The Boy in the Basement

Chapter 31

Max's health came back quicker than any of us thought he would. He was walking almost normally withing 4 days. Max was a trooper, that was for sure. Before we knew it, he was back in the basement reading, writing, and doing his exercises to get more strength back.

May brought back Cora's man, Nik. He got injured in the war and lost leg, but he was going to live. Cora was sad about what had happened, but she was happy he was at least alive and back. It could have been worse for him. Nik was planning to move in once he was out of the hospital. It would be nice to have another roommate. Cora would visit him almost every day; she had missed him terribly. I couldn't help but feel a small bit of jealousy towards her; she had gotten someone she loved back from the war, and i never had that. But I tried to push that away. Most of all, I was happy for her. I would never, ever want her to go through what i had gone through before.

Summer was a hot one in 1942. There were plenty of raids from the Americans; one of them even hit 2 blocks away from us. Although it was close to home, life still went of for Cora Nick and I. The three of us went out and enjoyed the summer as much as possible, and all of us got fairly tan through it all. It felt like one long, sunny day that never ended; it was just filled with work, art, the outdoors and visiting others. But it all went by too quickly. Before we all knew it, it was the end of August. Liesel went about to go into 8th grade. Max was about to turn 26 years old.  Rudy had been chosen to be specially trained for war. But he wasn't the only one. It was Papa's turn to go, too. I learned that when I went to visit home because Liesel was upset about Rudy.

I also learned about what Papa had done as the Jewish parade went by. That must have caused the party to want him. This was the worst punishment for Papa. He was obviously upset, and I hated to see him like that, so I went downstairs to talk to Max. He was painting.

"You know, by the time you're out of the basement, you'll probably be the best painter in Germany."

"Do you mean I'm not the best already?" He sighed. "I have to get back to work, then." He laughed. "I know about Hans."

"Ya, it's unfortunate. But he's not actually fighting. He's only cleaning up after the bombings." I replied. "I think he may come back." I was still scared, though. The last time someone I cared about went away like that, it didn't end well.

"That brings up another thing that I've decided to do." Max put his paint brush down.

"What would that be?" I sat down next to him.

"I have to go." He said abruptly.

"Go?" The fear bubbled inside me. "Go, as in leave?"

"Yes, I have to leave."

"But why, though?" I managed to say. I couldn't imagine Max leaving, especially after being here for two years. If Max was gone, and out in the open, he could be found, and he could be killed. We wouldn't figure out until years later, too.

"You heard what Hands did with the parade. He gave the man bread, and now he has to go to war. That means they're onto him. If they come here and find me, they'll kill me and take you all. Even you, even though you live in another house." He took both my hands in his. "If something ever happened to you, if you ever got hurt because they found me, I would never forgive myself. I promise you, when it's all over, and I don't have to hide, I'll come back."

"Promise?"

"Absolutely. I'll come back, and we'll live our life together. We can go on dates, and cuddle as we read, and we can create art. Then maybe, later on in life, we'll get married, and we'll have kids, and we'll love each other until we're older. You know why? Because I'm going to survive this, and I'll come back. It may just take a while longer of hiding." Both of us were silent for a moment; it was a tense silence that was filled with fear of what would happen to Max, hatred of Hitler, and just sadness that things couldn't be better. Max had been fighting for so long. He couldn't let go now.