Finding Rebecca: A Novel of Love and the Holocaust Read Online Free PDF Page A

across
the cool surface of the sea as he ran his fingers over them.

    ‚ÄúHave you ever skimmed stones?‚Äù

    ‚ÄúNo. I don‚Äôt know what you‚Äôre talking
about.”

    ‚ÄúHere,‚Äù he said, placing the stone
into her hand, parallel to the water in front of them. “Try to throw it onto
the water so it will make them skip along.”

    Rebecca smiled and drew her arm back.
The stone flew about three feet, barely landing in the white ruffles of surf
lapping against the shore in front of them. Christopher placed another flat
stone into Rebecca’s palm. She threw it again and the same thing happened again.
Unperturbed, he gave her another stone, and then another and then went to look
for more until she had thrown about thirty stones into the surf at their feet.
She was smiling now. “Isn’t this fun?” she said and Christopher nodded.

    They played on the beach for an hour
or so before Christopher heard his father. Rebecca turned to him and he told
her to hide, that he would come back down for her in a few minutes and she
scuttled behind a rock and stayed there. The voice came closer and Christopher
saw his father’s silhouette appear across the sky. His father called him for
dinner and turned immediately to walk back, where once he might have chased him
down the beach and carried him laughing above his head back to the house.
Rebecca looked over at Christopher from her hiding place and he smiled at her.
He followed behind his father as he walked back up towards the house and, once
his father was far enough ahead, doubled back to the beach, back to where
Rebecca was hiding.

    ‚ÄúCome with me.‚Äù Christopher said,
extending his hand to her. “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe.”

    Dinner was on the table when
Christopher arrived at the house. Uncle Uli smiled, picked him up and sat him
down at the dinner table in between himself and Alexandra. His father didn’t
look at him, just at the plate of food in front of him. They spoke German at
dinner, even though Father wanted them to start speaking English all the time.

    ‚ÄúSo how was your day down at the
beach?” Uncle Uli asked. “You were gone for quite a while.”

    ‚ÄúIt was fine.‚Äù

    ‚ÄúWe had a very productive day
painting the house, didn’t we, Stefan?”

    ‚ÄúYes we did,‚Äù Christopher‚Äôs father
answered, briefly flicking his eyes around the table as he spoke. Uncle Uli
reached across to Alexandra and gently pinched her cheek, but no one spoke.
They ate in silence for a few seconds before the crash came from upstairs.

    ‚ÄúWhat was that?‚Äù Stefan said, looking
across the table at his brother. Christopher kept his head down. “What was
that, Christopher?”

    ‚ÄúI don‚Äôt know,‚Äù he shrugged, still
not looking up. Another thump followed by gentle footsteps came through the
floorboards above their heads.

    ‚ÄúChristopher, have you something to
tell us?” Uncle Uli asked. “Did you bring a cat home? Your father made it clear
last time you did this.”

    ‚ÄúNo, no. There‚Äôs nothing there. It
must have been the wind.”

    ‚ÄúWe‚Äôll see.‚Äù Stefan said, forcing his
chair backwards. “Come on. You had better hope it was the wind Christopher,
after all the trouble you’ve given me.”

    ‚ÄúNo Father, no. There‚Äôs nothing up
there. Can’t we finish dinner?”

    Stefan grabbed Christopher by the arm
and dragged him off the chair. Uli said something but Stefan ignored him.
Alexandra followed as Stefan brought Christopher out of the kitchen and past
the bare floors and onto the freshly sanded staircase. Alexandra laughed as
they heard another noise from upstairs and Christopher tried to apologize but
his father wasn’t listening. Christopher tried to wriggle free but his father’s
grip was too tight and he forced him up the stairs.