The Locket

“I got something for you.”

We sat down on the edge of my bed, and I looked up. The sun beamed into my room and lit up everything as if I were in some fairy-tale. Kevin reached into his back pocket and handed me something gold and shiny. It was a small golden heart on a chain.

“It’s a locket,” I say, smiling, as if some mystery had been solved by my stating the obvious.

“Yeah, I remember you saying your mom had one in that picture you showed me. Now you have one.”

“What’s inside it?”

“I don’t know, we couldn’t get it open. The guy at the shop said it was old, like it had some history in the war and such.”

I looked at the polished but worn surface. Some places had a brilliant mirror finish, but much of the back was worn thin. The silvery metal inside shone through the gold plating, and near the top where the heart lobes meet was a tiny X, faint around the edges but clear in the middle.

“I’m sorry it’s not fancy, Gilli. I got it at the pawn shop.”

“Oh, I love it! Stop worrying about money you goof. Here, put it on me.”

I turned around and lifted my hair. I could feel him move closer, then his rough hands touched my chin as they wrapped around me and slid past my neck. I noticed as he slowed and lingered for just a moment, and I felt the cool wisp of his breath on my shoulder. The little latch clicked.

I turned around again and leaned in to give him a kiss. It was just a small kiss. I wished I could have made it longer. I’m sure Kevin did too, but we both knew Dad was in the next room, probably pretending not to listen.

I stood up and bent down, intending to take Kevin’s hands and stand him up. But we stayed there, staring at it dangling between us, the light twinkling off of the shiny parts as if the heart were magic. Then I noticed Kevin’s gaze wasn’t entirely on the locket.

“Kev-en!” I chided him with my tone of voice and pushed him backwards onto the bed. Then I stood up and stomped off in a pretend huff of anger.

----------

After dinner, Kevin went home and I found Dad staring at a headline on his Z-Padd. There was a protest last weekend against the Fourth Reich.

“Didn’t Mom fight against…. ‘them’?”

“Your mom fought for freedom. Freedom from the oppression of those communist fascist liberals.”

“Dad. You know you can’t be communist AND fascist at the same time.”

“Whatever. Your mom was a hero in the war. She made a lot of sacrifices for us, sacrifices that…just…” Dad sighed slowly, “… just couldn’t be made by men.”

“Dad, I know this is hard…”

“No, I promised to tell you. There was an SS officer that was very sweet on her, he took her to the opera quite often. She told him many times that she was married, but he didn’t care. Honestly, he made our lives much easier. I couldn’t complain.” Dad smiled at a thought. “Your Aunt and I still tease about getting you paternity tested.”

“Dad!” I laughed as I hit him on the arm. No way was I from – no, I couldn’t even think of it.

It was nice to see dad smile and laugh. He didn’t do so very often these days.

“Nahh, you’re mine. You’d have to be with that stubbornness of yours.”

We both laughed again. It was such a wonderful feeling. I didn’t want it to end.

“Honestly, if it weren’t for him, and the Fourth Reich, we wouldn’t have this house. Or much of anything. And now, I just want to be left alone to enjoy what we have.”

My heart sank hearing my dad say such things.

“But Dad… The Reich doesn’t allow people to be themselves. They don’t allow us to learn the truth.”

“The truth is that this is the way it is, and some people need learn to live with it.” I could hear the anger in his voice. “Freedom isn’t free, kid!”

“Freedom doesn’t mean anything unless it means something to everyone!” My own voice began to shake. The joy of a moment ago felt crushed. “Dad, freedom IS free! It’s all the people who keep trying to take it way from us that make it cost so much!”

Dad leaned back and looked at me with a mix of shock and anger. “Just who do you think is trying to take away your freedom?” My dad snipped. “And do you think your friends at that protest are going to give it to you?”

I realized that Dad knew I had been there.

“The Reich dad! The Reich! They tell us that we have freedom, but then lock us up for trying to make people’s lives better! They are holding us down by lying to us! We want to help..”

Dad’s scorn was written in his face. “Now you shut your trap little lady! You’ll have the SS here asking questions!”

“See! I can’t even talk about talking about it! Didn’t you tell me mom fought for freedom?”

“She fought for OUR freedom. She fought for you! For what we could get from the Reich!”

“No dad, she fought for freedom FROM the Reich! From people like you!”

Dad’s slap hit me hard on the mouth. He had never hit me before – I never expected it. The pain shot through my spinning vision as I stumbled and fell backward into the dining room table. More pain stabbed into my side from the tabletop and I dropped to my knees. By the time I realized what had happened, there was a knock at the door.

