I had gotten up to a very raw morning for a change. I made breakfast, fed Rajah, and put a bun between my teeth right before I walked out the door. I ate my little piece of bread as I walked through the still, void, street. I had finally came up to the newsstand in the middle of town and carried on with my job. People were starting to get active throughout the morning. Mrs. Forrester was watering plants again; Old "Hag" Gothel was cursing at me as I walked by, and the two young lovers, Meg and George Bartoszek, were pursuing each other on the sidewalks. I was half done with my deliveries when I bumped into a certain someone. It was Jim Hawkins, the son of Sarah Hawkins, who worked in the café as a waitress. He was leaning against the wall of his house, smoking a cigarette. He had barely noticed me until I walked up to his doorstep.
"Hello there Jim!" I greeted cheerfully. He looked toward me before inhaling.
"Hey." Was all he could say to me.
"You know, I would never have expected you to be the one of those people," I said as I put a paper into his mailbox, "I wonder what your mother would think…" I then thought out loud as I looked at him.
"What good would come to you telling her?" he asked.
"It will get you to stop the habit." I replied. There was a silence between us for a few seconds. I was just looked at him as he looked at me. Finally, he broke the quiescent moment by throwing the cigarette on the floor and smushing it with his shoe. I then grinned at him.
"Happy now?" he asked.
"Yes." I answered. I had to get along with my route so I flashed a smile a smile at him and left without saying another word. When I finished delivering the news to every single corner of the city, I started to make my way back to the newsstand. As I was walking, I read one of the left-over papers in my bag.
"Blackout
The full machinery of Britain's civil defence has been set in motion today. Local authorities have been instructed to put the air-raid warning system into operation, and from now on the sounding of factory hooters and sirens is prohibited except in an air raid.
An air raid warning is given by a series of short blasts on a siren, while the all-clear is given by a long steady blast lasting two minutes. A complete blackout over the whole country will be put into effect as from tonight - the blackout begins at sunset and continues through to sunrise next morning."
At least Britain's keeping taking precautions…I thought to myself. I couldn't believe our city, let alone our country, wasn't doing anything. There was absolutely nothing in the news about Poland setting up any defenses for their own people. I couldn't believe this. I had almost read through all of the paper when I had gotten to the newsstand. I emptied out my bag, leaving only two papers for my father and I, and notified Kronk that I had finished.
"Oh hey there, Squirt. Here." Kronk paid me, wished me well, and I started heading home. But, I couldn't help but stop in the middle of the street to look at the market place. There was something about the area that attracted me. Maybe it was the colors, the smells, the sight of people gathering and interacting peacefully; it looked like the most welcoming place to be other than home. I got out of the street and continued to walk home. After just walking a few steps after I crossed the street, there was a loud BOOM.
I fell onto the floor on my hands and knees and there was another one. I covered my ears as I tried to regain my footing. People were running for their lives out of the main street. I started to see thick, gray, smoke, rising in the air. There was screaming, crying, shouting; chaos. I was in shock for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened, but the ground was shaking so much, I couldn't keep my balance. Then, I saw them. German war planes were flying right above the city. This was it, it had started. There was another BOOM somewhere on the left side of Town Square and that's when I decided to run. I ran as fast as I could. My throat ached for more air as my feet raced over the hard ground. Halfway through the path, I felt my legs become frail, but I couldn't stop after hearing another explosion. Everything in my peripheral vision was just a blur to me as I zipped through the street. Finally, I had gotten to my house. BOOM I heard again. I ran to my father, who was on the floor, trying to get up.
"Father!" I cried as I aided him into our house's under-ground shelter. I turned on the light and pushed in him in first, but before I entered the shelter, I heard Rajah, still in the kitchen, hissing in fear. I ran up the shelter staircase and crawled to the kitchen on my hands and knees. "Rajah! Boy, come here!" I yelled over all the rumbling coming from the ground and the sound of items falling off the walls. Through a small parting between the curtains in the kitchen window, I could see shadows pass by, one after another. I couldn't make out exactly who they were, but telling by their silhouettes, they were soldiers. Rajah emerged from under the chair and ran into my arms. I quickly ran to the shelter, closed its doors, and hid in my father's arms while holding my cat. I heard all the crashing and thuds upstairs as dust was shaken off the walls and clouded in the air. It seemed like hours until the bombing was over. My father and I looked up and around the shelter before getting up to check the house. When we came out of the cellar, we were surprised by the sight. Most of the things that had fallen off the shelves were our plates and books, but other than that, not much was damaged. Rajah jumped out of my hands as soon as we were out. My father was picking up books and re-shelfing them. I grabbed the broom and swept up all the broken plate pieces. My father walked into the kitchen, clapping his hands together to get the dust off. I ran up to my room and saw a few of my things on the floor, but that was it. I looked on my vanity and saw the picture of my mother, still against the mirror.
