Run, Boy, Run

by Uri Orlev

  "How did you lose your arm?" the priest asked one day.

  "It was caught in a machine. The lousy doctor didn't want to operate and left me all night in the corridor."

  "Why didn't he want to?"

  Jurek squirmed. "I don't know."

  The priest said nothing for a while. Then he asked, "He didn't say anything?"

  "I don't remember."

  "But you were treated in the end?"

  "The next day another doctor came. He had to amputate because I had gangrene."

  Another time, the priest told Jurek he had been with the partisans during the war.

  "Where?" Jurek asked.

  "In the Kampinowki forest. For a whole year."

  "I was there too," Jurek said, happy to tell about it. "Sometimes, in summer, I'd leave the farms I worked on and live in the forest."

  "I once ran into some Jewish boys there," the priest said.

  Jurek gave him an anxious look. But the priest's face was friendly. "Did you ever see any partisans?" he asked.

  "Once. They shot my dog because a mad dog bit it."

  Jurek told the priest about Azor. It made him sad.

  ***

  A large group of nine- and ten-year-olds was to be confirmed in May. Pan Kowalski grumbled that he would have to pay for private catechism lessons for Jurek and Tadek. The other children studied religion in school.

  "Will you hire the priest?" his wife asked.

  "Why the priest? I'll take a novice."

  "We can pay him with a dozen eggs," Pani Kowalski said.

  "Let it be a dozen eggs," Pan Kowalski agreed good-naturedly. "As long he saves those two young sinners."

  The two boys, freshly washed, combed, and dressed in their Sunday best, waited excitedly for the novice to come. A teenager, he talked to them at length about sin: which sins you went to hell for, and which you didn't, and how you could atone for them all by confession.

  "And then you don't go to hell?"

  "Once you've confessed, you're pure again," he promised them. "But you have to confess everything. If you don't, your soul stays filthy and nothing will help you."

  There was one thing, Jurek knew, that he could not possibly confess. But was being Jewish a sin? And if it was, did you go to hell for it? He prayed every night to Jesus and Mary and often touched the cross and the medallion of the Madonna that were always around his neck.

  On the Saturday before confirmation, he and Tadek went to confession. Jurek had learned his lines by heart. He entered the confession box, crossed himself, and recited to the latticework partition that separated him from the priest:

  "I have sinned the following sins against God. I have stolen chickens, eggs, vegetables, and fruit, and I once even stole a farmer's jacket."

  He stopped. He could hear his father telling him, "Never forget that you're a Jew." But was that a sin? Did he have to confess to it? He went on: "If there were more sins that I don't remember, I'm sorry for them, too. I promise to mend my ways from now on."

  When they came home for supper that night, the two boys were astonished to see two sets of freshly ironed white clothes—pants, shirts, jackets, and lace collars—and two new pairs of shiny shoes.

  "Is that what we're wearing tomorrow?" Jurek asked.

  "Yes," Pani Kowalski said. "In the morning I'll heat water and you'll wash well. I borrowed the clothes from the neighbors."

  "I'll wash at the trough," Jurek said.

  "You can't wash with soap at the trough," Pani Kowalski told him.

  "You'll wash here, as you were told," Pan Kowalski ordered him sternly.

  Jurek quailed.

  "No one will see you, you silly boy," Pani Kowalski laughed. "We'll draw the curtain."

  She showed Jurek a curtain that could be drawn to screen off the tub.

  "Eat all you can tonight," Pan Kowalski advised. "Tomorrow morning you're not allowed to."

  "Or to drink," his wife added.

  The two boys sighed.

  "For how long?"

  "Until lunchtime, when the ceremony is over."

  The next morning, a large piece of laundry soap was waiting for him on a stool by the tub. A bucket of hot water stood beside it.

  "It's better than the trough," Pani Kowalski said, combing Tadek's washed hair. "Take off your clothes, stand in the tub, and wash yourself well. If there's any place you can't reach, Pan Kowalski will help you."

  "I'll be fine," Jurek said.

  "After you've dried yourself, put on your underwear and I'll help with the rest," Pani Kowalski said, handing Jurek an article of clothing he had never seen before.

