Of Windmills and War by Diane H Moody Page B

the screen and yelled for them to show the movie.
    It’s not much better at home. With everyone so worried about
all these threats of war, our doorbell rings day and night as parishioners come
asking my father for prayer and wisdom. Yesterday there was a long line of them
on the front sidewalk waiting to see him, and dozens crammed inside our zitkamer
(what you would call a living room) while he met them one by one in his home
office. Mother is still bedridden, so I have to be hostess. This is not
something I like to do. I’d rather be outside with my animals.
    Did I tell you my cat had kittens? Six little ones. Their meowing
is the sweetest sound. Do you like cats?
    I worry too. I wish Hans was here so I could talk to him. He
always made things better.
    Anya

8
     
     
    September 1939
    For the first time in his life, Danny was glad to be back at
school. Sure, he had looked forward to being a senior, but even more important,
it meant fewer all-nighters running deliveries with his dad. He’d carefully side-stepped
the subject of his father’s invitation to partner his work. Dad hadn’t
mentioned it directly, though traces of it drifted into conversations now and
then. For the life of him, Danny didn’t have a clue how to tell his dad no.
    He was pleased to finally have a U.S. History class with Mrs.
Zankowski. With everything going on in Europe , she
kept her students engaged in an on-going discussion about the situation
escalating over there. The parents of both Mrs. Z and her husband were Polish
immigrants, and many of her family members still lived in their home country. When
classes began in September, just a few days after the Nazis invaded Poland , Mrs.
Z came to class visibly shaken, her eyes still red and puffy. She struggled to
get through her lessons, expressing deep sorrow for her Polish countrymen and
family, yet determined to use the invasion as a teaching tool.
    “Living in our great democracy, we take our freedoms for
granted every day we live. We are so blessed here, with our roots firmly established
in liberty, but we must never let our guard down. If Hitler and his regime can storm
into Poland , he
can surely storm the rest of Europe , picking off one country after
another, squishing them as if they were nothing more than bugs to be
annihilated. And we must pay attention to what is happening there and be ever
mindful of the potential danger to us here at home.
    “Thank God the British have now stepped in with the other
Allies to help those poor countries fight the aggressors. I do not understand
why the United
States has turned such a blind eye to these invasions, as if it is no affair of ours.
Those nations haven’t the military resources to withstand the hungry Nazi machine.
They need us. Must we wait until the enemy is on our own doorstep?”
    Dashing away tears with trembling hands, she continued. But
all Danny could think about was Anya’s family over in The Netherlands. Hans once
told him Holland always remained neutral in these
conflicts, sitting out the Great War as their European neighbors fought to the
death. But how could the Dutch possibly withstand an attack this time around
since they shared a border with the Germans who seemed bent on taking over the
world? He’d always brushed off Anya’s mention of war nerves in her country, thinking
she might be over-reacting and a bit melodramatic. But the more Mrs. Z spoke, detailing
what she knew about the fall of her beloved Poland , the
more Danny finally began to grasp the seriousness of this war and its proximity
to Anya and her family.
    Still, here in America life
went on. By the end of September the die-hard Chicago Cubs fans knew their team
wouldn’t make it back to the World Series, sliding back to fourth place in the
National League. Once again the New York Yankees made it to the World Series, and
just as they’d swept the Cubs the year before, they beat the Cincinnati Reds in
four straight games.
    With a growing savings account,