Life Will Have Its Way Read Online Free PDF

her finger along to the back of the apartment, then down to the floor. I couldn’t imagine what she would be saying about the floor. I watched her lips closely, trying to read them. She repeated the same word several times before I made the connection to the cellar. She was talking about the cellar. She held her hands up in a showy gesture. Peter nodded enthusiastically, then looked suddenly toward me, as if just remembering I was still there. Our gazes met, his eyes narrowed reflexively, then suddenly and without cause, his expression changed, he smiled, raised his chin in a bit of a reverse nod then turned away.
    When their discussion finally wrapped up, Peter eased himself slowly back into the living room, at first his movements seemed awkward, apologetic, he reminded me of a parent that had wrongly scolded a child and wasn’t sure how to say he was sorry. He asked me how long I had known Anja, where I’d grown up, where I’d gone to school. Once he was actually making eye contact and engaging me in conversation, some of the suspicious air that had surrounded him earlier began to dissipate. I started to wonder if I’d simply misjudged him. Who knows? Sometimes people just rub you the wrong way for no good reason. Maybe there was something about the way he looked, his body language, the sound of his voice, or perhaps it was nothing more than his completely unnecessary pile of winter clothing that had bothered me.
    Peter reached for the can of peaches still sitting on the counter. “So, this is what passes for cobbler these days, eh?”
    Anja laughed, I laughed to humor him. He set to work re-applying his layers, then stepped slowly toward the couch, he took a long, thoughtful look at the girl, I could see his cheeks rise, as the edges of his lips pulled upward. A peaceful, satisfied expression crossed his face. He turned to leave, Anja tried to make him take the peaches with him, he waved her away saying that he’d made the trip for cobbler and wasn’t willing to settle for anything less. They had another good laugh and said their good-byes. Once I was sure he was gone I launched into a series of questions about Peter that Anja didn’t seem eager to answer.
    “He was just an old friend of my father’s.”
    “From the war?”
    “As a matter of fact…yes, yes they were friends during the war.”
    “Why did you have him come?”
    “Well, I, I just thought he might be able to help us if the grandmother doesn’t return.”
    I nodded slowly, but wasn’t sure how I felt about letting someone else, someone I had never even heard of, in on our secret. She must have sensed what I was thinking.
    “Peter is someone I’ve known for years. He can be trusted.”
    “Does he know where she came from?” I asked. “Do you?”
    She waited a second before answering. Her teeth were clenched tightly and I could tell she was trying to control the urge to say more than she should. Her eyes blinked rapidly while her lips held firm. She looked as though she might explode if not soon given the chance to say something. I could tell she was pained with conflict, unable to decide what she could say, how much she could say, whether or not she should say anything at all.
    “It’s okay, Anja,” I said a little dejected, “you don’t have to tell me.”
    Anja exhaled, “It’s not that I don’t want to dear, it’s just that you might think I was crazy if I did.”
     

Chapter 6
    Anja took the tea from my hands and looked up through the steam rising from the cup, “I once had a coat made by Bremer-Klein. They were very popular in the thirties, and quite expensive.”
    “So, you’re trying to tell me you were a spoiled child?” I asked with a laugh.
    “Oh no, I was far from spoiled. But I suppose my father did have a fairly good job compared to most.”
    When Anja was young, her family lived in a small town in one of the more rural parts of the country. Their house was on the main street, directly across from the city hall,