I slightly opened my window and heard chaos out in the distance. After about twenty seconds or so, I couldn't listen anymore and shut it. I dropped my bag on the floor and sat at the foot of my bed. Rajah came up to my room and made himself comfortable by my side. Downstairs, I could hear Father locking up the doors and closing the windows. It wasn't long until I heard his footsteps walk up the stairs and towards my room.
"Dearest?" he asked. He walked over and sat with me. "Are you alright?" he asked. I turned my hands over to show my scratched-up palms from falling earlier. They stung, but this was the least of me problems.
That night, I tried my best to fall asleep. It was different during the night; everything was quiet inside. Nothing stopped the violent noises in town from creeping into the walls of the house. The ballroom was filled with fashion's throng, It shone with a thousand lights, And there was a woman who passed along, The fairest of all the sights, A girl to her lover then softly sighed, There's riches at her command; But she married for wealth, not for love, he cried, Though she lives in a mansion grand …I sang a verse of my Mother's favorite song in my head to calm myself down. All the sounds of guns, the tanks, and the rolling of vehicle wheels clouded the air. The sounds accompanied me as I fell into slumber.
The next morning was a Saturday. On weekends, I had no duties. It seemed as so that the Blitzkrieg had died down. I dressed up in my buttoned-down, Peter Pan-collared blouse and my high-waist skirt and went down the stairs to make breakfast. I opened the pantry to see what we had and decided on oatmeal, bacon, milk, a muffin, and coffee. I noticed that we were running low on bread and butter. By the time Father was up, I had just finished preparing our meal. We kept quiet while we ate. Until my father thought out loud to himself.
"I wonder where the dates have gone…" I simply stayed quiet at his statement. We had a plentiful amount of dried dates, since it was our family's favorite snack. Father used to put them in his oatmeal during the mornings. But they were only available to purchase during the winter, so our supply started getting low. I hid the last jar in my drawer, only pulling it out for special occasions. When I was done, I turned on the radio to listen for any possible announcements made by the government.
"Warsaw's station is out." I said.
"Try Britain's radio station, Daughter!" he suggested. I sat down and listened for the British station for a few seconds. First the most part, all I heard was static and interception by the German radio station. I was just about to turn the radio off until I heard the voice of the radio announcer.
"Britain and France have declared war on Nazi Germany. I repeat, Britain and France, have declared war, on Nazi Germany." He announced. I clapped my hands together and let my head fall upon my knees.
"Oh, praise Allah!" My father rejoiced. I thought for a second, then got up and ran towards the door. "Daughter! Where are you going?" Father asked while frantically putting on his spectacles.
"I'm going to check on Ariel." I replied as I put on my news hat.
"No, no, no! Stay insi-"he was about to say, but I had already closed the door. I saw smoke rising from areas all around the city. There were a few people either outside, or peeking out their door, looking up at the sky. I got to the main street and saw absolute destruction. The streets were cracked, one of the apartments has collapsed and bodies were being carried out and onto a horse-drawn cart. People were Somebody's house was on fire a few blocks away. The market place was completely ruined. The stands were toppled over and the produce was all over the road. I was absolutely shocked as the fear surged down my spine. The building next to it was blown up with the rubble all piled up. I looked to my newsstand on the corner of the block, and the papers were everywhere around the structure. The sight was saddening to me so I ran over and started picking up all the scattered paper.
"Hey, Squirt," I heard a voice say, "are you and your father alright?" I gasped.
"Kronk! Y-you were here the whole time? You should've found a safer place…" I stuttered.
"This little stand was pretty safe. I'm not really wounded." He explained. "Don't bother picking those up, I'll just sweep them off the street." He told me as I threw a pile of the papers into the trash.
"Jasmine!" I heard my best friend call out. Ariel ran straight to me and hugged me so tightly that I almost fell over.
"You're alright!" I yelped cheerfully.
"Yes, I'm alright, Father's alright, and Alana, Arista, and Andrina are fine." She squealed.
"That's very good." I smiled. Ariel and I walked through town, describing what we were doing at the time before the attack.
"And so I dropped my brush and ran under the bed!" she explained to me.
"I don't think the bed would be the safest place." I informed her.
"It was so horrible! My drawer fell over right in front of me, and when it was over I had to cry for help because I couldn't get out from under the bed! Jasmine, we're all going to die!" Ariel took me by the shoulders and shook me.
"We're not dying. We're going to get through this now that Britain and France are on our side." I gave her the news that I had heard on the radio and a wide smile grew on her face.
