Hunger Journeys Read Online Free PDF Page B

answered, not really. Lena never knew whether the Cohens registered or not, though she thought they must have. She heard about the arrests of Jews in February and arrived at school in a terror the next day, afraid that Sarah’s father and her father’s cousin were among the men taken. But Sarah gave her head a sharp shake when Lena asked her about it. Mr. Cohen, it seemed, was still free, at least for the moment.
    All that following summer, Lena had felt the friendship slipping away. She had hoped that the new school year would help them to renew their bond, but when they started the third class in September, Sarah still seemed distant.
    One afternoon, Lena gathered her courage and suggested a walk to the park after school. Relief flooded her when Sarah agreed. Maybe now everything would be just as it was.
    The day was balmy, and Sarah seemed almost cheerful. The two girls walked arm in arm, swinging along, forcing others—for the sidewalks were busy that day—to move aside. There was the park entrance ahead, visible well before they got there. The trees, towering in full leaf above the low stone wall, were just starting to turn colour. The grass was a beckoning carpet. Lena saw the white swoop of swans’ necks on the lake, and she was sure that ducks would be waddling in the grass and paddling in the water. She wished she had something to feed them. Lena loved ducks and swans.
    Then she noticed a small group of people near the entrance to the park. Some of the joy inside her stilled. Agitation was in the air, fear even—fear and anger. Sarah withdrew her arm and stopped, and in that moment, Lena saw two soldiers standing nearby. They looked tense, ready. Lena continued her approach. She could feel Sarah behind her and sensed her caution. The people stepped aside to let them see.
    The sign was fresh; the holes in the wall and the screws were brand new, the letters crisp and black.
For Jews Forbidden.
When Lena collected herself enough to turn around, Sarah was gone.

    Three years had gone by since that day. So much had happened since then—much worse things, even. Lena bundled her math homework back into her bag. Without Sarah’s help, she didn’t understand the questions anyway.
    The next morning, she and Piet walked to school together as they always did, dropping Bep off on the way, but they didn’t speak to each other. Those walks had been more and more silent lately, once they left their chatty little sister behind.
    They passed several groups of soldiers, one of them harassing a young couple. Lena looked the other way and mumbled the prayer that had become habit for her: “Please let this war end before the baby comes.”
    She had little faith in her prayers.
    The school looked battered—holes in the pavement in front not mended, several of the trees in the yard reduced to stumps—but boys and girls were streaming through the big front doors as they had for decades. Lena and Piet joined the throngs and were immediately parted from each other. Lena trudged up the stairs to her first class of the day.
    The bell rang just as she took her seat at the back, but several others darted in after her. At the front of the room stood the dreaded Juffrouw Westenberg.
    “Now,” Juffrouw said, “you are in school. It is two minutes past nine, so you three”—she pointed out three boys, one by one—“are late.” And she took her attendance clipboard and marked them down.
    Lena didn’t know how they dared. Juffrouw Westenberg was the most frightening teacher at the school. Lena opened her book to the first lesson and tried to look like the most studious student in the room. The novel she usually snuck open in her lap awaited her attention in her pocket.
    Half an hour later, a new girl showed up.
    The boys stared. The girls stared too. The new girl was skinny, bony, no hint of breasts under the threadbare blouse that hung off her, no hint of hips under the straight skirt that had to be pinned in the back to stay on.