Chapter 8

Late January1965

“Are you ready, Kal?” Mutti’s voice floated into the study where I was trying to steady my new-school nerves by checking all was well with Imbi.

I took a deep breath. “Coming.” I ruffled Imbi’s soft fur, checked the window, closing the door with care. School bag over my shoulder, I joined Mutti in the kitchen.

“Here’s your lunch.” Mutti handed me the lunch box I had used at McDonnell & East. It joined my pencil case and some blank workbooks in my otherwise empty school bag.

Mutti held me by the shoulders, looking me up and down in my school uniform. “You look smart, Kal.” She knew I was nervous and gave me a fierce hug. They had bullied me about my German accent when I started school in Herne Bay. After a moment, she kissed my forehead. “Say hello to Lizzie for me.” Her eyes shone with love and care.

I swallowed, grateful that I was not stepping into completely unknown territory. We locked up, heading for the tram. Two girls wearing the school uniform joined the tram in Lutwyche. They sent curious glances my way as they sat down, identifying me as someone new. At Gregory Terrace, they left the tram and walked ahead of me towards the school. As I walked, I watched posh cars dropping off girls at the gates – and one chauffeur got out of a Rolls Royce to open the door for a girl. I stopped outside the gates, nerves jangling, hoping that Lizzie would be there to make things easier; I procrastinated, thinking about what problems crossing this threshold might bring me while girls brushed past.

“Kal, Kal.” Lizzie startled me out of my shoulder-hunching worry, running towards me. She skidded to a stop.

“Don’t run, Miss Robinson,” a prim voice rang out over the hubbub.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at me and turned towards the teacher. “Sorry, Miss Feathers.” She almost turned away, but pulled me over to the teacher.

“Miss Feathers, this is Karlota Miller. She’s new this year. I met her at swimming during the summer.”

Miss Feathers dragged her attention from the girls streaming through the gates. “I see.” Her eyes gave me a quick uniform inspection. “Welcome, Karlota.” Her eyes flicked to Lizzie. “Please show her around and see she finds her classes.”

“Yes, Miss Feathers.”

“Off you go.” Miss Feather’s eyes returned to the arriving girls.

“Yes, Miss Feathers.”

Still holding my hand, a smiling Lizzie pulled me into the main building. “It’s great having you here.”

She took me to the office where I was told I would be in form 4A, which was Lizzie’s class. The day passed in a whirl as we collected textbooks for our various subjects. It turned out Miss Feathers was our Maths teacher and we started out with algebra – simultaneous equations, which I’d done in England, with Willi’s help.

“Well done, Karlota.” Miss Feathers murmured quietly as she passed round the class, checking our progress on the exercise she had set.

By the end of the day, I realised I was ahead in every subject and that eased my nerves.

Lizzie was a popular girl and she ensured they welcomed me into her coterie for lunch on the grass under a tree. The girls had a lot of catching up to do from the holidays and that spared me an interrogation – at least for the moment. I caught some sideways glances, perhaps a result of my less than perfect English accent.

At the end of the day, Lizzie and I walked down Gregory Terrace towards the trams.

“Bring your swimming things with you tomorrow. We should have a practice before the club meets on Wednesday.”

“That should be okay. I’ll check with Mutti tonight and ring you.”

We separated to our different tram stops; Lizzie had to head into the city and change for Hamilton. The sun was beating down when I stepped off the tram; I was looking forward to stripping off the school uniform and having a shower. Walking towards our house, I could hear squeals of glee from the Greco’s garden. Cal and a naked Grigorio were dancing in the water from a sprinkler as Mrs Greco watched on. The walk home had me dripping with sweat and I envied the children their cool shower.

I gave them a heat-fatigued wave as I trudged up the front steps and headed in to open the house and cool off in the shower. Later, wrapped in a sarong, I sat on the veranda thinking about going to the German Club. Mr Franks’ impatience pressed on me. Mutti insistence it was nothing to worry about hadn’t helped.

My life was filling up. Tomorrow I was swimming with Lizzie and Wednesday was Swimming Club. My Polish classes started on Thursday and Swimming Club met again on Saturday morning. Could I get to the German Club after school on Friday? I’d have to talk with Mutti about this when she arrived home.

