‘Your son – is that Friedrich Schmidt?’

The old man nodded slowly, warily. ‘Aye, it is. But he’s at sea right now, trawling for herring. Come back in a day or two if you want him.’

‘Are you in radio contact with him?’

‘Herr Jung, whatever it is you require of my son, it will wait. The last thing he needs while bringing in the herring is a conversation about our neighbours. Good day to you.’

*

Wilde kept one eye on the road and one on the fuel gauge. The tank had not been emptying as fast as he feared, but he still had doubts whether it would get them eighty kilometres or more to the coast. Nor had they seen a petrol station.

‘I’m hungry,’ Klara said.

‘You had a huge breakfast,’ Sunny said.

‘But that was hours ago and I’m hungry again. Where are we going? You don’t tell me anything,’ she said grumpily.

‘We are going to the seaside.’

‘In December? We can’t swim in December.’

‘No, we’re going on a boat – to get you safe.’

She was silent for a few moments, digesting this new information. The child sighed.

‘You said I could have a puppy. When can I have it?’

‘When we have you safe in your new home.’

‘I want a baby lion, too,’ she said, deciding she had the upper hand and now was the time to drive home her advantage. ‘I loved Edda and Frau Göring’s lion. He was so sweet.’

‘Yes, he was,’ Sunny said. ‘But lion cubs turn into grown-up lions – and then they kill you and eat you.’

‘I bet Frau Göring and Edda won’t get eaten!’

‘No, because the cub is just borrowed by them – and he will go back to the zoo when he gets too big.’

‘Frau Göring said one baby lion they had could open all the doors in the house and he came into her room while she and her husband were asleep. It gave them such a shock! But they let the lion stay on their bed.’

Wilde laughed. ‘Well, I think we can promise you a kitten or a puppy, Klara, but I’m really not sure about lions.’

‘Our school principal said the German people were like lions, kings of the jungle – and that all the lesser races had to kneel before us or we would devour them.’

Sunny snorted with derision. ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Klara dear, but your school principal is a Dummkopf. There are no lesser races. Humans, whatever their race, are all one species, and no race has to kneel before another.’

‘You’re lying!’

‘Have you ever heard the word Narzisse?’

‘Of course – it is a spring flower. Why?’

‘You remind me of one, that’s all. I think you may be your father’s daughter.’

‘That’s silly. Every girl is her father’s daughter.’

An uneasy silence ensued.