"That's wonderful! We're not alone!" Ariel cheered.
"Yes…" For now…I thought. We strolled back to the middle of town where people were still cleaning up. We walked by the destroyed apartment to see what damage was done. The place was a bit crowded, with townsfolk all pushing each other for a good view. The complexes around it had windows that were blown away and walls that were cracked or had holes in them. Unfortunately, the building had collapsed within itself. In the middle of the area was all the rubble and people who were trying to get the bodies out. I suddenly heard someone calling at us.
"Psst," it called. I looked around, but saw no one in sight. "Up here!" I looked up at the apartment that was a two structures away and across the street. It was the boy Eric Jonasen. Even his apartment complex had suffered some damage, mostly on the roof. His apartment was right next to Ariel's home. Eric was a childhood friend of ours. Ariel had a crush on him since we were eight. I tapped her on the shoulder and pointed up at him.
"Eric!" I called. He disappeared from his window and soon appeared at the doorstep a few moments later.
"Get in!" he whispered in an urgent manner. Ariel and I scurried into the apartment entrance as Eric looked around for anyone around us. When there was no one is sight, closed the door and kept his voice down. "Are you all alright?" he asked. Ariel couldn't speak when he was around; she was too nervous.
"We're fine." I responded.
"I can't believe it. You know, I've heard that they're coming to take away some of us." Eric said. I was a bit confused.
"'They'?" I asked.
"The Nazis! They're going to come here and kill all the people who aren't on their side!" Eric explained in a quiet but strict voice.
"That…isn't anything new." I raised an eyebrow as I crossed my arms.
"Yeah but this time, Hitler's got a plan. Pheobus told me about what his class is teaching them." Eric informed. Pheobus was Cinderella's twin brother and Aurora's older brother. I didn't know how I felt about all this information; I sure knew how Ariel felt. She was just staring at him dreamily while twirling her hair and biting her lip. We looked outside the small glass on the door and saw Polish soldiers all in formation, marching north. The three of us figured that they were headed for Warsaw to battle the Nazis.
"Should I be worried?" I asked assertively.
"Not unless you're a Jew, or against Hitler." Eric answered. I knew that it would come to this at some point.
"I'll see you later, Eric." I saluted and started heading home. Ariel stood, smiled at him awkwardly, and curtsied at him before following me.
"I could not get myself to talk to him!" Ariel hissed at herself to me.
"Ariel, I'm going to walk home now…There…there are things I have to think about." I told her. Ariel mugged a frown and gave me a hug before leaving.
"Goodbye Jasmine!" she called and waved as she took off. I walked home by myself through the empty streets.
The following Monday, it was time to get back to work. I went through my morning routine and headed down the stairs. Just before I could take another step to get off the stairs, Father whisked an umbrella right in front of my feet.
"You will not begoing out there!" he warned.
"But Father!" I complained. I couldn't believe that he would keep me from upholding my duty to the town and its people.
"No no! You will not be going out there every morning anymore, not with those soldiers out there!" he raged. I looked daggers at him and ran past him. "Jasmine! Don't you dare!" he shouted. I didn't look back walking out of the house. The walk towards the center of town felt eerie. I felt like something could jump out at any moment and I'd be blown away to bits. I came to the newsstand, checked for my route, and gathered a ton of papers. Kronk was reading the paper to himself.
"Germany has begun its invasion of Poland. Warsaw and other major cities have been bombed." Was the headline.
"Try to get as much done as you can, Squirt. I don't recommend going too far now with…" he fell silent for a moment and watched military trucks go by and another number of troops march right by us. He then lowered his voice, "with danger around." I nodded and headed on my way. A few units away, I noticed that the bank had suffered a tremendous amount of damage. I simply couldn't believe it. I walked around all of town delivering the paper, forgetting about what Kronk said. When I came to the Hawkin's residence, I found Jim, sitting against his fence. I stopped and stood over him as he pretended not to notice me.
"Jim!" I called. I noticed in the corner of my left eye, there was a Nazi truck, driving away towards East. Immediately, I felt a surge of fear run down my spine. He slowly turned his head to look my way. "I need a favor of you." I announced. He stood up and ambled toward me.
"What might that favor be?" he asked. I put five newspapers in his hands.
"Would you give this to your neighbors out there in the field? I was told…th-that…that...I shouldn't be here. Or that I shouldn't gone out of town this far." I tried to explain. He stepped closer to me to say something but I ran before he could do so. I got to the newsstand, got my pay, and started heading home. I saw Aurora, walking home from running errands at the partially recovered market.
"Aurora!" I called. She looked to me and waved. I ran to catch her before she left.
