Page 122 - LEIBY

122 Leiby – Border Smuggler

was resting securely in Alexander’s pocket. He felt them closing
in on him, as four brawny Poles gripped his arms menacingly.
“Free Warsaw,” he suddenly remembered. The youths relaxed
their grip on him, and he breathed a shuddering sigh of relief.

Gunshots rang out from the direction of the balcony on the
second floor of the committee building. Leiby strained to see
what was going on. A tall figure stood there, but he couldn’t
identify who it was. Was it Alexander? The figure was dressed
in a long gray raincoat, his face concealed by the lace curtain.

“This is the secret police! The boy has been found, hale and
hearty, in his grandmother’s home, and has been returned to
his mother. The crowd is requested to disperse. In five minutes
from now we will begin to shoot at anyone still in the street!”
The booming voice of the figure in the raincoat reverberated
in the narrow street, and the three bullets that he shot into the
air served to emphasize his threat. Another shot rang out. This
time the target was the hoodlums who still encircled Leiby.
One of them fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Panic ensued
and the crowd began to run.

“You’re an emissary of the police… you’re a spy, a collaborator!”
The youths tried to grab hold of Leiby, but he was quicker than
them, and succeeded in evading them. He blended with the
fleeing hordes, climbed onto a high fence, crawled across a
soft grassy lawn, and rolled into a large vegetable plot. From
there he continued to run into an open coal cellar. The stench
of soot and mustiness was overwhelming, but Leiby did not
dare to venture out. He crouched down between piles of burned
wooden planks, and only there, far from his pursuers’ eyes, did
he breathe freely again. He lay there for a while, listening to
the tumult on the street, and when complete silence reigned, he
took the risk of leaving the cellar.

He ran to the main street, to the Jewish committee building, and
looked up at the second-floor window, searching for Alexander.
The building was closed, and despite his loud knocking on
the door, nobody opened it for him. He could hear the ruckus
coming from inside; the people were obviously still unnerved