  "What's this?" he asked.

  "Haven't you ever seen a pair of underpants?"

  "Yes. The Russian soldiers gave me some last winter, to keep me warm. But those were long."

  "Well, from now on you'll wear underpants all the time."

  Jurek put on the underpants and stepped out from behind the curtain. He didn't know how to put on his new clothes, and Pani Kowalski helped him expertly into them. Then she brushed and combed his hair vigorously. Last, she put on his lace collar and brought him to the mirror.

  Jurek was dumbfounded. Another boy was standing there. But this boy, too, had only one arm.

  The confirmation ceremony was impressive. All the boys held candles, and all the girls, white roses. The mass took longer than usual, and Jurek's stomach was rumbling from hunger. In the end, the children were called up to the altar for their first communion. Each knelt and was given a wafer. The small white cracker only made Jurek hungrier. He couldn't wait to go home and eat lunch.

  17. The Kidnappers

  Jurek stayed with the Kowalskis a whole year. Gradually the hauling jobs diminished and Pan Kowalski went back to his smithy. Jurek was fascinated by everything about it—the fire, the bellows, the expertly delivered hammer blows that could turn a white-hot piece of iron into an ax, horseshoe, or sickle. Although Jurek taught himself to operate the bellows with one hand and a shoulder, the long tongs needed two hands, and so Pan Kowalski made him special one-handled tongs of his own. He learned to pluck the glowing iron from the fire with them and to lay it quickly on the anvil. Pan Kowalski showed him how to give it the desired shape by turning and pounding it.

  Behind the house were fields. They were green in spring, yellow in summer, and snow-white when winter came. On winter days he joined the boys' snowball fights and in summer he went with Tadek to swim in the Wisla. Now that he had underpants, he no longer feared being seen naked. Not that they kept him from almost drowning the first time he tried to swim. Tadek had to pull him out of the water.

  "Why didn't you tell me you couldn't swim?" he asked.

  "I thought I could figure it out myself," Jurek answered.

  Before long he learned to do a one-armed sidestroke.

  Sometimes he went to the Wisla by himself, when the other boys weren't swimming or playing pranks in it. He liked to sit on the bank and watch the boats. There were barges and tugboats and sailboats that looked like white butterflies. Someday, he thought, he would own a sailboat and sail far, far away to the sea.

  ***

  One morning a taxi pulled up in front of the Kowalskis' house. Jurek, who was standing outside, went to have a look. Taxis were not a common sight in the neighborhood. An elegantly dressed man stepped out of it and asked for the Kowalski family.

  "Right here," Jurek said.

  "Are you Jerzy Staniak?"

  "Yes."

  The man introduced himself. He had a German-sounding name. Jurek thought he might be Jewish. He said, "I'd like to have a word with you. Get into the taxi for a minute."

  He opened the door. Jurek hesitated. Something wasn't right. The taxi, which at first glance had made him curious, now seemed like a trap. He ran to the smithy and told Pan Kowalski, "Someone wants to kidnap me."

  Pan Kowalski stepped outside with his hammer. The stranger introduced himself again. Pan Kowalski wiped a grimy hand on his work pants, and they shook hands
.

  "Can we talk in private?" the stranger asked.

  "Of course," Pan Kowalski said, inviting him into the kitchen.

  Jurek waited worriedly outside. A few minutes later he was told to come in. The stranger said to him, "I'm a Jew. I've come from America. My whole family perished in the Warsaw ghetto. I was saved because I went to see the world's fair in New York and couldn't return because of the war." He made it sound like an apology. "I'd like to adopt you. You'll be well off with me."

  "I'm not a Jew," Jurek said. He put his hand on his cross and medallion.

  "I was given your name by a Jewish organization in Warsaw," the stranger went on. "You're on a list of Jewish orphans. I'll take you to America. I'll hire the best private tutors for you until you're ready to go to school. You'll lack for nothing."

  "No," Jurek said. "I'm not a Jew."

  "I'm sure you are. You strike me as a clever boy. The war taught you to hide your origins. You're still doing it now. But in the end you'll return to your roots. I'm ready to take you and look after you. I'll be your family."