Imbi was winding round my legs, demanding his tea of diced sheep’s hearts and purred at full volume when I placed his bowl on the floor. That allowed me to organise our tea and I had things ready when Mutti arrived home.

As always, she turned on the radio when she arrived to mask our conversation and gave me a serious look. “Let’s eat – we need to do some work before you go to the Polish Club.”

What sort of work?

I pulled the cold meat and salad from the fridge, setting the table whilst Mutti showered and changed into her sarong. When we sat down, Imbi must have smelled the ham as he jumped up on to my lap and started plaintive meows, importuning for food.

Mutti gave me a half-smile across the table. “Put Imbi down, Kal. You must train him not to importune for food.”

“Yes, Mutti.” I lowered him to the floor “Down you get, Imbi.”, He made to jump up on to my lap but I stopped him with my hand. His ears flicked in disapproval and, giving me a hurt look, wandered off to inspect his food bowl in the study for any unnoticed morsel.

“Can I go swimming with Lizzie tomorrow after school? We need to practice for the club meeting on Wednesday.”

“Do you have any homework?”

“Not yet – and if I do, I can do it when I get home.”

“That’s true. But we need to be careful that your schoolwork doesn’t suffer with all that’s going on.”

I gave Mutti a reassuring smile.

Once we’d eaten and cleaned up, I rang Lizzie and confirmed tomorrow’s swimming. Mutti sat me down at the table. “Let’s work on your observation and memory. I want you to talk me through your day.”

I wasn’t expecting this.

“Well, when I arrived at school, Lizzie was waiting for me and she took me to the office...”

“No, Liebling.” Mutti interrupted. “Not like that. I want you to remember everything, every detail.”

I raised my eyebrows and Mutti sighed. “Close your eyes and start again. Recall what you saw and tell me.”

I closed my eyes. “I walked in through the school gates and there were some girls standing around...”

Mutti’s soft voice interrupted. “No Kal. Start from getting off the tram when you left me.”

I throttled a sigh. “The two girls on our tram walked ahead of me...” I thought for a moment. “ ... a blond and a dark-haired girl, taller than the blond. There were cars dropping off girls – and one chauffeur driven Rolls Royce. The chauffeur got out and opened the door for the girl.”

“What did she look like? What was the number plate?”

I opened my eyes and stared at Mutti.

How was I supposed to remember all this detail?

“She is from a wealthy or important family; we need to find out who she is.” Mutti smiled. “Carry on.”

“The girl and the Rolls were too far away. I’ll watch out for them from now on.” I closed my eyes, encouraging my mind’s eye to replay this morning. “When I reached the gate, there were ... three groups of girls standing about, chatting, about ... five girls in each group inside the gate. Lizzie was with one group. She ran over to me and a teacher – Miss Feathers – told her not to run. Lizzie took me over to Mrs Feathers and introduced me...”

Mutti’s voice pulled me up. “Describe Mrs Feathers and what she was wearing?”

My eyes flicked open.

Mutti smiled again. “Every little detail, Liebling. Every time you go to the Polish or German Clubs, I want you to tell me all you can remember. As we don’t know what might be significant – everything is.”

I pulled a face and Mutti gave me a wry smile.

“Come on, Liebling. Practice makes perfect.”

And we went on through my day. Prodded by Mutti’s questions, the detail I could recall surprised me. But I found it exhausting and fell into bed. Imbi had forgiven me and curled up on the pillow beside me as we drifted into sleep.

During my morning run, I scanned my surroundings, wondering if Mutti would quiz me about what I saw. The wallabies were absent; I grinned to myself, ready to report no communist wallaby agents on the oval, but the Cark of the crows sounded suspicious. At school, I remained more aware of my surroundings. Mutti’s training was having an effect ... we would see how much this evening.

After school, Lizzie and I walked down to the pool and we swam two lengths to warm up. Lizzie had me swim a 400-meter race against the clock. My morning runs were helping as I had better breath control. I timed Lizzie on a 50-meter swim against the big clock on the side of the building, with its constantly sweeping second hand; Lizzie was fast.

