Free The Secret of Lions by Scott Blade Page B

closer
look at Adolf’s head. He didn’t seem to need any medical
attention.
    Abruptly, Adolf stood at attention like a
soldier.
    “No! It is fine. I apologize to you,
Heinrik. I did not mean to be so intrusive. I hope that you accept
my apology,” Adolf said while gazing at Gracy. He reached his hand
out to Heinrik as a gesture of good faith.
    Heinrik, reluctantly, shook his hand. He
felt it best to accept the apology.
    A stream of blood ran down Adolf’s forehead.
He did not react to it. He turned and walked toward the small,
desolate trees that made up one corner of the yard.
    Heinrik sat back down with Gracy. He shook
his head at her and they continued eating their lunch.
    He never let Adolf out of his sight.
    Adolf never let Gracy out of his mind.
    29
    The morning sun crept peacefully up over the
trees outside of the Kessler home; its somber light scarcely shone
in through the curtains. This was unlike the whirling mind of my
father. His mind tried to fight off the potent image of Adolf
staring at his wife. It was as if he hung off the edge of a cliff
and no matter how much he tried to pull himself back up, he could
not. Adolf pulled him over, clenching heavily at the bottom of his
boots. Heinrik feared that Adolf was over the edge and he would
take anyone with him.
    Heinrik’s eyes squinted under the morning’s
presence in his bedroom. A glimpse of Gracy’s naked backside
overtook him. She lay facing the window. He assumed that she was
still asleep and dreaming of the life they wanted.
    Together, they had spent many afternoons
planning for the future, and it was a beautiful future. It was a
future without steel bars, cages, and guns. And there was no Adolf.
Heinrik was a prison guard by trade, but he wanted to be a
carpenter. Often, he wondered who was truly the prisoner inside
Landsberg prison¬¬¬—the inmates or himself.
    He and Gracy saved every penny they could
muster. She taught piano lessons to the children of her Jewish
friends. She would have gladly taken on German pupils, but most
German parents either couldn’t afford piano lessons or they didn’t
want their children being taught by a Jewish woman. So she stuck to
the children of her Jewish friends. She did not make an
extraordinary amount of money teaching piano, but it was enough to
help buy groceries for Heinrik and her.
    Heinrik quietly sat up, trying not to wake
Gracy.
    The cold steel of a silver chain she’d given
him for their anniversary last year fell across his chest. He had
slept all through the night without realizing he’d left the
necklace on.
    Heinrik got out of bed and made his way to
the bathroom sink. He poured a glass of water and drank it. The hot
water soothed his throat. He swished the final gulp around in his
mouth. Then he spat it back into the sink. The water disappeared
down the dark drain. He stared at the hole for a moment. His eyes
and thoughts were sucked into it along with his spittle. Again he
imagined back to that day when Adolf had confronted him and Gracy.
He could not get it out of his head, even now. The way that Adolf
had looked at his wife made him cringe.
    Something sinister and austere dwelled in
Adolf’s eyes. Whatever it was, it invaded Heinrik’s thoughts. He
thought of Gracy. He wondered if she still thought about it. She
had not mentioned it, not once. Since that day, neither of them had
talked about it. But it still lingered in both of their minds. No
matter how Heinrik might pretend to ignore it, the image of Adolf
speaking to his wife was more prevalent than anything else he tried
to focus on.
    When Heinrik returned from the bathroom, he
found Gracy wide awake and staring out the window.
    “What’s the matter?” he asked, curling up
behind her.
    “Heinrik, I don’t want to go back to the
prison,” she said.
    “Oh. All right,” he responded.
    “I mean it, Heinrik. I just don’t want to
see that man again. There is something wrong with him,” she
said.
    “Okay, darling. You don’t have