Page 66 of The Watchmaker of Dachau

The gramophone was heavy, and it took him a while to get it from the living room into the dining room, which overlooked the garden and was close to the kitchen. Once he had it in position, he ran back, his hands sweaty, and chose the record that had a picture of a woman on the sleeve cover, the music he remembered as something his mother had played years before.

Just as he was threading the hole of the shiny black vinyl onto the spoke, he heard the study door open.

He held his breath, the record hovering above the player. There were no footsteps, there was no voice shouting out.

He heard a grunt, then the study door closed again.

He hadn’t eaten the cake yet.

Friedrich placed the record down. He had to get rid of Schmidt – but how? He was sure he would eat the cake; he was sure that the sleeping tablets would work again. He just had to wait.

Suddenly there was a crashing in the study, as if a heavy tome had fallen off a shelf.

Anna came running from the kitchen and saw Friedrich. ‘What’s going on?’

Friedrich shrugged. ‘It came from the study.’

Anna’s eyes glanced at the gramophone, then she walked quickly away, Friedrich at her heels.

At the study door she knocked once, twice, three times, and there was no answer.

‘Maybe we should go in?’ Friedrich suggested. ‘Just to check.’

Anna’s hand went to the doorknob, then pulled back again.

‘Here, I’ll do it. I’ll go in first – that way, if he shouts then he can shout at me. He does it all the time anyway.’

Anna nodded at him, and with confidence he opened the door to find Schmidt face-down on the rug in front of his father’s desk, drool spilling out of his mouth as he snored.

‘Oh!’ Anna gasped behind him. ‘He’s hurt.’

‘No! Not hurt.’ Friedrich pushed her out of the room, closed the door and stood in front of it, barring her entrance. ‘He’s just sleeping. He does that all the time, especially when Father goes out.’

‘Sleeping – on the floor?’ Anna’s hands were on her hips.

‘Yes. Father said he could not sleep on the couch as it was not his, so I saw him lie down the other day and go to sleep.’ Friedrich wanted to laugh at how easily the lies rolled off his tongue. He wished Otto were here so he could witness his prowess.

‘Are you sure – maybe we should call a doctor to be safe?’

Although Anna looked concerned, she did not move to go to the telephone and Friedrich realised that she wanted to believe him.

‘Really, Anna.’ He took her hand in his, leading her away. ‘Better let him sleep. You know how grumpy he is. Imagine if we make a fuss and wake him, imagine then how angry he will be.’

Anna left him in the hallway and returned to the kitchen, and he noticed that she walked with her head a little higher now his parents were gone and Schmidt was no longer a threat.

He went back to the gramophone and finished setting it up. Then, he lit some candles around the room, closed the drapes, and pushed the large table out of the centre of the room as much as he could, leaving some space on the floor.

He stood back and looked at his handiwork – it was magical, he decided, fit for a king and queen.

Isaac was still tinkering with a piece of rubber piping when Friedrich opened the door to the shed, blowing into it and then cleaning it with a black rag.

‘Come with me,’ Friedrich said, making Isaac look up.

‘Where?’

‘It’s a surprise. Please, come with me.’

‘I can’t, I have to finish this for your father.’ He held up the rubber piping. ‘It’s for the car, for the fuel. It had a hole in it.’