Run, Boy, Run(37)

Marina was as good as her word. One morning the wheelbarrow turned over as Jurek was pushing it to the pigsty along the icy planks. Pan Boguta cuffed him as usual. From then on, every morning and evening, Marina fed the pigs. If not for her, Jurek would have had to go elsewhere despite the snow and the cold.

The village children liked to build snowmen with coals for eyes and a carrot for a nose. Jurek rarely joined them, because it was a morning game and he was busy. Snowball fights, though, went on throughout the short winter days. There was also a hill at the end of the village, down which the children sledded with merry whoops. Some used boards and others had homemade sleds. Despite his handicap, Jurek was athletic; well-liked because of his good nature, he was welcome in all the children's games. If he couldn't get away from Clara's sharp eyes before dark, he'd sit by the stove with the women, watching them sew, launder, or iron until it was time to go to sleep in the barn.

One Sunday a young man came riding up and tied his horse to the fence. Marina, looking out the window, saw him enter the yard. "Grzegorz!" she shouted, running to him happily.

Pan Boguta followed her outside, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her back into the house. He gave the young man an unfriendly look and said, "You can come court Clara, if you want. Marina is too young."

When the youngster was gone he said to Marina, "He's just a carpenter. He has no land and he isn't from these parts. I don't want you going out with him. If I catch you with him, I'll lock you in the house. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when I get hold of him."

"But why can he court Clara?" Marina asked.

"If Clara would like him to, I have no objection," her father said. "Better a carpenter's wife than an old maid."

Clara burst into bitter tears. It was the first and last time that Jurek ever felt sorry for her.

Jurek knew Grzegorz. He was the young man who said hello to Marina every Sunday in church. Jurek saw the passionate glances they exchanged during the service. One day Marina asked Jurek to lag behind the next time they came out of church.

"Grzegorz will give you a note," she said. "When nobody is looking, you'll pass it to me. Can you read?"

"No."

Marina was happy to hear that. From then on Grzegorz handed a note to Jurek every Sunday, and Jurek passed it to Marina. Before the winter was over, Grzegorz began coming to the farm at night. Sunday night was his usual time. Marina would slip out of the house and wait for him in the barn. Since she had no one else to talk to it about, she bared her heart to Jurek.

"He's awfully good-looking, isn't he?"

Jurek didn't know if Grzegorz was good-looking or not, but he agreed anyway.

"I once saw a closet he made for the parents of a friend of mine," Marina went on. "And a coffin he made for our neighbor. He's an artist. I tell you, Jurek, he has hands of gold. And a brain, too! I love him. I don't care what my father says. He can do what he wants. I'll elope and marry him. It's all Clara's fault."

It would be sad if Marina left, Jurek thought.

Each time Grzegorz came, they stood embracing each other in the darkness by the cows. Eventually, Jurek fell asleep. When he awoke again, they were still locked in an embrace.

"Aren't you cold?" he once asked Marina.

"No," she said. "Love warms you, even in the winter."

One night they asked Jurek to sleep in the hayloft.

"We'll wake you later and you'll come back to the barn," they said.

Although Jurek would have slept anywhere for Marina's sake, he was curious. What could they be doing there in the hayrack, under his blankets?

One night his curiosity got the better of him. Quietly, he sneaked back into the barn and hid among the cows. It was too dark to see. But he heard Marina and Grzegorz whispering and making noises. While he wasn't sure what they were doing, he was excited in a strange new way. He went back to the hayloft and lay there thinking. He could remember sleeping with his mother and being woken and told in the middle of the night, "Srulik, move to your father's bed."

Half-conscious, he had changed beds and fallen asleep at once.

He was thinking so hard now that he sat up. He recalled a conversation between his big brothers. One of them said, "Papa tossed Mama his hat tonight and she didn't toss it back."

They laughed, then noticed him listening curiously.

"Srulik, do you know what happens when Mama keeps Papa's hat?"

"He wears another one," Srulik said.

They laughed harder. Now, in the hayloft, Jurek realized something was eluding him. He racked his brain to understand what it was. Was it the same thing Marisza had meant when she said, "You'll understand when you're older"? He didn't want to wait that long. A thought crossed his mind. No, he told himself. No, it can't be. Then he fell asleep and didn't awake until Grzegorz came to take him back to the barn.