Once Read Online Free PDF Page A

any of the other soldiers have a go.
    None of them does. I start to breathe again. It must have been an accident. The bounce of the truck must have made the gun go off.
    I have another thought.
    That poor soldier. Tonight in the barracks he’ll hardly be able to swallow his dinner he’ll be so upset. All he wanted to do was play a little trick, and now he thinks he’s shot an innocent kid.
    I scramble to my feet and wave at the truck, which is disappearing down the road.
    “Don’t worry,” I yell. “I’m all right.”
    But the truck has vanished into the dust cloud from the first truck, so the soldier doesn’t see me and they don’t give me a ride.
    What bad luck.
    For me and him.
    At last, the river.
     
    After walking such a long way, it’s so good to kneel on the cool stones, stick my face in the water, and have a drink.
    This river is beautiful. The water is gleaming gold in the sunset, and the warm air smells damp and fresh, and there are millions of tiny insects turning happy floating cartwheels in the soft light.
    Last time I was here, when I was six, I must have been too young to notice how beautiful Poland is in summer. Though there is another reason why I love this river so much now.
    It’s going to lead me home.
    I stand up and look around.
    The little road beside the river is still here, just like I remember it. The road that goes all the way to our place. Shame it’s too narrow for trucks, but you can’t have everything.
    I’m feeling really good now, even though I’m a bit hungry because I’m trying to make my bread last and one mouthful wasn’t a very big dinner.
    I’ve still got a lot more walking to do, but in my heart I feel like I’m almost home. And I don’t feel so anxious about the Nazi book burners because I’ve worked out what they’re doing. They’re burning books in the villages and remote orphanages first, before winter comes, so they don’t get cut off by the snow. Which means they probably haven’t done any of the towns yet, so I’ll be in plenty of time to hide our books.
    What’s that noise?
    Boy, gunfire’s loud when it’s so close. That lot startled me so much I almost fell into the water. The hunters must be just around that bend in the river.
    Another burst of gunfire, a long one.
    And another.
    Sunset must be when loads of rabbits come out. Or perhaps the hunters are just using up their bullets to save carrying them home.
    I’m glad I’m not going in that direction. I’m glad I have to head this way, the same way the river’s flowing, away from the mountains.
    Look at that. The river has suddenly turned red. Which is a bit strange, because the sunset is still yellow.
    The water’s so red it almost looks like blood. But even with all those gunshots, the hunters couldn’t have killed that many rabbits.
    Could they?
    No, it must just be a trick of the light.

 
      I walked all night and all the next day except for a short sleep in a forest and all night again and then I was home.
     
    In our town.
    In our street.
    It’s just like I remember. Well, almost. The street is narrow like I remember and the buildings are all two levels high and made of stone and bricks with slate roofs like I remember, but the weird thing is there are hardly any food shops.
    At the orphanage I used to spend hours in class daydreaming about all the food shops in our street. The cake shop next to the ice cream shop next to the roast meat shop next to the jelly and jam shop next to the fried potato shop next to the chocolate-covered licorice shop.
    Was I making all that up?
    Something else is different too.
    Dawn was ages ago but there’s nobody out and about. Our street used to be crowded as soon as it got light. People doing things and going places even though they were still yawning. Farm animals complaining because they didn’t like being on the cobbles. Kids pinching things from market stalls.
    This is very different.
    The whole street is deserted.
    I walk along from the