Part 8 (1/2)

”You know, a cowboy. He used to ride in the rodeos over in Bisbee. He was kind of a local legend in his day.” He took another sip of coffee. ”I've even been wondering if we couldn't do some things to help make his barber shop accommodate a wheelchair. I know the men in this town want to get him back on the job. Rosita is a very nice lady, but she can't cut hair if her life depended on it. Ramon is really the talent behind the shears.”

He put down his coffee cup and picked up his hammer, looking at it thoughtfully. ”So I've been thinking about ways to make barbering easier for a man in a wheelchair. Maybe lower the seats and mirrors.” He glanced over at me. ”What do you think?”

”What do I think? I think, well, I think you're an extraordinary kind of minister,” I said, and quickly went inside to take the coffee thermos and cups to the other helpers.

When Ramon, Rosita and Esmeralda returned to Copper Springs, Ramon was given a hero's welcome, complete with a town parade. It seemed as if all 874 members of the town showed up for the parade. The men of the town, especially, seemed eager to shake Ramon's hand and ask him when he planned to be back at the barber shop.

I felt a little worried that the makers of pomade would notice a dip in their sales soon.

Judge Pryor declared the day ”Ramon Gonzalves Day” and presented him with a flag of Arizona. Rosita could not have looked any more proud of her soldier husband, dressed in full uniform with a purple heart pinned to his chest, sitting proud in his wheelchair on the makes.h.i.+ft platform.

I knew America had been wounded by Pearl Harbor, by the tragic loss of over 2,000 soldiers, and by being unprepared for an attack by the j.a.panese. I knew most Americans felt it was their patriotic duty to fight the evil dictators of Germany and j.a.pan.

But a little part of me, a cynical part, I'm ashamed to admit, wondered if Ramon's missing feet were the first time the town of Copper Springs understood that a world at war had far deeper consequences than rationing sugar and missing your favorite barber.

Chapter Six.

The next day, Miss Gordon asked me to take lunch over to Robert in his office because she was was.h.i.+ng and waxing the kitchen floor and didn't want anybody walking on it. The floor was tiled with black and white small tiles, hard to keep clean. Her bane of existence was that floor, scuff marks being a particular nemesis.

”And take that flea-ridden mutt with you, too. If I don't watch him every minute, he starts chewing on the parlor rug,” she groused.

I waved to William to catch his attention so that he would look directly at me, and slowly said, ”Come! See Dad.”

Robert looked pleased when we arrived at his office door; he was ready for a break. ”Oh, so Aunt Martha is wrestling with the floor again. Glad to be away from it!” he said cheerfully when I explained the basket on my arm. ”Looks as if she wants you and William to picnic with me; she packed enough for the three of us.” He cleared his desk, picked up William and put him on top of it, cross-legged, as I pulled up a chair. Dog sprawled contentedly at Robert's feet.

”What's the t.i.tle of this sermon?” I asked, grateful to see that Robert must have visited Ramon's barbershop this morning. Ramon offered to give Robert a haircut as soon as he saw him, before the long line-up of men with haircuts in need of desperate repair began. He said it was his way to thank Robert for organizing the wheelchair accommodations made to his house, but I suspected it was probably because he was appalled at the state of Robert's hair under Rosita's watch. Gone was the slicked-back look, lathered with pomade.

”What do you think of this sermon t.i.tle? 'Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief!' The text is from the Gospel of Mark, when a man seeks help from Jesus for his son.” He glanced up at me. ”Think it would catch attention?”

”I do.” I sat down, watching him as he placed something into William's hand. I knew that sermon was for him. He was that man talking to Jesus.

Robert had given William two pennies to compare. One of them was made of copper, one made of steel. Responding to a shortage in copper, the government had just started to replace copper pennies with steel ones. After William had finished examining the pennies, I said, ”something wonderful happened today.”

Robert glanced my way with mild interest.

”William said 'mmmmm.' He meant 'more'! I understood exactly what he was trying to say! He wanted more milk, and he used a word to tell me!”

He tried to suppress a grin without success. ”Louisa, how in the world did you survive as a Resistance Worker when you show your emotions as plain as a roadmap?”

I frowned. It was true. I couldn't hide a thing. ”They never let me talk to anyone,” I admitted. ”The only two jobs they would give me were surveillance and eavesdropping. Dietrich often said I had a lethal curiosity.”

Robert burst out laughing. Bored by the lack of attention, William wandered into the sanctuary. He liked to find bulletins Sunday church-goers left scattered in the pews and make paper airplanes of them, sailing them airborne around the sanctuary. As Robert watched him go, he said, ”it's a miracle to see what is happening to William. I hope you know how grateful I am.”

”The credit belongs to William. He's an amazing boy.”

I started to unpack our lunch when Robert asked, ”Any new word about Dietrich?”

I shook my head sadly.

