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the doctor will say quarantine for you
two.’
    ‘Back into bed, girls. And
be good for Granny and Grandpa.’
    ‘They’ll be right as rain.
Speak to the doctor and then get off to work.’
    Charlotte and Lucy snuggled
down in bed. They must be feeling poorly. He left them to it. He’d read them a
story later.
    Quarantine: the word had a
different meaning for him. The quarantine camp hadn’t been much better than the
rest of the camp, but in May 1944 part of it had been cleared, sanitised, ready
for a visit from the International Red Cross…
    The shrill whistle of a
train announced the arrival of another transport. He was on his way from the
quarantine camp now, hoping to visit the Roma infirmary and see how Peti and
Arturas were, if the guard was allowed to admit him. The planned massacre of
the Roma and Sinti hadn’t gone the way the SS expected and no-one seemed to
know what would happen to them, or when.
    He hoped to catch a glimpse
of Miriam, though which of the compounds she was in, if she was still alive, he
didn’t know. People were constantly moved from place to place, keeping the camp
in a state of flux. Along the road from the railway tracks, guards drove tired
men, women and children: a new transport of Jews. Along the wire, women
gathered, shouting in Hungarian to the new arrivals, hoping for news of family.
He searched their faces, but couldn’t see Miriam.
    He waited, ever eager for
tidings from outside. ‘Where are you from?’
    An old man paused and stared
at him blankly. He tried other languages.
    The man nodded in
understanding. ‘The ghetto at Theresienstadt. Others came here from there.
Family…’
    A guard kicked the man in
the kidneys making him stagger forward. They were Czech Jews. He shook his
head. The survivors of the last two transports from Theresienstadt had gone to
the gas in March. The guards at the junction waved the straggle of people to
the right. No selection? The gates to the freshly-sanitised compound were flung
open and the flock of humanity herded inside like sheep. A truck stopped behind
them and guards distributed Red Cross parcels. A woman took one and hugged it
close.
    He tried to prise hope from
the lack of a selection, the cleaned compound and the Red Cross parcels. Had
news of conditions in the camp leaked out? Was something finally being done? He
hurried towards the Roma camp: this probably wouldn’t be the only transport
from Theresienstadt, and the half-built barracks in Mexico camp were already
full.
    The Roma and Sinti stood in
watchful groups behind the wire. Arturas clung to his mother. He gestured to
them. ‘Not too close. Don’t touch the wire. Where’s Peti?’
    ‘He’s with my sister. I’m
keeping them apart, as you said.’ She gripped her son’s hand. ‘Is it today?
Have you come for them?’
    ‘If I hear anything… tell
your men-folk to stay alert.’ He pushed half a loaf of grey bread between the electrified
barbed strands. The Roma hadn’t been punished. Dare he hope things were
improving and that maybe, just maybe, some of them would survive this place?
    ***
    Walt stood at Charlotte and Lucy’s open bedroom
door. Jennie had come home from work early.
    ‘They’ve been as good as
gold. A bit quiet, but I think they’re feeling better, and the calamine is
easing the itching.’
    She squeezed between the
beds to put feel their foreheads. ‘Not so clammy as they were earlier.’ She reversed
out. ‘What this room needs is bunk beds.’
    ‘I hate bunk beds. They have
perfectly good single beds and they’d only argue over who has the top one.’
    ‘I don’t know what you’ve
got against them, Dad. Bunk beds would take up far less space and if I buy them
now the room will be sorted for Christmas.’
    ‘Suppose one of them falls
out and hurts themselves?’
    ‘They have rails. They need
room to play. Dobbin isn’t small and if you’re going to make those dolls’
houses you were talking about for their next birthday…’
    He rubbed