The Forbidden Six

August 19th, 1938

Early that Saturday morning, Otto walked to Mena's house, his mind churning. Her mother invited the curly haired boy inside and offered him a pandesal, which was a type of Filipino bread. He took it and waited for Mena. Once she appeared, Otto smiled and began to talk. She blinked, surprised by the sudden onslaught of speech.

"Ena. I have an idea." He grinned. "Next Saturday on the 26th, do you want to go to the beach? We'd take a day for travel, a day to actually go to the beach and stuff, and the third day would be for getting back home."

She yawned. "We don't live near a beach. What, are we going to grow wings and fly to the beaches of Italy?"

"That's the thing. We would take the train to Rügen."

"Wouldn't that cost money? Where would we get that kind of money? I'm poor, if you haven't noticed. I know you're rich but I don't want you paying for me. Then I'll feel bad and I'd have to pay you back."

Otto explained that he had already figured it all out. He said that he had talked to everyone in the friend group. They all had enough money saved up from their jobs. Otto had a job at a florist, Liese worked at a bookstore, Leyna was a seamstress at her family store, Werner still had his job at the roller rink, Mena worked at a pet store, and Pieter was working as a gardener.

"You don't have enough leave for that." Mena frowned.

"I've got all that worked out too."

"How?"

Otto brightly smiled, not giving a straight answer.

"Okay," Mena slowly said. "Where would we stay?"

"My family has a vacation home there."

"You have a vacation house?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What was I to expect? You're rich." She chuckled and her eyes lit up, remembering that she had to call Liese. She ran to the telephone and quickly dialed Liese's number, which she had memorized by heart. Once the operator connected them, Mena excitedly told her friend about it.

"I've never been to the beach," Liese said with delight. "Do you think I'm going to drown?"

"You'll be fine. Werner will be there to save you, anyway."

"I can save myself," she answered with a laugh. "I don't want someone's hands on me! Germs, Mena, germs."

***

The following week, Liese, Mena, Pieter, Leyna, and Werner went to Otto's house. Their bags were full of clothes for the next few days and their eyes were shining with enthusiasm. Liese had a beach bag full of her things along with her small leather suitcase. Werner stuffed his swimsuit into Liese's bag. She tugged the bag away from him and threw his swimsuit into his face. He caught it and laughed.

The loud group stood outside of Otto's house and waited for him to come out. Werner, with his voice louder than usual, was all over the place. Since they were standing in the street, there were a few people walking around. They stared at him. Liese noticed this and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Wern. People are looking at you. Maybe you could...stop?" she said, trying to be nice.

"I can't help it. I have too much energy. I'm so excited. Sehr, sehr, sehr, excited," he answered.

Leyna cast Mena a glance. Mena slightly shrugged and looked at the door, waiting for Otto to emerge from his house. Leyna rolled her eyes. Pieter stood by her, trying to engage in conversation. His voice slowly dwindled to a stop as he realized that Leyna didn't care.

"I don't want you hanging out with those Jews," a voice yelled as Otto opened the door.

"They're my friends, Vati. It's fine. It's not like they're going to kill me," he shut the door behind him as his father shouted a response.