The Jewish Dog (11 page)

The next few days were divine
.
Frank and Greta shouted at each other more than usual
,
but it didn't impede my blessed walking routine
.
Every day
,
Frank would take me out for a long afternoon stroll
.
“I have to get to the office,” Frank would tell Greta
.
He then left to visit Maximilian instead.

Every time we entered his home
,
Max would feed me a biscuit out of his hand
,
and then treat my belly to a nice rub
.
Just as he did well by me
,
he did well by Frank
,
and softly rubbed his belly as well
.
Frank would blush a little
,
peek at me – as though making sure his secret was safe with me – and succumb to Maximilian's petting.

CHAPTER 16

I
had already learned from my limited life experience that loud
,
measured knocks meant trouble
.
Indeed
,
the deliberate knocks heard on Frank and Greta's door one morning came to seal another chapter of my life.

Three men dressed in black stood in the entrance
.
Thanks to my well-developed sense of hierarchy
,
I immediately identified the senior ranking member
.
He addressed Frank and asked
,
“Are you Herr Frank Heinz?”

“Yes sir.”

“My name is Theodor Dürer
,
Standartenführer Theodor Dürer
.
I would like to ask you
,
do you know a man named Maximilian Loyt?”

Frank lowered his head and answered in a strangled voice
,
“No
,
sir.”

Even I could tell he was lying.

“Are you sure you don't know a man by this name?”

“I am certain.”

“I regret that you choose to defile the German language with such lies
.
You will have to come with us to the police station and explain how it is that you don't know him
,
and yet your pictures appear in the photo albums in his house.”

Frank's face fell.

“Quite embarrassing photographs
,
if I may say so myself
 . .
 .” Standartenführer Theodor Dürer said cheerfully.

His two accompanying officers snickered through their mustaches.

Greta appeared from the washroom wearing a bathrobe
,
and asked what the inquiry was about.

“A personal matter,” Frank said
,
trying to avoid embarrassment.

“Excellent,” she said
.
“I love personal matters.”

“Let me speculate
,
Madam
,
that your husband is no virtuoso in the bedroom.”

Greta
,
who was usually quite quick to catch on
,
still required further explanation
.
The photographs presented to her did not leave much room for doubt
.
She nodded her head in agreement.

“I must admit
,
officer
,
that recently I've sensed something new about my husband.”

“I believe a daughter of the German race deserves more than this flaccid worm
.
Your husband's tendencies
,
to be subtle
,
are not in line with the vision of the Reich
.
I fear your husband will have to come with us at this time
.
Perhaps several weeks of discipline at Sachsenhausen will make a man out of him.”

“I stumbled,” Frank said
.
“It's true
,
I stumbled
.
I'm not really like that. . . .” He gave Greta a pleading look
.
“Please forgive me
.
Please give me another chance. . . 
.
Just one more chance
,
I won't let you down
,
I promise.”

Standartenführer Theodor Dürer looked at Greta
.
Greta looked away from Frank.

“What is Herr Officer's opinion?” she asked.

An unpleasant odor arose from Greta
.
With time I would learn that it is called vengeance.

“They always promise
,
and then
 . .
 
.
like a dog returning to its vomit
.
Frau Heinz can trust me
,
it is just a matter of time.”

Greta frowned
.
“Take him,” she said dryly
,
and the odor intensified as she pointed at me
.
“And while you're at it
,
take away his Jew dog, too.”

“Jew dog?” Theodor asked
,
with a compassionate look on his face
.
“How can you insult an impressive dog like this in such a way?”

“If you believe this dog is impressive
,
then be my guest
.
Here is his food dish and here is his leash.”

Greta did not forget her manners
.
As we walked out to the street
,
the three officers
,
a handcuffed Frank
,
and I
,
she called after us
.
“I wish the officer a
guten Tag!
I wish you all a
guten Tag!”

Theodor turned back and answered with a curt bow and a Nazi salute
.
“Heil Hitler.”

