Darling Paul, .
He is a Jew. And this means something in this horrible new world. Such an absurd thing, I have seen things with my own eyes that make me shiver. I’ve hidden so much from Maman.
She’s terrified of doing anything that will jeopardize you out there and please, don’t think I would want that either. But I’m scared of people’s fear, what it makes them do, and I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to live in fear. But I have jeopardized things, and maybe I have done things that will endanger you.
I’d do anything to keep you safe – don’t think that I wouldn’t.
There is a place out in the forest, it’s the worst-kept secret in Vichy. Paul, a Jewish family are living there, having moved south to be safe. Their boy attends the school. He’s a tiny thing and so quiet, seems much older than his eleven years. My heart breaks when I look at him, his shirt dirty at the collar. His mother comes quickly at the end of the day, then they go, Monsieur Garande muttering at his back. A man like Monsieur Garande, soft as anything under all the bluster, looking like that at him. Imagine – a little boy. I worry for them, hear things. They say there are others there now too.
I haven’t heard from you in weeks, are you still at the factory? Are you getting my letters? I can’t send this, filled with secrets, everything seems to be a secret now.
Come home to me, come home and remind me that people are good.
Isabelle