Page 96 of The Storyteller of Krakow

I felt Hana place her hand over mine that rested on the cane and looked down at her sweet face that was all scrunched up in anticipation.

A horn sounded. Silence fell. And then, the moment of reveal.

The flag was removed, and there, over two metres tall, cast in bronze, was Wojtek. He stood, his right paw pointing at the statue of General Władysław Anders, his and my own commanding officer.

His mouth was open, and children had started to roar at the statue. But I decided he wasn’t mid-roar. He really hadn’t done that much when I knew him. If anything, his mouth was open for some food.

I told Hana as much and she giggled then continued to hold on to my hand.

‘I’m so glad you know about Wojtek,’ she said as Kasia led us to a bench where I begrudgingly sat for a moment. ‘You know things that no one else can know.’

Piotr sat on my other side, Kasia next to him.

As we sat, a young man came and asked, in Polish but with a thick American accent, whether he could sit.

I told him he could.

‘Thank you,’ he said, then held out a hand. ‘Joseph,’ he said. ‘Joseph Gaddis.’

I shook hands with him, as did Kasia and the others.

‘What brings you here?’ I asked. ‘Holiday?’

‘No. I live here now. And I read this book about Wojtek and just had to come see it for myself. You?’ he asked me.

‘Lena’s a warrior,’ Hana answered. ‘She went to war with Wojtek. They were best friends.’

‘Is that so?’ he asked.

‘She played with him and fed him, and she rescued people,’ Hana continued.

‘That’s some story,’ he said.

‘Lena tells the best ones,’ Kasia said.

29

AUGUST 2014, KRAKÓW

‘How are you feeling today?’ the doctor asked.

I knew that I knew him. I knew that I had once known his name.

‘I’m fine,’ I said.

He sat beside me.

‘Joanna says you haven’t been out of bed for a week now.’

‘I’m tired,’ I said. ‘And I’m old. I think I can stay in bed if I want to.’

‘You can. Of course. But with your diagnosis⁠—’

I waved my hand to shut him up. ‘I know. I know. Don’t you think I don’t know,’ I said.

I was lying, however; for a few months, things had been slipping from my mind, and I couldn’t quite remember what the diagnosis had been.

‘We can up your pain medication,’ he said.