Read Online Daisies Are Forever by Liz Tolsma - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Liz Tolsma
Ads: Link
the truck so I can fly.”
“You are crazy, Sister.” Katya played with a gray curl that had escaped her hood. “You can’t fly in a truck. Wherever did you get that idea?”
Mitch remembered wheeling over the English countryside in his uncle’s biplane. Uncle Roger taught him how to operate the controls. Mitch loved every minute of it. He also recalled his father’s stern look, the hard set of his mouth and the jut of his chin, not understanding. After all, a solicitor didn’t need to know how to fly.
Mitch shook his head. “Bettina, I don’t believe I’m up for that challenge. But perhaps someday we can arrange for you to fly again.”
“A plane would get us there faster. It would take us farther away from this awful place.” Gisela bounced against him.
The German army’s truck engine ground to a halt, emitting a terrible squealing sound. Not one a vehicle should make.
Mitch peered around the edge of the canvas. Nothing but snow-swept farmland.
This couldn’t be their destination.
EIGHT
T he soldier’s footsteps crunched in the snow as he approached the back of his truck. Mitch inhaled and held it in.
“Where are we?” Gisela’s breath tickled the back of his neck.
“I’ve no idea. I got a D in geography.” Much to his father’s consternation. A solicitor would need to do better than that in school. Perhaps if Mitch had paid better attention in class, he wouldn’t have never ended up in a POW camp to begin with. “Don’t look to me for directions.” Please, don’t look at me. The muscles across his shoulders tightened. “If you don’t know, we’re in trouble.”
One thing he did know was that he wanted to stay out of the soldier’s sight. He didn’t want to have to speak to him in German. He didn’t want to have to come up with another excuse. So Mitch leaned back and behind the German with one arm. Kurt.
The driver lowered the tailgate and banged his hand on it twice. “I don’t know what is wrong with the truck. I can’t get it going again. The others have gone ahead. There was no room for you.”
So they were to sit out here, target practice for Soviet planes? Would he ever rejoin his mates?
“We may not even be able to fix the truck. Danzig is just a fewkilometers that way.” He pointed in the direction the truck had been headed.
“Danzig?” Mitch whispered to Gisela.
“Where the Frische Nehrung meets the mainland. You should have paid better attention in class.” She sighed. “Danzig has a train station. That’s why we have to get there. If the trains are still running, we can make our way to Berlin.”
“Can you walk into town? What about the girls and the old women?”
Dark half circles rimmed the bottom of Gisela’s eyes. “We’re not invalids.”
If he could, he would have raised his hands. “Don’t go crackers. They are young and old. That’s all I meant.”
The driver busied himself under the bonnet. Most of the truck’s occupants filed out and wandered away over the frozen landscape.
When he helped Gisela and the children down from the truck, Mitch was surprised to see Kurt and Audra waiting for them. Bettina and Katya stood between them.
“Sister.” Bettina grasped Katya’s age-spotted hand. “It’s Barcelona. I would recognize it anywhere. I can smell the paella. What a cosmopolitan city it is.”
Katya shook her head. “I don’t smell anything. You are addle brained to think this is Barcelona. More likely, it’s Madrid.”
They continued arguing about which Spanish city they were in, appearing not to understand their brother was no longer with them. Was that a good thing or not?
He found himself often turning to speak to Xavier, only to catch himself at the last minute. Xavier wasn’t with them.
Gisela asked the driver for directions to the train station and relayed them to Mitch. “He says we only have to follow this road and we will find it. We can’t miss it.”
He closed his eyes for a moment.
She didn’t know his
“You are crazy, Sister.” Katya played with a gray curl that had escaped her hood. “You can’t fly in a truck. Wherever did you get that idea?”
Mitch remembered wheeling over the English countryside in his uncle’s biplane. Uncle Roger taught him how to operate the controls. Mitch loved every minute of it. He also recalled his father’s stern look, the hard set of his mouth and the jut of his chin, not understanding. After all, a solicitor didn’t need to know how to fly.
Mitch shook his head. “Bettina, I don’t believe I’m up for that challenge. But perhaps someday we can arrange for you to fly again.”
“A plane would get us there faster. It would take us farther away from this awful place.” Gisela bounced against him.
The German army’s truck engine ground to a halt, emitting a terrible squealing sound. Not one a vehicle should make.
Mitch peered around the edge of the canvas. Nothing but snow-swept farmland.
This couldn’t be their destination.
EIGHT
T he soldier’s footsteps crunched in the snow as he approached the back of his truck. Mitch inhaled and held it in.
“Where are we?” Gisela’s breath tickled the back of his neck.
“I’ve no idea. I got a D in geography.” Much to his father’s consternation. A solicitor would need to do better than that in school. Perhaps if Mitch had paid better attention in class, he wouldn’t have never ended up in a POW camp to begin with. “Don’t look to me for directions.” Please, don’t look at me. The muscles across his shoulders tightened. “If you don’t know, we’re in trouble.”
One thing he did know was that he wanted to stay out of the soldier’s sight. He didn’t want to have to speak to him in German. He didn’t want to have to come up with another excuse. So Mitch leaned back and behind the German with one arm. Kurt.
The driver lowered the tailgate and banged his hand on it twice. “I don’t know what is wrong with the truck. I can’t get it going again. The others have gone ahead. There was no room for you.”
So they were to sit out here, target practice for Soviet planes? Would he ever rejoin his mates?
“We may not even be able to fix the truck. Danzig is just a fewkilometers that way.” He pointed in the direction the truck had been headed.
“Danzig?” Mitch whispered to Gisela.
“Where the Frische Nehrung meets the mainland. You should have paid better attention in class.” She sighed. “Danzig has a train station. That’s why we have to get there. If the trains are still running, we can make our way to Berlin.”
“Can you walk into town? What about the girls and the old women?”
Dark half circles rimmed the bottom of Gisela’s eyes. “We’re not invalids.”
If he could, he would have raised his hands. “Don’t go crackers. They are young and old. That’s all I meant.”
The driver busied himself under the bonnet. Most of the truck’s occupants filed out and wandered away over the frozen landscape.
When he helped Gisela and the children down from the truck, Mitch was surprised to see Kurt and Audra waiting for them. Bettina and Katya stood between them.
“Sister.” Bettina grasped Katya’s age-spotted hand. “It’s Barcelona. I would recognize it anywhere. I can smell the paella. What a cosmopolitan city it is.”
Katya shook her head. “I don’t smell anything. You are addle brained to think this is Barcelona. More likely, it’s Madrid.”
They continued arguing about which Spanish city they were in, appearing not to understand their brother was no longer with them. Was that a good thing or not?
He found himself often turning to speak to Xavier, only to catch himself at the last minute. Xavier wasn’t with them.
Gisela asked the driver for directions to the train station and relayed them to Mitch. “He says we only have to follow this road and we will find it. We can’t miss it.”
He closed his eyes for a moment.
She didn’t know his
Similar Books
