The Button War by Avi

Author:Avi [Avi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780763699260
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2018-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

Drugi and his family lived in a small wooden house just south of the village, next to a field where they grew potatoes. The family consisted of him, his mother, father, and an older brother named Arek.

As we approached the house, we didn’t talk. Though pleased with myself, I tried not to show it. Jurek was silent. I was sure he knew I had won the contest and wasn’t happy.

When we reached Drugi’s house, I was so eager to find out what he’d gotten that it was me who pounded on the door. When there was no answer, I pounded again.

The door opened a crack. We could see an eye peering out. When the door opened a bit, we realized it was Arek, Drugi’s brother. He said, “What is it?”

I said, “Is Drugi home?”

“Why do you want him?”

“Need to talk to him.”

Arek said, “He can’t talk.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“He’s sick.” Arek opened the door farther. A teenager, he was short and stocky, with a thin thread of a mustache. He had a big purple bruise on his cheek.

“What kind of sick?” Jurek called out.

Arek was silent for a while, as if deciding what to say. “Beat up sick,” he said.

“Beat up?” cried Ulryk.

“We had a soldier staying here.”

“A German?” asked Makary.

“Austrian.”

“We had a German one,” I said.

“You know Drugi,” Arek went on. “Not too bright. He got a notion to steal a button from the soldier. From his cap. Don’t ask me why. The soldier caught him at it and beat him. Badly. I tried to stop the soldier. But he had a gun. Couldn’t.”

Shocked, we boys eyed one another but didn’t say anything. We just stood there.

It was Ulryk who asked, “Is . . . is he hurt bad?”

Arek nodded and fingered his own bruise. “In the middle of the night — when all that cannon shooting began — the soldier rushed off. He hasn’t come back. If he does, I’m going to kill him.”

It was Jurek, after a moment, who said, “Can we see Drugi? Tell him we feel sorry. Maybe it’ll make him feel better.”

I looked at Jurek with disgust. I was sure he didn’t mean what he said. He just wanted to know if Drugi had a button.

After a moment, Arek pulled the door open farther, saying, “He’d like that.”

We squeezed into the small house, stepping into the main room. As in my house, a big bed took up most of the space. In the bed was Drugi. He was a small kid. Now he looked tiny.

We crowded around the bed and stared down. It was ghastly. Drugi’s face was swollen and covered with dark-purple bruises and cuts, which stood out because his skin was as pale as bread dough. His puffy eyes were closed. There was dry blood around one eye and his mouth. One arm was atop the blanket, the other underneath. The arm we could see had a cloth wrapped around it. The cloth was stained red.

Sitting in a chair right next to the bed was Drugi’s mother.

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.