My Mother's Secret by J. L. Witterick Page B

her to help me. “Please, Franciszka, can I hide here?” I try not to sound too anxious, but she knows that I am.
    She says nothing but moves to lock the door.
    Then she gives me a warm hug while saying in a soft voice, “I will help you.”
    I think she already knew that I was going to ask her.
    I am relieved, but then she says, “There’s not much room in this house. The only place that I can hide you is in the attic. Vilheim, it is a very, very small space. I’ll show you.”
    She brings out a ladder from behind some clothes in a closet and motions for me to climb up to the trapdoor that leads to the attic. I look in, and she is right—it’s tight up there. The space is no bigger than three feet in height, four feet in width, and ten feet in length.
    I will have to lie flat to fit.
    Even with this, I am excited at the chance to evade the war.
    â€œFranciszka, thank you, thank you for helping me.” I don’t know what else to say, but she knows the words come from my heart.
    I climb up the ladder to what will be my home for the indefinite future.

Chapter 50
    T o stay healthy, I do stretches while I am lying flat.
    I also figure out a way to do partial sit-ups and push-ups.
    When the war is over, I want to be in decent shape.
    What I miss the most is walking and moving in general. I think this is how a caged animal must feel. One thing I can do is roll back and forth, if I am careful to do it quietly.
    It’s a big risk to take to come down from the attic, so I do it quickly and always late at night. I only come down if Franciszka taps our code on the ceiling.
    Being caught as a traitor means death by firing squad, not to mention what they would do to Franciszka and her daughter. That keeps my mind and my feet firmly planted in the attic.
    There are cracks in the wall that let in some light, and I welcome that. These cracks, in the winter, are also the same ones that let in the cold air. Sometimes it’s so cold that I spend the entire day just shivering. On those days, I imagine how much colder it would have been in Russia.
    Franciszka knows that I am a vegetarian, and she is sweet to make those special dishes for me in the middle of a war. Not too often as to attract attention, though. The secret to surviving is to go unnoticed.

Chapter 51
    T he commander is furious that I am missing and starts a wide search, starting in the forest.
    It never occurs to him that a local would hide a German soldier, when Germans took their country away from them.
    Late one night, Franciszka taps on the ceiling three times and I go down. “Vilheim, we need to make you dead so they’ll stop looking for you.”
    I say, “How, without my actually dying?”
    â€œTake off your uniform,” she says while handing me her son’s old clothes.
    Then she takes a knife from the kitchen and puts a hole through my shirt. After that, she uses the same knife on one of her chickens and sprinkles the blood on my uniform.
    That night, she takes my clothes down to the river and throws them in.
    When my clothes are found, everyone blames the Russians and stops looking for me.
    I know that the army will contact Oma with the news, and I know that it will be devastating for her, but there is no way of telling her the truth.
    I keep myself positive by thinking about how happy she will be when I return after the war.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    F RANCISZKA CONTINUES to invite the commander over for dinner, while I am hiding in the attic.
    I can’t wait to tell my
oma
about this brave woman.
    I always thought that courageous people were those who were not afraid. Meeting Franciszka and her daughter, I realize that courageous people are afraid like everyone else. They just act despite the fear.
    One day when I go down for a quick break, I see that Franciszka has been crying for a while. She tells me that Damian was killed.
    I never knew him, but I feel sad for her. It