Hero (5 page)

“Quiet. We might hear the planes.” Miss Afke tried again. But as long as the alarm howled, they could hear nothing else.

Izaak watched Annie, who sat nearby.
She wound her arms around her knees, closed her eyes and rocked. Before going to sleep each night, Annie cried for her mother and rocked. She rocked until Aunt Anna unwound her arms and covered her with the blanket.

Izaak closed his eyes. The ball in his stomach was back and he felt like he had to throw up. With his hand pressed hard against his mouth and his arm holding his stomach, he waited. Waited for the noise to stop, for the screaming to subside.

An enormous boom shook the building, followed by the shattering of glass. The walls trembled, shards of glass fell like hailstones, smashing when they hit the floor.

With his head between his knees, Izaak tried to block out all the noise. He was sure that he was going to die now. The building was going to collapse and then it wouldn't matter that they were all sitting under the windowsill.

The other children had moved away from the wall.

Jaap tapped his shoulder. “Jan! It's over!”

Slowly, Izaak lifted his head. The room was quiet. The students were silent. Even Miss Afke stood still and looked with big eyes at the chaos of broken glass. The force of the blast had scattered glass all over the room.

When she finally spoke, Miss Afke's voice trembled. “Don't touch a thing. I want you to get your coats and clogs. Shake the glass off and go home.”

They did as they were told. Izaak and Jaap stood outside in the playground and waited for the others.

The small group walked home in silence.

Later, they learned that an Allied plane had dropped a stray bomb just outside the village, before it had crashed into the Wadden Sea. The bomb had destroyed a house and killed a mother and her child.

That stray bomb left the school building without windows. Once the openings were boarded up, the two classrooms turned into dark spooky places. The days grew shorter and the weather turned cold. The children still went to school, but they now had to keep their coats on because of a shortage of wood for the small stove. Sometimes when Miss Afke read to them, she lit a candle. They huddled around her.

December reminded Izaak of the celebration of light, Chanukah. He thought of his family and how for eight
nights they had lit their menorah, adding one candle every night. Last year, when his family had been apart and in hiding they hadn't celebrated Chanukah. And this year.… Tears filled his eyes; he didn't even know where his family was.

As the temperature dipped below freezing, Izaak found that the best place to be was with the animals in the stables. Their bodies gave off enough heat to keep him warm.

One morning the windows in the bedroom were covered with a thick layer of frost. Izaak and Annie blew holes in the frozen patterns with their warm breath.

“Soon we will go skating,” Annie said.

Izaak looked at her. “I don't know how,” he said. “I don't have skates.”

“You will get hand-me-downs from the children next door.”

He'd never skated before, but the thought filled him with excitement.

The school closed. The temperature
dropped further. The Germans cut off the electricity.

The ice on the moat shone like glass, the sky was a clear winter's blue and the wind blew calm from the east.

When the layer of ice on the moat that surrounded the farm was strong enough, the children all came with their skates.

Albert and Nel brought a box filled with wooden skates. Izaak and Annie had to try on several pairs before they found some that were the right length for their feet. They tied the skates to their sturdy, leather, laced-up boots.

Gabe helped Izaak tie his skates. “Watch closely,” Gabe said. “I'm only showing you once.”

Izaak nodded. As soon as Gabe pulled him up from the embankment, Izaak's feet slid everywhere, and before he could even think how to work his legs he fell flat on his back on the ice.

They all cheered and heat rose in Izaak's cheeks.

“I'll get you a chair.” Aunt Anna rushed inside. Izaak waited until she came back with a wooden chair.

“That's how I learned last year.” Annie wobbled dangerously close to Izaak, but kept her balance.

As soon as Aunt Anna placed the chair in front of him, Izaak felt more secure. He pushed it and kept his balance as the skates went left, right, left, right on the shiny ice.

Gabe laughed as he passed him in long, even strides. “Keep your tongue in your mouth, Jan,” he said. “It might get frostbite.”

Izaak watched Gabe. Oh, if he could skate like him one day. Left, right, left, right. He pushed himself along. Annie and the twins passed him too, but Izaak kept going. And in the next few days, Izaak's practicing paid off. He left the chair at the bank, and although he still wobbled, he managed to improve.

At night he slept like a bale of hay, exhausted from the outdoor exercise.
The children skated for a whole week until a thaw set in and ruined the ice.

But winter wasn't over yet. January brought extreme cold and more ice and snow.

“We'll get the sleigh ready,” Uncle Piet announced one morning. “I think Hero would like some winter fun too.”

“Hero?” Izaak's eyes grew larger.

“Yes.” Uncle Piet smiled. “Aunt Anna and Nel will polish the harness bells and Albert and Gabe will clean out the sleigh. This afternoon we'll take Hero out.”

Izaak dug deep into his porridge. He couldn't wait.

“You're going to pull the sleigh,” Izaak told Hero as he brushed the stallion's winter coat until it gleamed a deep black. At the same time, Albert hammered special nails in the horse's hooves. The horses had been outside to exercise, but never on the ice.

“We don't want Hero to slip and break something,” Albert explained.
“The nails don't hurt because the hoof is like your fingernails.”

Izaak had thought it must be something like that. He knew these people would never do anything to hurt their animals.

After the noon meal, the whole family watched as Uncle Piet harnessed Hero. Hero's nostrils flared. His ears wiggled. He neighed over and over again. He was anxious to go outside and stretch his legs.

Izaak had never seen such a beautiful sleigh. The wood was carved at the front. The driver straddled at the back and there was a little bench in the middle for one passenger. The sleigh was painted a dark red with gold trim along the edges. The steel runners gleamed.

