Run, Boy, Run(41)

The next morning the unit moved out. Jurek sat with Sasha and a few other soldiers on one of the tanks. At first, despite his protests, Sasha held on to him. After a while, though, he learned to respect Jurek's independence, even though he had only one arm.

Suddenly there was a burst of gunfire. The tank crew jumped into the tank and the other soldiers hit the ground. The tank swiveled its turret, looking for the Germans who had started shooting. There was a firefight. The soldiers on the ground fixed bayonets and charged behind their officer. Jurek, worried about Sasha, raised himself to see what was happening. There was too much dust and smoke to see.

After a while the shooting stopped. He heard cheers. Some soldiers came back pushing three frightened German prisoners ahead of them. Suddenly one of the soldiers let loose a long volley. The Germans fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Jurek fought back his nausea and went to look at the dead men. No, Werner was not one of them. He turned away and saw Sasha.

Sasha looked at him.

"You're pale, Jurek. Get away from there."

Sasha and his crew of mechanics took some tools from the truck and set to work on a tank. Jurek watched them. Sasha pointed to a tool. Jurek handed it to him. Then he handed him another one. Sasha taught him the names of the tools in Russian.

The men stopped for a cigarette break. Jurek took his lighter and lit Sasha's cigarette. Everyone wanted to see it. It passed from hand to hand.

***

The unit advanced, sometimes fighting and sometimes waiting. Jurek's friendship with Sasha grew stronger. At first they couldn't communicate. Sometimes, though, the Russian and Polish words for things were similar. That made them burst into happy laughter.

"Would you like to eat something different for a change?" Sasha asked one night after their usual meal of kasha and Spam.

Jurek laughed. Sasha's Russian sounded as if he were trying to speak bad Polish to be funny.

"Yes," he said.

"Tomorrow morning."

That night they bivouacked by a lake. The next morning Sasha took a crate and a hand grenade and went to the lakeshore with Yurek. He pulled the pin from the grenade and tossed it into the water. A few seconds later there was an explosion and waves. After a while the bodies of dead fish began to surface, bellies up. Sasha undressed and swam out to gather them. They filled the crate with the fish and brought them back. The soldiers were delighted. The unit had to move out before the fish could be cooked, but they grilled and ate them at their next rest stop.

Despite their language problem, Sasha managed to tell Jurek about his family. Using his hands, he explained that he had an elder brother in the army, two younger sisters, and a little brother smaller than Jurek. Jurek told Sasha about his own family. He was also one of five children, but the youngest. Then Sasha told Jurek the names of his parents, brothers, and sisters. Jurek wanted to do the same, but he couldn't remember anyone's name.

"I forget," he said sadly.

"Where are they?"

Jurek shrugged. "Maybe dead," he said after a while.

Sasha consoled him with a warm slap on the shoulder.

The boom and flash of artillery shells grew further away as the front receded. One day their unit was ordered to halt while the rest of the army continued to advance. Jurek asked the medic why. The medic was sitting on the ground, playing checkers with his driver.

"The army is moving on to the Wisla, son. It will dig in there."

"What about us?"

"We're in luck. We're being saved for the big push on Berlin. Meanwhile we're in summer camp."

Jurek stayed to watch the game. When it was over, he challenged the medic to another.

"You want to play me?" The medic laughed. "All right."

Jurek lost. They played again and he lost again.

"Never mind," the medic consoled him. "Come and play some more. You learn by losing."

He came back often and lost each time. But he didn't give up. The medic was right. His checkers game was improving.

***

"Sasha, would you like to eat something different?"

It had turned into a game. Jurek was hiding something behind his back.

"Yes," Sasha said.

Jurek opened his hand. There was a slug in it. Sasha burst out laughing. He pushed Jurek to the ground and pretended to make him eat the gooey snail without a shell. The next day he got back by asking, "Jurek, would you like to eat something different?"

Jurek didn't know what to answer. Perhaps Sasha had some American cheese for him. He took a chance and said "yes." Sasha opened a hand. It held an earthworm. He opened the second and gave Jurek two cubes of sugar.

"Jurek, would you like to eat something different?"

"Yes."

Sasha held out his hands. They were empty.