CHAPTER 17

A
nd who is this?” Theodor's broad-shouldered wife asked as she came from the kitchen to greet him
.
She was drying her hands on a dish towel
.
Frau Dürer warmed the house with a pleasant smile
.
Her presence was fair and proper
.
She crouched by my side and looked into my eyes with obvious affection.

“How happy our little Georg will be!” she cried
.
“What a wonderful surprise awaits him!”

Standartenführer Theodor Dürer told her how he had come to meet me
,
and she kissed him on the cheek
,
indicating that he had brought home a welcome guest.

“Mm
,
you smell good,” Theodor said
,
and returned her kiss.

“It's the dress,” his wife explained
.
“I just got it back from the cleaner a few minutes ago.”

Theodor took two steps back and looked his wife up and down
.
Then he said decisively
,
“The dress becomes you.”

His wife curtsied and replied
,
“Thank you
,
thank you.”

Two hours passed before I heard the tap-tap of shoes approaching the door
.
The doorknob turned
,
and in the entrance – knapsack on his back
,
hair smooth and blond
,
and a mischievous look in his eyes – stood Georg
.
He was all grace and youth
.
I barely gave his mother time for an official introduction before I leapt into his arms
.
May this be proof to all the skeptics out there
:
love at first sight does exist
!
Georg ruffled my fur and sent his mother a thankful look.

“You got me a dog?” Georg's eyes were aglow.

“Your father brought him for you,” his mother said
,
holding her son's head between her hands
.
“And do you know why he brought you a dog? Because you are the cutest
,
sweetest child
,
and because the teachers at school have told us how good you are at gym and math.”

“What's his name?” Georg asked his mother.

“Theodor,” the mother called out
,
so her husband could hear her from his study
,
“what's the dog's name?”

Theodor joined his family in the foyer
,
scratching his head
.
“I have no idea
.
I forgot to ask
.
Well
,
Georg,” he said to his son
.
“Do you like him?”

“Yes
,
but we don't know what to call him.”

“We'll come up with our own name,” Theodor suggested.

They all fell silent
,
thinking.

A memory arose that made my blood freeze in my veins
.
I could see the Gottliebs sitting in their living room as they first chose my name.

“I know!” Georg's face lit up
.
“Let's call him Wilhelm!”

“Wilhelm is an excellent name,” said Frau Dürer encouragingly.

“Yes,” the father piped in
.
“If the name befits an emperor
,
it is good enough for our dog
.
Welcome shall ye be
,
Herr Wilhelm
,
in our humble abode.”

“Come
,
Wilhelm,” Frau Dürer called me
.
She gave me a piece of bread dipped in gravy
.
I scarfed down the offering and leapt to thank her with a lick
,
dragging my hot
,
wet tongue over her face and lips
.
She broke out in deep laughter and wiped off her mouth.

“Ach
,
what intimacy!” her husband cried
,
and came a step closer to whisper in her ear without their son hearing
.
“All the flowers I had to buy for you
,
and for your mother
,
before I dared kiss you like that!”

“You could have kissed me from the very first day we met,” she whispered back with a wink
.
“Too bad you didn't try.”

I had no reason to escape from the Dürer's house
.
On the contrary
,
with each passing day
,
my memories faded and my time at the Gottliebs grew hazy
.
The only moment that reminded me of the Gottliebs was when Georg tried a new trick and placed me in front of the large mirror on the closet door
.
Although it was not a new experience for me
,
I pretended to be mesmerized
.
I had a feeling it would make him happy
.
Whenever I did remember my days with the Gottliebs
,
I couldn't help but feel disgusted by the odor of fear that accompanied those fleeting shadows of memory
.
I couldn't separate the memories of my puppy days from the pungent stench of fear
.
At the Dürers
,
however
,
fear was no longer in my vocabulary
.
Here
,
everyone was safe
,
their future was secure
.
There was nothing but optimism in the air.

“Such an occasion cannot be ignored,” Standartenführer Theodor Dürer said
,
his voice authoritative
.
“I've invited a special chef to prepare a three course meal for us.”