Lizzie turned to me as we were taking a break in the stands. “We can do this again tomorrow before swimming club – and on Thursday too.”

“Sorry – I can’t on Thursday.”

Lizzie gave me a questioning look, but I couldn’t respond. Lizzie pulled a face and turned away.

Damn...

I hadn’t spoken with Mutti about what I could — or should — tell Lizzie. We sat and my silence built distance between us. I’d have to tell her about learning Polish. But I was nervous, conscious of the mistakes I’d made with Willi and Lili.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie. It’s nothing terrible...” I realised I could use her ‘swot’ comment to explain things. “I’m ... cautious about appearing to be a swot.”

Liar...

Lizzie’s closed face turned towards me. “What do you mean?” Her voice had an edge to it before she blushed, remembering her comment. “Oh ... I didn’t mean it like it was ... bad,” she stammered, her eyes dropping.

“Well, you remarked about the languages I was learning...”

Lizzie flinched. “Oh, Kal. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” She grabbed my right hand in both of hers. “Sometimes my mouth is way ahead of my brain and I say things I don’t mean.” Her face twisted in anguish.

I put my left hand over hers. “It’s okay, Lizzie.” She relaxed as a picture of Willi, Lili and I sitting round Mrs Wisniewski’s kitchen table flickered through my brain. “I suppose I am a swot.” I added, “You see, I’m learning Polish.”

I’ll keep the Russian a secret, though.

“Polish?” Lizzie’s face reflected her astonishment. “Why Polish?”

“I made friends with Nina, a Polish girl at school in England. She’d been born in England, but her parents insisted she learn her language and culture. She learned Polish from birth, I suppose.”

“You learned to speak Polish by being around her?”

“No.” I laughed. “My boyfriend and I studied every afternoon after school, sharing our languages as well.”

Careful, Kal...

“Nina joined us. We learned Polish and she learned German. We were all learning French at school and my boyfriend was learning Latin. I started picking up that as well.”

Lizzie’s eyes narrowed as her understanding of me shifted. “You studied every afternoon after school?”

“Yes.” I relished the memory. “We had an official language every day – English, French, German or Polish. We had to do everything in that language.”

Lizzie blinked. “When did you find time to swim? What about other friends?”

“Well, they were my friends – and I didn’t start swimming regularly until last summer in England.”

Lizzie’s brows furrowed. “And you’re this good already?”

I smiled. “You’re way better than me, Lizzie.”

“But I’ve been swimming since I was eight – and you’re fit.”

I shrugged again. “I run every morning, too.”

“What?” Lizzie looked at me as if I were an alien, stepping out of a UFO.

I’d been trying to downplay things, but it hadn’t worked. “One day, I looked in the mirror after a bath and realised I was ... flabby.” I explained.

Lizzie’s eyes flicked over my body and she raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I wasn’t fat ... but ... flabby and decided to do something about it.” I stared out across the pool, remembering my time in Lancaster and its cocktail of emotions. After a second, I took a deep breath and continued. “There were playing fields close by where I lived in Lancaster and a twenty-five-meter pool in the city – I ran and swam.”

Lizzie shook her head, her drying braids flicking diamonds of water from their tips. “You’re different, Kal ... you’ve a ... a focus ... that my other friends don’t have.”

I shared a secretive smile.

The differences were more than she suspected.

“I’m nothing special.”

Lizzie winced. “I didn’t mean it like that, Kal.”

“Oh, Lizzie. I know you didn’t. We’re friends.”

Lizzie’s eyes held mine before dropping. “Thanks, Kal, I know we are.”

Was Lizzie’s bubbly exterior a mask? Underneath, was she a lonely, insecure teenager like Willi, Lili – and me?

“Anyway, Thursday afternoon I’m going to Polish classes at the Polish club. That’s why I can’t swim.” I smiled. “Come on, there’s time for another swim before I go home and get tea ready.” We raced and Lizzie was her usual self when we left.

That evening, Mutti again ran me through my day and she laughed at my description of the communist wallabies and suspicious crows. I reported on my school day, but I couldn’t do as well in terms of the walk to the pool and the time there.

