Shadow of His Hand by Wendy Lawton

Author:Wendy Lawton [Lawton, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-57567-774-3
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2004-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

Erasaed from the Earth

The bombing continued. In Berlin, many thousands of people died. The sounds of screaming sirens followed by buzzing planes and the percussion of bombs took their toll on the citizens.

Weakened by malnutrition, Anita fell ill. Frau Michaelis—always overly worried about contagion—decreed that no one could go in or come out of Anita’s room. The maid pushed a bowl of soggy cereal through the door twice a day, but Anita saw no one and talked to no one. Her homesickness grew intense. She longed to touch the soft skin on Mutti’s face. She might be thirteen years old already, but she wished she still had Teddy. The silence and the loneliness ached worse than the illness. What if I die all alone?

But she didn’t die. Her fever broke after several days, and she finally returned to school again. This time however, her homesickness continued. Anita longed to see Mutti. Sadness hung over everything she did. At least her studies took time and kept her mind off her family for part of each day.

Since the bombing continued nonstop, plans were made to evacuate the students to the Bavarian Alps. Anita wrote to Mutti to get permission to go. Now the coming “holiday” from the war was the favorite topic of everyone’s conversation at school.

“Oh, Anita, will we ever have fun!” Ruth said as they walked along the school hallway and talked about what they would pack. “Just think—to be away from all this war, war, war for a time!”

“Do you think we’ll finally feel like teenagers?” Anita loved that term. She’d come across it in her reading. She read at every opportunity—especially novels with fun-loving teenage characters living peaceful lives. What a difference from her experience. Nothing about her life had been normal since Vati left. Nothing.

“I will miss my parents, but the constant bombardment leaves me feeling jittery and nervous.” Ruth’s hands shook much of the time these days and she often jumped at loud noises. “I think my parents will relax if they know I’m safely out of the way.”

“That’s how my mother felt about me coming to Berlin.” Anita laughed. “If Mutti only knew …” Anita censored her own mail much more strenuously than the Gestapo would. No sense in worrying Mutti. “I must admit, when we leave for the Alps, I’ll not miss Frau Michaelis. I know I should be thankful, but—”

“Anita Dittman?” The school principal stepped out of the office and interrupted the girls.

“Ja.”

“A mistake has been made. I know we asked you to secure your mother’s permission to evacuate, but … um … you will not be traveling with us after all.” Without saying another word, he turned back into the office. At the door, he paused and turned once again to Anita. “Please leave your books in the outer office so another child can use them. It’s a shame to waste them.”

Just like that. Soldiers used the word shell-shocked to describe the emptiness she felt. She knew it would hurt later, but she couldn’t react now.

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