Free Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson Page B

“It’s not you, Ben. She had a meltdown a few years ago and she’s having a hard time getting past it. I’ve known her for a long time, since high school. She used to have a spark, a flash of light when she smiled.” He shrugged. “It’ll come back one day.”
    Ben nodded. “I’d like to know more about her.”
    “Maybe someday. She doesn’t open up to many people.”
    Ben was staring out the window when Catherine arrived.
    “How’d it go?” asked Liam, helping Catherine with her chair.
    “I’m playing catch-up but it’s coming along.” She picked up the menu. “It would make my life easier if we could conclude our fact-finding on your case, Ben.”
    Liam sipped his wine. “I take it you’re still a ways away?”
    Catherine answered him with her eyes.
    “I was just at the part where my Uncle Joseph left Austria and moved to Poland,” Ben said into the awkward silence.
    Catherine responded flatly. “He had a broken leg.”
    Ben shook his head. “Once again, Catherine, it’s not so simple. It wasn’t just a broken leg.” Turning to Liam, Ben said, “I wish she wasn’t in such a rush. Why does she have to be in such a hurry? How can a person understand something when she’s only interested in getting to the last paragraph?”
    “She knows her business, Ben. Give her some credit.”
    “I’m sorry,” Catherine said. “I’m trying to keep us on task, that’s all.”
    “Well, it wasn’t just a broken leg or I wouldn’t have brought it up. To me, it was a critical part of the story.” Ben stood up. He turned to Liam. “Earlier today Catherine and I made an agreement. But we didn’t shake on it, so I guess it’s not official. So now, we’ll make a formal agreement and you’ll witness it.” He held up his right hand to take an oath. “I promise to be mindful of the demands of Catherine’s law practice and in return, Catherine has to give me credit for knowing what’s important in my story. Okay? Do we have a deal?” He leaned over the table and stuck out his hand.
    Catherine smiled and took his hand. “Agreed. I promise.” She lifted her menu to study the entrees but Ben wasn’t quite finished making his point.
    “What happened in Austria was a precursor to what happened in Poland. What happened to Uncle Joseph would eventually happen to the people in Zamość. We should have known, Catherine. Cousin Ziggy warned us and Uncle Joseph would tell us and yet all of us went about our daily routines as though nothing was going on, trapped in denial.”
    “What happened to your Uncle Joseph?”
    Vienna, Austria 1938
    “The day of the Anschluss, the Nazis staged a military parade along Vienna’s main thoroughfares. It was pure propaganda, intended for the movie theaters. Uncle Joseph and Aunt Hilda were not allowed to stay in their home because no Jews were allowed along the parade route. They were ordered to leave the area for the day.
    “Neighbors later told them that the Nazis had assigned a make-believe family to their house – healthy, blonde and smiling – character actors to be filmed cheering the German occupiers. Huge red and black Nazi flags were draped up and down the boulevards. As the parade of soldiers passed, some in cars, some on motorcycles, some on foot, their black heels hitting the pavement in goose-stepping rhythm, there were shouts of heil Hitler and seig heil coming from the balconies. Great jubilation, you know. Welcome to Austria, you wonderful conquerors. At the end of the day, when my aunt and uncle were allowed to return to their home, they found it ransacked and defaced with swastikas.
    “Almost immediately the Germans instituted new rules in Vienna. Uncle Joseph and Aunt Hilda were issued identity cards stamped with a J. Jude was painted on the windows of my uncle’s grocery store and soon after the Anschluss, the store was taken from him. It was Aryanized . No Austrian Jew was allowed to own a business. They gave my uncle’s store to an Austrian