Hunger Journeys Read Online Free PDF

us to do once this war’s over?” He stopped then, as if waiting for a response. “Father?”
    But Father shovelled in bite after bite, his silence as solid as a wall.
    Mother huffed a breath. “Eat your supper before it gets cold, Piet,” she said. “You’re too young to involve yourself with such things.”
    Lena simply refused to listen. With everyone’s bowls empty, she stood to clear the table and wash the dishes, taking no pleasure in the warm water. Then she fetched her math book out of her bag. It was an ancient object, its pages yellowed and threatening to tear under the slightest touch. She sat at the kitchen table, turned the delicate pages to find her place and sank into a reverie.
    Lena had never excelled at school, and math had always been her worst subject, until Sarah Cohen came along. Sarah had a head for numbers, and she remained calm even when Lena cried out in frustration.
    Lena stared at her math book. Sarah hadn’t been at school for a long, long time.

    She and Sarah had been best friends for just over a year when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. They were nearingthe end of the first class of high school. School was cancelled for several days, and the two girls had not seen each other. When they came together again, Lena was breathless in anticipation of discussing the events of the previous days. Sarah’s smile was small that day, her responses brief. After school, Lena linked her arm through her friend’s, eager to enter the warm, busy hub that was Sarah’s home, but Sarah disengaged herself.
    “I have to go,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” And that was all.
    Lena had watched her walk away, her fear at this seeming abandonment greater than any fear she had felt at reports of German parachutists and bombers. The Nazi threat simply did not feel real to her. Sarah’s behaviour did.
    In time, however, things seemed to get back to normal between the two girls. Sarah invited Lena to her house again, and it was almost as nice as before. The first class ended. Amsterdam changed: more and more soldiers in the streets, not quite as much to buy in the stores, nighttime blackouts to adjust to and cope with. For Lena, the summer of 1940 was not as idyllic as the summer of 1939 had been, but she still loved her afternoons, after her chores were done, at Sarah’s house or in Vondelpark. The two girls swam at a nearby pool several times a week. They cycled everywhere together, and Lena, at least, paid little attention to the war. Surely it would be over soon.
    Then came the second class. The war continued, but it still felt remote to Lena. Occasionally, Sarah seemed different somehow, and she wasn’t always willing to have Lena over to her house, but they still had fun together. Lena still shared all her secrets. Well, all her secrets except for one: Father. Father did not say much to her about her Jewish friend, but on several occasions, he had insisted she stay home when she planned to go out. Andonce he said to her, “No good will come of this friendship. That girl’s family is using you, a good Christian Dutch girl.” Lena had no idea what he meant, only that it was wrong and it made her sick. How did he even know that she and Sarah were still friends?
    Then, one night at the dinner table early in the new year, the cold outside bitter, the snow deep, Father spoke again. “They all have to register.”
    Lena looked over at him.
    “The Jews,” he said. “Those friends of yours will have to register. And if they are here illegally, they’ll be sent back to Germany, where they belong.” He took another bite of chicken, not bothering to close his mouth as he chewed.
    Lena saw her mother stiffen. Her look across the table was almost reproachful, as if she did not approve of her husband’s attitude. Still, not a word did she speak.
    Lena asked Sarah about the registration the next day, but Sarah wouldn’t meet her eyes, and afterward, Lena realized that she hadn’t