He leaned back in his chair. ”Louisa, I still can't understand when Dietrich became involved in a.s.sa.s.sination attempts. When I knew him, back in seminary in 1931, I remember he was very concerned about the direction Germany was heading. There had been an election that had brought socialists to a majority power, and I recall how upset Dietrich was about that election.”

”Did Dietrich ever tell you about the radio address he gave the day after Hitler became chancellor?”

Robert shook his head.

I sat down across from him. ”He was giving a speech on true leaders.h.i.+p, warning the Germans of the dangers of absolute obedience. Suddenly, he was cut off the air. Right in mid-speech! It was one of the first times the government suppressed free speech.” I looked at him cynically. ”A portent of what was to come.”

Robert tilted his head. ”But how did Dietrich go from being against war to actually partic.i.p.ating in plots to a.s.sa.s.sinate Hitler? It's hard to understand. I thought Dietrich even leaned a little toward pacifism. I'm not saying the world wouldn't be a better place without Hitler in it, but to actually a.s.sa.s.sinate him? It's just, well, it's hard to believe.”

”It wasn't an easy decision for him. Of course, Dietrich wasn't going to actually be the one to a.s.sa.s.sinate Hitler. But he was willing to be totally involved despite what it might cost him personally. I think he a.s.sumed that, after the fall of Hitler, it might mean the end of his career as a pastor. He was even willing to risk that, to lose his reputation. He wasn't afraid of anything. Just last year, we all realized we were being watched. Dietrich's mail was censored, and his telephone was tapped. He became more vigilant, but he didn't make any change in his activities. He was fearless.”

I tucked my hands under me, thinking back on those last few tension-filled days I had spent in Germany. ”It was different for me. I couldn't sleep. Or eat. One morning, Dietrich handed me an envelope to deliver, and my hands shook so much I dropped it. I bent down to pick up the envelope, looked up at him, and we both realized I was done. I couldn't handle the pressure anymore. That very afternoon, they whisked me off to Switzerland.”

Everyone knew I was a danger to them as well as to myself.

As I fell silent, Robert said rea.s.suringly, ”Louisa, you did more than most. You can't blame yourself.”

Maybe not. But I would never forgive myself for not being more courageous or more faithful. Or both.

Robert interrupted my private flagellation. ”But I still don't understand how Dietrich went from resisting Hitler to planning to a.s.sa.s.sinate him.”

I stood up and took the napkins out of the basket, handing one to Robert. ”After he worked so hard to keep the Church free of the influence of the n.a.z.is, he realized it was becoming an impossible situation. At first, they tried to use the German courts to overthrow Hitler. After Hitler invaded other countries, they tried to get the People's Court to declare him insane. That effort collapsed, and it became clear that war was inevitable.”

I smoothed out William's napkin and placed it on Robert's desk, like a placemat. Then I did the same for me. I was stalling for time. I still felt quite upset about Dietrich's arrest; it was difficult to talk about him. I fought a dreadful premonition of what might be in store for him.

”And so...” Robert prompted.

I looked at him. ”So...Dietrich faced the question of which was the greater guilt-tolerating Hitler or removing him. He finally decided there are situations in which a Christian must become guilty, out of love, to help those who are suffering. There's a pa.s.sage in the New Testament in which Jesus warns his disciples that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword. Dietrich felt those words had spoken to his own heart. It was about that time that he agreed to help in an attempt to actually a.s.sa.s.sinate Hitler.”

”What happened next? Was there another plan?” Leaning forward with his elbows on his desk, he was listening to me with intense concentration.

”Oh, yes, a number of them. Another time, Hitler was on his way to the Russian Front, and one of the officers in Hitler's entourage was asked to deliver two bottles of brandy back to Germany to give to a General as a celebration for his anniversary.”

I unwrapped William's peanut b.u.t.ter and jelly sandwich and placed it on his napkin. ”The package actually contained a bomb. Hitler's plane took off but later landed without incident. The Resistance Workers scrambled to retrieve the package. Somehow, the detonator had failed to ignite.”

I put some cut carrots next to William's sandwich so he would be sure to eat them. He avoided all vegetables with the exception of potato chips.

”Yet another time, Hitler was scheduled to be at a military exhibition. A young officer had two plastic bombs in his pocket and was planning to approach Hitler, set the fuses, and explode the bombs. But Hitler suddenly changed his plans and left after being there just a few minutes.”

I handed Robert a sandwich wrapped in wax paper and picked up one for me. I sat down and opened it slowly. Then I looked solemnly at Robert.

”When I left, the Gestapo didn't know all of the details, nor did they know all who were involved, but we knew suspicion was growing. With all of his contacts and connections, Dietrich helped Jews to escape through Switzerland, as he did with me, paying their expenses out of his own pocket. It's occurred to me that they might have traced a trail leading to him. I've wondered if that's why they've arrested him.”

Suddenly, Dog stood up, hackling and growling. A door clicked shut.

”Did William go back to the parsonage?” Robert asked.