Sitting naked on the ledge of the bell tower I watch as day breaks upon the small Austrian town below. Sunlight passes through my glassy skin, but I do not sense it, for I am not here, not in the way you would understand. I do not feel in a physical sense; not cold, not pain, not heat. But yet I feel the sadness and suffering of others, in the same way you feel the sun’s warmth upon your flesh.
Empathy, you might call it. It comes from the German word Einfühlung – to understand the intimate feelings of another.
Still, enough of this self-reflection, I am here for a reason and the deadline is near.
I glide down to the roof of Gasthof zum Pummer, a small backstreet inn.
Passing through slate and timber I find myself in a small room. Alois is pacing nervously. In the bed his wife Klara screams. Suddenly a baby cries and the midwife smiles. “There, it is done; you have a beautiful baby boy, Klara.”
I watch as she cuts the umbilical cord and holds up the newborn child. The wonder of human creation never fails to move me; the absolute joy that comes from such suffering.
Alois steps closer and shakes his head. “He is another pathetic wretch. He will die just like all the others. Why can’t you give me a healthy son, Klara? Why am I damned so?”
It is true, the child is the fourth one born to Alois and Klara and none have survived. It’s why I am here. As an angel I have the power to give life. But I work to tight deadlines and not every person should be saved. Sometimes it’s better if some die. It’s a judgement call.
I look at Klara’s pitiful face and the Einfühlung floods through me.
I lean over the child and breathe life upon him.
“No he will live,” says Klara smiling weakly. “This one is different, strong. We shall call him Adolph.”
The Jewish midwife smiles. “A good strong name, Frau Hitler.”
——————-
previously published on Red Bubble
