Saving Hanno

by Miriam Halahmy

  And Hanno too.

  Sidney and I go back to the Scout camp twice more, and it seems now that people are always calling out to me when I walk through our streets. I still don’t like speaking English much, but I manage a few words, and everyone loves it when I play a few notes on my bugle.

  Mostly Hanno speaks for me, barking and jumping up at our new friends. They feed him treats, which he loves, of course.

  Hanno and Sidney and I have gone miles and miles over the holidays. We pretend we’re intrepid explorers and we’ve found a new land no one knows anything about. We call it Zanland after Tarzan and we’ve made up our own language, Zanlandish, which is a mixture of German and English. I made up a little tune on the bugle that Sidney calls the Zanland National Anthem and when I play he sings “God save Zanland.”

  “Ja—hey!” I call out to Sidney this morning in Zanlandish when I see him on the towpath.

  Hanno is sniffing around at an old rabbit hole.

  “Bitte—better keep an eye on your dog,” says Sidney, using one of our special words.

  “Why?”

  “The grown-ups are getting rid of pets because of the war. They’re talking about it everywhere.” He shakes his head as if it’s all crazy.

  I don’t understand but I grip Hanno even tighter. Auntie Irene likes Hanno, I tell myself, and he’s never been any trouble.

  I forget about Sidney’s words and even the war as we play all day, making up games in Zanland. I wish the summer could go on forever and ever.

  It doesn’t matter what time Sidney gets home. His mum isn’t very strict. But I’m late getting back for tea again.

  Uncle Don is already sitting in his place, buttering a piece of bread.

  There’s a bowl of scraps for Hanno and he starts to eat as soon as I put him down.

  “Sorry, late,” I murmur as I sit down.

  Uncle Don tuts a bit, but Auntie Irene gives me her kind smile.

  “Eat up, now, lovey,” she says.

  There are hard-boiled eggs and salad and thick slices of bread and butter. I can see a fruitcake on the side as well. Auntie Irene knows I love cake.

  Hanno finishes before anyone else, as he always does, and gives a little whine. I start to laugh.

  Uncle Don puts his nose over the paper and smiles a bit, but then he says, “Growing dogs eat rather a lot of food, don’t they?”

  I can’t help thinking, Does he think I eat too much because I’m a growing boy?

  Auntie Irene pushes my plate toward me. I eat a bit more, but it sticks in my throat. I can hardly swallow the cake when she cuts me my usual big slice.

  After tea we sit in the sitting room, but I make Hanno stay in his basket in the kitchen. Maybe Uncle Don will forget about him eating lots of food if he doesn’t see him, I think.

  I can’t wait for bedtime, but as I’m brushing my teeth I hear voices raised down below and Hanno’s name. I creep downstairs and listen from the bottom step. Uncle Don is saying something about the neighbors.

  “…all putting their dogs down now,” he says. “They’re saying they can’t feed them once rationing starts.” His voice sounds quite sad, really.

  “Hanno’s only a little dog, and you know how Rudi loves him,” says Auntie Irene.

  They’re quiet for a while and I sit there holding my breath, feeling really scared.

  Then Uncle Don says, “Look, the boy goes away next week. I think we should take the dog to the vet tomorrow and have him put down. Get it over with; give the boy time to come to terms with the loss before he goes off. We did the right thing taking in the little lad—”

  “Oh, yes!” cuts in Auntie Irene.

  “But everyone’s worried about food running out once the war starts. The government will bring in rationing, and then how on earth will we feed ourselves, let alone a dog? It’s the kindest thing to do,” finishes Uncle Don.

  Auntie Irene gives a sigh, and then I hear footsteps and flee back to bed.

  I lie under the covers, shivering with shock. I was right! I’m being sent away because I’m German and Uncle Don is going to put Hanno down a deep, dark hole to starve to death.

  What on earth can I do?

  I think and think. Then I have a great idea. I’ll take Hanno to Sidney’s and ask him to hide him for me. I can’t waste any time; I’ll go tonight.