  "I have a family," Jurek said. "I don't want to go to school. I want to stay here."

  The man said goodbye and left. The taxi drove away. A band of barefoot boys ran after it and waved. When it was gone Pan Kowalski said, "We could have made a lot of money, but we didn't want to sell you."

  "He thought I was a Jew," Jurek said.

  "Never mind," said Pani Kowalski. "Jesus was a Jew at first, too. As far as we're concerned, you've been confirmed and you're a Christian."

  "You should know, though," Pan Kowalski put in, "that from now on the Jews will try to take you."

  "Let them try," Jurek said. "They can't make me."

  He couldn't say his prayers that night. He didn't know which sin was greater: betraying Jesus and the Holy Mother or betraying his promise to his father.

  Two or three more Jews came to visit. These were young ones. They spoke about a children's home, school, new clothes, gym lessons, as if these were the things that could make him happy. The more they went into it, the more frightened he grew. Everything they offered him seemed like some kind of torture.

  ***

  One overcast autumn day, a small pickup truck drove up with two men in it. The cabin door opened and one got out. The driver remained inside. The man turned to Jurek and said, "Moshe Frankel."

  Jurek knew at once what it was about.

  "I'm not a Jew," he said. "And I'm not going anywhere with you."

  Moshe Frankel tried to grab him, but Jurek was too quick. The man went off somewhere, leaving the truck and driver waiting. Jurek knew he'd be back.

  "Tadek," he yelled. "Quick, bring the ladder!"

  Tadek ran and brought the ladder and they stood it against the oak tree in the yard. Jurek filled his pockets with stones, climbed to a triple fork in the tree, and waited there tensely. Soon Moshe Frankel returned with a policeman. Jurek hadn't counted on that.

  "Take away the ladder!" he told Tadek.

  Frankel and the policeman entered the yard.

  "Bring that ladder back," the policeman ordered Tadek.

  Tadek refused. Meanwhile, the Kowalskis and some neighbors appeared on the scene. The policeman told Pan Kowalski to bring the ladder. He brought it and leaned it against the tree.

  "I'll brain anyone that comes near!" Jurek shouted from above, brandishing a stone.

  Moshe Frankel believed him and kept his distance. He tried convincing Jurek to come down, to no avail. There was a brief consultation. The policeman slipped his rifle from his shoulder, cocked it, and fired a shot. Jurek was frightened and climbed down from the tree. Moshe Frankel seized him tightly.

  "Pan Kowalski," Jurek called as he was being dragged off to the truck, "don't worry! I'll be back!"

  He had hoped to be put in the back of the truck. But by now Moshe Frankel knew whom he was dealing with. He took out some rope, tied Jurek, put him in the cabin, and went to sit in the back himself.

  The truck took them to Praga, the neighborhood of Warsaw on the Wisla's right bank, to a Jewish children's home on Jagielonska Street. Moshe Frankel waited for Jurek to climb down, untied him, and led him into an office. He locked the door and began to interrogate the boy.

  "What's your name?"

  "Jurek Staniak."

  "That's impossible. You're a Jew."

  "No, I'm not."

  "Well, whoever you are, you smell bad and your clothes must be full of lice. You'll take a shower and then we'll talk."

  Frankel summoned a teenager, who took Jurek to a room with shiny white walls and a white tile floor as smooth as a church's. Along one wall was a row of sinks and faucets, with a mirror above each. Along the other wall was a series of glass partitions. Between every two partitions were pipes ending in what looked like the nozzle of a garden hose.

  "What are those?" Jurek asked.

  "You've never seen a shower?"

  "No."

  The boy sat him down, took out a hair clipper, and shaved Jurek's head. When he was done, he collected the hair and threw it in a bucket.

  "That's to keep the lice from going for a walk," he said. "Now undress and throw your rags in here too."

  He undressed. The boy opened two faucets between two partitions, tested the water, and told Jurek to stand under it. Jurek stuck out a hand and saw that it was hot. He would have stood there all day long had he been allowed to. But the boy shut off the faucets and told him to soap himself.

