Good luck homing pigeon

Chapter twelve: birds that do not fly, but run.

I'd like to begin here by wishing everybody a merry Christmas. I know that 2016 has been a rough year, so it seems only right that Christmas should be especially good. Secondly, I'd like to talk a little about the story so far. While it's been said that female prisoners of Birkenau served as prostitutes to some of the soldiers, I am only aware of one, true account of a prisoner and a soldier falling in love-something that came with brutal consequences for both of them. Without trying to spoil a part of the story, I'd just like you to be aware that Briana's story isn't fairy-tale, forbidden love like Romeo and Juliet. It is mostly seen from Kate's point of view and she, like many of the other prisoners, has strong opinions on those they consider 'traitors'. Women who were accused of these affairs in France had their heads shaved and were paraded through the towns for their 'crimes'. If you wish to learn more, I suggest you look it up in your nearest library-that's how I learnt about it. For now, please enjoy the chapter and have a happy Christmas! Song above is 'Merry, little Christmas' by Judy Garland. One of my favourite Carrols.

The next day, thankfully, wasn't as hard as it was yesterday. Due to some extra sleep and the fact that my legs were still fully functional, I'd managed to make it through today, unscathed. Not one soldier looked at me today; for I'd made the extra effort to be as invisible as humanly possible. I worked reasonably fast, kept my head down, and just to be sure, I kept an extra careful eye on Briana, to make sure she had no more bloodied rags to drop. I did rather well for myself during the first shift, and to my luck I'd noticed the block leader had given me just a little more soup than all of the others. Again; this didn't change anything. I was her homing pigeon, and she needed me to survive. But I appreciated it, really. And if any of the others did notice, they said nothing but treated me with a certain warm regard that I'd never felt from them before.

Briana didn't speak to me-why was I not surprised? Since Sandrine and I had 'teamed up' against her she's been keeping to herself since. Mama has tried to reason with her, even Antonia tried to tell her what a 'brat' she was being. But she didn't want to hear it. And so she didn't even look at me as we worked our way through stolen glasses and sets of gold teeth. Probably couldn't bear to look at what I felt, every time I'd seen her. Anger, sadness, and maybe, just the slightest bit of resentment in there, somewhere. Well, what did she expect? I'd been a good, loyal sister to her; I'd taken a whipping for her just so she, and the rest of the barrack wouldn't go hungry. And what did she do? She struck me across the face, for the first time in my life. What had gotten into her? She used to care for me. I used to be her favourite young girl in the world. And now I was nothing but an appendage to her. A stupid, reckless appendage.

I didn't want to cast her off from my mind completely, but I had to today. Tonight after dinner was my first delivery; I'd get to see Angelo again, for at least a whole ten minutes. Not only that, it was my chance to prove myself to the rest of the flock! To show them that they'd made the right choice, and that I was more than just some skinny, sneaky kid. I'd be part of something that was bigger than my sister, bigger than the soldiers, bigger than this prison! I'd be fighting the same, good fight fellow comrades all around Europe were fighting every day. And unbelievably so, it was all thanks to Birkenau.

"Kate!" Sandrine rushed to my side, as soon as we'd been escorted from the work hut. "Follow me for a second."

"Sandrine, I can't be late back to the barrack! The block leader wants me to run another errand. I might get an extra ration for it if I'm quick."

"It won't be long, just come on!" She yanked me by my arm, to that right-hand corner at the front of the work hut. Along this side of the work hut she tugged me, until we came to a stop, around the middle. What on earth? If we were here to eavesdrop on the guards, I was leaving right now.