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mean, how I'm going to take it? Like a man, like a human being, that's how I'm going to take it! I will shake his hand and thank him for bringing you to Bardejov where you are safe."
"You would do that for me?"
"Rena, I would do anything for you."

     

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Hurriedly I looked around so I could say something, anything, to Andrzej, but he was gone. The street was empty.
''Next time you will introduce us." Schani took my arm.
"Yes, next time I would like you to meet," I answered. And for the first time I felt a tenderness toward Schani that I knew might someday turn to love.
Passover came and went; winter's defeat was final and spring blossoms decorated the city streets. Looking for goods to send home, Rena heard one of the neighbors greeting her .
"Good morning, Rena. Have you heard the rumor that they are going to move all the Jews in Tylicz forty kilometers from the border?"
"No, I hadn't heard that. What about my parents? How will I send them food if they aren't in Tylicz?"
"Don't worry, Rena. It's just a rumor."
Another woman patted my arm. "You remember Andrzej Garbera, don't you?"
"Of course, she remembers Andrzej, you silly cow," the other woman quipped at her friend.
"We grew up together." I tried to act nonchalant.
"He died a few weeks ago."
The words fell on my head. The earth shattered from beneath my feet. I collapsed without a word at the feet of my neighbors.
Above me, I could hear a man saying, "You dummy, didn't you know they were in love? They used to write to each other secretly." From beneath a haze of unconsciousness I wondered how these people could know something we'd kept so well hidden.
Their voices hovered above me as if they were miles away. I reached toward them, trying to bring myself around, shaking my head, covering my eyesI couldn't cry here in the middle of the marketplace with half of Tylicz and Bardejov watching. There was no place to show my grief, no place for me to run. From that day on I didn't care to be in Slovakia anymore. I didn't care about anything but my mother's arms, my father's voice.

     

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I said farewell to Schani and contacted Tolek, a new family friend of ours who worked in the underground. "Take me home," I told him. "I cannot bear to be here anymore. I am tired of being safe." So Tolek took my hand and brought me home to my mother's arms.
It was not a happy, carefree homecoming but it was what I wanted. "Mama! Papa!" I never thought I would say those precious words again. I hugged them as if I would never let go, as if their arms could chase my pain away. Arm in arm, we entered our house.
"You heard about Andrzej?" Mama whispered.
I nodded, biting back more tears, "Yes, Mama. I would like to go pay my respects to his mother and sisters, if you and Papa don't mind."
"It is only proper that you honor him so, Rena. Let me send a loaf of challah with you."
The streets were muddy from rain. Accompanied by the smell of warm bread in my arms, I walked the same path Andrzej and I had trod together so many times. Passing the village well, I tried not to think of his laughing face, his sweet tender kiss. Swallowing hard, I knocked on the door, forcing a smile upon my lips.
His mother answered quickly, as if she had been standing at the door waiting for me.
"Sit down, Rena. Make yourself at home." His mother motioned for me to take a chair. "Andrzej will be here any minute." She ran to the window, looking for him. "He'll be so happy to see you.'' Wringing her hands, she checked the road outside. "I think he likes you, Rena. I shouldn't be surprised if he asked you to marry him some day.''
Tears cascaded down my face as Hania pulled me into the kitchen. Hania explained that it was better for her mother not to remember. She told me that there had been a search by the border guard, with dogs. Andrzej had to climb a tree and had hidden there all night. It was so cold he froze and fell out. "Fortunately, some

     

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of our people found him and