Pastel Orphans by Gemma Liviero Read Free Book Online Page A

someone will take us away? Is that why we are going?”
    Mama blinks and looks at me.
    “It is because the place we are going to is better,” she says. “Hannah is looking after your father and after he is better, he will come and join us.”
    “What about our things here?”
    “Well, Papa and Hannah will try to sell the place and put money in our bank.”
    “But why can’t we just stay here until it is sold?”
    “The place is too big and our savings are gone, dear Riki.”
    “But I don’t want to go.”
    I see there are tears in her eyes, and she turns to put the back of her hand against her mouth. I rush forward to hug her and Greta does the same. The three of us cry but I do not understand why it has to be so sad. Soon Papa will join us and we will have lots of money in the bank and we will be living in a new apartment.
    “But why do we have to go so far away from Papa?” I ask.
    “Because Berlin is not safe at the moment. There is a lot going on here. There are a lot of changes that are not for good.”
    I remember that Reuben, Marian, and Zus were sent far away because Reuben said something that someone didn’t like.
    “Has Papa said something bad?”
    “No,” says Mama, “of course not.”
    “Mama, is it the Führer who wants to change things?”
    “Yes.”
    “What things?”
    “He wants to take nice places from good people and give them to only those people he likes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because as the leader he can do what he likes.”
    If I were the leader, I wouldn’t change things. I would make sure that everyone was happy.
    “Now, children, you have to say good-bye to your father, but one at a time. You first, Greta.”
    Hannah has gone to the kitchen so that we can speak to Papa in private. Greta disappears into his room. She is in there for five minutes and Mama keeps looking at her watch. She is walking around in circles, looking nervous. Occasionally she walks to the window. I start to get nervous and stand and walk too, but she tells me to stop moving and sit down.
    Greta comes out. She is smiling. Smiling! After she has said good-bye to Papa! “He says he might be able to come soon. He said that one day we will all be together.”
    Mama purses her lips. “Go on, Henrik. Go and say good-bye to your father.”
    I enter the blackened room, which smells like disinfectant and sweat and old wood and cod-liver oil and chemicals. I think how horrible it is for my father to be trapped like this.
    I sit near Papa. I am scared at first to go too close because his eyes are closed and his breathing is loud and scratchy. But then his arm stretches out and he grabs my wrist gently with long bony fingers that remind me of the skeleton in Treasure Island .
    “Hello, Son,” he whispers through cracked lips that barely open.
    “Do you need some water, Papa?”
    “No.”
    “When will you be better? Will you be coming soon?”
    “I don’t know, Riki. Nothing is ever certain. Time means very little.”
    I do not ask him what he means because I can tell that it hurts him to speak.
    “You are older and more responsible now. Take care of yourself, and take care of your mother and sister too. I know you can do it.”
    “I will, Tateh.”
    He opens his eyes into slits and I can see that his eyes are the color of the deep ocean, which again reminds me of Captains Courageous , and this thought makes me cry. I lie down beside him on the bed and he moves slightly to let me in.
    “There, there,” he says, stroking my head. “Everything will be better soon. As long as there is a sun and a moon, there is another day to love and fight.”
    “Tateh, I love . . .” I don’t finish because my words have turned into a whine, and I begin to sob so hard that my chest hurts.
    Mama enters. “Henrik, go to your sister,” she says in an urgent voice.
    “Good-bye, Riki,” says Papa.
    “Good-bye . . .” And I run out of Papa’s bedroom and down the hallway to my room, where I throw myself on the bed. I