The Gathering Storm by Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene Page A

was not happy, nor could it be.
    "Oh, Janet!" Mrs. Kepler cried. "What a chance you take coming here."
    Just then, Mr. Kepler, looking very gray and weary, stepped from his study. Papa extended his hand and greeted him with these words, "The Messiah of Israel is born in Bethlehem. We bring good tidings that our Redeemer is near."
    Mr. Kepler could not speak for a moment; then what he said startled me. "Herod rules even now. He seeks the lives of the sons of Israel."
    Papa replied, "But we who see through the eyes of faith know the end of Herod's story."
    I glanced past Mr. Kepler into the study. Handsome and muscular, Eben Golah looked back with brilliant green eyes from the burgundy leather chair opposite the mahogany desk. Dressed in a brown tweed hunting jacket and corduroy trousers, Eben offered a faint smile. His tan boots were scuffed as though he had hiked a long way through the mountains. I did not smile back, but rather stared at him with open curiosity as though I were studying a framed photograph. For the first time it struck me that he looked Jewish, with his strong jaw and curly hair—much like Varrick and Varrick's father—only Eben's hair was a dark red.
    Mrs. Kepler kissed my cheek. "And you, Lora, brave girl."
    Papa replied, "Lora will not be returning to school after the holidays. I'll instruct her at home."
    Mrs. Kepler directed me to the parlor as the adults went into the study. I heard Mr. Kepler say, "...Eben is a very old friend."
    Varrick was stretched out on the ornate Victorian sofa. Light filtered through leaded-glass windows and streamed over his shoulder. A red, leather-bound copy oilvanhoe with gilt-edged pages was open on his lap. He looked up when we entered and smiled through swollen lips. I had been told some ribs were fractured. His beautiful Sephardic nose was broken. The break would forever be a reminder to me of that terrifying day. I went to him and sat in the highbacked chair near him as our parents and Eben spoke in quiet, urgent voices.
    Suddenly shy, I said, "Happy Christmas, Varrick Kepler."
    "Happy Christmas, Lora Bittick." He shrugged. "Because of you I'm alive, I think."
    "Oh, Varrick." I simply gazed in pity at his poor, wounded face.
    He held up the volume. "Ivanhoe. Have you read it?"
    "No."
    "Eben brought it to me from England. A Hanukkah gift. Sir Walter Scott. So I can practice my English."
    I admired the volume. "Ivanhoe."
    "I must loan it to you when I'm finished. The heroine reminds me of you. Very courageous."
    I blushed at the intensity of his eyes on me. "I should like to be the heroine of a novel, but I'm not made of courage."
    "You don't look like her. She's dark, and you're fair. But inside, your heart is like her heart. I thought of you when I began to read. I remembered you wading in among them."
    "I think of how you spoke the truth."
    "Foolish, I suppose."
    "We should all remain fools, or truth will perish. What did St. Paul say? The wisdom of the gospel is foolishness to those who per ish? Something like that."
    "I fear wise fools may perish and the truth with us unless we leave Germany."
    I touched his arm and then drew back, startled at my boldness. "Varrick, there's a place in the world where truth still survives. Must be."
    "Maybe in America. Not in the Reich, Lora. Fear has made truth unpopular. The world's upside down."
    "Christ in us must turn it right again."
    "One day, perhaps."
    We looked into one another's eyes for a long moment. In the study Mrs. Kepler cried quietly, and we heard Mr. Kepler say to my father and mother, "The leaders of the Youth Corps seek the hearts of the youth. They'll have them, too, unless we can hold firm to the education of our children."
    Papa replied, "Lora won't return to state school at the beginning of the term. We must resist the anti-Semitic, anti-biblical teaching, or we'll no longer find Christ in the hearts of our youth."
    Eben chose his words carefully. "It is too late for those in the Reich who are Hebrews. They