High Noon

Ch18

When I arrived inside I saw Captain Josef in the dining room with papers scattered on the table, talking with Mama. 

I frowned slightly and turned around, as my stomach was twisting in anger, I couldn't stand being around her, especially with her talking with the Nazi soldier as if they were old friends.

 I stepped into my room and hid the basket in the secret room, knowing that that would be the best place where no one would find it.

I made my way back downstairs, wanting to go unnoticed so that I could silently escape out the door. I turned the handle of the doorknob and slipped out the door without anyone noticing.

I went down to Ruth's house wanting someone to talk to about what was happening, knowing that she was the only one that I could talk to.

I knocked on her front door and her Mama answered it with a smiled on her face as she saw it was me.

"Bonjour, Sophie come in." 

I stepped inside and saw Ruth sitting on a chair in front of the counter.

She smiled at me as I approached her.

"Bonjour, want to help make Challah?" 

"Challah? What's that?" I asked as I sat at the counter next to her.

"It's just bread that's braided," She said.

"Well, hopefully, this bread tastes a lot better than the pain au chocolate we had," I told her with a laugh as I thought about the memory.

She returned the laugh.

"Don't worry it tastes way better."

As we started the baking process of the bread I noticed Ruth's Mama's belly it was out more seeming like she had gained a lot of weight, but I knew that wasn't the case, she was pregnant.

When we were done baking the two loaves of Challah. Ruth and I went upstairs into her room and she turned to me and suddenly asked, "What's wrong?"

I had no idea how she knew something was wrong, but Ruth always had a way of knowing even if I never showed it.

 I sighed and sat down on her bed and she sat beside me.

"It's my Mama, she's..." I trailed off not sure how Ruth would react to me telling her who my Mama was working for.

"What's happened to your Mama?" Ruth asked her eyebrows raised in concern.

I thought about it for a moment and then took a deep breath as I prepared my self to tell her.

"She's working with the Nazis."

Her face began to cloud as anger and disgust filled her eyes and she went to her feet.

"You need to leave." She told me coldly.

"Ruth, I'm not the one working with the Nazis," I said my eyes wide with shock that she was angry with me.

"You might as well be, your Mamas working with them, who's to say you won't too?" She yelled at me furiously.

I went onto my feet and shook my head.

"I would never work with the Nazis, I hate them!"

Ruth frowned at me and narrowed her eyes.

"You have one living with you, you seem to not hate him."

"What are you talking about of course I hate him, I'm working against them." I immediately shut my mouth realizing that I shouldn't have said that.

Ruth looked at me her eyes wide and then she covered her mouth and shook her head at me, her eyes dilating slightly as she did.

"No, no, no, Sophie, you can't do that, you'll be killed." 

I frowned.

"I don't care, I'm sick and tired of just waiting for this war to end, of just waiting for our Papas to come home, I don't want to sit here and do nothing, and just let the Nazis trample all over us." 

Tears overflowed Ruth's eyes and she turned her back to me.

"Can you leave, please?" She said in a low voice that I could barely hear.

A pain of hurt stabbed my heart and I swallowed, wanting to say something to try and help her understand, but I just walked past her. Maybe it would be better if I wasn't around her anymore, now that I'm involved with the revolters, it wasn't safe for me to be around anyone, but especially around her.

"Au revoir, Ruth," I said sadly.

She didn't respond and I slipped out the door.

As I walked home tears overflowed my eyes and streamed down my face, coming down heavily and uncontrollably, nearly blurring my vision.

As I arrived home I stared at the door, I could hear Mama inside and I didn't feel like dealing with her right now.

I took a shaky breath as I rubbed the tears away, holding them back as I stepped inside.

I wanted to avoid Mama like the plague but before I could even make a movement towards the stairs she was in front of me.

 "Honey, can we talk, please?"

I shook my head and frowned at her.

"No, Mama, not with him here." 

I didn't care if Captain Josef heard, I was too angry at Mama to care.

"He's not here, he walked," She told me with a sigh.

"Did he tell you that, while you were having a nice little chat with him today?" I said bitterly.

Mama took a deep breath.

"Can we talk, now?"

I wanted to say no, I didn't want to talk to her, especially after what happened with Ruth, but I nodded.

"Fine."

We went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Mama folded her hands, swallowing before speaking.

"Sophie, you need to understand that I'm not the enemy here."

"Your working with the Nazis, you are the enemy," I told her, not understanding how she couldn't see that.

"I'm not the enemy here, I'm trying to provide for us to provide for you so that we can have food on the table and money, I'm not doing this because I want to." She spoke anger filling her tone as she did.

"We don't need money Mama, we don't need it enough where you would have to work with the enemy to get some," I said with a sharp breath.

Mama stood up roughly and frowned at me.

"Respect my decision, Sophie, there is nothing wrong with working just to put food on the table."

I stood up violently.

"There is everything wrong with it when it's the Nazis you're working for!" 

Without any warning, she slapped me, hard, in the face. My cheek burned from the slap I was shocked for a moment, but soon that shock turned into fury.

Mama stood there looking like she didn't believe what she had done.

"I'm-"

"Papa would've never done this!" I yelled.

Before she could say another word I stormed away, not wanting to hear her talk anymore.