Johann and Daniel
by Charles Lacey
Chapter 11
Daniel.
We slept, my Johann and I, close together, my head resting on his shoulder. Deep in my heart, I thanked the good God that had brought us together. It was odd, I thought, that although I'd seen one or two uncircumcised penises, I had never touched one. To a Jewish boy, it ought to have seemed unpleasant, but it didn't. It felt strange in my hand, though, the foreskin delicate and tender, like a flower. But nothing about Johann's body could be wrong. Johann was so handsome, so kind, so strong and as brave as a lion. I felt safe with him, as if he was my protector. I was anxious about the questioning that we would undergo the next day, though. These were the English, who were fighting for my people, and for freedom. I did not fear them, but I wanted to make sure that we told them everything we knew, as accurately as possible.
But for now, it was enough that Johann and I had found each other. We lay, wrapped up together like kittens in a basket, not moving, just feeling safe at last.
The next morning we were woken by a loud knocking on the door. For a moment I was terrified, but then I opened my eyes and saw Johann next to me, and the funny shape of the room we were in, and relaxed again. Johann called out, "Yes? Is it time to get up?"
"Yes," said the voice outside. "It's half past seven. Get up and come downstairs, there's some breakfast going."
We felt very shy about meeting other people wearing those baggy pyjamas, but we had nothing else to put on; our only clothes were so ragged and dirty we would have been ashamed to wear them. We came down the stairs, rather carefully for fear of tripping, and a man down there said what I later found was a rude word, and then "I clean forgot about getting you clothes! Come and have breakfast, and then we'll see if we can find something that fits you."
So we went into the dining room. There were six people there, sitting at a big table. They moved up to make room for us, and we were given porridge made from oatmeal with milk and a spoonful of black treacle, and English tea. We'd never had that before, but we found it not unpleasant. It was hot and sweet. We later found that English coffee was horrible stuff, nothing like our delicious Austrian coffee, but we learned to enjoy their tea. Even now, when we visit England, we always find it a treat to taste real strong tea with milk. 'Builders' tea', they call it.
Then the man who had used a rude word disappeared, and came back a few minutes later with some clothes. They were obviously not new, but he said, "I think these will fit you reasonably well. Go upstairs and try them on."
So we went up to our bedroom and tried on the clothes, and they were about the right length, though rather shapeless. Or perhaps it was just that we were very thin! Then the woman who had given us breakfast called us back downstairs and took us to another room. There was a big desk there, with two men behind it; the woman sat next to it, and we sat in two chairs facing them.
They were kind and friendly, those three people. The woman was called Mrs Freeman, though the men addressed her as Ruth. It felt strange, hearing a Jewish name in that company! The men were Major Green and Mr Ryder. All three of them spoke excellent German. From time to time Mrs Freeman went out and fetched some refreshments; a glass of lemonade and a biscuit, or more English tea. We broke off at one o'clock for luncheon, and then resumed again. Neither of us had had any idea how much we knew, until that interrogation. They were never impatient with us, but they drew out every fact that we could give them.
By about four o'clock in the afternoon they felt that they had probably found out as much as we could tell them, but they said they wanted us to stay for a few days in case there was anything else they needed from us.
After that I asked, rather timidly, what would be done with us after that. Mr Ryder said, "At the moment we don't know. We'll keep you here in Britain for the time being, and then perhaps try to get you to Switzerland or Sweden; a neutral country at any rate. We owe you a lot; some of the information you have given us will be really useful."
He and Mrs Freeman looked at each other and smiled. Mrs Freeman said to him, in English, "Those two sweet boys. They've both been through hell, but now they have found each other. It's wonderful to see them together. I think they should stay here for now. I'll look after them."
Mrs Freeman didn't know that I understood some English. I didn't get all of the words, but I grasped the meaning of what she said. She was the first person in all the world to acknowledge us as a couple.
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