Stolen Child by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Author:Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch [Skrypuch; Marsha Forchuk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4431-1940-5
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Published: 2012-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Linda

Those first few weeks of school were better than the horrible first day. Miss MacIntosh taught one of the higher grades and she’d nod to me when we passed in the hallway. Knowing she was in the building gave me comfort. It was the same with Mychailo. For all anyone could tell, we were strangers, but we were the only DP kids there and we had a special bond.

After school he would often drop by. He even helped me with homework once. If the other boys ever knew that, he would be teased. But I had Linda to play with at recess, and each day English seemed easier. I was grateful that Miss Ferris would not tolerate me being called “the Hitler girl” in her presence. But that didn’t stop Eric and David from whispering it behind my back.

One recess as Linda and I were walking around the schoolyard pretending to be interested in watching the other children play, she turned to me and asked, “Would you like to come to my place after school today?”

I was delighted with the invitation, but had to say no. “Marus— Mama wouldn’t know where I was,” I told her. “Can you come to my house instead?”

Linda grinned. “I could do that. I’ll let Grace know and she can tell Mom and Dad where I am.”

It felt nice walking all the way home with someone to talk to. Linda loved the swing Ivan had made for me. I showed her through the house as well. When I opened the doors to each of the rooms, I tried to see it through Linda’s eyes. Would she think that we were extremely poor? What would she think of the chipped tub in the bathroom and the repainted icebox in the kitchen? She hadn’t commented on the cinder blocks that we used as back-door steps, but I noticed her looking at them.

When we got up to my bedroom, she sat on the bed and tested the springs. “Comfy,” she said. “And I love the lilac-coloured walls. Everything here is so fresh.”

I looked at her face to see if she was making fun of me. I was sure that most of the kids at school had nicer homes than mine, but she seemed sincere.

“You must love it here,” she said.

I was beginning to get used to my new home, and Canada was growing on me. Did I love it? Maybe. “The place I lived in before was much nicer than this,” I said. The words were out before I knew it.

“Where was that?” asked Linda, flopping down on the bed.

“In Europe,” I said, my heart starting to hammer. Why had I started this conversation?

“If you had a nicer place, why did you come here?”

I said nothing. I wished I could take back the words I had already let out.

“Doesn’t make sense,” said Linda.

“It was because of the war.” I hoped that would end the conversation.

She looked at me strangely. “If you had a nicer place, were your parents well off?” she asked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.