Read Online Mrs. Tuesday's Departure: A Historical Novel of World War Two by Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

reached for her, she spoke, leaving my hand in mid-air.
    “It’s colder than usual this winter.”
    I nodded and looked at the barren trees in the courtyard outside the window. “Yes.”
    “I was looking for the birds.”
    “Anna, don’t.”
    “There aren’t any people in the park to feed them.” Her voice took on a singsong quality. “To throw breadcrumbs on the sidewalk for them.”
    “People are starving, Anna.”
    “But who will feed the birds?” She whispered in a childlike tone.
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    “They’ll die if someone doesn’t feed them.”
    “Is that why you came here this morning?”
     

Chapter Thirty-Two
    She shrugged, bu t refused to turn away from the window. “Do you remember when we were little, how Marie would let us put breadcrumbs on the windowsill in the kitchen?”
    “Yes,” I said, wondering how Anna’s demeanor had so drastically changed. Her hair had come loose from the neat bun at the nape of her neck, releasing wisps of blonde curls. She swayed in her seat, keeping rhythm to a song I couldn’t hear. Her voice slipped between the ebullient authority I’d heard only an hour before and the childish banter of the dementia of the day before, as if the two warred within her for authority.
    “And when we came home from school in the afternoon, we would go to the window and see that all the breadcrumbs were gone. Marie said that the birds had come while we were at school.”
    I smiled and touched the collar of her jacket, letting my fingers run along the nubby tweed, wishing I could join her in this innocent reflection.
    Anna continued without me. “So one Saturday I put out the breadcrumbs as we did every morning. This time, I sat by the window and waited for the birds. But they never came.”
    Anna’s voice broke. “When I asked Marie why they wouldn’t come, she just laughed and said, ‘faith is the evidence of things not seen.’”
    “I don’t understand your point, Anna.”
    “It’s a crazy verse isn’t it?”
    “No not that.”
    Her voice changed again, taking on the stern authority I’d heard in the classroom. “I’ve thought about it a great deal. ‘The evidence of things not seen’, it contains an inherent contradiction doesn’t it? How can there be evidence of things not seen?”
    I looked out at the steel gray sky, pregnant with unreleased snow, and felt the desperate frustration of my sister. But I felt no sympathy. “It’s describing the mystery of faith. I think it describes how difficult it is to believe in God’s presence even when we can’t see Him, even when we feel so alone and need His presence.”  I sighed, exasperated. Wasn’t it enough to save Mila? “Anna, some birds will live and some will die. We cannot save them all.”
    Anna shook her head and then pressed her forehead against the glass. “If not us, who will save them?”
    “Is that why you came here this morning?” I repeated.
    “Someone has to feed the birds,” she whispered. “If not us, then who, Natalie? Will God save them? Or are we meant to be His helpers?”

Chapter Thirty-Three
    There was a knock on the door. Deszo entered. He stopped when Anna turned around, as if not sure of her reaction to seeing him.
    Anna merely blinked and then smiled. “Hello darling! Have you come to take me to dinner?”
    To my surprise, Deszo smiled and said, “Yes, I have.”
    Anna swept from the chair into Deszo’s arms. As he held her, he looked over her shoulder at me and smiled sadly. Releasing her, he held her at arm’s length and said, “Now, since Natalie is here, it would be rude if we didn’t invite her along.”
    “Of course,” Anna cried looking back at me with a jubilant smile. “Natalie, call Max and ask him if he can join us.”
    I coughed and shook my head. “Max isn’t available. It will just have to be the three of us.”
    I approached Deszo with a questioning look, “Is everything settled now?”
    He nodded toward Anna who had gone back to