Rising Sun, Falling Shadow Read Online Free PDF Page A

of choice.”
    Esther’s eyes defiantly held Sunny’s for a moment, and then her face crumpled. She raised her hands to cover her tears. “Yes, of course, you would know best,” she said, her voice breaking. “Do what has to be done.”
    â€œIt’s for the best, really,” Franz murmured, embarrassed by the hollowness of his words.
    Esther lowered her hands, then looked from Franz to Sunny and back to Franz again. “Please, you must promise me, Franz. Whatever happens during the surgery, you will save the baby first.”
    Franz and Sunny exchanged charged looks before Franz turned back to Esther. “You know we will do everything possible for you and—”
    Esther reached up and clutched his wrist with surprising force. “But if it anything goes wrong, you will save the baby! Please, Franz.”
    Franz clasped her hand in his and held it tightly for a moment. A silent promise.
    Another nurse, Berta Abeldt, arrived pushing a portable stretcher ahead of her. “The operating room has been prepared, Dr. Adler,” she announced.
    Together, they lifted Esther onto the stretcher and then Berta wheeled her away.
    As Franz scrubbed for surgery, his thoughts drifted back to the night of Hannah’s birth. His wife, Hilde, had been so excited when her water finally broke a week after her due date that she cried from joy rather than discomfort, at the first contraction. Between labour pains, Franz and Hilde playfully argued over names. They both favoured “Albert” for a boy, but they could not agree on a girl’s name; Franz preferred “Elise,” while Hilde had her heart set on “Hannah.”
    By Hilde’s sixth hour of labour, Franz sensed trouble. The baby’s head had hardly progressed down the birth canal. After twelve hours, Hilde was too exhausted to push any more. Franz’s mentor, Dr. Ignaz Malkin, had rushed into the hospital at four in the morning to perform an emergency Caesarian section. Franz had to beg the older surgeon to allow him into the delivery room; husbands were always kept outside. Franz had never felt as terrified or helpless. Hannah came out navy blue and not breathing. Dr. Malkin’s vigorous rubbing finally coaxed a breath or two from the tiny girl. But the damage had been done. The newborn’s brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long. Franz soon noticed how little his daughter’s left arm and leg moved compared with the limbs on her right side. He was devastated, but Hilde remained unfazed. She persuaded him to be grateful for the miracle of their daughter’s survival. And he was, too, until Hannah’s fourth day of life, when Hilde developed a fever. Less than twenty-four hours later, his wife was dead from an overwhelming post-operative infection.
    â€œEsther is on the operating table,” Sunny announced from over his shoulder, snapping him out of the memory. “We are ready, Franz.”
    His heart pounded in his throat. Esther and he were closer than most siblings. They had been the only adults in either of their families to escape Nazi-occupied Vienna, four and a half years earlier. During their first three years in Shanghai, Esther had lived with Hannah and Franz in a one-bedroom apartment. Esther was more a mother than an aunt to Hannah. Franz could not imagine life without her.
    Sunny reached a hand out to him. “I have performed several Caesarian sections, Franz. If you would prefer . . .”
    He smiled grimly. “I have to do this, Sunny. I promised her.”
    â€œYes. Of course.”
    As Franz stepped into the operating room, he reminded himself that there were no true medical parallels between Hilde and Esther’s conditions. Still, he had to force himself to slow his breathing and focus on the procedure, not on Esther, who was already on the table, covered from the neck down. Her pregnant belly rose from a gap left between two sheets. Her abdomen was