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attainment of the important goal of discipline. Only discipline and obedience, he said, would make us fit to issue orders later in life.”
    â€œYes,” Krista repeated. Then, as his hand crossed the top of her bared thigh and headed inside: “Someone might see.”
    She had finally balked! He had been getting worried.
    Then she stood, adjusted her skirt, and sat sideways on his lap, her skirt falling down outside. “But now they can’t,” she murmured, and leaned in to kiss him.
    Ernst stiffened his jaw to prevent it from dropping. She was not objecting. What was he supposed to do now?
    She had to be bluffing. She was too conformist to break with convention. She was trying to make
him
back off. Where would he be, if she succeeded? So it was a contest between them, and he had to win it if he wanted to be free of her.
    She was right about one thing: no one could see his hand under her skirt now. The contest would be invisible. Where would she stop? He would find out. He moved in and touched the slick satiny surface of her buttock.
    But meanwhile he talked, because it was the sound of their voices that reassured family members elsewhere in the house. Silence would occasion an investigation. “I remember the very words Hitler spoke. ‘We want to be a peace-loving people, but at the same time courageous,’ he concluded ringingly. ‘That is why you must be peaceful and courageous too. Our people must be honor-loving; you must learn the concept of honor from earliest childhood.’ For all of us in the audience had learned the consequence of dishonor, as practiced by the Allies after the War. The
Volk
would set a new and perfect standard for all the world to behold and try to emulate. ‘You must be proud,’ the great man continued. ‘Proud to be the youthful members of the greatest nation in the world. But you must also practice obedience. You must learn to overcome hardship and privations. There must be no class distinctions among our people; never let such notions take root among you.’ And, with a flourish, he finished: ‘All that we expect of the Germany of the future, we expect of you. We shall pass on, but Germany will live in you.’”
    â€œOh, yes!” Krista agreed. Ernst wasn’t sure whether she meant agreement with Hitler’s words, or with the progress of his hand, which was now far beyond the bounds of propriety.
    He carried on. “The applause interrupted the great man frequently during his speech. Now the cheering was deafening. The Hitler Youth anthem played, and the
Führer
shook hands with the most favored Youths. Among those was mine. I was afraid the very bones of my fingers would shake apart as I shivered with excitement. I remember thinking
The rotten bones are trembling
, and being horribly embarrassed at the very notion. I didn’t matter, but I would have hated to soil Hitler’s hand with rotten bones. But his grip was firm, and mine seemed so too. ‘Fine job!’ the
Führer
murmured, giving me a brief, meaningful glance. Then he went on, leaving me half stunned. The great man had spoken personally to me, and looked me right in the eye!”
    â€œOh, that must have been Heaven!” Krista agreed enviously, the muscles of her legs tightening against his hand. “To shake
his
hand!”
    It had been, indeed. Yet this present moment had a certain devious similarity, for her body was also having an electrifying effect on his hand. He was beginning to hope that she
wouldn’t
balk.
    â€œIt was,” he agreed. “I was half-dazed in off-moments for days thereafter. That was when I read
Mein Kampf
and learned about the Jews.” He didn’t say that he had since had cause to doubt that all Jews were of that nature.
    â€œMore,” she said.
    Yet again he was surprised. Did she mean more about his life, though the high point of it had passed with that meeting with Hitler, or more of what