Read The Other Side of Love for Free Online Page A

it until the gold was warm. Then he had padded barefoot to the foyer, where the telephone was, and opened the Manhattan book to L, running a finger down the line of Leventhals.
     
    “Kingsmith.”
    The coach was looking at him.
    “Is that play clear?”
     
    Wyatt realized that everybody else was standing.
    “Yeah, absolutely,”
    he responded.
     
    “Then, let’s go beat the hell out of the Eyetalians,”
    the coach said.
     
    A German guide bearing a placard emblazoned Verienigten Staaten led the team into the chill grey morning. The Italians were already shooting and dribbling on the lumpy sandy clay of the tennis-court. Obviously the spectators shared the German Olympic Committee’s lack of interest in basketball. The shallow stands were nearly empty. The Kingsmith clan sat on the north edge of the court. Wyatt grinned
    31
     
    as he marched past his waving family - no matter his turmoil since Rossie’s revelation, he never considered them to be anything other than his true family.
     
    Directly behind the American bench, a section had been roped off: at all venues, good seats were saved for other Olympic contestants. Four Americans and a couple of Italians sat far apart. In the second row, a white German blazer and skirt were like a beacon in the dreary morning.
     
    It was Kathe. He was surprised to see her here after the way he had mown her down at the Opening Ceremonies. He was also surprised that he was grinning and waving. This, after all, was one of Hitler’s Madchen.
     
    Since his conversation with his mother, his vision had altered, as if he’d been fitted with corrective glasses. Before the conversation, though he and his family were
    “tolerant”
    - a word he now loathed - he hadn’t properly seen the anti-Semitism around him. Oh, he’d known about restricted apartment-buildings, hotels, schools, the quotas in colleges, the classified job ads that said
    “Jews need not apply’. But the knowledge had been intellectual. Now he viewed these wrongs sharply and personally. At home it was bad enough. In the Third Reich, bigotry was the law of the land. He had been chilled to the bone by a newsreel of Nazi plug-uglies standing around forcing a dignified old gentleman to scrub a pavement with a toothbrush. He had sent a cheque to the Jewish Relief Fund, which helped refugees. He had visited Judge and Mrs Abraham Leventhal. Firmly he pushed the memory of that painful afternoon from his mind. There was a match to win.
     
    The whistle shrilled. The teams were introduced.
     
    He was playing centre. As the ball was tossed, he jumped, slashing it with all his force away from the Italians, allies of the Nazis.
     
    Every time the United States scored, Wyatt found himself glancing at Kathe. She was always applauding. Every time he made a basket, she was on her feet. The sky cleared in patches, the sun came out. The final score was United States of America 53, Italy 32.
     
    Winners and losers shook hands.
     
    Kathe was on her feet, smiling at him.
     
    32

Chapter Five
c A
    As Wyatt returned to the bench, his uniform soaked with sweat, his chest still heaving, Rathe moved forward.
     
    “Congratulations,”
    she called in that soft low English voice.
     
    “Hey, thanks. And I hear you survived your heats in both races.”
     
    “Sheer fluke.”
     
    “In the Olympics you don’t make the finals by a fluke.”
     
    “You play marvellously.”
    M
    He pulled on the top of his sweatsr’But you’ve never seen a basketball game before, right?”
     
    “You’ve caught me out.”
     
    “Stick around for the Philippines versus Uruguay, and I’ll teach you the game’s finer points.”
     
    Across the court, the family were standing, waving, gesturing. Wyatt jogged over. Rossie smoothed back his hair, Humphrey embraced him. Porteous said:
    “Well done, my boy, well done.”
    Aubrey, Uncle Euan and Aunt Elizabeth shook his hand. Araminta rose on her high-heeled sandals to kiss him, leaving two smears of