Page 29 of The Storyteller of Krakow

None of the others seemed to be assuaged by this declaration and took a few steps away.

I thought, then walked towards the bear. He was looking at me, his nose twitching, and in my head, where I liked to tell myself stories, I had already made one up about him and was sure that he remembered me and wanted to be friends. In that moment, I recalled the dream I had had about a bear in Siberia, and the old woman’s voice saying that if a bear does not kill you it means life is not done with you yet.

I was perhaps two steps away from him when Janek, of all people, appeared.

‘Lena!’ He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground.

‘I had heard you were out, but couldn’t get here from my camp sooner. Then this lot said you all got a bit of a fright from Wojtek here, so we thought we’d come and make amends.’

Before I could utter a word, Janek released me, wrapped his arm around my shoulders and introduced me to the other men.

‘This here is Lena. We’ve known each other a long time, Lena and I.’ He stopped and let the words linger.

The men understood, nodded and walked, grinning to the frightened women, offering their little gifts.

‘Now, come away from Wojtek, Lena,’ Janek began.

‘Someone said he wasn’t dangerous,’ I said, standing my ground.

‘Well, he isn’t, but⁠—’

Before he could say anything, I shrugged his arm off my shoulders and finally got face to face with this bear.

‘He’s harmless,’ a soldier said – the red-faced soldier from a month ago. He leaned on his cab, smoking, pointing to the bear. ‘His name is Wojtek. I raised him, and the others, but mainly me.’

Then he stood straight and held out a hand for me to shake. ‘Piotr,’ he said.

As soon as he said my brother’s name, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Of course, Piotr was a common name, but oddly, I had not heard anyone say the name since my brother had died.

‘You all right?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I…’ I stared, trying and failing to recover myself, when Wojtek sat up and handed me his paw.

‘Take it,’ this new Piotr said. ‘Shake his hand. He copies me all the time.’

I stuck out my own hand, and the bear took it in his giant paw, gently. I could feel the warmth and softness of his pads, the tickling of fur against my skin.

I looked at Wojtek’s face and saw he was looking directly at mine. For a moment, our eyes were locked on each other, and I felt a leap of fear that this would make him turn on me. Yet, his gaze held, his paw did not tighten, and my fear drifted away and instead was replaced with something akin to finally being seen – being understood – even though no words had passed between us, and no words would ever come from him.

‘He likes you.’ Piotr broke the spell. ‘Come on. Let’s show the ladies what you can do, eh?’

Wojtek let go of my hand and followed Piotr to the women who had unwrapped their gifts of nylons, coffee and sweet pastries. I watched for a moment, and I know it sounds daft, utterly stupid, but I felt that my brother, my Piotr, was somehow sending me a message that he was here – a soldier with the same name, and a bear that I truly felt knew me, or at least liked me. It made me smile, and I knew that was what my brother would have wanted.

‘You shouldn’t have gotten that close, Lena,’ Janek warned.

‘Why not? Piotr said it was fine.’ I turned to face him and saw he was holding my truck manual in his hands.

‘But Piotr does not know you like I do. He doesn’t know what you have been through, how fragile you are, how you need to be looked after. I mean, one swipe of that bear’s paw and you’d be gone, my little Lena!’ He laughed.

My jaw clenched, and I walked towards him, taking the book away from him.

‘You have no idea of what I can or cannot do, Janek, and you have no right to tell me what to do.’ I slammed the book down on the passenger seat and closed the door, coming around to the front of the truck to finally confront him.

As soon as I stood in front of Janek, his face fell, as if he were a small child who had been scolded by a parent. ‘I’ve only ever wanted to keep you safe, Lena. You and Zosia. I’ll go see her now, I’m sure she’ll be glad to see me.’

He then turned from me and walked slowly towards the infirmary.

I didn’t follow him. Not right away. I stood beside the truck and thought of him and Zosia. It made something ugly rise up in me. Jealousy, yes – I won’t pretend otherwise, but not over Janek; over Zosia.