visit all the local villages to conscript men and boys, or whether they would head straight to the border. The silence and the darkness were back with us.
‘ They’ve gone. I hope they don’t come back this way again. Don’t worry boys. Just get back to bed and I’ll see you in the morning.’ Father closed our bedroom door. But could we sleep? Not a chance.
‘ What do you think’ll happen Volodimir?’
‘ I don’t know. But we need to find out. I know. Let’s get up early. Then we can have a walk down the road. See if they’re still nearby or whether they’ve travelled further.’
‘ Okay.’
That was our plan. I was nervous. I’ll admit that, but we were accustomed to seeing Soviet soldiers around anyway and we’d learned how to keep out of their way. We knew the lanes and the meadows around our village and beyond, so we’d just make sure we weren’t seen. That was one of Volodimir’s great talents. He loved the countryside, and he seemed to also have an instinct when it came to travelling across the land. He’d navigate us through without being seen. I had no doubts about that.
Sleep was slow to come that night, which was not surprising with the Red Army so near. I hoped they’d keep going, right on into oblivion for all I cared. We lay in bed, talked a little, and then just waited, hardly daring to breathe. A minute would pass. Then another. And another. I felt like screaming. In my head I could still see the line of trucks going by, I was sure I could still hear them. I broke into a sweat. I half expected to hear a banging on the door and loud Russian voices demanding to come in. I tried to sleep. We needed to find out what was happening, but to do so we needed daylight and it was slow coming.
Eventually, slivers of sunlight appeared through the gaps in the curtains. I sank down into the bed and breathed a little easier, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I closed them and started to doze.
‘ Stefan. Come on, wake up.’
I eased my eyelids back up. Volodimir was standing over me. ‘Come on Stefan. We said we’d make an early start.’ I rubbed my eyes and pulled the covers off. I staggered up out of bed and quickly pulled on my trousers, shirt and socks. Volodimir was already dressed. I followed him out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. I looked at the clock. It was five thirty.
Mother was standing at the sink washing some vegetables. She turned around,
‘ Boys! You’re up early. Is there an occasion of some sort? You two usually stay in bed later on a Saturday.’ Volodimir and I looked at each other. Straight away we knew that Mother didn’t know what had happened. Somehow, she hadn’t heard the commotion from the Red Army trucks. Well, she survived on so little sleep, I guess she must have been in some deep, deep slumber not to have heard that almighty row.
‘ One of the boys at school says there are a lot of blackberry bushes in the woods between here and the next village. They’re in a secluded spot, so not many know about them, but I reckon I can find them. We thought we’d try and get there early before they get picked by all the other children,’ said Volodimir.
‘ Blackberries eh? Don’t forget to bring some back. I can bake us a nice pie. Well, you’d both better sit down and have some breakfast before you go.’
Volodimir and I shuffled our feet. We didn’t want to hang around too long in case Father got up. Just lately he’d got into the habit of staying up late on a Friday night and listening to the radio into the early hours. It usually meant he got up a little later on a Saturday. He could have appeared any time and would have been suspicious. Certainly, he would not have allowed us to go out that morning under the circumstances. Not with the Red Army in the area. Volodimir persuaded Mother to pack us up some bread and butter and some bottles of milk instead of having breakfast at the table. After all we didn’t want to miss out on those lovely, juicy
‘ They’ve gone. I hope they don’t come back this way again. Don’t worry boys. Just get back to bed and I’ll see you in the morning.’ Father closed our bedroom door. But could we sleep? Not a chance.
‘ What do you think’ll happen Volodimir?’
‘ I don’t know. But we need to find out. I know. Let’s get up early. Then we can have a walk down the road. See if they’re still nearby or whether they’ve travelled further.’
‘ Okay.’
That was our plan. I was nervous. I’ll admit that, but we were accustomed to seeing Soviet soldiers around anyway and we’d learned how to keep out of their way. We knew the lanes and the meadows around our village and beyond, so we’d just make sure we weren’t seen. That was one of Volodimir’s great talents. He loved the countryside, and he seemed to also have an instinct when it came to travelling across the land. He’d navigate us through without being seen. I had no doubts about that.
Sleep was slow to come that night, which was not surprising with the Red Army so near. I hoped they’d keep going, right on into oblivion for all I cared. We lay in bed, talked a little, and then just waited, hardly daring to breathe. A minute would pass. Then another. And another. I felt like screaming. In my head I could still see the line of trucks going by, I was sure I could still hear them. I broke into a sweat. I half expected to hear a banging on the door and loud Russian voices demanding to come in. I tried to sleep. We needed to find out what was happening, but to do so we needed daylight and it was slow coming.
Eventually, slivers of sunlight appeared through the gaps in the curtains. I sank down into the bed and breathed a little easier, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I closed them and started to doze.
‘ Stefan. Come on, wake up.’
I eased my eyelids back up. Volodimir was standing over me. ‘Come on Stefan. We said we’d make an early start.’ I rubbed my eyes and pulled the covers off. I staggered up out of bed and quickly pulled on my trousers, shirt and socks. Volodimir was already dressed. I followed him out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. I looked at the clock. It was five thirty.
Mother was standing at the sink washing some vegetables. She turned around,
‘ Boys! You’re up early. Is there an occasion of some sort? You two usually stay in bed later on a Saturday.’ Volodimir and I looked at each other. Straight away we knew that Mother didn’t know what had happened. Somehow, she hadn’t heard the commotion from the Red Army trucks. Well, she survived on so little sleep, I guess she must have been in some deep, deep slumber not to have heard that almighty row.
‘ One of the boys at school says there are a lot of blackberry bushes in the woods between here and the next village. They’re in a secluded spot, so not many know about them, but I reckon I can find them. We thought we’d try and get there early before they get picked by all the other children,’ said Volodimir.
‘ Blackberries eh? Don’t forget to bring some back. I can bake us a nice pie. Well, you’d both better sit down and have some breakfast before you go.’
Volodimir and I shuffled our feet. We didn’t want to hang around too long in case Father got up. Just lately he’d got into the habit of staying up late on a Friday night and listening to the radio into the early hours. It usually meant he got up a little later on a Saturday. He could have appeared any time and would have been suspicious. Certainly, he would not have allowed us to go out that morning under the circumstances. Not with the Red Army in the area. Volodimir persuaded Mother to pack us up some bread and butter and some bottles of milk instead of having breakfast at the table. After all we didn’t want to miss out on those lovely, juicy
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