Page 35 of A Song in the Dark

The man scowled. “You will deliver this message to Fr?ulein Frappier immediately.” He thrust an envelope at her, raised his arm in salute, and clicked his heels together. “Heil Hitler!”

She closed the door before he could expect a response. Then she locked it and put the chain on for good measure.

For several minutes, she leaned against the door, the envelope feeling like it got warmer every second she held it. She wanted to throw it into the fire immediately, but that could have disastrous consequences for them all.

“Mel?” Chaisley had snuck up beside her. “Are you all right?”

Her hands shook. “I’m fine.”

“You handled yourself quite well.” Chaisley touched her arm. “I don’t know if I could have held myself together like that.”

Melanie flopped down into a chair, her nervousness escaping in a wry laugh. “I can’t believe I scolded him!” She smacked a hand to her forehead.

Geraldine and her daughter huddled by the bedroom door, obviously shaken by the man’s harsh interruption.

“But you played the part. That’s what you had to do.” Chaisley sat across from her. “Geraldine, Mary Beth. Please, come sit. It’s all right. He’s gone.”

Melanie rushed to her feet and guided them over to the sitting area. The mother still trembled as she held her daughter close.

“I’m so sorry about that.” Melanie did her best to comfort them. “Would some tea help?”

“Thank you, but no.” Geraldine’s head shook back and forth. “The only thing that will help is getting out of Germany and going far, far away. But I don’t know if that’s even possible anymore.”

Chaisley straightened in her chair, a determined look on her face. “I will get you out of Germany, my friends. I don’t know how or when. But I will get you out.”

Melanie cringed and shifted in her seat. Chaisley meant well. And probably would figure out a way to save this mother and daughter. But sometimes her friend’s sweeping declarations made her uncomfortable. Especially when her own bravery was nowhere to be found.

And then there were the practical details of the situation. Where could they hide them in the meantime?

“I will get you a hotel room somewhere safe for the time being.” Chaisley patted Geraldine’s arm. “With plenty of food for a few weeks until we can arrange something else.”

It was as if she’d read Melanie’s mind. “Yes. I’ll work on that right away.”

“Now.” Chaisley lifted her chin. “I guess you better read me the message.”

Melanie opened the envelope and scanned the one page. “It appears,” she huffed, “that Hitler is demanding your attendance at a private concert for his most distinguished supporters on August the fifth.”

Amsterdam, Netherlands—Wednesday, July 27, 1938

Celestia sat in the third-floor parlor with the blind students Rick had brought from Berlin. They were all such sweet children. Many nights since they’d arrived, she’d cried herself to sleep.

In each precious face, she saw her granddaughter. Had her family not left Germany, Chaisley could have ended up being just like them. Hunted simply because they were blind. Irreparably flawed in the eyes of a madman.

Of course, if her family hadn’t left Germany, Chaisley wouldn’t have been blinded in London by a bomb. Celestia’s precious son and his wife might still be alive as well. She resisted the urge to thump her cane on the floor. These thoughts were taking her nowhere good.

Almighty God was in control—even though He had no part of evil. It was only because of sin in this world that things were as they were.

“Mrs. Frappier?” Lydia’s musical voice jolted her. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, dear.” Amazing how these children could sense her feelings without her saying a word. She must be more cautious from now on. No use in unsettling these sweet ones. Not when they’d already been through so much.

No child—no person —should ever be treated as less than human. Over the years, the overprotectiveness of her granddaughter had melted away as she’d watched Chaisley blossom and grow.

As much as she hated for Chaisley to put herself in harm’s way now, Celestia was praising God for what He’d done through her.

These young people were proof of that.

It had been almost three weeks since their arrival, and they’d begged and pleaded to have jobs to do to help others find their way to freedom.

Immediately, Celestia went to work teaching them all the different forms of braille.

The young people were quick to learn. They’d already mastered New York Point version of writing and reading and also the Boston Line Letter.