Gabe held onto Hero while Uncle Piet and Albert pushed the sleigh outside. Carefully, the men slid the sleigh onto the ice. Gabe followed, leading Hero. Once they had hitched
the sleigh to the harness, Uncle Piet barely had time to grab the reins before the powerful stallion took off.

Izaak couldn't believe his eyes. This was like a fairy tale.

Everyone applauded when Uncle Piet passed by. Hero had taken him all around the farm buildings and back in a flash.

Uncle Piet let the stallion run for a while until he'd spent some of his energy.

Then he halted in front of the small gathering. “Come on, Anna,” he said. Aunt Anna, her biggest smile on her face, sat down on the little wooden bench and off they went. The sleigh slid light as a feather across the sur face. Hero didn't have to pull. He just ran. The mane flew to one side and the bells clanged. Izaak clapped his hands, watching the scene.

Everyone got a turn to ride with Uncle Piet. Finally it was Izaak's turn. He climbed up onto the small bench. His face glowed; his eyes sparkled. “Go Hero!” he called.

“You will guide him next, Jan,” Uncle Piet said as snow-covered pastures flew by on one side and barns and stables flew by on the other.

Hero trotted gracefully. His ears twitched. Steam rose from his warm body.

“Now, you hold the reins.” Uncle Piet moved aside, so that Izaak could sit on the wooden bar at the back of the sleigh. “Here are the brakes,” Uncle Piet explained. “You press your feet down on the pedals and pull on the reins when you want the sleigh to slow down.”

Izaak could feel the blood rushing through his veins.

Uncle Piet walked beside the sleigh. “Start slowly,” he said. “Jaap, come sit on the bench.”

Jaap smiled at Izaak before he sat down. “Way to go, Jan,” he said.

Izaak beamed. He would never get enough of this. The afternoon went by in a flash.

That night, he thought about the sleighing event over and over again. In his mind he saw Hero's powerful muscles as the great horse trotted before the sleigh. For the first time since he had been at the farm, Izaak forgot to think of Mama, Papa and Sarah.

At the end of February the weather turned milder, and school began again.

One morning, a young woman walked into their classroom. The students' eyes followed her as she walked up to Miss Afke and whispered in her ear. Miss Afke nodded. The woman turned and walked out the door. All eyes were on the teacher. They all knew the woman was a messenger, a courier.

One by one, Miss Afke stopped at the desks of the “new” children. “Jan,” she whispered, standing beside him, her hand touching his shoulder. “You
need to go home. There is a roundup of people.”

Izaak gasped. He looked at his teacher, his eyes large.

“And cattle and horses,” she added.

He couldn't move.

Gently, Miss Afke pulled him out of his desk and guided him to the coats.

Izaak looked around. Jaap was staring at him, his face creased in an angry scowl.

Izaak's eyes went to Annie. Her eyes were big and round. Her face shone pale against the red of her hair. She knew. She was only six, but she knew what was going on. Even though she was Jewish, everybody counted on the Germans never suspecting her because of her red hair.

Izaak left the building with several other children, but soon found himself alone on the long stretch home. Fear gripped him. As he jogged along Izaak realized this was the first time he had gone home alone.

He took a big gulp of air and started to run. He didn't look back. He ran out of the village, down the lane to the farm.

They're going to find me, he thought. If I don't hurry, they will find me.

A memory flashed through his head, a memory of German trucks rumbling down his street, a memory of him and Mama and Papa and Sarah climbing fences, hiding behind buildings before dashing across to the next street.

His clogs moved fast on the dirt road until his legs ached. A stitch in his side slowed him down. He looked behind him. No one was following him. There were no military trucks on the road.

A thought popped into his mind. He was not the only one in danger. Gabe. Gabe was in danger too. He must warn him.

And Hero. Hero was also wanted by the Germans. They must hide Hero. Where could they hide the stallion?

As his feet picked up speed, his brain searched for a hiding place for Hero. Where could they hide a big horse like Hero?

Izaak slipped in a puddle and lost one of his clogs. He bent to pick it up, took his other one off and ran in socked feet until he reached the barn. The door opened. Gasping for breath, Izaak fell inside. Two arms caught him.

“Hey!” Gabe cried out. “You scared me half to death.”

Izaak looked up into Gabe's face. He saw Gabe's eyes. In the dimly lit barn, Gabe's eyes shone a soft brown. They were filled with concern.

“There's a roundup.” Izaak wriggled free. “We have to hide Hero,” he said. “I have been thinking.”

“You know your hiding place in Hero's trough.” Gabe walked toward the horse stables. Izaak followed right behind.

“But where are we going to hide him?” Izaak asked.

Gabe turned to look at him. “It's
too late to take him to the blacksmith in the village.”

“We'll find something here,” Izaak said. “We'll take him out in the barn where the hay used to be and cover him.”

The soft glow in Gabe's eyes was gone. “That won't work, Jan,” he said. “You go into your hiding spot now.” His voice rose. “We can't save Hero!”

Izaak stepped into the stable beside Hero. He stroked the stallion's neck. “I will save you, Hero. I will,” he said.

Gabe stood beside him, ready to lift him into the feeding trough.

“The dike!” Izaak screamed. “Why don't we take him behind the sea dike. We will be hidden too!”

Gabe's mouth opened. “Let's not lose any time.”

Gabe untied Hero and led the horse out into the hay barn. “Go outside and look for military trucks. If you don't see them let's try the dike.”

Izaak hurried to the door. He looked down the farm lane.

“It's clear,” he shouted and opened the door wide.

Gabe had harnessed the horse with a bridle and a short rein. “Come here,” he said. “I'll give you a lift.”

Izaak stood close to Hero. The horse trotted on the spot. Izaak felt the tension in the animal's body build as he mounted.