Free The Day the Flowers Died by Ami Blackwelder Page B

unrestraint
provided by the rum.
    “And your family has no idea about her, the reason you’ve been
missing so many Shabbos at synagogue.”
    “And you are not going to tell them,” Eli defended her, “not
until I have spoken with them.”
    “I promise.  This is your dilemma.” Aaron patted Eli’s leg
with his last words.
    “And I gladly take it.” Eli pounded his chest with one fist over
his heart like a gorilla in war and then fell on top of Aaron’s
lap.
    “Why don’t you get to bed? I’ll take care of the party.” Aaron
helped Eli to his feet and wobbled with him into his closed bedroom
in a familiar wobble the two had participated in at a previous New
Year’s Eve party.
     
    * * *
     
    When Eli awoke, his room door was closed.  Stumbling over
his exhausted feet from a long night of showing Rebecca a good
time, he made it to the door.  He gazed around the living room
and saw cleaned tables, the leftover food and drink refrigerated,
and his good friend Aaron sprawled out on the sofa.  Eli
thanked his friend in a whisper, though he still slept, then
unrolled the quilt in the corner of the sofa and laid it over
Aaron.  Aaron shifted his body, rolling his face towards the
cushions and hugging the pillow.
    Eli remembered today was the first day of the new year and his
eyes lit up.  He gazed at his floor, knowing Rebecca was just
below him, the woman he had his eyes on for several months, the
woman he had been enamored with before even speaking with her. Eli
walked to his kitchen, planning to make scrambled eggs for himself
and Aaron, shuffling pans and pots around to create enough room to
cook.
    The smell of the eggs flowed into the living room, over the sofa
and into Aaron’s nostrils. His head lifted from the couch with his
eyes still closed and, like a carrot leading a rabbit, he sniffed a
few times before opening his eyes and asked, “Are you cooking
something up for me? I’m starved.”
    “It’s the least I can do after all the help you gave me last
night.”
    “It wasn’t all me.  I have to admit, I had help.  The
political squad swept while I wiped.” With the words political
squad from Aaron’s lips, Eli knew exactly who he meant, the tall
blonde in a ponytail and the man with the white sweater.  Eli
hadn’t learned their names, but he knew they were friends of
Aaron.
    Aaron often referred to the three of them as the political squad
because at his office every discussion inevitably led back to the
state of the country.  His two friends, who dated each other,
would huddle around his workroom, impassioned by all the latest
news.  The three of them enjoyed thinking of themselves as the
rebels of the office, the rebels against the growing Nazi party,
though in truth, the only rebellion manifested in whispered words
and private conversations among them.
    Everyone knew the power of the country was shifting like a wave
from a storm in the ocean heading towards shore — forceful and
sure.
    The President of Germany, Paul Von Hindenburg, had a failing
mind, and political intrigue plagued the previous year, destroying
the young republic Germany tried to develop.  Political
parties squabbled over issues, never directing a certain
course.  Disrupted proceedings by the hundred Nazi elected
officials in Reichstag left a crippled government. Coupled with the
economic crises of the Great Depression and the desperately needed
reparations caused by War World I, the country yearned for
leadership.
    Many people began to believe the Nazi party was this
leadership.  The party’s power grew and tensions increased in
Munich.  Facing reality, Eli and Aaron both knew a rebellion
to the Nazi party would cause problems for them in the city and at
their work. So political discord became a whisper, a nuance left in
the shadows where few could see its disturbance.  Adolf Hitler
offered decision and a better future to the six million unemployed
and, like a stranger tempting a child with candy if he would