Read Online You Are My Sunshine: A Novel Of The Holocaust (All My Love Detrick Companion Novel) by Roberta Kagan - Free Book Online

that had been her mothers. Then she pressed the button and waited her heart skipping a beat.
    “Who is it?” Mr. Taylor said.
    “It’s Zofia.” She answered.
    “I’m on the third floor.” He said.
    “I’ll be right up.”
    A loud buzzer went off and she grabbed the door handle. It seemed a long walk up. But when she got to the third floor, Mr. Taylor was waiting in the doorway to his apartment.
    “I’m so glad you made it. Come on in. It’s not much, but its home.”
    She entered his apartment. It was sparsely furnished, just a small table and chairs in the kitchen, which was attached to a living area. In the living room there was a sofa upholstered in dark blue fabric and a matching chair. But on the walls hung pictures of American musicians, Benny Goodman, and his band, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway.
    “Here let me take your coat.”
    She removed her coat, hat, and scarf and handed them to him. He hung them on a wooden coat rack by the door.
    “Please sit.” Mr. Taylor indicated the sofa.
    Z ofia sat down
    “Woul d you like me to play a record?”
    “Yes, Mr. Taylor. I’d enjoy that very much.”
    He smiled and began shuffling through a pile of vinyl records. “Call me Don”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Well, yes of course I am, but only when we are not in school.”
    “Don then.”
    “Would you like to hear a song? A special song, I think you will enjoy this. It’s real American music, not jazz, something different. In fact it was released in America.”
    “I would love to hear to it.”
    He placed a record on the turntable.   A group began singing.
    “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are gray.”
    “I love this, it sound just the way I think that America would look.  Not in the cities, but in the country.”
    “You’re right, this is American folk music. Would you like to learn the words?”
    “I would.”
    “Then we can sing along together, with the record.”
    He taught her the words in English and explained what they meant in Polish.  Once she’d mastered the song, they sang it together.
    After the record was done, h e smiled at her his eyes liquid, like hot oil.
    “How did I do?” She asked.
    “You did wonderfully. Can I get you something to eat or drink?”
    “No thank you. I’ve already eaten.”
    Don sat down on the couch beside Zofia. She’d never had a man sit so close to her. It was exciting and uncomfortable at the same time. Of course, he could not really be interested in her other than as a student.  But her mind raced, and the fantasies she had of him kept surfacing, so much that she could not meet his eyes. Zofia felt like a small animal huddled in the corner of the sofa trembling.
    “So, tell me all about you, Zofia. I like to know about my students.”
    “There really isn’t much to tell. I’m not terribly interesting.”
    “I’ll be the judge of that.” He smiled and she noticed that he had a slight clef in his chin, just looking directly at him made her stomach weak.
    “Well, I live a couple of miles south of the school with my mother. Last year my father passed away from a terrible bout with the influenza. Since then my mother has been very lethargic. She doesn’t get out of bed much. After school, I work for the diamond seller. ”
    “Oh , I am sorry. How do you do it all?”
    “It’s alright. I manage. I don’t really have any choice. And between what my father left us and the money I earn we survive.”
    “Please if I can help in any way, you must not hesitate to ask.”
    “That is very kind of you, but we’re fine.”
    “Here, let me get you some tea. I have some lovely biscuits as well, and it is not so often that I have company. Will you please share them with me? I would enjoy that so much.”
    “Then yes. Of course I will.” She wasn’t hungry, but it didn’t matter. Here she was alone with Mr. Taylor. He’d asked her to call him Don. He liked her; he wanted her to be his girlfriend.