabelle looked at Joe to the girl, and then shook her head. "Fine she can stay. If I need anything, I'll ask George he could find anything."
Joe flashed a brilliant smile that made Gabrielle's heart stop. "Thanks Isabelle, I won't forget this. I gotta go." He ran his hand through his hair and then knelt beside Gabrielle. He changed to German to address her. "This is Isabelle Toye, she is a great nurse, she look after you okay?" Gabrielle nodded. "Okay, I have to go, I'll visit you if I can. Bye."
She smiled at him. "Good bye." With that he left.
Gabrielle opened her eyes slowly to see Isabelle sitting staring at her. "I though I dreamt you." Isabelle smiled. She was really pretty.
"You speak English?" She asked surprised.
"Yes," Gabrielle answered. Isabelle nodded.
"Well here," She put a silver tray on Gabrielle's lap once she had sat up. "This is some porridge, I know it is dull, but you are very malnourished so you are going to be eating rather bland foods for a while."
"I don't mind." Gabrielle said quickly. She was glad to have food at all. She looked at Isabelle. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Two days."
"Two days!" Gabrielle gasped soon wishing she hadn't. Her voice hadn't regained all it's strength yet. "I have to get up!"
"No you must not! You stay in bed until you are fully well, understand." Gabrielle opened her mouth to argue but from the look in Isabelle's eyes she didn't think she was going to win. She nodded her submission. "Good now you eat up and take it easy."
With that Isabelle left. Gabrielle continued to eat the warm porridge, she was thankful it wasn't all that hot but it was deliciously sweet. Gabrielle looked at her self in a mirror and was shocked and thoroughly embarrassed at what she saw.
Instead of the grungy dress she had been wearing she was in a violet nightgown. Her hair had been washed and so had she. She terribly embarrassed that she had been washed and changed clothing but was glad to be clean. She couldn't believe she had slept through that. Then a thought hit her.
Maybe Isabelle had drugged her. Her mother having been a nurse Gabrielle knew there were medication's that could be given to induce a dreamless sleep. Gabrielle was thankful she hadn't dreamed anything. She hated sleep for that exact reason.
She got out of bed when she was finished her breakfast. She went over to a big window that stretch from the floor to the ceiling and leaned against the edge. She looked over a small village. Gabrielle knew she was somewhere in Austria but didn't know the exact location.
There was a knock on the door. She turned and saw Joseph Liebgott standing in the doorway. He looked up at her and his mouth fell open. She knew she looked a lot better then she did when he first saw her. She couldn't help but giggle at the expression on his face. He shook his head and seemed to regain his composure.
"Hi, how are you?" He said in his German.
"I am much better thank you." Gabrielle answered back in her mother tongue, and then she added in English. "You know for an American you speak very good German." He stared at her still standing in the doorway.
"You can speak English!"
"Yes," She answered giggling. "You can come in you know." She didn't figure there was any harm in him coming in.
"Huh, how did you learn?" He came and stood beside her.
"My father taught me, as well as French, we were learning Spanish when…" She stopped and looked at her hands trying her best to stop the painful memories from surfacing. It wasn't working, tears were burning in her eyes, she looked out the window. "Never mind."
He was looking at her. "If you want to talk about it, I can listen." She looked at him tears rimming her eyes. He was dead serious.
"We lived in Berlin," Gabrielle started. "My father was a professor at the University. When Hitler came into power ever one was happy, he was going to give Germany back her power and grace." Gabrielle looked from Joe to the window looking at the mountains.
"My father didn't believe it though. Things started to change, no one really notice though because it seemed to happen so slowly. All of a sudden we couldn't sit on benches, then we couldn't walk on the sidewalks, soon we had to wear the Star of David, and then we couldn't go to shops, and could only sit on a certain part of the bus." She assumed Joe knew that when she said 'we' she meant Jews. "My father spoke out against it. He knew what was going to happen, how I don't know but somehow he did.
My brothers and my father started a group fighting against what was happening. More soldiers were posted in the more Jewish neighbourhoods. Then one day our door was banged on by three soldiers with rifles, only my mother, my little brother and myself were home. They demanded we packed up and moved out of our house. So we did. We moved in with my Aunt and three cousins.
My father kept speaking out against it, especially when Jews started to disappear, they just seemed to vanish. The abductions got less subtle until the point you could here the soldiers storm into houses around you and drag families out, some of the men were shot while the woman and children disappeared.
My mother was worried, I remember one night I woke up. I was sleeping in my cousin's room and I heard my mother talking with my father. She was begging him to stop holding meetings, rebelling, to just be quiet and try and just live. My father said what life was there left to live? The next day soldiers came to the house dragged my father and three older brothers out of the house and shot them in the street.
I was coming back from the market buying food we couldn't afford and I saw them there. Like animals. My mother was crying…screaming on the sidewalk. My aunt was pleading with her to come in the house; she was trying to drag her inside. But she wouldn't go.
The next day all the people on the block were herded like cattle to the train station and put in cattle cars. When we got out we didn't know where we were. They told us it was a work camp."
Gabrielle stopped gasping, tears were running down her face. Joe put his hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to go on." She looked at him.
"I want to." Why she didn't know but some how talking to him seemed to loosen the load on her shoulders. "Anyway, when we got off the train these guards swooped down on us. It was like a flash. My little brother was wrenched out of my mothers arms as well as all the other boys and men in the group. I tried to get him back but I couldn't. That was the last time I saw him...that was three years ago.
A week after being in the camp this commandant came to investigate. I was out in the yard at the time. He looked at me and snapped his fingers. With that two guards swept down and grabbed me. They put me in the back of his car saying if I tried to escape they would shot my mother and myself. I asked if she was coming but they slapped my in response. That's how I ended up here. The Commandant told me one day that I cost him a carton of cigarettes." She laughed hollowly to try and distract from the pain that was tearing apart her heart. She rested her head in her hands.
"Oh god," Joe pulled her into his strong embrace. She wept in his arms for what felt like an eternity, before Gabrielle seemed to run out of tears. She looked up at him.
"Thank you for listening to me, I am sure I bored you to tears." She said adding a watery smile. He held her at arms length.
"You didn't bore me."
"Joe," Joe turned at the voice and looked to see a small nurse looking into the room. Gabrielle hurriedly wiped her tears away from her face.
"Oh, Rebecca." Joe said, the girl seemed to burst with pride at the fact he knew her name. Gabrielle doubted she had ever seen someone more smitten.
"Uh, Private Webster is at the door for you." She said blushing to the colour of her rose dress.
"Right, tell him I will be right there." The girl disappeared and Joe turned back to Gabrielle his eyes fill with concern. "Are you okay?"
She gave him her first real smile in months. "No, but I think I am going to be." He looked at her before kissing on the cheek and leaving the room. Gabrielle would have been less shocked if he had smacked her. Her fingers rose to the place his lips had brushed against her cheek. She smiled contentedly before getting back into bed.