Mutti looked at me, her voice a gentle scold. “It doesn’t matter what you are doing, Kal. You need to pay attention to what’s going on around you.”

“But I can’t when I’m swimming.”

Mutti smiled. “Of course not. But you sat and talked with Lizzie and couldn’t remember anything happening around you.”

I sighed. “We were sorting out a problem. I had no room for that.”

“Oh, Liebling. Anything I can help with?” Mutti became full of care for me.

“I need to work out how close I can let Lizzie come – what I can tell her.”

I saw Mutti’s lips purse but carried on. “And I think Lizzie is another one of us.”

“What do you mean, one of us?” Mutti’s voice echoed the confusion on her face.

“Oh, sorry. I meant like Willi, Lili and me – lonely teens in need of friends.”

Mutti stared past my shoulder for a second or two. “Perhaps...” Her body shifted and she looked me in the eye. “Be careful. You can’t tell her anything about our real life.”

“I know.” I gusted out an exasperated breath. “She wanted to go swimming on Thursday, but I’ve got Polish class and I didn’t want to explain, because I was uncertain if I should.” I gave Mutti a pained look as I tried to make her understand the problem. “Lizzie took offence at my silence.” I stopped for a moment, wondering how Mutti would react. “I told her where I was going and about Nina...”

Mutti was silent for long seconds. I could almost hear her thinking.

Finally, her gaze returned to me. “I understand, Liebling, but we must be careful. You will need to be careful you tell her – and anyone else – the version of our lives given to us in Lancaster.”

“I know.” My voice was subdued by the lies I would be telling.

“I think it best to tell people as little as possible.” Her head cocked to one side and she stared hard at me. “Your father will kill us if he finds us.” She stopped again, a shadow passing through her eyes. “And I think ... that man ... would sell us out if we are of no further use. I don’t know that threatening him with ... that woman ... would stop him.”

This was not the confident Mutti I had seen negotiate with Mr Franks. A shiver ran down my spine, despite Brisbane’s tropical warmth. Here in sunny Australia, distant from the tortuous politics in Europe, it was easy to forget the threat hanging over us. My confidence ebbed and I turned a forlorn face towards Mutti. “Will we ever be free of this?”

Mutti took my hand. “I don’t know, Liebling.” She stopped, staring through the window into the darkness of our future. “If there’s a change in the Eastern Bloc...”

Willi’s tangled timeline had told me that in his original world, the Eastern Bloc collapsed in 1988 – twenty-three years away. But I knew this world was different; President Kennedy survived the assassination attempt in this world, but not in Willi’s. There was no guarantee that what happened in Willi’s world would happen here. The division of Europe could continue for grim decades beyond 1988.

That evening before bed, I added to my current letter to Willi, sharing my time with Lizzie. And I poured out my fear that the two of us would remain separated for many long years yet.

After a while, fatigue overcame my angst. Imbi’s unconditional love, curled up, purring against me, helped me find sleep.

I didn’t see the chauffeur-driven car, but Lizzie was waiting for me at the school gate. Again, her coterie, which met up at lunch, welcomed me. As we ate, I noticed a girl – Susan, I think, but I was still learning names – giving me curious glances. After a while she leant towards me.

“Karlota. That’s an unusual name ... where are you from?”

She asked with simple curiosity, but I flinched, remembering the bullying when I started school in England.

“I’m from Lancaster, in the north of England.” In her eyes, I could see that hadn’t dampened the interest. “I’m half English. My mother is German.”

“Oh.” She paused. “Do you speak German?”

I held a smile on my face, trying not to think about the school in Herne Bay. “Yes, of course.”

Lizzie looked between us and I sensed she was about to say something. I gave her a subtle stare and pushed ahead of her. “But since my father died a year ago, my mother thinks we should speak English and won’t speak German with me.”

Lizzie frowned at me. I could see questions in the eyes of some girls, but they felt awkward now I’d told them my father had died. Slowly, the conversation restarted in safer territory.