  It’s already late and very dark outside. The thought of walking in the empty streets all by myself really scares me.

  But I must be brave to save Hanno’s life, I tell myself. I can’t let him down.

  I wait until the house is quiet. Then I sling my bugle around my back for luck and creep downstairs carrying Hanno. I have to push the big bolt on the back door. It makes a terrible scraping sound, and my heart leaps into my mouth. But no one comes. I leave a bucket propping the door open so I can get back in.

  I pick up Hanno and run out of the back garden, down the alley to the road, and then all the way to the canal, the bugle bumping away on my back. Sidney’s building looms up like a ghostly castle. A door slams, and a man shouts something rude. I shrink back against a wall. Drops of cold water fall down my neck. Then something scurries over my shoe, and a rat runs across the courtyard.

  I nearly scream. I would run home if my legs weren’t wobbling with fear.

  But Hanno sneezes in my arms, and I think, I can’t turn back. I’m his only hope.

  I run across the yard and through the doorway and up to Sidney’s front door. I knock and knock until Sidney’s mum appears, carrying Baby Tom.

  “It’s very late, dearie. What’re you doing here?” she says.

  “Bitte, Sidney?” I’m so scared I forget to speak in English.

  “Come in,” she says, turning back into the flat.

  Sidney is in the kitchen with Neville.

  “What’s up, mate?” asks Sidney.

  I tell the whole story. They all listen.

  When I finish, Sidney and Neville exchange looks, and then Sidney says, “Put down don’t mean in a hole, Rudi, mate. It means kill—at the vet. Lots of pets are being killed now, like I said at the canal. But don’t worry. Me and Neville know what to do.”

  Great! Sidney has a plan just like Emil always did.

  “Go and see Tilly,” says Sidney. “She lives down your street, Number Twenty-Seven. Got it?”

  “Ja, siebenundzwanzig, twenty-seven,” I repeat in German and English.

  “Say I sent you. She’s got a hideout for pets in the woods,” Sidney says.

  Hanno sneezes, which makes everyone laugh.

  Sidney’s mum says Hanno could stay with them for now. I’ll have to tell Auntie Irene and Uncle Don that he’s run away or something.

  I’m not looking forward to that bit.

  Neville and Sidney walk me back home and I sneak in without anyone seeing me.

  Just before I fall asleep I think, Sidney and I are like Tarzan looking after the animals. Maybe we could call the hideout Zanland.

  The morning after I’ve left Hanno at Sidney’s, I say my dog has run away and I can’t find him anywhere. Uncle Don seems sad and worried.

  But the truth is, Uncle Don wants to kill Hanno, like Sidney and Neville said.

  “I look all places,” I say, and I put a big piece of bread in my mouth so I can’t speak anymore.

  When I saw Lotte yesterday on her afternoon off, she was the angriest I’ve ever seen her.

  “How could you be so foolish?” she hissed at me in German as we walked through the park.

  She was walking so fast I almost had to run to keep up.

  “Going out at night all by yourself. Anything could have happened to you.”

  She stopped as a couple went past pushing a baby carriage, but as soon as they’d gone, she went off again like a steam train.

  “What if you’d met
a bad man or fallen in the canal? Imagine how the Evanses would feel after everything they’ve done for you!”

  “I did it for Hanno,” I sobbed, tears running down my face.

  But Lotte didn’t comfort me. “You have to think about yourself now, Rudi. You’re a Jewish German boy stuck in this country, which is about to go to war with Germany. What would you do if the Evanses abandoned you?”

  I couldn’t speak because I was crying so much. In the end I think Lotte felt a bit sorry for me.

  “I suppose we could go and see if this girl, Tilly, is any use,” she muttered, but she still sounded mad at me. “Let me do all the talking, right?”

  I nodded and her shoulders dropped a bit, so I could see she was a bit calmer.

