Ernst and Sarah

This is the story of Ernst Kroll, and some of his descendants. Ernst was a Jew born in 1880 in Berlin, Germany. His ancestors had lived in Berlin for centuries. The first Berlin Kroll came as a merchant from Hamburg who had come a few times to Berlin to buy furniture and grain. He came to like Berlin. AIt’s Jewish,” he said. AThey are involved and they get you involved. I like it.” There are a few much later years that meant something to Ernst. Although he had had carnal relations before then, 1905 was the year he bedded and Sarah agreed to marry him. For him that was a glorious step, to be so accepted,, even though he had persuaded her to get naked and join him in the bed. Thirteen years later in 1918, Hans sculpted Sarah. 1937 was when he was beaten by the Nazis. 1939 was the year he went underground to the Berlin slum, Bottom of the Barrel. In 1942 he was in Denmark briefly, and in 1943 Ermst killed a Nazi with ax in the south of France and he was hunted down and shot in the forehead. The young sharpshooter who killed him, Igor, after having investigated his whereabouts and tracking him down had formed an unwanted concern for Ernst, who was so old and yet so vicius. Of course, the sharpshooter was young and not married. His concern went as far as thinking of the dead man’s wife, of which he had heard when he was tracking down Ernst. But he, Ernst, whom people of the town were willing to talk about to the Nazis, was subject to the usual false accusations, that he was a drug addict, that he had two wives and two homes, one in West Berlin from where he came and the other in the Bottom after 1939. Ernst’s wife was admired for all the suffering she must be going through, dragged into the Bottom. In fact, Sarah trusted Ernst, even if he could see women in the Bottom. Ernst had told Sarah about Olga and Betsy, two women with whom he had relationships, but these were years before he knew her. When Ernst was shot in the forehead his legs had t crumpled immediately, with little suddenness, as his legs just failed. As soon as he had shot Ernst, Igor went to make sure that Ernst was a cadaver. He was. He removed the pig Ernst had carried out, going towards his wheelbarrow, which he enjoyed rolling through the center of Berlin to where he lived on the west side of the city. The young Nazi brought the pig back into the Abattoir. He did not like the dead body, so he covered it with a bloody sheet. One of the reasons he did not like dead people is that it reminded him of what he did for his country. Kill people. Track them down and then kill them as he had done as a hidden sharpshooter. Igor had just arrived at the office. He asked to use the telephone to talk to his contact on the ground. He called Marseilles Inn as if it were a business matter, which had been found out from the townspeople who were willing to talk about, who said that Ernst had talked to Nazis in the Inn and introduced his wife Sarah to them. People said Ernst went there not infrequently, and Sarah less frequently. She sometimes went alone and spoke to the Nazi officers. They of course they had seen him talking to Nazis. They assumed the worst things, but one of the times, soon before the assassination, Ernst invited him to eat meat at his place. He also at the Inn showed the officer (Schultz ??) the magical jacket they would tailor for him. What he was doing was inviting him to his death, although he did not find out who he was going to kill until the time he raised his ax high as he saw his face, which he recognized. Ernst did not know whether Schultz ?? recognized him. He was probably afraid of the hatchet. He did not move quickly enough to avoid the splintering of his cranium. The ax almost missed the brain, but it hit just and inch and a half from where the ears joined the head. The sharpshooter also heard that the officer Ernst had killed had been invited to eat meat at Ernst’s place. Igor asked to speak to the bartender Fritz. Igor said,