After school, Lizzie and I headed down to the pool for a swim before the club meeting. The afternoon was, as usual, warm and humid and we were looking forward to getting into the pool. Once we were away from the school and not surrounded by students, Lizzie turned to me as we walked. “What was that look about at lunchtime, Kal?”

I walked on a few paces. “You were going to tell everyone I was learning Polish, weren’t you?”

Lizzie flinched. “But you are.”

We were under the shade of a tree; I grabbed Lizzie’s hand and pulled her to a stop. “Yes, I am.” Our eyes locked, almost glaring across the intervening space. “But I don’t want to be marked out as a swot.”

Lizzie stood in awkward silence, searching my face.

She needed an explanation. “It’s difficult, Lizzie, being a new Australian and a new girl at school – and it’s worse if I’m different.” The dark phantoms of the school bullies in Herne Bay swirled round me. “When I started school in England, I had a strong German accent...” I floundered to a stop. I didn’t want to whine.

“Why would that matter?”

I sighed. “England suffered badly at the hands of Germany in the war. I was called awful names and no-one would talk to me.”

“Oh.” Lizzie thought for a moment. “I don’t think it’s like that here. If you were Japanese...”

“Japanese?”

“Australia fought mostly against the Japanese – and they treated our prisoners of war badly. They put them in terrible camps and worked many of them to death.”

“Oh. Umm...”

The Japanese had death camps too?

I paused, recollecting my thoughts. “I want to get to know and become known to people gently.”

Lizzie’s look was uncertain, not understanding someone who wanted to stay in the background. “Okay.”

I gave Lizzie an encouraging smile. “Come on, let’s get to the pool. I need a swim.”

Lizzie’s eyes brightened and she turned, pulling me along. Not wanting to overdo things before the club, we swam well within ourselves for a while, practicing technique and not racing. We ate our sandwiches and had an Eskimo Pie for dessert. Once the club assembled, Lizzie and I were in the junior section and after some questioning, they handed me to the distance coach, who put me through my paces. I joined a group that was learning the Dolphin kick to use after a tumble turn. I struggled – but I realised Lizzie couldn’t do it either and that was something for us both to practice.

Later, Lizzie and I traipsed out to our tram stops, tired from the exercise.

“See you in the morning, Kal.”

“Bye, Lizzie. We’ll have to practice that Dolphin kick next time we swim.” My fatigue made it difficult to keep my eyes and ears open during the trip home.

Mutti could see I was tired. “I know it’s warm, but would you like a hot chocolate?”

I thought for a moment. “No thanks. Iced water, please.”

Mutti poured us each a glass and placed mine in front of me before sitting down. “Should you run in the morning on club swimming days, Liebling?”

I shrugged, indecisive.

Mutti smiled. “Go to bed. We won’t rehearse your observation skills tonight.”

I pulled the exercise book I had used for Polish with Willi and Lili off the shelf in the study. It’s precious memories brought moisture to my eyes. It held much happiness, hidden between its scruffy covers.

Would using it tomorrow distract me?

It had sat on Mrs Wisniewski’s kitchen table as we worked, the three of us smiling despite the underlying threat to Mutti and me. Taking it would share the experience with Willi and Lili. I thought for a moment about not setting the alarm for my run, but decided that was laziness. As always, Imbi’s whiffling purrs lulled me to sleep.

I was up and running at half-past five, showered and ready for school by half-past seven. Mutti and I walked to the tram.

“Keep your wits about you this afternoon, Kal.” Her smile contained a promise of a deep interrogation this evening after my time at the Polish Club.

Thoughts and cares distracted me during the day.

Lizzie noticed. “Worried about the class this afternoon?” She whispered as we walked to class from lunch.

“Yes.” I had no idea what standard they were expecting. I supposed that everyone else would be from a Polish speaking family ... and beneath everything lingered the secret reason for my attendance.

“You’ll be fine.” Lizzie smiled.

To read this story you need a Registration + Premier Membership
If you have an account, then please Log In or Register (Why register?)

What happened to Col and Mutti Frida when they disappeared?

Through different Eyes

Robert Hart

$7.99

You do not have to wait - get it from Bookapy!

Through different Eyes

Robert Hart

$7.99