A Boy Is Not a Bird

A Boy Is Not a Bird — page 7 — Max loves sports You wouldn’t think such a tiny kid could kick so hard or run so fast but it’s as if he’s got invisible wings on his boots when he goes after that soccer ball As I walk home I entertain myself with a game I invented the only game I’ve thought of myself without Max I try to think of a word that’s different in all the languages I know My first and best language is German That’s what I speak at home and with Max Our town Zastavna has a large Ukrainian population so everyone who lives here is fluent in Ukrainian Ukrainian has some very bad words Max’s brothers told him what those words mean and Max told me It’s useful to have a friend with older brothers Third language Romanian That’s what they teach us in school We’re not really allowed to speak German to each other at school but we do anyhow My fourth language is Hebrew Ordinary school begins after lunch but in the mornings Max and I attend Hebrew classes in Mr Elias’s house Finally there’s Yiddish which some Jews speak at home It’s similar to German but has a mind of its own Yiddish is famous for its sayings If you don’t open your mouth a fly won’t get in Sleep faster we need the pillows What will happen to the sheep if the wolf is the judge That’s five languages swirling around in my head Sometimes I don’t know which language I’m speaking until someone reminds me My game might sound easy but it isn’t Take the word for mother Romanian Ukrainian and Hebrew are all different but German and Yiddish Mutter are the same I’m concentrating on my game and kicking a pebble down the

A Boy Is Not a Bird — page 8 — road when suddenly I notice that something is wrong It’s the quiet In beautiful weather like this with the sun shining in a cloudless blue sky you’d expect to see kids playing grown-ups rushing around and cart drivers shouting at everyone to move out of the way of the horses But the streets are completely deserted I almost stop breathing What if the Iron Guard are on their way here The entire town is terrified of the Iron Guard They’re a group of ferocious bloodthirsty men who wear green jackets and hate everyone Mr Elias calls them fascists Max calls them potato slime in human form They usually start off with a march or parade but that part doesn’t last long At some point they go berserk They break into homes and businesses and sometimes they kill the people inside They especially hate Jews but luckily we look like everyone else so unless there’s someone from our town marching with them they don’t know who we are I’ve never actually seen them because my parents and I always hide behind bags of grain in my father’s warehouse when we hear them coming We have a special hiding place like a little fort with books to keep us happy We don’t have to worry about the sound of pages turning The Iron Guard make so much noise that they can’t hear anyone else And the bags of grain are too heavy for them to lift But not everyone has a fort My friend Zigi had a close call They smashed the windows of his parents bakery and threw the cakes and bread on the floor They would have killed Zigi and his parents while they were at it but the three of them managed to escape to a church in the nick of time The Iron Guard never kill anyone in a church I guess they think God can’t see them on the street

A Boy Is Not a Bird — page 9 — I look around for the nearest steeple I’m three or four minutes away if I make a dash for it Instead I run home as fast as I can Being alone in a church is spooky and what if the door is locked

A Boy Is Not a Bird — page 10 — 2 Alien Radio I run as if a fire-breathing demon is chasing me By the time I reach our house my chest hurts and I’m wheezing I hurry along the veranda that circles our house and enter the kitchen from the back No one is there Normally at this hour my mother and Lana our housemaid are busy preparing supper But the table hasn’t even been set What if the Iron Guard marched in and killed everyone in the house My head begins to swim and I grab at the stove tiles to steady myself Natt Is that you As soon as I hear my mother’s voice I feel like an idiot She’s in another room that’s all Why am I such a baby Darling boy she exclaims as she comes into the kitchen You’re as pale as a ghost It’s my asthma I was running Why were you in such a hurry she asks I sink into a chair I’m not going to tell her that I thought she and Papa and Lana had been murdered I don’t want to lie but I don’t want to tell the truth either so the best thing is to say nothing But my mother as always reads my mind She smiles Did something scare you What was it Hmm let me guess

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