Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: GRATE (11/19/15)
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TITLE: The Rendezvous | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Keet
11/25/15 -
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It was by accident that she had discovered the iron trapdoor in the cellar floor of No. 37 Merwedeplein, a triangular shaped apartment complex in central Amsterdam. It was in this underground canal that she had met Abram Levin, a seventeen year-old who had stumbled upon a similar trapdoor in No. 33. Eagerly he squeezed two fingers through the grate: she removed her glove and linked her fingers with his.
“My dad says it’s happening tomorrow night,” he said somberly. “I guess this will be our last meeting.” He could see her body slump. “I wish we had more time together.”
“Me too.”
“You know what I’d really like?”
“Tell me.”
“Just for once I’d like to talk to you without an iron grate between us. I want to take you to a smart restaurant; sit and hold your hand, and talk about what we’ll do when then Nazis are driven out forever. I really hate them.”
“Don’t hate them, Abram, they are just misguided people that have been led astray by a mad dictator. Hate will eat you up – like a cancer. But tell me about tomorrow.”
“There’s a group that has been smuggling Jews out of Amsterdam, then on to England. From there we hope to get to New York, where my uncle lives. My dad has spent all his money to get us out. It’s very risky, and many have been caught.”
“What happens if you’re caught? No, don’t tell me,” she shuddered. “I don’t want to know.”
“When this is all over I’m going to come back for you. Then we’ll get married, and be together forever.”
“Will you really remember me?” she placed his fingers against her lips, and kissed them gently.
“Yes, I promise. I’ll take you back to America. We can study together - I want to be a doctor like my father. We’ll start a new life. You told me you keep a diary; do you write about me in your diary?”
“No, I’m scared they’ll find it, and then you could be in trouble.” She placed her lips through one of the squares in the grate. They kissed.
“I often thought of bringing a hammer and saw down here, and knocking out this grate that separates us,” he said.
“The noise would alert the Nazis – in any case I’ve enjoyed the times we’ve had together. Daddy says now that America has come into the war, it won’t last long. It’s now August 1944, he believes it will be over by early 1945.”
“So we should say ‘thank goodness for Pearl Harbor’?”
“Abram, you can’t say things like that – many people died at Pearl Harbor.”
“Yeah, I guess – but anything to end this war, and to get rid of the Nazis. I hear that more people have moved into your apartment, to escape from them.”
“Yes, and although I feel sorry for them, they can be a real pain. Two of them in particular think that all the food belongs to them.” She glanced down at her watch, and could just make the time out in the dim light.
“I must be going. Pretty soon my parents will miss me. We must say goodbye – till after the war. Abram, will you really come back for me?”
“I said I would, and I meant it.”
Suddenly the sound of heavy boots was heard on the pavement above. Then a gruff voice speaking in German: “Hey Hans, I’m sure I heard voices coming from down below, let’s check this drain.” They both drew closer to the grate as a flashlight shone into the darkness. Too scared to breathe, they sat like statues.
“Don’t see anything, but we’ll check it out in the morning.” The boots started to clomp their way down the street.
“We must go,” she said, with tears streaming down her cheeks . “One last kiss.” She pressed her lips against the grate.
Too choked up to talk, he pressed his lips against hers. Their fingers touched for a moment, then he moved away. “I love you and I’ll come back for you, Annelies Marie Frank.”
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Well done.
God Bless!
Very interesting and well written.
God bless~