Tales From the Fountain Pen by E. Lynn Hooghiemstra

Author:E. Lynn Hooghiemstra [Hooghiemstra, E. Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Untreed Reads Publishing
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Before dawn the next day I am at my desk to meet my mother again and to relive her life. I unscrew the cap of the old pen, top off the ink bladder and touch the tip to the paper, allowing myself to be transported back to her village in the north of the Netherlands during the war. I hope she’s all right and I will the pen to write faster despite the pain in my hand from writing the day before.

I can’t tell how much time has passed when I find myself outside on a cold morning. I’m huddled into the collar of my old coat, a scarf wrapped around my neck and my hands firmly in my pockets.

It looks like I am near the center of the village: I can see the train station some way up the road. It looks like a train is being loaded with supplies and people. No, they’re soldiers. Is the war over?

No, it can’t be. People walking past me have downcast eyes and a hungry, almost haunted look about them. That’s not how I imagine a liberated people would look. Besides, I don’t feel much joy inside either.

I seem rooted to the ground under my feet as I watch the train being loaded in the distance.

With an effort I turn my head to see where I am and find myself in front of the boarded-up butcher’s shop.

“It’s no use standing around waiting for Hendrik, my dear.” The kindly voice of Mrs. Jansen startles me. “Just because the soldiers are leaving doesn’t mean they’ll let him go from wherever they’re holding him.” She gives me a sad little smile.

I try to think of something appropriate to say. “Maybe soon,” is all I manage.

“Yes, maybe soon all this will be over and we’ll have our boys back.” She turns, but not before I see her eyes well up. Of course, her son, Jan, is in hiding too, just like Theo. Jan went into hiding a few months before my brother. He had to, as he’d been handing out anti-German leaflets in Leeuwarden.

Where Hendrik is brash and bold, Jan sometimes is just plain stupid. He figured he would be safe if all he did was quietly hand out little notes urging people to resist the occupiers.

The first time he got picked up he got off with a warning, but the second time he got severely beaten. Just a few days after that he went into hiding. That was almost two years ago. Theo’s been in hiding for over a year now and we’ve not heard from him in all that time. I miss him.

I turn to go home but instead find myself face to face with Johann, who seizes the opportunity to grab me and kiss me. I struggle fiercely and once I break free I run as fast as I can, his boisterous laughter ringing in my ears.

Now the whole village will know and brand me a traitor. How could he do that to

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