The Children’s Train

Arnold crept through the shadows of his damaged Berlin apartment in the ransacked house. When no one was looking, he ran up the stairs to his dark apartment. He burst through the door waving a piece of paper. “Come here! Come here!”

Evelyn and Charlie ran to him. “What is it, Arnold?” Evelyn asked.

“Did we win something?” Charlie whispered.

“Yes, my son. We won freedom! We’re going to America on a boat! Uncle Ernst did it! God has provided a safe passage out of here. We are saved. We’ll leave from the Port of Wilhelmshaven. I knew we’d make it! I knew it!” Arnold laughed. “I’m so glad I pulled you from that train window. Something good is finally happening. I told you all we needed was faith.”

They danced and hugged each other. “I can have us packed in no time,” Evelyn said, laughing, “because we have so little left!”

Arnold hugged Charlie and swung him around like he used to when he picked him up from school.

“Where is America, Papa?” Charlie asked.

“Across the sea, far away from Germany, and that’s all that matters!”

Charlie looked into his father’s eyes and patted his face. “You won’t change your mind this time, will you, Papa?”