Read Online Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ronald H. Balson
Tags: Fiction, Historical fiction, General, LEGAL, Philanthropists, Historical, Nazis, Law, Chicago (Ill.), Poland, Holocaust survivors
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say. ‘It was easy.’
“She asks if I would help her – she’s lost and can’t follow the assignment. This is too good to be true! I dash into my room and grab my math book. Now I have something to talk about. I’ll teach her all about geometry. Months later, she confessed to me that it was just her way of breaking the ice. In fact, she understood the lesson just fine. She’d wondered why I didn’t want to talk to her in school.
“Mother seats the Weissbaums around the dinner table and makes sure that Hannah sits next to me. I’m mid-way through the dinner when I realize that I’ve been talking to Hannah all night. She’s so easy to talk to. But now she must think I’m a jabber-mouth.”
“I think I know how she feels,” said Catherine with a smile.
“During dessert my mother drops a bombshell. ‘There’s a dance at the school next weekend, Hannah, and I’m on the organizing committee. Your mother says you don’t have plans to go. Neither does Benjamin and I’m certain he’d be happy to escort you, wouldn’t you Ben?’
“I want to crawl under the table. Hannah looks at my face, which must be frozen in shock. The rest of the table stares at me. Otto’s biting his lip to keep from laughing.
“I stammer. ‘S-Sure. That’d be fine. I’d love to take Hannah to the dance.’
“‘Oh, that’s wonderful,’ Hannah says.
“After the Weissbaums leave, I grouse to my mother that she’s set me up for failure. ‘I don’t know how to dance, Mom. I’m going to spoil my only chance with Hannah and she’ll never want to talk to me again.’
“But Otto ends up coming to the rescue. Elzbieta, his girlfriend, who is a very good dancer, will teach me. According to her, in seven days they will transform me from Stumbling Ben to Fred Astaire.
“Every afternoon, I come home from school and practice dancing with Elzie while Otto plays records on the Victrola and laughs until his sides hurt. By the end of the week I know all the steps, I just can’t get my feet to do them.
“The night of the dance, I take a pretty corsage and walk to Hannah’s. I am so sure this will be the worst night of my life. I curse the muses for making me such a klutz .”
Catherine smiled. “What kind of dances did you learn, Ben? Were they traditional Polish dances?”
“Lord, no. We listened to the big band music coming out of America. Tommy Dorsey Band. Benny Goodman. Ray Noble and his orchestra. They were playing swing music and it was very popular with the Polish kids. The school had hired a swing band for the dance and it played all the latest songs.
“What a dance that was.” Ben’s eyes glazed over. His face softened and Catherine realized that Ben was back in Zamość and it was 1937 and he was young again. His eyes saw the dance floor, his ears heard the music and his arms held the prettiest girl in Zamość.
Ben continued his narrative, barely audible, staring straight ahead, describing what he saw. Catherine strained to listen.
“She’s wearing a beautiful blue dress, square shouldered, tight at the waist. That’s the fashion, you know. We dance all night long. We don’t sit a single dance, not even one. My Hannah, she’s light as a feather. So easy to lead. So soft to hold. Her flowers, her perfume, her hair, they fill my senses. The warmth of her face next to mine – it’s intoxicating. In the blink of an eye, the evening is over. The band is playing their final song, The Very Thought of You, and she whispers in my ear, ‘Ben, you are such a good dancer.’”
Ben returned from his reverie and looked directly at Catherine. “I fell in love that night for the rest of my life and if my faith is correct, Miss Lockhart, for all eternity.”
Catherine’s eyes glistened and a lump formed in her throat. “That’s so sweet. I’m sure you’re right.”
Chapter Twelve
Zamość, Poland 1938
“You described your friendship as a triumvirate: you, Otto and Hannah.” said Catherine
“She asks if I would help her – she’s lost and can’t follow the assignment. This is too good to be true! I dash into my room and grab my math book. Now I have something to talk about. I’ll teach her all about geometry. Months later, she confessed to me that it was just her way of breaking the ice. In fact, she understood the lesson just fine. She’d wondered why I didn’t want to talk to her in school.
“Mother seats the Weissbaums around the dinner table and makes sure that Hannah sits next to me. I’m mid-way through the dinner when I realize that I’ve been talking to Hannah all night. She’s so easy to talk to. But now she must think I’m a jabber-mouth.”
“I think I know how she feels,” said Catherine with a smile.
“During dessert my mother drops a bombshell. ‘There’s a dance at the school next weekend, Hannah, and I’m on the organizing committee. Your mother says you don’t have plans to go. Neither does Benjamin and I’m certain he’d be happy to escort you, wouldn’t you Ben?’
“I want to crawl under the table. Hannah looks at my face, which must be frozen in shock. The rest of the table stares at me. Otto’s biting his lip to keep from laughing.
“I stammer. ‘S-Sure. That’d be fine. I’d love to take Hannah to the dance.’
“‘Oh, that’s wonderful,’ Hannah says.
“After the Weissbaums leave, I grouse to my mother that she’s set me up for failure. ‘I don’t know how to dance, Mom. I’m going to spoil my only chance with Hannah and she’ll never want to talk to me again.’
“But Otto ends up coming to the rescue. Elzbieta, his girlfriend, who is a very good dancer, will teach me. According to her, in seven days they will transform me from Stumbling Ben to Fred Astaire.
“Every afternoon, I come home from school and practice dancing with Elzie while Otto plays records on the Victrola and laughs until his sides hurt. By the end of the week I know all the steps, I just can’t get my feet to do them.
“The night of the dance, I take a pretty corsage and walk to Hannah’s. I am so sure this will be the worst night of my life. I curse the muses for making me such a klutz .”
Catherine smiled. “What kind of dances did you learn, Ben? Were they traditional Polish dances?”
“Lord, no. We listened to the big band music coming out of America. Tommy Dorsey Band. Benny Goodman. Ray Noble and his orchestra. They were playing swing music and it was very popular with the Polish kids. The school had hired a swing band for the dance and it played all the latest songs.
“What a dance that was.” Ben’s eyes glazed over. His face softened and Catherine realized that Ben was back in Zamość and it was 1937 and he was young again. His eyes saw the dance floor, his ears heard the music and his arms held the prettiest girl in Zamość.
Ben continued his narrative, barely audible, staring straight ahead, describing what he saw. Catherine strained to listen.
“She’s wearing a beautiful blue dress, square shouldered, tight at the waist. That’s the fashion, you know. We dance all night long. We don’t sit a single dance, not even one. My Hannah, she’s light as a feather. So easy to lead. So soft to hold. Her flowers, her perfume, her hair, they fill my senses. The warmth of her face next to mine – it’s intoxicating. In the blink of an eye, the evening is over. The band is playing their final song, The Very Thought of You, and she whispers in my ear, ‘Ben, you are such a good dancer.’”
Ben returned from his reverie and looked directly at Catherine. “I fell in love that night for the rest of my life and if my faith is correct, Miss Lockhart, for all eternity.”
Catherine’s eyes glistened and a lump formed in her throat. “That’s so sweet. I’m sure you’re right.”
Chapter Twelve
Zamość, Poland 1938
“You described your friendship as a triumvirate: you, Otto and Hannah.” said Catherine
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