  We went to collect Hanno from Sidney. His mum pulled out an old sack and said perhaps we should put Hanno inside in case someone spotted us. I know Lotte was thinking of the Evanses and she said “Thank you” in her most polite voice.

  Then we walked over to Tilly’s house and knocked on the door. I took Hanno out of the sack because he was sneezing while we waited for the door to open. I looked all around but there was no one else in the street.

  Tilly took one look at Hanno and told us to come inside, putting a finger to her lips. We ran upstairs to her bedroom, trying not to make a sound.

  Once inside her room, Tilly said in a low voice, “Mum and Dad are downstairs. They mustn’t know there’s a dog in the house.”

  Lotte pulled her over to the window, and they talked in low voices. I couldn’t follow what they were saying, and then Hanno gave a sneeze.

  “My dog does that,” said Tilly with a grin.

  Tilly’s twelve. She has long, tangly sort of hair the same color as mine. I think she’s really nice, and I could see Lotte liked her too.

  Tilly understood right away about saving Hanno.

  “The grown-ups want to kill all the pets,” she said, walking up and down with her hands on her hips and a serious look on her face. “This is the children’s war. Saving the animals. You can bring Hanno to our hideout.”

  It was such a relief I nearly whooped for joy, but Tilly put her finger to her lips.

  Lotte was still frowning as we walked off, but she gave me a hug, so everything really is all right.

  I must be careful not to make her angry again. Mutti and Papa wouldn’t like that, would they? And I definitely mustn’t upset Auntie Irene and Uncle Don. There are so many things to think about, my head feels like it’s spinning, but at least Hanno is safe again.

  For now.

  Back at home after seeing Lotte, Uncle Don asked me if I’d found Hanno. “I’m so sorry he’s run away, Rudi. Maybe he just went out and got lost. Have you looked all along the canal?”

  He sounded as though he cared about Hanno, but how could he?

  This morning I collect Hanno from Sidney and we go to the hideout. You would never guess it was there. It’s an old hut in a clearing in a wood, beyond the canal and the old factories. It’s across a field and through a thicket with millions of nettles and thorns. Grown-ups wouldn’t even try to go through. It’s such an amazing secret.

  Tilly is busy with her dog when we arrive, so Sidney says, “Come into the hut.”

  It’s quite dark inside and the walls are crumbling, but all over the floor are wooden crates, the tops covered with chicken wire. Inside the crates are rabbits and guinea pigs and even a tortoise. I’ve always wanted a tortoise.

  “You tie Hanno up here at night, all right?” says Sidney. “Don’t want him running off in the dark.”

  He shows me a bit of rope knotted around a nail on the wall.

  I nod but I don’t set Hanno down. How would he feel being abandoned all alone in this cold, dark hut at night?

  Sidney points to a tank in the corner. “We got a baby cobra in there.”

  I raise my eyebrows and grin. A poisonous snake. Great!

  “The grown-ups don’t want to look after pets in the war and they’re killing hundreds,” says Sidney. “Even all the poisonous animals in the London Zoo. Freddy”—he nods toward the cobra tank—“was born in the zoo last weekend. Tilly says we’re like a zoo now, so we call it the emergency zoo. Smashing, ain’t it?”

  “Ja, gut,” I say.

  We go back outside and I set Hanno down. “Sitz, Hanno,” I say in German, but in a quiet voice. I don’t want the other kids to hear me.

  Hanno sits down straightaway and fixes his eyes on me as if to say, Look how good I am.

  “Braver Hund,” I say, and open my hand. There’s a bit of cookie sitting there. Hanno reaches up and crunches it down whole.

  “Sit, Hanno, good dog,” translates Sidney. “You’re training him good, Rudi, mate.”

  There’s a bowl of water in the grass for the dogs, and I put it in front of Hanno.

  Then we hear a shout. “Oi, you two, what’re you playing?”

  It’s Miles from the Scout camp, leaning against a tree, holding a homemade bow and some arrows. As we watch, he loads an arrow, takes aim, and fires. The arrow flies straight across the clearing and bounces against a tree trunk.