“Go to your room!” Dad’s voice boomed. I ran up the stairs, my bare feet slipping on the carpet every few steps and making my side hurt more.

I could hear him talking to the SS officers but couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. I picked up my cell phone to call Kevin. It rang a half dozen times and went to voicemail. We mostly video-text each other, but he would usually pick up for me. I sent him a message: “Help, I need you!”

I watched the screen but the ‘received’ icon never changed.

Something was wrong.

My window looked out to our yard, but I could see the street. There were no officers in sight. Probably the only two on the block were at my front door. I put my phone in my shorts pocket and opened the window. Of course it squeaked. Just as I swung my feet out over the sill I realized that I should have grabbed shoes. I turned back but I could hear them coming up the stairs.

The ground hit me faster than I expected. It was always so slow in the movies.

My face hurt, my side hurt, and now my foot hurt.

I got up and ran as fast as I could. That’s when I saw the flashers light up my house.

When I got to Kevin’s house, I knew we were in real trouble.

“Craptastic. Now where do I go?”

The red flashers were bright, even from several houses away. Then I remembered Bethie’s house was the next street over. I had spent many sleepovers there as a kid. When I got there, I walked up to the back door. Then I heard them. Police radios. SS were here too. Then I heard something totally strange.

“Locket? Why would they be looking for a locket? There’s no way….”

I ran again. My side still hurt and I had no idea where to go.

----------

I found Kevin in the woods behind the park, hiding in the overgrown remains of the little fort we had made when we were kids. Ironically, the lack of a Parks Service lately had made the bushes a better hiding place.

“Hey Kev, I thought you might be here.”

Kevin jolted up and smiled. “I’m surprised it’s still here.”

“Brings back a lot of mem- ow!” I lifted my foot quickly and reached for Kevin’s shoulder to balance myself. “I don’t remember there being so many sticker-bushes here though.”

“Oh, they were here. I guess your feet were tougher back then.”

We both chuckled.

“Yeah, I don’t go barefoot outside as much as I used to, do I?” I sat down on a rock. “I didn’t really have much choice this time though. I jumped out the window when the SS showed up.”

“They were at your house too?”

“Yeah. My Dad found out about the protest last weekend. He’s so pissed he hit me.”

“He what?” Kevin looked up at me, his eyes suddenly more intense than I had ever seen.

“I’m OK. Why were they at your house?”

“I don’t know, really, but I guess about the weekend. I was at Eric’s house shooting hoops, when I was almost home I could see the cop cars all over. I turned around and hid next to a big white truck.”

“Oh… whe- “ Kevin cut me off with a wave of his hand.

“Get this – I heard talking inside the truck. It’s been in front of my neighbors house for at least a week. I think they’ve been watching me.”

“Crap.”

“Yeah.”

After a few minutes of silence, I brought up a thought.

“Remember when you and I were in 8th grade, and your social studies teacher, Mr. Mueller got arrested?”

‘He was the one giving me the books that were written before the war. And the printouts of old articles from when news was written on paper. The books were so much different from the new ones we used in school. And the articles – things like protests of the government and even gay marriage being legal. But the SS found out.”

“You were so scared that you actually got sick. I cant be sure, but I think that actually saved you.”

“Seven kids never came back to school, Gilli. They told us they got sick too. I didn’t know what to believe then. “

“Well I need you to believe me now. All this ….“ I gestured to the world around us “We aren’t going to let it go.” I paused briefly. “I heard the SS say they were looking for a locket.” I expected Kevin to look confused, but he didn’t. “How long ago did you buy this?” I pulled the locket out of my shirt, and held it in my hand. Kevin smiled just a little, then raised an eyebrow.

“About a week ago.”

“Do you still have that tiny pocket knife?”

“Always.” Kevin reached into his front pocket and pulled out a little folding knife. He put it in my hand after opening it.

I twisted the little knife blade between the locket halves. I cursed as the thin metal bent. I didn’t want to ruin it. The latch popped off and bounced across the ground.

“Dammit!” I hoped Kevin would be able to fix it.

As I opened the locket, I saw two pictures inside. They had come loose and were laying face to face. The top one I turned over and saw a handsome, well-dressed SS officer. But he wasn’t standing at attention, and was that – was that a peace sign his hand was making?

My breath caught in my throat when I turned over the second photo. There was no way that could be…

“That’s…impossible….”

Kevin’s eyes got really wide and the “What?” never quite made it out of his mouth.

“This locket, remember you said it reminded you of my mother’s?”

Kevin nodded.

“It… It -IS- my mother’s.”

“And I think it has everything to do with why the SS is at our houses. And….. And my dad and mom.”

……Not The End…...