Even though he was still under the covers, Karl began to shiver from the cold. He also noticed that Emil’s mother was still sitting on the little footstool.
“Had she been sitting like that all night long?” he asked himself, frightened.
He wanted to ask Emil—but with his head buried in his hands, Emil suddenly looked like an old man. Karl was afraid to look at him.
At first, Karl pretended to be asleep. He rolled over on his side and closed his eyes. He wished he could fall asleep, and then, when he woke up, everything would be better. Emil’s mother wouldn’t still be sitting there, and Emil wouldn’t look like an old man—that’s what Karl tried to convince himself.
But he couldn’t keep his eyes shut for long, because even then he could still see Emil. Karl began tossing from side to side, trying to make a commotion. Sure enough, the bed squeaked. That’s good, Karl thought, and he opened his eyes to see if Emil’s mother had moved even a little bit. No, she was still sitting in the same place.
The rain made a terrible racket. The heavy drops hit the window like hail. He could hear water splashing onto the stones in the courtyard, as if it was running from a pipe.
“You know, Karl,” Emil said, without moving—as though he’d known all along that his friend wasn’t asleep—“I’m afraid to get out of bed.”
“Have you been up long?” Karl asked.
“Yes, for a long time. I called to my mother, but she didn’t answer.”
“You didn’t shout loud enough, Emil,” Karl assured him. “You were probably afraid of waking me up.”
Emil took his friend’s advice. He called out, “Mama!” When she didn’t respond, he shouted louder and louder, “Mama! Mama! Mama!”
After the last shout Karl heard his friend crying. But this time he didn’t have anything reassuring to say to Emil. It was all so strange. Emil’s mother was sitting on the little stool and hadn’t moved one bit.
Karl jumped out of bed and quickly threw on his clothes. He felt he had to do something. Taking firm steps, he walked into the room where Emil’s mother sat.
As soon as he entered, a chill ran through his body. She sat there with her head bent over. Even though he took such heavy steps that they made the bureau shake, she didn’t move.
Then Emil got up the courage to jump out of bed. Still in his underwear, he ran in and stood in front of his mother.
“Mama! Mama!”
He waited for a while, but she still just stared at the floor.
“Mama! Answer me, Mama! I’m frightened! Mama, you’re scaring me!”
All at once he started to cry and grabbed his mother’s shoulders.
Strangely enough, as soon as he started to cry, her body began to move, and she looked up from the floor. She looked at him for a moment or two, her eyes brimming with tears. It seemed as though she yearned to say something—not with her mouth, but with her eyes. Her face was full of kindness, but her mouth remained closed, and soon her gaze dropped to the floor once more.
Emil went over to the table and banged it with his fist in desperation.
“Mama, you’re frightening me! Why won’t you answer me?”
Once again his mother didn’t respond until Emil shouted at her. Then, as soon as he began to cry, she lifted her teary eyes and looked at him with her quiet, loving face.
Karl saw right away that Emil’s mother had changed overnight. He felt that now Emil was even more helpless than he was, and that he had to do something to help his friend.
Karl thought of his neighbor, Frau Gutenglass, who was always so kind to him and his mother.
“We ought to go to a neighbor,” he said, because often when his mother had gone to work that’s what he’d have to do.
“No, God forbid!” Emil cried. “Anything’s better than the neighbors!”
Emil told him how their neighbor across the hall had helped beat up his father. The man’s wife had also been there the day before, and she took away almost all of his mother’s clothes. She even held them up to her body as she looked in the mirror and said that they were just right for her.
“But we have to do something, Emil, we can’t just let things stay the way they are.”
As Emil and Karl continued to talk, Emil’s mother still sat there, motionless. Neither of the boys could take his eyes off her, hoping that they might see some change.
The rain continued to fall, though not as heavily. Now it was a thin, steady drizzle.
“Maybe we should go find your Uncle Robert,” Karl suggested.
“No, never! Uncle Robert warned us not to come to see him. They looted his store. It’s dangerous to walk down his street. They beat up anyone they find there. I’m too scared to go outside.”
Karl wanted to ask who exactly “they” were, but suddenly he remembered the three men who had dragged off his mother.
There was a clock on the wall in Emil’s house, but it had stopped. “It must be about twelve o’clock by now,” Emil said, when he saw Karl looking at the clock.
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m very hungry,” Emil answered.
Karl was, too, but he was ashamed to admit it.
Suddenly Emil went over to his friend.
“Karl, you won’t leave me alone, will you?”
“What are you thinking? Where would I go? I don’t have anyone else.”
“What about your grandmother?”
“No, she’s very old and sick. She’s in a hospital. I don’t even know where it is.”
“You know, maybe we’ll have to take my mother to a hospital,” Emil said.
Emil was still afraid that Karl would abandon him, so he tried to see if he could be sure of his friend.
“You know, Karl, if you walk out of here no one’s going to hit you. After all, you’re not a Jew.”
“Well, they kicked me, they beat up my mother,” Karl responded.
Emil was satisfied. He found some bread and gave it to Karl.
Karl didn’t want to take it at first, but then he bit off some.
Emil also broke off a piece and chewed on it half-heartedly.
Karl could tell that Emil was very frightened. He went over to Emil and took his hand.
“Emil, you’re the only friend I have.”
Emil’s eyes began to fill with tears.
“The only one,” Karl reassured him.
Once more Emil went over to his mother, but now he was less afraid than before. He didn’t shout desperately as he had earlier, but whispered into her ear.
“Mama, why won’t you say anything?”
They heard someone knock softly on the door. The boys froze. Slowly, cautiously, the door opened, and the rabbi walked in.