CHAPTER 7
The three women were eating breakfast together. It was the first time in almost a week that they’d all sat around the table at the same time.
In the immediate aftermath of the army pulling out, things had been chaotic. The men in the forestry detail had stopped working two days after Martha had taken charge. They had marched to the office, axes in their hands, and sat down on the cobblestones, refusing to budge.
It was only after Stefan had been summoned that Martha had grasped what the problem was. He explained that the GIs who had been supervising the work had given out extra packets of cigarettes as an incentive to the men. Without this inducement, the DPs didn’t see why they should have to do a job that was much more physically demanding than any other work in the camp.
Martha wondered why Major McMahon hadn’t told her about this. Possibly he hadn’t known. The situation was easily remedied, but it had left her feeling even more anxious about what she was taking on. To forestall further trouble, she had called the leaders of all the blockhouses to a meeting. With both Stefan and Kitty translating, she had listened to their concerns about the day-to-day business of camp life and made a list of what needed addressing.
Aside from practical issues, one of the main problems was the lack of education and training for the young people in the camp. Martha had welcomed Delphine’s suggestion of recruiting and teaching auxiliary nurses to help in the hospital. Kitty had offered to organize English lessons, and she’d also come up with the idea of a sewing school. She’d discovered that a couple of elderly women had made the robes that Father Josef wore to conduct services. They’d fashioned them from garments they’d found in the clothing storeroom, cutting them up and expertly remodeling the fabric. They’d also embroidered the delicate altar cloth Kitty had seen in the chapel. Her idea was to persuade them to pass on these skills, producing items that could be sold outside the camp.
“I’ll be at the stable block if you need me for anything,” Martha said, as she got up from the table. “Stefan says it shouldn’t take more than a few days to make it habitable.”
“He’s very handsome, isn’t he?” Delphine gave her a sideways look as she got up from the table.
“Is he?” Martha could feel herself blushing. “I hadn’t noticed.” She turned away, reaching for her jacket. “He’s certainly very useful. We couldn’t have sorted out that trouble with the forestry detail without him.”
“And he got you a car.” Kitty’s voice was full of admiration.
“Yes.” Martha concentrated on doing up the buttons of her jacket, afraid to catch the eye of either of the women. She wondered if they’d been talking about her. She had been spending a lot of time with Stefan. It hadn’t occurred to her that Kitty and Delphine might read something into that. “It’s his way of showing his gratitude for what we’re all trying to do here.” Was she telling them or herself? She couldn’t deny that she liked being in his company. Did the way she acted around him give the impression that she was attracted to him?
“He does seem to have a better grasp than most of the DPs of what we’re up against,” Delphine said. “When are the new people coming?”
Martha looked up, relieved that the conversation had changed direction. “I’m not certain which day it’ll be—the major just said next week.” She turned to Kitty. “Will you keep a lookout for Mrs. Sikorsky? I had a message from the camp at Augsburg that she and her daughter and the baby would be coming back today.”
“Will they be going next door?” Kitty pursed her lips. “There’s not much room in either of the cabins now the other mothers have moved in.”
“They’ll have to, at least until the stables are ready.”
“Hmm. I hope that won’t cause trouble.”
“Will you talk to her? Explain that it’s just for a few days?” Martha reached for her bag, guiltily aware that this was a big ask: something she should do, if only she had the language skills. Sinaida had said that the baby’s father had died in Dachau. How on earth were she and her daughter going to react when they learned they’d be sharing a house with women whose babies had been fathered by Nazis?
Kitty made a detour on her way to the office. The women running the sewing school were having to scavenge thread from old garments in order to sew new ones. It had occurred to her that there might be a ready supply of it in the abandoned weaving shed, but the place was locked up. Kitty thought she might be able to break in through one of the smashed windows, but before she tried that, she dropped by the guardhouse at the entrance to the camp to see if there was a key.