“So they drove us out for miles,” the old man continued. “Deep into the forest until they found a clearing. They stripped us naked and commanded us to line up against a row of trees. Oaks. That I remember, strangely enough—the leaves, the bark…Anyway, the Nazis ordered us on our knees, backs straight up, hands behind our heads—typical execution position. They had dogs with them in case any of us decided to make a run for it. I thought, This is it. I said Shema.

“But as we were lining up to be shot, I limped behind a tree and tried to hide. I should have been spotted at any moment—the tree trunk was narrow, minimum shield—when suddenly, poof, I’m swallowed up by the earth.”

Decker stared at him.

“Just like that!” Schulman snapped his fingers. “I went straight down. I figured out later that I must have stepped into some kind of animal trap. No one noticed my absence, because who counted Jewish bodies? Piles of leaves and mulch covered my head.”

Schulman paused a moment and knitted his brow in concentration.

“I heard everything. The crying, the moaning, the shooting. Pop, pop, pop. One by one. All the while, I’m shaking, thinking at any moment I will be discovered. I was petrified I was going to sneeze or cough. But I went unnoticed.”

“A miracle,” Decker said.

“Truly,” Schulman said. “A ness—a miracle from Hashem. Now, to make a long story short—”

“No, please—” Decker said. “Don’t cut it short for my sake.”

“I cut it short for my sake,” Schulman said. “You don’t like your memories, I don’t like mine.”

Decker said nothing.

Schulman said, “I somehow survived my bout of pneumonia—baruch Hashem it was the summertime—and I became a very sturdy young man, living like an animal in the forest for two years. Throughout my wanderings, I met very few people. Hermits with beards down to their knees. Crazies, feral, bestial people who lived by their instincts and wits. Maybe even a few of the crazies were escaped Jews like myself. But no one would let on, nu?”

Decker shook his head.

“Finally, I came upon a righteous Gentile couple who befriended me. Allowed me to live in their barn an entire winter. They provided me with blankets, hot coals, and coarse bread. This couple even dared to risk their lives by hiding me in their haystack when their SS son came on a surprise visit.”

Schulman sipped his drink. “I tried to locate them after the war. I was unsuccessful.”

He was silent for a moment.