The Undertaking Read Online Free PDF

I’ll ship you out with those fucking Jews.’
    The doctor blew his whistle. Six men carrying a telegraph pole charged the width of the street and battered at the door until it splintered, cracked and finally imploded. Faber stepped over the debris and hurried up the stairs after the doctor and his father-in-law.
    ‘Do as I do, Faber,’ said Mr Spinell. ‘And make sure the doctor sees you doing it.’
    They found them, two old men, three women and four children behind a false wall under the stairs. Faber put his gun to their backs and marched them into a truck parked under darkened street lamps.
    The following nights, he smashed soup tureens and china clocks, irritated that he had to leave Katharina to drag snivelling children from attics and cellars. He shouted and screamed at them, struck their legs and backs with the butt of his gun, slapped them across the face when they took too long moving down the stairs, more comfortable with howls of hatred than pleas for mercy.
    Katharina was always waiting for him afterwards, always warm. On the seventh day, as the sun rose, he took a wide band of wedding gold from an old woman. Later he slipped it on his wife’s finger.
    ‘I need you, Katharina.’
    They built a routine for themselves, the young married couple; they spent mornings in bed, and afternoons in the park, always on the same bench overlooking the lake.
    ‘I think that we should have four children,’ he said.
    ‘Two boys and two girls.’
    ‘But no traditional names. Or family names. We’re starting everything again, Katharina. Doing it our way.’
    He spent nights with Dr Weinart, moving across Berlin, while she stayed home, humming, singing, twisting the wedding band on her finger.

 
     
     
    6
    He folded her brother’s pyjamas and tucked them under the pillow, his back to Katharina as she pinned up her hair.
    ‘Do you promise me you’ll come back?’ she said.
    ‘Of course I will.’
    ‘How can I be sure?’
    He pulled on his socks and boots, and went to her.
    ‘You stink,’ she said.
    ‘Your mother likes disinfectant.’
    ‘Leaving as you arrived.’
    He kissed her.
    ‘I’ll be back, Katharina. Just wait for me.’
    ‘I’ll be here. In this room. This bed.’
    They went to the kitchen and sat down to breakfast with her parents.
    ‘He’ll be back sooner than you think, Katharina,’ said her father. ‘There’s not long left in this.’
    Mrs Spinell gave him a package of brown paper and white string.
    ‘It should keep you going for a bit.’
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Give some to Johannes if you see him.’
    ‘I will, Mrs Spinell. I’ll look out for him.’
    The train station teemed with men in uniform. Katharina pressed against her husband.
    ‘You’re shivering, Peter.’
    ‘I hate going back there, Katharina. The noise. The smells. I hate it all.’
    ‘It won’t be for long, my love.’
    She buried herself into his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
    ‘You’ll be all right, Peter.’
    The younger men, the new recruits in fresh uniforms, marched around the station, singing.
    ‘Bloody fools,’ said Faber.
    ‘They’re excited, Peter.’
    ‘About what? Dying.’
    ‘It’s not that bad.’
    ‘You’re not there.’
    ‘You’re doing very well. It’ll soon be over. One last push.’
    ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Katharina.’
    She stepped away from him and turned to the crowd, to the men playing cards in huddles on the ground.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to go.’
    He hugged her, and held her, stroking her hair, until his unit was called.
    ‘It’s time,’ she said.
    He kissed her.
    ‘I will be back. You understand that, don’t you, Katharina?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You understand that no matter what happens I will come back to you.’
    ‘I know that, my love.’
    ‘I need you here for me, Katharina. I need to know you’re waiting for me.’
    ‘I’ll be here, Peter. I promise.’
    ‘I’ll be back. No matter what.’
    He hugged her