If I stepped out of my body
It was September 3, 1939. Again, today Sarah tried to send a telegram to Agatha.
“And the address?”
“16 Glendale Drive, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. USA”
“There was no Agatha Keplinger at this address last week. Do you still want to spend the money to send another telegram? ” Then more gently, the woman said, “Do you have another address, luv?”
Sarah almost sobbed. “This is the last letter we got from her.” The envelope was crumpled and torn but the address was clearly marked, 16 Glendale Drive, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. USA. The letter was dated September 30, 1938. It was addressed to Bremerhaven, Germany.
“I can send a telegram to the western union in Wilkes-Barre to see if she left a forwarding address or if someone knows how to contact her?” Sarah nodded tears in her eyes.
“Or her husband,” Sarah added. “His name is Andres Keplinger. He owns a brewery.”
“We could send a telegram there. Do you know the name?”
“No,” said Sarah.
“Maybe they know at the Western Union. I will ask, again.”
Suddenly, a loud London accent from behind Sarah, boomed, “We are at war woman. We can’t wait while you search America for one German family.”
Humiliated, Sarah paid her money and leaves. Walking back to her home, Sarah begins to cry. “So much death. The last twenty years had no meaning. A king, a democracy, a dictator. It ends in war all the same. ” I have nowhere to go, Sarah thought: I am stuck in London. I have to get out of here. I am alone. I am not safe. I have to find Agatha. She will help me. I have to get to America. I cannot live through another war.
The fat, bald man who was behind Sarah stepped up to the counter. Before he could place his order, the clerk said, “Be kind to that one. She comes in every week, asking to send a telegram to the same address in America. She never sends telegrams to Germany, even with that accent. There is a dent on her left finger where a ring once laid.
Look at her eyes. They are the eyes of a desperate mother, but she comes here with no children. We are not the only ones that will suffer in this war. London is full of women from Europe without their men and without their children. They did not willingly come alone.”
And the man bowed his head in shame. He had forgot that all of God’s children are one.
That night Sarah could not sleep.