Run, Boy, Run(26)

They weren't alone in the forest. A growl from Azor would warn him when there were people or wild boar around. Grabbing the dog and pinching his jaws shut with both hands, Jurek would whisper: "Shhhhh!"

And Azor would hush up. After each such near encounter—with what or whom only Azor knew—they hid for a while in the bushes. At night Jurek lay with his arms around the dog, making sure he didn't bark. Sometimes, hearing low voices or footsteps, he guessed that partisans were near. He debated letting them know he was there. But Yosele had said they wanted no part of Jewish boys.

And then disaster struck. It was a clear day. Toward noon he heard voices and people running. Before he could grab Azor and slip away, a large dog bounded toward them, foaming at the mouth. Two men with rifles ran after it. They shouted when they saw him, "Mad dog! Run, boy!"

Jurek ran as fast as he could. Azor ran after him, bounding over a large fallen tree. Jurek felt a sharp pain in his heel. He ignored it and kept running. The mad dog was gaining on them. He halted, grabbed a large branch, and swung around to face the beast. Azor bared his fangs and threw himself at the attacker. Jurek tried striking the rabid dog on the head, not realizing what danger he was in. The two men came running up.

"Get out of the way, boy!"

Jurek jumped aside. Two shots rang out.

"No!" Jurek cried. "No!"

They fired two more shots. The mad dog was dead. Azor lay dying.

Jurek slumped to the ground in pain, hugging his dog. He didn't cry. One of the men stroked his head. He pushed the hand angrily away. The man said, "Son, your dog saved your life."

"But what did you kill him for?"

"Look. We had to kill them both. When a man or dog is bitten by an animal with rabies, they get it too and die a horrible death. Do you understand? Look how your dog has bites all over."

Jurek nodded.

"Where are you from?"

"The village." He pointed vaguely.

"Over there?" They looked in the direction he had pointed in. "There's no village there. You're confused. You must mean there." They pointed somewhere else.

Jurek nodded.

The two men talked things over and decided to burn the dead dogs. One went to gather pine needles, and the other, dry branches. Jurek tried helping them, but he couldn't step on his injured foot.

"What happened to you?" one of the men asked.

Jurek sat down and looked at his heel. "I must have landed on something when I jumped," he said.

He overcame his pain and lent a hand. The men looked tense and nervous.

"Would you stay here and watch the fire?" one asked him. "Here, here's ten zloty. We have to go. If any animal eats the carcass before it's burned, the rabies will spread. Do you understand?"

Jurek understood. He didn't take the money. "All right," he said.

He sat and watched the fire. The smoke burned his eyes. Tears ran from them.

Someone was standing there. Jurek looked up. The man lifted an arm to hit him. When he saw what was burning, though, he checked himself. It was a forester, a different one from the one Jurek knew.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Jurek told him.

"Two men with rifles, you say?"

"Yes."

"Not Germans? Not police?"

"No."

The forester nodded thoughtfully. He asked, "Where are you from?"

This time Jurek pointed in the right direction.

"Go home," the forester said. "I don't want you burning down this forest. I'll take care of the fire myself."

That night Jurek went back to sleeping in the trees. He tied himself to a branch with his rope belt and dreamed of Azor. In his dream Azor could climb trees and was lying next to him. Then Azor turned into his brother. They were sleeping together in one bed. But his brother slept badly and kept kicking him in the foot.

Jurek awoke. Dawn was breaking. The forest floor beneath him was still dark. His foot felt worse. By evening he could hardly walk. Two more days went by and his heel swelled and turned yellow with pus. The skin was too callused to pierce with a pine needle and he was afraid to cut it with Yosele's knife. He needed help. Breaking off a branch to use as a walking stick, he hobbled in the direction the two armed men had pointed in. When he came to the village, he remembered the pretty woman's advice and headed for the spire of the church. Next to it was a house, and he knocked on the door. An old priest opened it. Jurek greeted him in the name of Jesus. The priest reached out to pat his head and he kissed the priest's hand as he had seen people do in village streets.

"You're not from here," the priest said.

"No, Father."

"Where are you from?"

"I have no parents. I just go from place to place."