Resistance- ON HOLD

Flour and Flowers

June 1933- Berlin

     Adeline Sommer sighed in euphoric relief. The cake is perfect! She smiled and tugged off her red and white checkered oven mitts. Esther is going to love it. This recipe was by far the most complicated Adeline had ever worked with- making everything kosher was actually very difficult. She couldn't believe that they had to individually check every egg before they used it! Unbelievable.

        Thankfully, she had found some extremely helpful books on the kosher diet a few months back when she first thought up the idea of a homemade cake for Esther's 16th birthday. If she hadn't checked out those books before last month, they would've been burned to chars like the rest of the books that "weren't Aryan". Honestly, what's the harm in a couple of cookbooks?

           
          Adeline couldn't think of the May book burning without tearing up a bit. So many brilliant works of literature lost! It hurt her bookworm heart just to think about it.

    
            Esther had sobbed that night too, but for different reasons. Her family was becoming more and more fearful of the Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and for good reason. He gave Adeline the heebie-jeebies. Adeline hadn't joined the Jungmadel (Girl's Hitler Youth) because obviously Esther wasn't allowed to, but Adeline's other best friend Helga was a member and told her all about their meetings. They even had a birthday party for Hitler last year.

          Well, Esther's birthday party was going to be the best one ever celebrated. Adeline bit her lip in concentration as she decorated the yellow cake with little frosting flowers. Upstairs, she could hear her Granny shuffle around, probably dusting all of her figurines again. She was always cleaning something- the windows, the closets, the furniture. Sometimes Adeline came home from Gymnasium to find her whole room rearranged! She couldn't really blame Granny though. It was her way of coping with grief.

             Adeline swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of her late parents. Don't think about that now, she chided herself, washing the flour from her hands and moving the cake to where the cat couldn't reach it.

              A knock on the door startled her. Without waiting for an answer, Esther barged in, her eyes wild with excitement. "Addy! Addy! You must come with me right this instant! The market is having a sale on perennials- wait, what on earth are you up to?" Esther's dark brown eyes narrowed in on Adeline's face. "Is that flour? Were you baking something? Can I have a taste? Is it kosher?" Her frizzy brown curls bounced up and down as she dragged Adeline out of the kitchen. "Never mind! It probably isn't. Let's go buy some flowers!"

           Adeline laughed at her friend's joyful face and mentally thanked Muller's Flowers for having a sale that would interest her flower-crazed friend. She didn't want Esther to see the cake until her birthday tomorrow.

             They walked hand in hand to the market a couple streets down, their arms swinging and their mouths smiling. It was a lovely day, all warm and sunshiny. Once the girls reached the flower stand, Esther pounced on the perennials and Adeline bounded to her other best friend, Helga Muller.

              "Hi Addy!" "Hi Helga!" They embraced and started to chat. Almost immediately, Helga's icy blue eyes zeroed in on Esther. "What is she doing here?" She sneered.

               Adeline rolled her eyes. "Oh Helga! You know why. She loves flowers."

               Scoffing, Helga replied, "That's not what I meant. I mean why is she here with you? I thought we went over this..." Her eyes suddenly wandered away from Adeline's indignant expression. An excited burst of giggles fell from her lips. "Don't look now, but Dutch Kaiser is looking right at you!"

              Adeline started to turn around, but Helga stopped her. "Who's he?" Addy asked.

               "Only the most handsome man in the Gestapo. I bet he's on patrol right now. The secret police have men do that so they can have eyes everywhere. I learned that last week. And his sister Eloise is in Jungmadel with me. She's twelve- Oh my! He's walking towards us right now!"

               Adeline swiveled, only to stumble backwards in fear. Oh my goodness.