Until the Dawn's Light

31

BLANCA BEGAN TO feel better; she saw Otto and took pleasure in him. The other patients gathered around her, and they all said the baby was amazingly beautiful, that it had been a long time since they’d seen such a lovely baby. Dr. Nussbaum knew about Blanca’s situation and said, “You’ll stay here for the time being.”

March was warm, and Blanca felt the closeness of her mother and father, and remembered the row of walnut trees that led to the high school. Sometimes she had met her teachers Klein and Weiss there, and they would talk on the steps of the building. The image was bright, as though time had transparently embalmed it.

Now her heart told her that she must go to Grandma Carole and reconcile with her. The last time Blanca had seen her, Grandma Carole was standing silently, her neck stretched upward, the sun’s rays covering her dark face. She had looked like a statue that had been mummified for years, frozen in time. In her dream, Blanca had wanted to approach her and say, Grandma Carole, don’t you remember me? But her legs wouldn’t carry her.

When she awakened, Blanca heard a voice in the treatment room. First it had sounded like Theresa from the old age home, but it turned out that her ears had deceived her. It was her mother-in-law. She had come to take the baby to church so the priest would bless him.

“The weather is still chilly, and the child is weak,” Christina explained to her.

“That’s exactly why I came to take him. He needs a blessing to grow strong.”

“But he’s very weak.”

“The cold won’t hurt him. I raised five children, and all of them, thank God, are healthy and strong. The cold just strengthens them. And the blessing before baptism is a good charm for weak children.”

“I can’t give you the baby, only the doctor can.”

“I’m the baby’s grandmother, and I knew exactly what he needs.”

Dr. Nussbaum arrived at a run and declared on the spot that the child was weak and must not be removed from the hospital.

The mother-in-law’s jaw dropped. “Why?” she asked.

“Because he’s weak.”

“I’m taking him to the church. The priest’s blessing will strengthen him.”

“All of that must wait until he’s healthy.”

“I don’t understand a thing,” she said, and headed for the exit.

As she was leaving, Blanca’s mother-in-law met one of her friends, and she complained to her that Jewish doctors had taken over the public hospitals, and they had neither loving-kindness nor mercy in their hearts. They took no account of the priests’ opinions.

“Cursed be the Jews and their behavior.” She didn’t restrain herself now and slammed the door.

The next day, Adolf’s sisters arrived and gathered in the corridor. They asked Christina whether the baby was still weak, why he was so weak, and whether there was any danger that he might be handicapped. They then asked permission to take him to the church. Christina explained once again what she had already explained. Hearing her words, the eldest sister said, “If he lies here all the time, he’ll turn into a slug instead of a man.”

Later, the sisters returned with a big, strong woman from a nearby village. They sat her on a chair and gave her the baby to nurse. Blanca saw the woman, her huge, dark breast, and the nipple that she stuffed into the baby’s mouth. The baby suckled greedily until he choked. Everyone rushed to turn him over and pat him on the back.

When the baby was finished nursing, Adolf’s eldest sister gave a banknote to the wet nurse. She took the bill in her dark hand, stuffed it into her coat pocket, and without saying a word headed for the exit.