“Oh
,
Theodor
,
you needn't have!”

“Wait until you see what's on the menu
.
French turtle soup. . . .”

“Ooh-la-la,” his wife said
,
“that sounds expensive. . . .”

“. . 
.
roasted pig with gravy
,
and a Bavarian cream delicacy.”
The moment he pronounced the final word
,
there was a knock on their door.

The cook placed her masterpiece in the kitchen
,
took her fee
,
and disappeared
.
The officer and his wife clinked their glasses together and drank with their arms interlocked
.
She drank from his glass and he from hers.

Kalman and Shoshana had never laughed like that.

“And now I will request of my lovely wife
,
the new chairwoman of the SS Officer Wives Club
,
to show me the new apron she designed for the wives.”

“To be honest
,
I'm a little disappointed with how it came out
.
The red isn't bright enough and the eagle is too small.”

“I want to see the apron!”

Frau Dürer returned from the bedroom
,
with a red
,
black
,
and white apron tied to her waist
.
“You see what I mean? The red is a little pale
,
isn't it?”

Theodor rose and hugged his wife
.
He whispered in her ear
.
“I meant that I want to see you in nothing but the apron. . . .”

He looked at his wife in the same way I'd look at Shoshana Gottlieb after I stole a biscuit from the bowl on the table
.
Frau Dürer showed no resistance and he placed his hand at the back of her head and kissed her on the lips
.
She wrested her arms out of his hug and stroked his shoulders
.
“I'm so proud of you,” she said
,
“my Standartenführer.” Theodor drew his wife toward the living room sofa.

“Oh
,
Hildegard,” he said
,
his breath heavy
.
“I swear by the Fuhrer's mustache
,
you're just as beautiful today as you were the day we met at the rally.”

“Wait a second,” she tried to cool her eager husband
.
“The apron will get wrinkled.”

The Standartenführer leaned his wife on the sofa
,
facing the big picture that hung on the wall
.
It was a strange portrait
,
set in a heavily ornamented frame
.
The face in the picture had a square mustache and glassy eyes that shone with a visionary glint
.
Something in his look reminded me of Spitz
,
the small and hot-tempered pinscher that would often bark at me in my younger days
.
The pinscher-man in the picture was raising one arm high in the air.

Theodor peeled off Hildegard's new apron and she threw herself into his arms
.
He held her tightly as he unbuttoned her shirt and hummed in her ear:

“My sexy wife will be my treat

because I am a dog in heat.

How much I like to touch with grace

a beauty of the superior race.”

They were soon reenacting the intimate spectacle that Karl Gustav and his Rottweiler girlfriend had performed in the park.

“Look how he's watching
,
the little bastard,” Theodor said when he noticed that I was staring at them
,
utterly hypnotized
.
But Frau Dürer would not be distracted
.
She hit the wall with the palm of her hand and moaned words that I wasn't familiar with
.
When they finished
,
they sat on the sofa and smoked
.
They were as exhausted as I would be after a long hour of tag.

“I'm as hungry as a bear that just awoke from hibernation,” Theodor said
,
and extinguished his cigarette.

“Then let's go,” Hildegard replied
.
“The table is set and the food is still warm.”

Georg got home as his parents finished washing the dishes
,
drying them
,
and placing them back in the cabinet
.
Paul and Lars
,
Georg's good friends
,
were also over for the night
.
I discovered a new passion in my time spent with Georg and his friends – the passion for sticks
.
Nearly every time Georg's friends came over
,
we went out to the park across from the wide road
.
The vast lawns were welcoming
,
inviting us to play fetch endlessly
.
Georg would throw a stick as far as his little arms could manage
,
and I'd dart like an arrow to catch it and bring it back for another throw
.
Sometimes Lars would irritate me
,
pretending to throw the stick
,
but actually hiding it behind his back
.
I fell victim to this ploy more than once
.
But despite the insult in Lars's trickery
,
altogether I was very fond of Georg's friends.