Baby Breath revised, John Andrew Durler Sr. [best short books to read txt] 📗

pumped his hands "Louis is my older brother," Pierre said. "My father was killed in the last war. His father died in bed."

Esau told them about the people he found on the road. He held out a Franc. "I will pay for food and directions." He pulled his scarf away from the baby and said, "I found her under one of the men."

"Merci! poor infant'! Keep your money for now. Come. You shall have food and a bed and my wife will have the child fed. When you eat and rest we will talk."

They walked two miles across another field and up a dirt road to a small farm. They had three goats and two cows for cheese and milk, a chicken coop full of chickens and a fenced area between the coop and a barnyard that ran up a hill to a barn that was built into the hill. There were gardens, flowers, vegetables, herbs, spices, a vineyard and a press in the barn for the grapes. After the tour, Esau fell in love with the farm. They went into the farmhouse. Pierre told his wife about the infant. She was a slim, long curly black haired woman with a pale complexion, black eyes, no makeup, and a smile that came from full lips. She was wearing a housecoat. She took the baby from Esau, cooed, and called. "Giselle, come here and feed this starving baby."

"Whose baby now? I feed yours because you dried up, and now another?"

"Come, and be sure you are dressed. We have company."

A stout woman, also black curly headed in a pink slip walked into the kitchen, a baby at her breast, smelling of mother's milk. "I will never get my figure back with all I have to eat to feed this one and now another? I'll be large as a house before the year is out."
Everyone laughed, even her. She took the baby from her breast, handed it to Pierre's wife, and said, "take her, Francine, she had enough, and drained my breast, the little glutton."

She slipped the strap over her breast, slipped the other one down revealing a milk swollen breast, said, "Here little one." She squeezed her nipple until a drop formed and pressed the baby's mouth to it. "Easy, easy, little one," she said pulling it back, then easing its mouth back onto her nipple. "That's better, two minutes, we burp you, and then you get all you want."

The kitchen bustled around Giselle. Chairs came from somewhere, children formed out of nowhere. Leaves were added to the table to make more room. A bowl of fruit appeared dominated by green and purple grapes. A hunk of Gorgonzola cheese, three loaves of long fresh bread, a jug of red wine, a pitcher of water, knives forks and spoons, a slab of butter and a bowl of jelly. The food continued, roast chickens, hard-boiled eggs, roasted potatoes, rabbit stew, long green beans, more bread wine and cheese, a pitcher of water and wine for the children. Burps and farts rang out, laughter and jeers, groans and slapping stomachs until one by one the table was empty except Giselle, Francine, Pierre and Esau. Pierre got up and poured cognac into glasses and black coffee was brought from a boiling pot by Francine. Esau followed as they emptied the cognac into the coffee and sipped. They talked then. Esau told them about the book, headmaster, the journey, and everything else.

Weeks went by. Esau learned how to milk the goats, cows, collect eggs in a basket, and when walking with Pierre in the woods found a nest of baby rabbits they brought back to the barn, then built a hutch and put the nest with the rabbits in it. They fed them goat's milk and mush until they were grown big enough to eat vegetables. Esau was having mixed feelings, whether to stay here or continue on his journey to America. A month later the border was lined with cars, truck, and people walking, some coming to the farm begging for food. None were refused. They were fed, then loaded up with food and sent on their way with directions.

One afternoon, as the family sat down to dinner, Esau got up and said, "Everyone here has been wonderful, and I enjoyed the good company as I worked as a half ass farmer..." Laughter broke out. "Well, you know by that I am saying I am leaving. I would like to leave tomorrow."

Giselle asked, "Are you taking the baby?"

Esau replied, "If you and the family agree, I would prefer to leave her here with you. I am not a family, and cannot take care of her half as well as she is cared for here. I have a passport of her mother, so perhaps you can tell her at some point in her life who her mother was. But that is up to you if you agree to keep her as your own"
They had a council, and everyone wanted to keep the baby. Giselle and Francine loved her. Pierre doted on her, slipping her sweets, and grape juice, even wine and water.

