Run, Boy, Run(33)

All at once he found himself facing a big German shepherd dog. Before he knew it he was on the ground and the dog was pinning him, its two front paws on his chest. Panting heavily, it opened a toothy mouth and stuck out a long tongue. Jurek tried to move. The dog growled menacingly. He lay still. A German soldier came up and called off the dog. It obeyed him at once. He hauled Jurek to his feet and said, "So it's you! You're just the person we're looking for."

They walked in silence with Jurek in the middle, flanked by the German and the dog. Although the German did not hold on to him, Jurek knew he had no chance of escaping. After a while, the soldier began to speak. It wasn't clear if he was talking to Jurek, the dog, or himself.

"If I bring you alive to the Gestapo," he said, "I'll get a commendation for being a good soldier. What good will that do me? And if I kill you and bring you dead to the Gestapo, I'll also get a commendation for being a good soldier. And what good will that do me? What do you think, Rex?"

The dog raised its head and looked at him.

They were near the edge of the forest. The soldier left the path, stepped into the bushes, and bent to lift a rusty iron trapdoor. Descending underground, he told Jurek to follow him. Jurek peered inside. There was an iron ladder, which he climbed down. Below was a bunker with a high window that was too covered with shrubbery to let in much light. There was a bench, a battered chair, and some old army blankets and mattresses along one wall. An open metal cabinet contained a bottle of water and some tins of food. On the shelf above them was a loaf of bread. Obviously, the soldier spent much of his time here.

The German opened a tin, cut a thick slice of bread, spread some meat on it, and handed it to Jurek. He put some meat in a bowl for Rex. The dog just looked at it.

"Good dog," the soldier said. "Eat!"

Rex wolfed down the bowl.

The German took the rest of the meat for himself and sat down on the bench beside Jurek. The three of them ate in silence. When he was finished eating, the German took out a pack of cigarettes.

"Do you smoke?"

A chill ran down Jurek's spine.

"No," he said.

But the soldier didn't look as if he was about to kill him. He took a cigarette lighter from his pocket. Jurek looked at it admiringly.

"Werner," the soldier said, pointing at himself.

"Jurek," said Jurek.

The soldier took out his wallet and showed Jurek a photograph of a woman and two children.

"My wife and kids," he said.

The woman was young and looked nice. The children, a boy and a girl, smiled at Jurek from the photograph. Jurek smiled back.

The soldier laughed. He kissed the photograph and said proudly, "My family! Where is your family?"

Jurek did his best to answer in a German that was more a mixture of Yiddish and Polish:

"We were five. Three boys and two girls. They may all be dead. I saw my father killed in a field. My mother ... I don't know."

The soldier shook his head sadly.

"War," he said, cursing it. "It's just my luck to have caught a blond, one-armed Jewish boy. What is a blond, one-armed Jewish boy? He's only a boy. And what am I? I'm only a soldier. Isn't that so, Rex?"

The dog raised its head. Werner went on talking. Jurek didn't understand very much. Here and there he made out a word. God. People. What will be the end?

Before leaving, the soldier told him he could use the bunker all he wanted. "Just close the door when you leave. I'll be back."

A few days later he came back with more tins. He didn't come at regular intervals. Sometimes he slept there. Conversation was difficult. Jurek's German wasn't good enough and Werner knew even less Polish. He made up for it by slapping Jurek on the shoulder or patting him on the head and giving him candy or chocolate. Jurek looked forward to each visit. In between, he missed the soldier more and more. It was hard to say goodbye. He knew that was coming when Werner started looking at his watch.

He had an idea. Taking a crate, he drew a checkerboard on it with the help of some charred wood he had found. Then he collected twenty-four acorns, blackened half of them, and waited. Eventually, Werner and Rex appeared. The dog ran happily to Jurek. Werner put some new tins of food in the closet and placed a loaf of bread on the bench. Then he caught sight of the surprise. He grinned broadly and patted Jurek's head. After eating they sat down to a game of checkers.

Werner always had time for at least three games. Whenever Jurek beat him, he was as happy as Jurek.

One day Jurek came back from the forest and found a loaf of bread and two new tins of food. Werner's lighter was lying on one of them. He felt heartbroken. He knew he would never see the German soldier again.

***

Jurek remained in the bunker until he finished the food. Then he went to look for farm work.