“You want me to go and talk to them now?”
“I’m sorry, Kitty—you always end up having to do my dirty work. It’d be mostly sign language if I tried to do it. If you could go to blocks one to eight, I’ll ask Stefan to do the rest.”
Stefan appeared ten minutes after Kitty had left the office. Despite her agitation, Martha felt a tingle at the sight of him. She hoped it didn’t show on her face. This was not what she’d come to Germany for—to get involved with another man. She had to snuff out this feeling before it took hold of her.
No sooner had she explained to him about the coming influx of DPs than a loud rap at the door announced the arrival of a delegation of blockhouse leaders. The news had spread through the camp like wildfire.
“Nie mamy miejsca!” We have no room! The oldest of them, a bearded man in a long military coat with several buttons missing, came striding up to the desk, hands spread in front of him.
Stefan asked him what sounded like a question. A heated exchange followed. Martha was reminded of the time Stefan had broken up the spat between the fishermen and the German farmer.
A few minutes later the three leaders left the office. Martha was alarmed by their scared, bewildered expressions as they turned to go.
“What did you say to them?”
He shrugged. “I told them that if they didn’t make room, the army would come and do it—then put them in jail.”
“Stefan!”
“You think I told a lie?” There was fire in his eyes. “It happened before you came. How do you think all the DPs live this way without fighting?”
Martha sank into the chair. She’d tried so hard to manage things without resorting to the army. The thought of threatening these people with jail after what they’d suffered at the hands of the Nazis was anathema to her. And yet Stefan was saying it was the only way things could be run. The chasm in her understanding gaped before her. And now four hundred more were coming.
Martha went to warn the cooks that there would be many more mouths to feed that evening. Then she went to tell the guard at the warehouse that more supplies would need to be sent down to the kitchens. After that she hurried to find Delphine.
It was Wolf who met Martha when she got to the hospital. “Madame Fabius go see woman.” He mimed a big belly. “Number six house.”
Martha ran all the way to the blockhouse. She found Delphine examining Jadzia—the young woman who was still waiting for news of her GI fiancé.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Martha said, “but we’re about to get four hundred new arrivals. I’m going to need you to come with me.”
“I’ll go and tell Wolf to get extra beds ready.” Delphine put her stethoscope away. “There are bound to be some sick ones. And we’ll need DDT to dust them down at the gates.”
Martha nodded. Stefan had told her how he’d been herded into a tent on arrival at Seidenmühle to be covered from head to feet with vile-smelling powder. It was the army’s method of killing the body lice that bore typhus. “I’ll ask Sergeant Lewis to set that up,” she said. “We’d better get some food sent to the gatehouse to hand out while they’re waiting.”
Delphine nodded. “Canned milk, too—for the babies and children.” She glanced at her watch. “What time are we leaving?”
“No later than two.”
“Is someone coming to collect us?”
“No, I can drive. I know the way.”
“Will it be all right? All of us going?”
“I’m leaving Stefan in the office,” Martha replied. “He won’t stand for any nonsense.”
“I’m sure he won’t.” Delphine smiled. “He’s what my husband would have called the strong, silent type.”
Delphine had never mentioned her husband before. Since that evening when Martha had told the others about Arnie, there had been no time to learn more about her. Martha would have liked nothing more than to sit down with Delphine now, over a coffee, and find out more about her husband. But there was no time.
“I’ll pick you up by the warehouse in half an hour.”
The station at Fürstenfeldbruck was eerily silent when the women arrived. Kitty spotted a couple of men shoveling coal into a wagon and went to ask them when the next train was expected.
“They have no idea.” She shrugged.
“Is that Major McMahon?” Delphine shaded her eyes against the sun. There was a man in uniform striding along the platform.