A few days later, before Esau left, he gave half the franks he had, to Pierre, a diamond necklace to Giselle, A string of pearls and matching earrings for Francine. He gave a cigarette lighter to Pierre, and the other one to Louis, then said to Pierre, "I will send you money every month for her. You can use it for food and clothing, or save it for her education. I leave all decisions up to you." There were tears, hugs, and many pleadings for him to stay, but he was determined to get to America.
Chapter 3

Ten days after he left, he was in Le Pued, three days after, having said good-bye to his traveling companions he walked alone on the rue Doctuer Zola. He spent two days walking up and down the street, watching to see if anyone else was watching the entrance. Finally, satisfied it was safe, he walked in. garbage. There was garbage and papers thrown around. A desk was overturned. Food and cartons were strewn all over the floor, furniture was broken. Esau left quickly and walked past a woman with red hair, who was walking up. Out in the street, he walked to a tobacconist and bought cigarettes, lit one and choked. His eyes watered. He sucked the harsh smoke lightly into his lungs. This time he didn't choke. He got dizzy, light-headed. He puffed gently, slowly. A rush of adrenaline made him feel energetic. He sat on a bench at a bus stop not knowing what to do. The red headed woman walked out of the door across the street, and walked over to the bus stop. She glanced at him in a nondescript manner. Her gait slowed, and her hips swung. Long legs glided as if she was not touching the ground. A bus came. She got on. Esau got on after her and sat beside her. She said one word in French, "Agency".

"Silence." He said in English. Her deep blue eyes were questioning.

"It is gone."

" Did you know them?

"No. Only of them. I met some people who knew of them. They were shot in Germany. Just before the border to France. They were good people."

"Who are you?" She asked as if he were a mystery man.

"Esau Lipvak, a student who wants to go to Switzerland and then to America."

"Are you Swiss?"

"No, I'm Jewish." The lie was not a lie to Esau, disliking the brutality of Germans and befriending Jews as if he belonged to their race.

"I want to go to America too. I'm Beth Tabachinick, a Jew. If you don't mind, why don't we go together?" Then, as if he would solve it, she asked, "How will we go?"

"I'll find a way. We can't stay here. This sector will only be safe for short time. Where are you going? Where does this bus go?"

She told him where the bus would take them. They spent days looking for people who spoke Yiddish. They found people who worked with the underground, smugglers, and after extensive questioning, looking at their documentation which were six Jewish passports
legal and properly stamped, to trade. Esau and Beth were eventually sent to an underground contact. Esau gave him a quarter of the francs and three passports for the information, papers and a ride to the boat they were to take to Switzerland. When they arrived at the dock, Esau paid the captain for Both of them. It was a large fishing boat with a wide deck which had sixteen coffins lined up on the deck. There were passengers there ahead of them, so they were able to watch and listen to how he was going to smuggle them. The crew opened a coffin, placed a piece of canvas on top of the body, called a passenger and helped to get him, or her comfortable, then closed the lid. Esau walked over and inspected a coffin. It had holes drilled into it which enabled the person to breathe, but were unnoticeable under a 3/4 inch wide strip of molding that matched the coffin on each side. "Ingenious." Esau said to Beth, explaining it to her. Before Esau and Beth were called, he spoke to the captain and asked where they were going to be delivered to.

"The only cemetery his cargo can be delivered to, in Bayeux, without being questioned, or inspected." They were the last to be incarcerated. Jostled, banged around, dropped and tipped over they arrived at the cemetery. Esau waited until there was silence, kicked the top of the cheap pine coffin cover off and climbed out. He looked around. There was no one in sight except for Beth who placed the lid on her coffin, picked up the sheet, folded it and held it. "Esau, take your sheet. We will need them."

They Walked out of the cemetery, through a residential district. When it turned into small stores, Esau and Beth went into a Delicatessen, bought yogurt, a loaf of rye bread, two bottles of beer and a chunk of mild cheddar cheese, found a park and sat on a bench and consumed it all. They found a secluded place in the park, stretched on folded sheet on the moss covered ground, laid down, put the other sheet over them, curled up and fell asleep. The next day, they stopped at the Delicatessen and bought sausages and scrambled eggs on a large loaf of bread and two small bottles of milk. The ate at the same park bench, retrieved their sheets and walked back to the harbor. They sought out the contact given to them, found the boat which was a cargo ship, and arranged passage
America. It did not cost as much as Esau thought, because cooks helpers were needed.
They both signed on as cook's helpers. They slept together on sacks of flower in a storage room with their clothes on, using empty burlap sacks as covers. The voyage took three months, dropping off and picking up Cargo at different ports on the way. Their days were
filled with walking along the deck, enjoying the brisk salty breezes, going to the stern, watching sharks fins churning the water when garbage was thrown over side. Other times, humpback whales blew clouds of water in the air, dove, came up out of the water, their huge brown speckled bodies came sometimes