Run, Boy, Run(43)

He said to Jurek, "Tell them what I said."

Jurek translated.

This time the glances between Christina's parents were worried. Christina fled to the kitchen. Sasha said, "I've come to tell you that we're moving out."

Jurek was alarmed. "You are?"

"Just say what I ask you to."

Jurek waited for Christina to return from the kitchen.

"We're moving on to Berlin," Sasha said proudly.

They all understood that. He got to his feet and said grandly, "When the war is over, I'll return. With your permission, I want to marry Christina then."

Jurek translated.

Christina covered her face with her hands. There was a hush. Everyone held his breath and looked at her father.

"Do you agree to become a Catholic?" he asked.

"Yes," Sasha said.

That was that, then.

"We'll wait for you and pray for you," Pan Cherka said.

Pani Cherka clapped her hands with emotion.

"One more thing," said Sasha. "I want to leave the boy with you."

Jurek translated, embarrassed. Everyone looked at him.

"What's your name?" Pan Cherka asked.

"Jurek Staniak."

"Are you a Catholic?"

"Yes."

"Where did the Russians find you?"

"In the fields."

"You speak Russian well," Christina's mother said.

"I've been with them since last summer," Jurek told her.

There followed the usual questions about his parents, his village, and where he was during the war. He gave the usual answers.

"What can you do around a farm?"

"Everything—pasture the cows, tend the pigs, whatever you like."

"We'll take him," Pani Cherka said.

Pan Cherka nodded in agreement.

It was time to part. Sasha rose. Jurek rose to go with him.

"No," Sasha said. "You stay here."

Jurek was dumbfounded. "So soon?"

He sat down again. Sasha said goodbye to them all. He picked Jurek up and hugged him.

"You'll be fine here," he said. "These are good people."

"Would you like to eat something different?" Jurek asked.

Sasha was taken by surprise. He glanced at Jurek's clenched fist. Jurek opened it. In it was his cigarette lighter. For a moment, Sasha hesitated. Then he kissed Jurek and took the gift.

"I'll walk you," said Christina, putting on her fur coat.

"But it's snowing," Pani Cherka objected.

"It's all right," Pan Cherka said. "Just don't go far."

Sasha shook Pan Cherka's hand. Then he kissed Pani Cherka's hands, and he and Christina stepped outside. Her parents hurried to the window. Jurek was behind them. Snow was falling. The two young people walked arm in arm down the street. Sasha's comrades were preparing to move out. They cheered when they saw him with Christina. The two hugged and kissed and Christina ran back to the house, red as a beet.

"Isn't Sasha Catholic?" Jurek asked.

"No," Pani Cherka said. "The Russians are different."

Sasha didn't look any different.

"Is Berlin far?"

"Don't ask so many questions."

"It's very far," Christina sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Pani Cherka said. "He's only a Russian. Who knows what kind of home he comes from?"

"Mama!" Christina protested.

"First let's see if he comes back," Pan Cherka said.





16. The War Is Really Over


In early spring of that year the Wisla overflowed its banks and flooded the entire region. Once the levees of the river were breached, there was nothing in the broad plain to stop the rampaging water, which rolled on for miles in all directions.

The cows in the barn began to bleat. Jan, the hired hand, woke up first. He jumped down from the hayrack on which he slept with Jurek and found himself in ankle-deep water.

"Jurek, wake up! There's a flood!"

From the stable came the frightened whinnies of the horses. The water had reached the animals' quarters first, because the farmhouse stood on a low rise.

Jurek groped in the darkness. Water was everywhere. "Where is it coming from?" he asked.

"The Wisla's overflowed. Go get the horses."

"The Wisla? It's far away."

"Don't talk now. Run! I'll get the cows."

Jurek waded through the water to the stable door. The horses were restless. They pawed at the water with their hooves as if they understood what was happening. He freed them and they bolted outside. Then he ran to the farmhouse, banged on the door, and shouted:

"Pan Cherka! There's a flood! There's a flood!"

A kerosene lamp shone yellow in the window. The door opened. Wojciech Cherka peered out and yelled, "Wife! There's a flood! Wake Christina!"

"The pigs!" shouted Pani Cherka.