Tropical Secrets Read Online Free Page B

Francis
who spoke to birds and wolves.
    Â 
    Birds are so much easier
to understand
than people,
    Â 
    but I’m not so sure
about wolves
or saints.

    Â 
DANIEL
    Â 
    Suddenly, everything changes
all over again.
    Â 
    I had almost grown accustomed
to living in this unfamiliar land
when, without warning,
    Â 
    the safe haven called Cuba
stopped feeling safe.
    Â 
    Pearl Harbor has been attacked
by Japan—Cuba is arresting
not only Japanese citizens
but Germans as well.
    Â 
    The most unsettling part
of all this turmoil
is the distrust.
    Â 
    By now, I should know
how to live with utter confusion,
but I feel just as uncertain
as before.
    Â 
    I am from Germany.
Will I be arrested
too?

    Â 
DANIEL
    Â 
    Thousands of Germans,
according to rumor,
    Â 
    will be held in a guarded compound
on the Isle of Pines,
    Â 
    a small prison island
just south of Cuba.
    Â 
    Suspicious stares.
Whispered insults.
The tension of distrust
just like before . . .
    Â 
    It takes some time
for things to become
clear—
    Â 
    only Germans
who are not Jewish
will be rounded up
and sent away. . . .

    Â 
DANIEL
    Â 
    The red
J
on my passport—
a
J
stamped by Nazis—
proves that I am Jewish,
    Â 
    a refugee,
not a spy.
    Â 
    Still, there is the terror
of being questioned
by police
    Â 
    and the fear
of those Jews
who happen to be married
to Christians.
    Â 
    Suddenly, I understand
that the Christian spouses
of Jewish refugees
are being arrested
    Â 
    simply because
they are not
Jews.

    Â 
DANIEL
    Â 
    Germans who do not have
passports with a red
J
    Â 
    are so fiercely suspected
of being Nazi spies
that the whole world
seems upside down.
    Â 
    I cannot understand
how the
J

that condemned me
in Germany
    Â 
    has been transformed
into a mark of safety
on this crazy island—
    Â 
    what a strange
twist of fate.
There but for the grace of God.

    Â 
DAVID
    Â 
    Life is so full
of ugly surprises.
    Â 
    Arresting Christian Germans
who have come to Cuba
with their Jewish wives
or Jewish husbands—
    Â 
    all of this makes no sense
at all—
    Â 
    but what if there really are
Nazi spies
entering Cuba
from the refugee ships?

    Â 
DANIEL
    Â 
    There is terror
all around me
    Â 
    as wives and husbands
are pulled apart
in the refugee shelter.
    Â 
    No good can come of this,
even if it does end up
helping a few Christians
to finally understand
    Â 
    a bit of the horror
experienced by Jews
at home,
    Â 
    where we were the ones
rounded up
    Â 
    for nothing more dangerous
than our spiritual beliefs.
    Â 
    Still, I cannot help seeing
the suffering
and hearing the whispers
of fear
    Â 
    and feeling so angry
all over
again.

    Â 
DANIEL
    Â 
    The oldest couple
in the shelter where I live
must now face this new crisis
of origins.
    Â 
    The woman, Miriam, is Jewish,
and her husband, Mark—called Marcos
by the Cubans—he is Christian.
    Â 
    If I could help them hide
from this turmoil,
I would.
    Â 
    Don’t they deserve
an old age
lived together
in peace?
    Â 
    My parents taught me
to respect all faiths.
    Â 
    It just isn’t right to arrest a man
simply because he is not
the same religion as his wife
of sixty years.

    Â 
PALOMA
    Â 
    Miriam and Marcos
stayed together throughout
their ordeal, fleeing all the way
across Europe.
    Â 
    To keep her safe, he hid
with her, in haylofts and cellars,
surviving with the help
of Dutch farmers
and Basque fishermen
    Â 
    until finally
they were able to find
safe passage on a ship
from Portugal to Cuba.
    Â 
    They said that ship
seemed like an angel
with huge, floating wings.
    Â 
    Now they refuse to separate.
They have fled from the shelter
and are hiding in my dovecote.
    Â 
    I did not give them permission,
but I cannot send them away. . . .
    Â 
    What will I do if my father
discovers the secret visitors
who are depending
on me?

    Â 
DAVID
    Â 
    The young people bring me
a baffling new question,
one that lies