  "Don't spare the soap," he said. "On your head, behind your ears, in all the hard-to-reach places. Between your toes, too. I have time."

  It wasn't the usual big chunk of laundry soap but a round, slippery little bar that smelled of flowers. Each time it popped out of Jurek's hands, the boy bent down and picked it up. He turned the shower back on for Jurek to rinse himself, shut off the water, dried him with a large bath towel, took some fresh clothes from the closet, and offered to help him put them on.

  "I can dress myself," Jurek said.

  There were underpants, socks, pants, a shirt, a jacket, and brown shoes, all brand new.

  "Try on the shoes. See if they fit."

  They didn't. The boy brought him another pair. He watched, impressed, as Jurek laced the shoes with one hand. When Jurek was dressed, he brought him back to Moshe Frankel.

  "He's Jewish, all right," he said and departed.

  Moshe Frankel stepped up to Jurek. With a sudden movement he tore the cross and the medallion of the Madonna from his neck and threw them in the stove. Jurek gasped. He knew Frankel was stronger than he was.

  "Some day I'll kill you," he said with helpless anger.

  "I'm charmed," Moshe Frankel said. "You're not the first boy to tell me that."

  He brought Jurek to a room with three beds. There was a locker next to each. Three chairs stood around a table. In the corner was a closet.

  "This is where you'll live with two other boys," he said. He left and locked the door.

  Bowls of candy and fruit lay on the table. Jurek ate an apple, slipped some candy into his pocket, and went to the window. The room was on the first floor and looked down at the yard below. Around the corner of the building, some children were playing soccer. Now and then one of them appeared chasing a real leather ball. Jurek tried opening the door. It stayed locked. He banged on it. No one came. He returned to the window, opened it wide, and leaned out. The drainpipe was almost within reach. He stood on the windowsill, grabbed hold of the pipe, and slid down it with it between his legs. Then he went around the corner and asked to join the game.

  "Are you the new boy?"

  "Yes."

  "You don't have an arm?"

  "No."

  "Show us."

  "I don't feel like it. I have two legs."

  After a brief debate over which team to put him on, Jurek joined the game. He let a few minutes go by and kicked the ball so hard that it flew over the fence.

  The other boys were mad at him. "What kind of way is that to p
lay? Now go get it."

  That had been his intention all along. It was why he was playing in his new jacket.

  "Help me over the fence," he said.

  Two boys boosted him up and helped him reach the top. He jumped down on the other side, found the ball, kicked it back over the fence, and walked off. In the street he asked an old lady, "Excuse me, where is the train station?"

  "It's not far from here," she told him.

  She explained how to get there. Her explanation didn't help much because he couldn't read the street signs, but he found it in the end and asked for a train to Wawer. He was told how far to go, boarded the train, hid in the bathroom, counted three stops, and got off. To his surprise, he was in the right neighborhood. Whistling merrily, he walked to the Kowalskis. Pani Kowalski was home.

  "Jurek!" She was happy to see him. "How nice you look! What clothes! Tadek and Pan Kowalski are in the smithy."

  He raised a foot for her to see.

  "And new shoes!"

  They went together to the smithy.

  "You see, Pan Kowalski," he said. "I told you I'd be back."

  Pan Kowalski looked at him. "Those Jews have money. Why did they shave your head like a prisoner's?"

  "That's how it is with them."

  "You know they'll come to look for you."

  "Sure. But you don't have to tell them I'm here."

  He had no time to carry out his plan. Two policemen arrived to look for the blond, one-armed Jewish boy.

  Jurek was taken back to the children's home.

  18. She Said Something That Made Him Laugh

  After breakfast in the dining hall, his two roommates went to school. Jurek was told to wait in the room.

  "There's a lady who wants to talk to you," he was told.

  Jurek was waiting for a chance to get away again. He didn't want any more questions. He had been asked enough of them. They were always the same. What was his name. Where was he from. What happened to his parents. Did he have brothers or sisters. He couldn't answer any of them and he was tired of them all. His name was Jurek Staniak. Yes, he knew he was Jewish. Yes, he had brother and sisters. How many? He didn't know.