“I did,”Charlie answers immediately, bowing his headbriefly.
I look over at Jackson with bewilderment. “I need to know if this is him,” Isay.
“Shh, keep watching,” he tellsme.
The interviewer clasps her hands together over her skirted lap beforecontinuing.
“So, was it the classic happily ever after you were hopingfor?”
Charlie doesn’t take much time to respond. It was as if he had pre-planned the answers to the questions she would beasking.
“It was a happily ever after,”hesays.
My knee has been shaking for minutes, but it stops as I look back over at Jackson to gauge his reaction. He doesn’t say anything; he just continueswatching.
“Are you two still together now?”sheasks.
“Oh my goodness, no. We were never together again after we arrived here in thestates.”
The woman chuckles nervously, making me wonder if maybe she didn’t have the answers to these questions before theinterview.
“I’m not sure I understand, Charlie. How do you explain your happy ending if you didn’t end up with the love of yourlife?”
I notice Charlie fidgeting more in his seat. His right hand is tapping against his knee, and then he tugs at the collar of his shirt with the samehand.
“His left hand hasn’t moved an inch,” Jackson says. “It’sprosthetic.”
“What? How do you knowthat?”
Jackson cocks his head to the side. “I’m a doctor. Give me a little credit, will you?” Fair point. “When the human body is under stress, you don’t just have three out of four limbs moving around. He’s bounced both of his knees several times and has been tapping his right hand throughout the interview. His left hand and arm haven’t movedonce.”
“But hisstory—”
“Love isn’t necessarily about being with that person. It’s about knowing that she’s safe and happy. My one and only love was both of those things, and it gave me the peace I needed to go on with my life,”Charliesays.
“Wow,”the interviewer replies, fanning herself a bit with her papers.“If only there were more men like you, this world might be a betterplace.”
Charlie leans forward, resting his good arm on his knee.“You know, love was different back then,” he continues, seeming more comfortable in his skin for the moment.“Finding safety and peace out of harm’s way was the ultimate act of love for the ones you cared about. Making sure your family had food to eat and shelter from the enemy meant that you were a decent human being. We lived through a scary time, and we had a hard road, escaping from the horrors of war in Czechoslovakia. It certainly wasn’t an easy feat to stay alive and end up the way wedid.”
The interviewer places her fist beneath her chin.“Do you know where this woman you loved so deeply, istoday?”
“Love,”Charlie corrects her.“And, I’d rather notsay.”
“Understandable,”the woman continues.“So, Charlie, the most intriguing part of your story is that you were once referred to as a Nazi, and this woman is Jewish. Am Icorrect?”
“Yes, you’re correct,” Charlie states, simply, before swallowing hard, then bouncing his kneesagain.
It’s him. “It’shim!”
“It definitely is,” Jacksonsays.
“How in the world did you manage to get away with that?”the interviewerasks.
“With all due respect, some secrets are worth keeping as secrets,”Charlieanswers.
“She’s alive because of you, isn’t she?”the womancontinues.
Charlie stands from his seat and pulls the microphone off with his right hand as his left hand dangles by his side.“I apologize. I can’t continue.”Charlie quickly walks away from the cameras and off the set, leaving the interviewer stunned and visibly shaken as she tries to clean up the mess that must have been filmedlive.
