The Book of Air and Shadows

thought it was strange that a Nazi princess would choose to marry a Jew? And a very Jewish Jew at that.”
    “The mysteries of exogamy?”
    “No, she was just being a good Nazi.”
    I must have shown puzzlement because he said, “Look, they took this master race business seriously. The
Herrenvolk
have the right to conquer everyone else because they’re strong, yes? And who is the chief rival for world domination?”
    “The Russians?”
    “No, the Russians are cattle. The Jews are the only rival race. They control Russia and they control the western powers, especially including the United States. The war was fought against the Jews. And the Jews won.”
    “What? The Jews were destroyed.”
    “They won. They lost six million, sure, but they got back to Jerusalem, and the Germans lost
seven
million. And the armies that beat Germany into the ground were controlled by the secret machinations of the Jewish race. You never got this from her?”
    “Never.”
    “Lucky me, then. It follows that since the Jews conquered, it was the Jewish race that was superior-sorry about the camps-and it further follows that it behooves an Aryan maiden to join her loins to those of the superior breed. It all makes perfect sense, if you happen to be crazy.”
    I have to say that this had never occurred to me, and neither Paul nor my sister had ever brought it up. My parents fought like fiends, of course, but I had woven a romance around this, which I got from the movies. People fell in love, they had children, the man was unfaithful and the wife threw plates, at which point the man reformed and realized that home was where the heart was, or else he left, and the mom found a new and better husband (Robert Young) and turned the bad old husband away when he came crawling back, or (even better) he died.
    After what seemed like a very long interval, nor did the plane drop from the sky, I said, creakily, “So what’re you saying, Paul? That we’re phase two in the plan to breed the master race? I thought that mongrelization was what they were trying to avoid.”
    “Yes, but they were fascinated by mutts and the idea of breeding. They even saved Aryan-looking Jewish kids from the ovens and gave them to good Nazi families to raise, which they shouldn’t have done at all if they really believed their racial purity line. And all that skull measuring they did and the Mengele experiments with twins…”
    I recalled something he’d just said and interrupted. “What did you mean by ‘lucky me’ just now?”
    “Oh, just that Mutti gave me and Miri the blood lecture, which apparently you didn’t get. I mean, did you think I figured all this out myself?”
    “She
told
you she married Dad to advance the racial theories of the Third Reich?”
    “Not in so many words, but we were often told that the Nazis lost because they were too pure and noble and so she was sacrificing herself to inject some sneaky-smart Jew genes into the mix. I mean, didn’t you think that the peculiar assortment of physical characteristics in our family had something to do with the way she treated the three of us? Oh, right, you kind of forgot some of that. In any case, we were disappointments in the
Übermensch
department, although of unimpeachable Aryan appearance: I was a thug and Miri was a whore, but you were, so to speak, the golden mutt who would make all of it worthwhile. That’s why she killed herself. The two of us were out of reach and she didn’t want to distract you from your studies with having to care for an old lady.
Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillianten
for heroic Mutti. You look surprised, Jake. You never figured this out?”
    “No, and I want to thank you for bringing it to my attention. We should have more of these brotherly talks-I feel so terrifically
up
now. Gosh, and what a shame Mutti didn’t stick around to see the prodigal return in glory to judge the living and the dead. She would’ve been so proud!”
    Paul ignored my sarcasm as he almost always does and replied mildly, “Yes, I’ve always regretted it. Are we finished with this, by the way? Because I have some thoughts about your present situation.”
    After that, we talked strategy, and he developed his idea that the whole thing was a con and what that meant for our actions while in the U.K., and I thought he made sense. Of course it was a con. Wasn’t everything?

    The plane landed. We drove to London, in a limo supplied by Osborne Security Service, the