Schatzi

4

Eli opened the door to his uncle's shop, the bell jingling as always. It was early, only 8 by the time they were ready to open. The streets were quiet, other shops in the area that were owned by Jews were closed because it was the Sabbath. It was a mild day, the sun shining but the air had a bite to it for April.

Eli sat in the window, looking at his reflection in the glass. The black eye, the busted lip, the bruises across his jaw and on his arms.

He hadn't stopped thanking Peter over the last week, his mother also. He'd stayed with him until late that night, worrying about him, apologising for not being there sooner. Eli had told him about what happened in class, and Peter had held him close as he cried, assuring him they were just words. He knew he didn't mean them. He shouldn't feel bad about saying it.

It hadn't been a good day. His mum hadn't told him because he was hurt, and she thought he had enough on his plate, but by that evening, word he got out that the enabling act had passed. Hitler could do whatever he wanted without the support of the Reichstag. It wasn't good news.

He sighed and stood up, walking over to the counter. He looked around, wondering where his uncle had got to. When he turned back, he was right in front of him, making him scream in surprise.

"April fools!" He laughed, tapping his hand lightheartedly. "Hope I didn't scare you too bad," he added, suddenly looking worried. "Your mother warned me..." he trailed off as Eli looked up at him with a smile.

"What did she tell you? That I'm 'fragile' or something? Don't worry, uncle, I'm not going to keel over and die because you made me jump. Good job, by the way. I didn't even see you there."

"That was the idea," his uncle laughed as he leant on the counter. "Go have a look in the sweets section, you little soldier," he said, touching Eli's bruised jaw lightly before patting him on the shoulder. "Feel bad for you, all bruised up like that. You're worse off than me when I got back from Belgium! Those lads really did you in, eh?"

"Yeah," Eli sighed as he wandered off to go have a look for something to eat. "They've left me alone though now. I think they're scared Peter's gonna come and beat them up instead."

His uncle smiled and pulled up a seat, tapping it, gesturing for Eli to sit by the counter with him.
"All the shelves are stocked today, you just sit with me and we can just talk. It's pretty quiet today."

The hours past, and they began to realise why it was so quiet. At about half 10, Eli got up to go get some fresh air, and as he was standing outside, he saw a bunch of brown shirts standing outside shops, sticking signs to the windows and stopping people from entering.

"Uncle!" He called, looking around in shock. His uncle ran outside to him, worried the kids who'd beat him up were back, or something terrible had happened.

"What is it? Are you alright?"

"Look," Eli said, pointing. "What are they doing?"

His uncle peered up and down the street, then locked the shop door and waved for Eli to follow him. He walked quickly down a different street, then another, then another. The SA were standing outside Jewish shops, with signs telling Germans to shop elsewhere.

"Why are they doing this?" Eli muttered. "They can't stop people from shopping in our shops, can they?"

"They can do whatever they bloody well want," his uncle muttered, grabbing Eli's hand and walking him briskly back to his shop, where an SA officer was putting up a large poster that covered most of the window.

'GERMANS, DEFEND YOURSELVES AGAINST THE JEWISH ATROCITY PROPAGANDA, BUY ONLY AT GERMAN SHOPS!'

His uncle glared at him as he unlocked the door, pushing Eli inside.
"Just ignore them," he muttered when Eli tried to get out again. "You'll just get yourself in trouble."

"What are you doing!" Eli snapped. "Get away from our shop!" Was all he managed to say before his uncle wrestled him inside and closed the door.

"Elijah, there is no use arguing with those ruffians. They will beat you worse than those silly little boys and any words you say will be lost on them. They won't even remember you. Now go get some more tins and start stacking them over there."

"But you said I didn't need to stock-"

"I don't care what I said before, do as I say! Keep yourself busy, stay out of the way of those idiots outside."

Eli humphed indignantly and skulked off to stack more tins of stupid beans and peaches while the Brownshirts outside told people to go buy stupid beans and peaches elsewhere, so what was the fucking point of stacking the stupid fucking beans and peaches?!

His uncle gave him job after job, just to keep him busy so he wouldn't try fight the officers outside. At about 1, the bell tinkled for the first time all day and Peter walked in. Eli grinned and rushed over to him, dragging him behind a shelf so they were out of sight before wrapping his arms around him as tight as he could.

"How'd you get in?" He asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. "They're stopping everyone."

"No," Peter said, shaking his head. "They're just trying to get people to shop elsewhere. People are just too scared to disobey." He looked outside, where the officers were speaking to an elderly woman. "It's happening all over Germany. Every shop, Schatzi, every where. Not just these streets, not just Berlin. Everywhere."

"Turn on the radio!" Eli called to his uncle, walking back over the counter, closely followed by Peter.

His uncle fiddled with the knobs until the voice of propaganda minister, Goebbels, filled the room. Eli pulled a face just at the sound of his voice.

He talked about international anti-Nazi propaganda, and that this boycott was punishment for it.

Eli bit his lip and walked away, his blood boiling as he tried not to scream in anger.

"If I ever meet that tiny little man, I'm going to punch him so hard in the face that he can physically never talk again, and no one has to listen to bullshit anymore!" He snapped, walking around the small shop.

"Eli not too loud," Peter warned, glancing outside.

"Fuck them, they can't here us," he said, brushing it off. "'Against the atrocities of world Jewry'" he mocked, glaring at the radio and punching the countertop. "Stop pretending like we can just ignore this stuff anymore, Peter! Do you not see this? Do you not see the seeds being sewn here? This is the beginning of it. Of something big. Already they're forcing people away from us, spreading lies and telling them to hate us! This is bad...and it's only just started."