Andrew watched the couple furtively as they stared at one another, tears silently pouring down the old man's wrinkled face. He nearly spilled the drink he was pouring for another customer when he saw the woman lean forward, take the man's hand, and started speaking to him in a low whisper.
"Nick," Andrew whispered to the bar's owner he swept out from the staff's entrance. "Look at them."
"Inge and Walt?" Nick grunted, looking carelessly in their direction. "Couple of mutes, I think. Came over here as immigrants in the sixties, or something. Just points to the damn menu every time. Sometimes write me little notes to say thank you."
Nick stopped talking as he saw the two, deep in conversation. Andrew and Nick gaped openly now, but the couple didn't notice. The woman was crying softly now, too. Andrew hastened to clean the table behind them, eager to hear what they had to say.
"He's gone, Walt," the woman said, patting away her tears with a handkerchief. "They've executed him. There's no reason to keep it up anymore. No point to any of it. I know you think we should, but there's just no point now, my darling."
"Bastards are even writing about us," the man whispered. He suddenly rummaged in a bag beside him and spread out a faded newspaper on the small table.
The woman leaned over to read, then sat back with a sigh.
"I thought they might," she said sourly. "Kept watching us all those years, thinking we'd slip up. Well, nothing interesting here now. I'm done trying to get justice for Reyn, Walt."
The two gazed at each other in silence for a minute, before Alfred spoke again, his voice as frail and tired as he looked.
"I thought it would work, Sofia. Somehow, I really did," he whispered. She patted his hand, and smiled through her tears.
"I know, my dear. I wouldn't have kept silent all those years if I didn't believe it, too."
Without another word, they left their money on the table and left the diner holding hands. The newspaper lay there, forgotten or deliberately abandoned. Andrew snatched it up, Nick coming to hover behind his shoulder. They looked at one another, frustrated, and Andrew pocketed it to take home that night.
The paper was in German. It took a few days, but Andrew eventually came to work to show Nick his translation, spreading it out on the bar counter.
SILENCE BROKEN: NO JUSTICE FOR PROTESTING PARENTS?
Reynart Sailer, convicted of crimes against humanity during the Nazi era, was finally executed through lethal injection yesterday evening. His parents, Walter and Inge Sailer, have been holding a vow of silence for forty years, to protest against their son's arrest as a teenager. Their claim that Sailer was innocent and framed by Nazi soldiers have never been proven. A large group of protestors, who have made similar claims over the years, tried to prevent his death until the last moment. Sailer's parents could not be reached for commentary.