  “Let’s have a go, mate,” Sidney calls out, running over.

  We all have a turn with the bow and arrows. Then Sidney tells Miles all about Zanland and our Tarzan games. Miles is even better at climbing trees than Sidney. It’s wonderful out here with all the kids and pets in the emergency zoo. I wish we could stay here forever.

  We play all day until Tilly calls us over. We have to learn SOS in Morse code, which is the warning if grown-ups come to the clearing. I blow it out on my bugle and everyone claps, which makes me go very red.

  Everyone is talking and writing things down. It’s too difficult for me to follow, so I go over to the thicket to keep watch.

  “You’re a very useful person, Rudi,” calls out Tilly.

  I feel my chest swell. I wish Lotte thought I was useful, and the Evanses. Then no one would want to send me away.

  I keep my bugle on my chest and my hand on it, in case I have to blow out the warning signal. It’s quiet by the thicket and Hanno is snuffling around at my feet.

  Then I hear a shout. Three boys and a huge boxer dog are pushing into the thicket and calling to each other. They’re big and chunky, with really mean faces.

  Just like Hitler Youth!

  My legs start to shake, but I know I must warn Tilly. I blow the SOS on my bugle as hard as I can. Then I run back to the clearing.

  The boys chase after me, the big dog barking and tugging on his chain.

  Then the biggest boy shouts, “Go on, Boxer!”

  He lets go of the chain. The dog races forward and closes his jaws right around my leg. I scream and drop the bugle in a puddle.

  He’s going to kill me! rockets through my head, and my legs turn to water. What if he bites my throat!

  All the kids in the clearing seem to freeze like ice statues.

  Are they going to let me die? Tears well up in my eyes.

  Then Tilly steps forward and cries out, “Call your dog off, Conor! Rudi’s only nine.”

  Conor’s just like Konrad Müller in the Hitler Youth.

  And Tilly’s really brave for a girl—as brave as Emil.

  “Rudi?” says Conor. Then he spits on the ground. “That’s a German name. He could be a German spy.”

  His gang jeers, but Conor whistles, and his nasty dog lets me go.

  I limp off to the den, scooping up Hanno and cuddling him close. There are red tooth marks on my leg. That boxer dog could eat Hanno alive.

  Tilly and Conor are arguing when Miles fires an arrow from his bow at Conor’s dog and only just misses him.

  Now they’ll go away, I think.

  But they don’t. Instead Conor’s face goes red, and he snarls in a Nazi voice, “You trying to kill my dog? You need
a right bashing!”

  “You and whose army?” jeers Miles.

  Sidney is yelling too, but Neville holds him back. Sidney isn’t scared of anything, but he’s too small to fight Conor, just like Emil could never beat Konrad Müller.

  Then Conor throws himself on Miles. Miles punches Conor hard on the chest, and we’re all cheering for Miles. But suddenly Conor punches Miles on the nose. Blood spurts everywhere. Then he pulls Miles’s hair when he’s on the ground.

  “I’ll knock your block off!” shouts Sidney, punching the air with his fists, but Neville won’t let him go.

  Conor wins, of course. Hitler Youth always win.

  Conor and his dog and his gang go off and leave Miles with a bloody nose.

  Everyone stands around looking miserable.

  Then Tilly’s friend Rosy says, “I think we should take an oath.”

  “Good idea,” says Tilly. She swears on her dog’s life she would never give away the emergency zoo.

  Everyone promises, and I say, “Ja, Hanno.”

  “That’s right, mate,” says Sidney with a grin, and I feel a bit better.

  It’s time to go home. I tie Hanno up in the hut, but it’s horrible leaving him to the dangers of the night. I can hear him whining and barking as I push back through the thicket with Sidney and Neville. What if a wolf comes and eats him up? Do they have wolves in England?

  As I lie in bed that night, cold and lonely without Hanno to warm my legs, I wonder if I’m brave enough to go back to the den. What if Conor comes back and kills me because I’m German?