Jennie's War by Bonnie Hinman

Author:Bonnie Hinman [HINMAN, BONNIE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62836-207-7
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2005-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Birthday Surprises

The parade went on that day, but the sparkle was gone for all the students from Mrs. Hoffman’s class. Dody had cooperated as well as a goat could, and the boys had walked beside their float as the motorcycle pulled it slowly down the street. The principal had driven Mrs. Hoffman home after she had hugged Jennie and Tommy and asked them to tell the others. It was a black day for Mrs. Hoffman’s fourth-grade class.

But the days of fall went by, and eventually even Mrs. Hoffman’s pale face perked up a little. Her students tried their best to behave, and she often told them how much it helped her feel better. Mr. Hoffman’s flag on the map was the only one that had been switched to a cross so far that fall. Jennie prayed every day that Roger’s wouldn’t be next.

The family had received occasional letters from Roger, and they guessed he was still fighting in Italy. The letters had stopped abruptly at the end of October, which made everyone a bit uneasy. The radio announcer said that the fighting in Italy was fiercer and taking much longer than expected, but that the Allies were gaining ground foot by foot.

Mr. Romano still hadn’t heard from his brother, and there was no news about Mike Fancher. Jennie had heard her father say that no news was good news. Maybe that was the case with Mike and Roger and Mr. Romano’s brother.

Guests moved in and out of the hotel, and always there were a million sheets to change and acres of floors to sweep and mop. Pietro still lived with Mr. Romano, although as far as Jennie could tell, he only ate and slept at his cousin’s apartment. Jennie thought the man only lived with Mr. Romano to eat the Italian man’s cooking, because Pietro was definitely getting plumper.

Christmas was quiet for everyone. Jennie wondered if the others were remembering last Christmas when people were saying that the war would be over by the next year. Nobody said that now. This was the third Christmas that Roger had been gone, and Mama’s face was solemn as the family bundled up to go to church on Christmas Eve.

Jennie planned to pray all the way through the service. She was over being mad at God, but she still didn’t understand very much about this war. Mama had said that the Bible tells people to pray without ceasing, so that’s what Jennie planned to do.

January started out cold and dreary. The sun didn’t peek out for days at a time. Jennie and Tommy plodded through their chores at the hotel, arguing every chance they got. All Jennie wanted was one sunny afternoon when she and Colleen could go down to the waterfront, sit on the wharf, and watch the dockworkers unload ships. But it didn’t happen.

Then Trudy caught a bad cold. She was sick for two weeks, and the others had to take over her work. Jennie didn’t mind because her sister had done Jennie’s work many times, but Jennie missed the only two sunny afternoons.

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