"Hello Jasmine," She greeted me, "I hope you and your father are alright after…the other day." She told me.
"Yes, we're fine." I replied. "Wednesday is Cinderella's party? Yes?" I asked for confirmation.
"Yes, that's exactly why I'm running this errand," she explained, "Mother is going to make a cake for her, so I needed butter and bread." I had just then recalled that I the other day I saw that we needed more bread and butter.
"Thank you for saying that! I had just remembered…I should stock up on butter…" I thought out loud. Aurora looked at me if I said something odd.
"You can only get butter for one red point a week." She told me.
"What?" I asked in complete confusion.
"Didn't you hear?" she asked. I shook my head and she motioned me to follow her back to the market place. We walked through the shops and the crowds of people to the sweet shop that was next to the bar. The door was open so we could see the man at the counter, who had piles and piles of small pocket books stacked upon one another. "Ask for you and your father's ration books. Then, meet me out here and I'll explain it all to you." She instructed me. I walked up and spoke to the man.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"Name?" he asked.
"Jasmine Arij, daughter of Hamed Arij." I responded confidently.
"Date of birth?" he asked.
"September twenty-third, nineteen twenty-three." I answered.
"Address?" he asked. I gave him my address and he started looking through the books.
"Here is your ration book," he handed to me the small, blue, pocket book, "Since you are between the ages five and sixteen you hold the children's rations. When you turn sixteen, you must come and replace it. Once you use a point, you are not allowed to buy any more from a certain until the following week." He informed as he stamped my father's book. "Here." After he was done stamping, he handed the buff-colored book to me.
"Dziękuję. Good day, sir." I bowed my head and left to meet Aurora outside. She was leaning against the wall, waiting for me to exit.
"You got them?" she asked.
"Yes." I took the two ration books out of my mail bag and showed her.
"Good. I suppose he already told you about the age differences in both books?" she asked, and I nodded. "Sixteen points are available in your ration book for every week. These points limit how much you buy, they're not used as money. You can only get two ounces of butter, cheese, and tea. Although, your book doesn't qualify for tea yet. Your father must buy that for you. You get four ounces of margarine and bacon or ham, eight ounces of sugar, one fresh eggs for adults but three for children, one pound of jam, a packet of dried eggs, up to one shilling and sixpence of meat, three pints of milk, and twelve ounces of sweets." She explained.
"This is all for a week?" I asked in disbelief.
"Afraid so." She sincerely replied and nodded sadly. "But, fruits, vegetables, bread, breakfast cereals, tinned meat, coffee, condensed milk, fish, potatoes, and poultry are not rationed." She added.
"I see. And how do these…points, work?" I asked, opening up the book and seeing sixteen total coins that had 'OPA Blue Point 1' or 'OPA Red Point 1' with two random letters imprinted on each of them.
"Blue is for canned goods or processed foods, and red is for the meat, butter, and the rest." She answered. Now what we eat is being limited…I thought. We went to the market place together and she showed me how to buy food with the rations. I used a point on butter and bought a good supply of bread and potatoes. They gave me a stamp that indicated that I had bought butter from the stand. "They're actually encouraging us to grow our own food at our homes." She informed. Interesting…I thought.
"Alright, thank you, Aurora for your help. I must be going." We smiled, hugged, and then parted ways. I got home to an angry father sitting at the sofa.
"Young lady, if you eve-"he started to scold, but I stopped him to show him what I had obtained today.
"Father! They're rationing out food, gas, clothes, almost everything!" I announced. I pulled out the books to show him what I meant. He adjusted his spectaculars to study the specimen more carefully.
"How peculiar…" he said to himself. "And this is for every week?" he asked. I nodded.
"I get a different set of rations until my birthday this year." I informed. My father read over the book a few times and examined the little red and blue coins. That evening, we were able to eat a nice dinner of stewed tomatoes.
"Jasmine, I…" Father said during dinner, "I don't think it's safe for you to go around all of town…" his voice was sincere, and I could feel the fear he had for me, his only daughter.
"I know you're worried, but, Father, I could take care of myself out there. We're living off tips from the government, my job helps us. I…it's best for you and me that I'm working." I tried to explain nicely. Father kept quiet for a few moments and went back to eating his soup. I stared for about three seconds and looked back down at my food.
"What do you want for your birthday this year?" he asked. I looked up and saw him anxiously awaiting my answer.
"I…I want a cycle." I said.
"A bicycle? Whatever for?" he asked.
"…My deliveries will go faster that way…" I responded. Father sighed.
"Must everything be about the newspaper?" he asked sadly.
"Well…I am the paper-girl…" was my answer.
So I actually have 4 chapters done but I'm only uploading 2 for now. Read on, and your imagination will stay strong!