Summer of my german soldier
Chapter 1
I stood in the large crowd of people by the Jenkinsville trainstation. We were waiting for the captured german soldiers or Nazis. I was next to the black man who looked after our store sometimes and I promised him I wouldn't tell my parents of his absence. This was the only thing interesting that had happened since school ended recently. Abruptly, the crowd grew quiet as the train got louder and closer to the station, then it stopped and as the first soldiers in their blue denim uniforms with POW stenciled on the back and duffel bags on their shoulders stepped out the reverend's wife, Mrs. Benn yelled out, "Nazi!" A blonde man looked up and waved as if it was a cheerful American greeting the woman had just given him. I waved back but the town's main gossiper, Mary Wren pulled my hand down making it obvious I would be her main course for the other ladies. After the soldiers had been driven away in canvas covered vehicle to the prison and the excitement died down, my stomach took over and led me through the backyards until I reached mine. Ruth, the black housekeeper, was on the back porch washing clothes and I walked up to her and told her about the Nazi train. As I was explaining she started with the look that asked if I had gotten into trouble. "I didn't do anythin' wrong, I haven't forgotten about my week to be good," I assured her. We had come up with this plan so my parents could see I wasn't that troublesome and could be nice. She continued to talk about how my parents would be so happy after this but I cut her off, not wanting to talk about them and started talking about her son that was in the war. She didn't want to talk about that though so she said, "Go bring Sharon from the yard to eat lunch. I'm makin' hot dogs an' beans." "I don't want any," I started. "Don't be tellin' me what you don't want, Miss Skin-and-Bones!" "Fine, but I'm not skin and bones I'm really formidable! Terribly and ferociously formidable!" I contradicted. "Is that today's word?" she asked, reffering to my hobby of finding words I didn't know and using them all day. "Yep. It means 'exciting fear or dread.' I love it," I answered. Then finally went to get Sharon. My little sister was almost six now and although she cared about her appearance more than I did, she played outside just as much. I brought her up to the house and we sat down at the table. Ruth said it was Sharon's turn to pray so she quickly did while I said my silent prayer to not let my father walk in. He wasn't against praying, but we were Jewish and the way Ruth had us pray was the Christian way which would make the nerve at his temple explode in anger. After finishing up the meal Ruth convinced me to eat the Jell-O that she had specially made up for me in my favorite way with bananas, nuts, and marshmallow bits. I got up and went to go to my parent's store when Ruth asked me a favor, "I want you to take off them faded old shorts and put on a nice dress." I argued for a little while, but then let her win and changed. A couple minutes later I was walking towards the store in the hot June sun and I came to the sign that I loved. I walked in and over to my father where I made conversation with his customer. Then I walked over to my mother and talked to her for a while, but nothing good came out of it.
