I'm Still Scared (5 page)

“Now,” Miss Gardner said, “here are the rules.

“ ‘When the city air raid siren sounds, the school bell will go off. All the students will leave their classrooms and file down in an orderly manner to the designated shelter area. The students should be able to do this easily, as they are quite used to fire drills.

“‘The students will remain in the shelter ter area until the city's sirens sound the ”all clear.” The school bell will then ring, signaling that it is safe for the students to return to their classrooms.' ”

Miss Gardner had just finished telling us about the air raid drill when the school bell rang. We all lined up at the door behind Miss Gardner.

“Follow me, class,” Miss Gardner said. “We are going to the basement.”

I had never been to the basement of King Street School before.

We went down the stairs we used to go to the school yard if there was a fire drill. Today, instead of going outside, we went all the way down the stairs as if we were going to the auditorium. But at the bottom we turned left instead of right. We went along to a dark basement room with just a few lightbulbs in the ceiling.

This was Mr. Walters' furnace room. It had a big coal bin, like the one in Nana and Tom's cellar, and a huge coal furnace. The furnace was hot and glowing.

All along the walls were benches. They had grade numbers and teachers' names on cards taped to the seat. There we were. “Grade 2—Miss Gardner.” We sat down and squeezed close together to make room for everyone.

The rest of the seats were for the kindergarten garten, the two first grades, Miss Fisher's combination second and third grade, and the other third grade.

The older grades weren't in the furnace room. They were sitting on the floor under the stairs.

The furnace room was dark and spooky. The furnace made a hissing sound. Some of the little kids began to cry. I don't think they even knew why we all were down here.

I wasn't scared of the dark or the furnace. But I was scared of a real air raid. Was it really going to happen? If so, when? And where were Mom and Dad and Maureen while I was down in the school basement and Buddy was under the stairs?

I needed Mom to explain things to me better.

When Buddy and I got home from school, Mom told us that she'd like to talk to both of us.

What did I do?
I wondered.

“Here, boys, sit at the kitchen table,” Mom said. “I've baked some cookies and I'll get you each a glass of milk.”

Our baby sister, Maureen, was sitting in her high chair.

“I talked with your grandfather today, Tomie, and he told me that everything that is happening is making you a little scared. Is that true?”

I nodded yes.

“What about you, Buddy?” Mom asked.

“I'm not scared,” Buddy said. “So, can I go out and play with the guys?”

“Well,” Mom said, “why don't you just sit and listen. You might be able to help Tomie understand things, and you might have a question or two yourself.”

Buddy settled down and grabbed another cookie.

“Okay, Tomie. What do you want to know?” Mom asked.

At first, I didn't know what to say. I wanted to know about everything.

“I asked Miss Gardner what an air raid was and she didn't really tell me. She said she didn't think we had to worry about it. If we don't have to worry about it, how come we are having air raid drills? And what are air raids, anyway?”

Mom put her arm across my shoulder. Then she patiently explained how airplanes were dropping bombs on cities, so they sounded alarms so the people could go and try to be safe in shelters that would protect them from the bombs.

She told us how the Germans, who had started the war in Europe, were dropping bombs every night on London, England. It was called the Blitz. “But the English people are being so, so brave. They have not given in at all,” Mom said.

Then she told us that the Japanese were doing the same thing in China.

“And now that we are in the war, we will probably bomb the enemy cities,” Mom said sadly. “No one thinks that the Germans can fly clear across the Atlantic Ocean to bomb us, but the government wants everyone to be safe. That's why we will have air raid drills. They are for practice. We will have to practice here at home, too. In the newspaper today, there was a list of things that we'll have to do. So, let me get Maureen out of her high chair and we'll go down to the basement so I can show you where our AIR RAID SHELTER will be.”

We went down to the basement. Mom pointed out where she and Dad would fix up a spot for all of us when we had an air raid drill.

When we got back upstairs, Mom told us that she would have to make curtains out of thick black material to hang on some of the windows of our house. “To keep anyone from seeing our lights,” Mom said.

“They are called blackout curtains. Starting on the first of the year, we will have to follow regulations. First, there will be a ‘brownout' every night. That means that all unnecessary lights will have to be out in all the houses and stores and even on the streets.

“If there is a blackout drill, then all the lights will have to be out except in the rooms that have blackout curtains on the windows. Then, if there is an air raid drill, all the lights will have to be out and we'll have to go down to the basement.”

“I can't remember all that,” Buddy said.

“Me, neither!” I chimed in.

“Don't worry, your father and I will remember. There will be separate sirens for all the different drills. And after we practice, you'll see—it'll be easy. And it might even be fun!” Mom said.

I couldn't wait to tell Jeannie, Jack, and some of my other friends at school all about air raid drills, brownouts, and blackout curtains.