Free Chasing the King of Hearts (Peirene's Turning Point Series) by Hanna Krall Page A

Mauthausen, Block AKZ.
    In short, everything in life is interwoven in enigmatic ways.
Enough
    Shayek’s father and sister will stay in Józefów – Lilusia rented them a room in one of the summer houses frombefore the war. Izolda looks around, moved. Nothing has changed, except the hedge has grown… 115 centimetres, according to the owner, that’s twenty-three centimetres a year, I’m waiting for my husband to trim it when he comes back.
    (What are they talking about? – Halina’s father doesn’t hear well.
    That the war’s been going on for five years, Halina explains.
    Are they saying how long it will last?
    No, Papa, but I’m sure it won’t be over any time soon…)
    The room is sunny, the air outside is healthy, but Halina keeps saying she’s had enough.
    I’ve had enough, she tells the owner.
    As you wish, the woman replies, but Captain Szubert’s wife paid in advance.
    I’m very grateful to you, she tells Lilusia, you’ve been so generous, it’s just that I’ve had enough.
    Halina travels to Warsaw. Without any reason; she simply wants to go, and so she does. She keeps saying: I’m fine, really, I’m doing very well, except…
    You have to stick it out, Izolda tells her. Here you have fresh air, no one pays any attention to you…
    No one? Halina smiles. But someone is paying attention, you see. That’s right, a man. He’s very nice but not very young. We understand each other… Halina smiles again, somewhat secretively. We understand each other without words…
    That makes Izolda nervous.
    Halina isn’t as tall or pretty as her sisters, her legs aren’t very attractive and her hair is a uniformbleached yellow from the peroxide. Who would be interested in her? Izolda has a bad feeling, but Lilusia isn’t worried. Good that she has a man, things will be easier for her.
    Lilusia rides out to Józefów to pay the next rent. The owner is surprised: Miss Halina isn’t here any more. Nor is the older gentleman. How should I know where they are? They went away.
    They’ve gone, Lilusia says when she comes back. The landlady thought I knew all about it. Some man came, the landlady hadn’t seen him before, but it was clear that Halina knew him. He helped them pack up and put her rucksack on his shoulder. They took the path through the woods, towards the tracks. The man with the rucksack, Halina with the flowers and her father.
    With flowers?
    Yes, a small bouquet. The man had brought them. Early spring flowers, probably from the florist. A modest bouquet, but from the florist, the landlady says. She didn’t know anything more, Lilusia adds. They left and that was all. With an older man. About a month ago.
The Plaid Blanket
    She has a great idea: she’ll go to Vienna. Why are you looking at me like that? she asks Lilusia. He’s in Mauthausen, isn’t he? In other words, Austria. In Vienna I’ll be closer and it will be easier for me to get him out, am I right? You’re right, dear, Lilusia agrees, with the soothing kind of smile a healthy person uses when speakingto a lunatic. Why shouldn’t you go to Vienna? Go there and find him.
    But Lilusia doesn’t know how to get to Vienna.
    Terenia sees an office clerk next to the queen of hearts, but the cards don’t say where to find him.
    Vienna… my God… the sad tenor is visibly moved. Zosia and I saw
The Barber of Seville
there. Izolda cuts him off after the first few measures and promises to listen to the entire cavatina when she returns.
    She goes to see Stefa. Then the chemist with cyanide. Franciszek in Skarżysko. Kangur near the Slovak border. The Hungarian Jew in Krakow. Roman the waiter at the Rose. My husband’s in Mauthausen, she explains to each, it will be easier to get him out if I’m in Vienna, can you tell me how I can travel to Austria? My husband’s in Mauthausen…
    Mrs Krusiewicz sends her to a woman for whom she used to sew bedlinen. The woman’s husband was a judge, she now runs a nursery school (and will take in Jewish