It had taken all of one day for them to master the original braille from 1829.

Today, she had them in the parlor with their braille slates to start on the work of learning Chaisley’s more intricate code embedded in braille music.

With four extra sets of hands, she’d be able to get messages out quicker to her granddaughter and Grafton.

And since she’d become the hub here, Celestia needed the help.

The music form of braille was similar to what the students already knew, but they had to learn all the musical terminology on top of understanding paragraph form, bar-by-bar form, and bar-over-bar form.

Since the musical alphabet only contained A–G, Chaisley had come up with a way to show all twenty-six letters of the alphabet for sending missives.

Depending on the octave designation, the letter could change.

A–G in one octave were the actual letters.

One octave up would represent H–N. Two octaves up represented O–U. Three octaves up represented U–Z.

Numbers were easy to incorporate and a dash at the end of a line indicated a change in form for the next.

Changing between paragraph form, bar-by-bar form, and bar-over-bar form should confuse anyone trying to read their communications.

The fact that they had to even think of such a thing made Celestia’s stomach churn. But Grafton reported that two of his letters never made it through, which meant she’d been correct.

The Germans were reading—or at least attempting to read—their mail.

Perhaps more of the network should learn the code. But it was tedious. Especially for anyone who didn’t already understand and read braille and music. Maybe she should at least give the idea to Grafton.

They were preparing for the worst and still hoping for the best. Some in their circle of connections believed that Hitler would take over all of Europe and Asia, and then woe to anyone who disagreed with him or who he deemed unworthy.

Then there were others who believed Hitler would start a war, but they could stop him before he killed too many people or did too much damage.

While Celestia had always been a pessimist in nature, she wanted to be an optimist when it came to this.

It was much easier to think that all this work they were doing was simply worst-case scenario and wouldn’t be necessary.

But something deep down inside her told her that wasn’t to be.

Yes, she would do whatever she could to help people.

Yes, she would buck up and not sweep the reality of what was happening under the rug.

Yes, she would pray every chance she had that they could help as many as possible.

Right now, it was beautiful to have everyone here. Chaisley, Melanie, Timothy, and Rick needed the rest and refreshment before heading back into the fray. She would revel in every moment she had with them.

“How are you this morning, Mrs. Frappier?”

Grafton caught her by surprise. Especially since he never used such formal speech with her.

He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Have you been on your best behavior?”

The students giggled, and she joined them as she walked over to hug him. “You best remember who is your elder, Timothy Grafton. I could still take you over my knee if I had to.”

The kids’ laughter echoed throughout the room. He waved her toward the door. Oh dear, it must be serious.

She turned her face toward the young people. “All right. Work on writing the phrases I gave you earlier in braille music using the octave designations we’ve discussed. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the four youngsters replied in unison.

Celestia moved toward the door and followed Grafton down the hall. He motioned to a small bedroom, she entered, and he closed the door behind them.

“You’re teaching them Chaisley’s code, aren’t you?”

“I am.” She folded her arms over her chest. “They’re old enough to understand what’s going on and they are all smart as whips. I thought it would be wise to have others who can help.”

He nodded, his face grim. “That is wise. We really don’t know what’s coming and communication is getting difficult with all the moving pieces and people spread out over Europe.

I’ve taught all of my contacts the New York Point and Boston line, but I haven’t had the chance to teach them the rest. I should make that a priority.

” He rubbed at the stubble on his chin and sat in one of the chairs beside the large bay window.

The sun caught the grey flecking his hair.

Celestia’s heart broke a little. It hadn’t been there a few months ago.

“Celestia, I need to ask for your assistance. There’s a family downstairs that needs a place to stay for a while.”

She sat in the chair opposite him, resting the hook of her cane on her wrist. “That’s not a problem, I’ve got plenty of room.”

The shadow in his eyes darkened. “They’re Jewish.”

“As I stated before, it’s not a problem.” Thank You, Lord, for preparing me for such at time as this. To help Your people.