Free The Extra by Kathryn Lasky

was not hard to visualize the nostrils quivering as she picked up a new scent. There was something brutal about her face. She had heard that some Nazis claimed they could smell the inferior races — Jews or Gypsies or Negroes. Was she one who thought she could do that?
    Fräulein Riefenstahl addressed the girls now, the street urchins. “My darlings, you must all call me Tante Leni. We are going to have so much fun.” The words sent a shiver through Lilo.
I don’t want to have fun with this woman,
she thought. Fräulein Riefenstahl dipped her hand into a pocket. “I have brought some chocolate for each of you.” She began distributing candies wrapped in silver and gold foil.
    Lilo thought now not of the gingerbread man but of the gingerbread house, deep in the dark woods, and of the old crone who lured Hansel and Gretel inside with palmfuls of candy.
    “Chocolate!” Blanca sighed. Chocolate was an ancient, nay, an almost prehistoric, memory for all of them.
    Fräulein Riefenstahl moved down the line of street urchins, offering them the foil-wrapped candy.
    “Go on. Take it,
Liebling,
” she said when Lilo hesitated, merely staring at the extended palm. It was as if her own hand had frozen by her side.
    “Don’t like chocolate?” Lilo said nothing. “Come on!” An impatient rasp edged her voice.
If I take it, I die.
That was all Lilo could think. Was it like the candy house that had lured Hansel and Gretel?
    “We gotta stubborn one here?” The elegant woman steeped in ruffles suddenly seemed quite vulgar. Lilo reached out and took the chocolate. The brutal eyes drew a bead on her, and Lilo felt as if she were caught in the thin crosshairs of a rifle’s sights. “That’s a nice girl,” Leni said, and reached out and lightly touched Lilo’s cheek. In that split second, Lilo felt as if she had been branded.
God, never let her touch my skin again.
    Lilo stared at the chocolate. It had been so long! Suddenly she could hardly resist tearing the foil right off.
But I must eat only half. Can I eat only half? And save the other for Mama?
But if she ate it, what did it mean? What kind of devil had she and the other children struck a bargain with? How had Lilo and her mother ever even in jest said that this was her father’s girlfriend? If only her father could see this woman up close as she had, he would know . . .
Know what?
Lilo thought. Know that she was a predator and was feared as much as any wolf.
    She had moved on, and Lilo felt only relief.
    “Who’s this?” It was like a razor strop cutting the air. Lilo jerked her attention from the golden-foil-wrapped nugget. Leni was standing before Unku. Even though Unku was dressed in rags and had streaks of dirt on her face, her beauty shined through.
    An assistant with a clipboard rushed over and shuffled through papers. “Uh, this is, let’s see . . . this is Unku Graff.”
    “How old are you?”
    “Sixteen,” Unku whispered.
    Lilo, even standing three feet away, felt Unku’s terror.
    “Better a whore, I think, than an urchin,” Leni said softly.
    “Leni, we need urchins following you around, not whores. You are the idol of the village children.” Harald had come up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She shook him off.
    “Well, make her look younger. Call the hairdresser. Much too much hair. Cut it. It will make her look younger, and sew up the blouse. We don’t need to see her tits.”
    From her pocket, she drew out not a chocolate but a small notebook. It was the same notebook Lilo had seen her write in at Maxglan. She now wrote something down in it. When she had finished writing, she looked around at the street urchins, who were all watching her. She smiled slightly, then looked down and wrote something else, closed the notebook, and tucked it into her pocket. The entire operation took no more than thirty seconds, but it was as choreographed as the dance she had performed for the camera.

“M ama, can you carry a jug on your