"Leslie What - Clinging to a Thread" - читать интересную книгу автора (What Leslie)

She could barely speak. тАЬKarl,тАЭ she whispered. тАЬMy baby brother.тАЭ тАЬWhat
happened?тАЭ I persisted.

Her words, when at last they came, were not directed toward me. тАЬAfter Karl
was born, my mother was so busy caring for him that she hardly had time left for
me.тАЭ She still caressed my hair, then stopped, as if seeing for the first time that I was
in the room with her.

тАЬWhat happened?тАЭ I pressed again, angry she had forgotten her brother as she
would later forget my son.

тАЬThey came for us, and we hid. I was behind an open door, and Lena
crouched below the wood bin. My mother held Karl inside a closet that was hidden
by a large bookcase. The Germans searched the room. тАШJuden, RausтАЩ тАФ Jews come
out, they said. Karl began to whimper, and the Germans knew to look behind the
bookcase. I watched them pull my mother out by the hair. They did not see me.
Then my beloved Lena gave herself up to be with my mother. I never saw them again
after that.тАЭ

She began to weep. I held her, not wanting to let go or even change my
position, though my legs began to cramp.

тАЬI had wanted him dead so many times,тАЭ she said in a whisper, тАЬbut once it
happened, I asked God to take me instead. Even that small favor was not granted to
me.тАЭ

I held Ruth until my arms trembled from holding on so tight. I gave my mother
the handkerchief. тАЬThis was KarlтАЩs,тАЭ I said, certain that was true. тАЬAll he wanted was
to be remembered. You can give him that.тАЭ I believed this fervently, and my mother
believed it too, for she immediately relaxed, as if she had let go of something heavy.

I sat on the floor and gripped the fabric of my motherтАЩs robe, clinging to it
with a fierceness I had never known. I knew that if I lost my hold on Mother, I might
sever the only thread still connecting me to the past.

****

тАЬClinging to a ThreadтАЭ is the first of several stories we have on hand from
Leslie What. LeslieтАЩs fiction has appeared in AsimovтАЩs Science Fiction Magazine,
and regional publications. She is a stringer for the Eugene Weekly, and is currently
writing a comic novel

Leslie is the child of a Holocaust survivor. тАЬI started this story two years
ago,тАЭ she writes, тАЬafter looking through a box of linen tablecloths, sheets and
pillowcases brought over from Germany after the War. As I touched the fabric I was
overwhelmed with the symbolism of having touched something used by people I
knew only from photographs. I really did feel the physical presence of someone
from the past.тАЭ