Ella was late today. Not just by a few minutes, but a whole hour. I wondered if she might not come at all. As the minutes passed, drawing further from our appointed meeting time, I had to accept that it might be another day until I saw my friend. If at all. Life was getting much harder for the ordinary citizens, too, on the street above as the war dragged on. I heard it all from beneath ground, the checkpoints and patrols and arrests. Although Ella did not complain or talk much about it, I saw the stress and worry that seemed to crease her beautiful face with every visit. More than once, I considered telling her not to come again. My worry rose now: what if something had happened to her?

Or maybe she was just busy, I thought, her visits with me secondary and unimportant. She had a whole life above ground full of people and hours of the day that I knew nothing about.

But a few minutes later, I saw her hurrying along the embankment, walking more quickly than usual as if to make up for lost time. Her red hair, usually so neat, was unmoored and fanned wildly about her, framed by the clearing clouds above.

“I’m glad to see you,” I said. “I was afraid that something happened and you might not be coming at all.”

She shrugged. “The police had the bridge blocked. I had to go back and find another way.” Before we could speak further, there came noise from the road that ran along the riverbank behind her, the screeching of tires and the sound of police barking orders. Ella’s head snapped in the direction of the commotion. She ducked away hurriedly. I stepped back into the shadows, wondering if she would have to go home.

A few minutes later, when the sirens and noise had faded, Ella reappeared and stood over the grate defiantly. “Things are getting worse,” I said. There were no Jews left on the street, yet the arrests and reprisals against ordinary Poles seemed to grow every day.

“Yes.” Her voice was blunt. “The war is not going well for the Germans.” I wondered if it was true, or if she was just trying to give me hope. “The Russians are progressing on the Eastern Front and the Allies to the south.” Part of me was skeptical. We had heard such rumors before and still the city remained firmly under German control. “The Germans are trying to take it out on ordinary Poles as much as possible now while they can.”

“Because there aren’t any Jews left to take it out on,” I added bitterly. The Poles suffered, to be sure, but at least most of them were still in their homes and had not been imprisoned or forced into hiding. “You don’t have to come, if it’s too hard,” I offered reluctantly. Seeing Ella was one of the few bright spots I had left and I would hate it if she couldn’t come anymore.