Lena headed west on Ebertstrasse towards the Tiergarten and ducked into the park. It was the middle of May, but the hot sun felt more like July. Once inside the greenery, though, the temperature cooled. A breeze swished through the trees, and birds chirped, a bit frantically, Lena thought, as though they were as disturbed as she. She rounded the corner, narrowly missing a couple of girls on bicycles, braids swinging in their wake, and caught sight of several children splashing water at each other behind the rhododendrons. Josef should be waiting for her at the statue of the woman with her hand on her breast whose name she could never remember.
There he was! With his wavy blond hair, sharp edge to his chin, and gorgeous green eyes, he looked Aryan, not Jewish. She, on the other hand, with her thick chestnut hair, brown eyes, and nose she thought was too big, but which Josef said he loved anyway, couldn’t even try to pass. Josef claimed his looks had saved him from more than a few schoolyard brawls. His family had moved from Alsace years earlier, so he’d been French, German, and everything in between, he joked. But always in love with her, he would quickly add.
When he spotted her, he smiled broadly and opened his arms. She ran into them. He was the one for her; she’d known since they were five and she lent him a few coins at synagogue every week for tzedukah. But he hadn’t realized it until a year ago when they both turned sixteen. Now they were inseparable.
Lena pulled back and studied his face. She knew she wasn’t smiling, and his smile, so bright a moment ago, faded. She felt her face crumple; she couldn’t keep it in anymore. Tears brimmed and trickled down her cheek.
Josef clasped her to him. “My Lena, what is wrong? Stop. All is good. We are together.”
That made her cry harder.
His expression turned grim. “What? What is it?”
“Oh Josef…” A strangled sob escaped.
He led her to a wrought iron bench and made her sit. He sat beside her and grabbed her hand. Usually, the aroma of damp earth and blooming lilacs in the park made her smile, but the tears continued to stream. She tried to wipe them away with the back of her hand.
Josef brushed his fingers across her cheek. “What is wrong? You look like you’ve lost your best friend.”
“I have,” she cried.
“What are you talking about?”
She took a breath and tried to compose herself. “My parents are sending me to America. In three weeks.”
Disbelief flickered across his face. “But—but your parents are planning to go to Budapest. With mine.”
Lena felt her lips quiver. “They are. But they claim Hungary is not safe enough for me. They want me far away.”
Josef fell silent.
“I tried to convince them to change their minds, but we have a second cousin, sort of an aunt, in Chicago who has agreed to sponsor me. It has been arranged.”
“No.” Josef squeezed her hand. It was just one word, but it said everything.
“I—I don’t know what to do, Josef. I can’t leave you.”
He nodded. “Nor I you.”
She brightened for a moment. “Perhaps you could come with me.”
He turned to her. “How? You know it’s not possible. I would need a sponsor, and it’s not so easy for us to—”
“I can ask my aunt.”
“My parents would never permit it.”
She cast her eyes down and whispered. “I know. But we can’t stay here. We can no longer go to school. My father lost his job at the newspaper. Your father lost his government post. It will only get worse.”
Josef didn’t say anything for a moment. “Let me think. I will come up with something.” He pulled her close and tipped up her chin with his hand. “I love you Lena Bentheim. I always will.”
“And I love you, Josef Meyer. Forever.”
“Until death do us part.” He leaned in and kissed her.