Page 143 - LEIBY

Chapter 17 143

that it was surplus produce that Russia had no need for…”

“Shhh,” Pesach hushed Leiby. “No talking during the walk.”

It was difficult for Mirushka to keep up with the others,
and Yosef carried her much of the time. He stumbled after
the group, and Leiby tried to help him. He took the frozen,
shivering Mirushka from Yosef, and covered her with a warm
shawl.

“Where are we going?” Mirushka asked, opening wide eyes and
staring in bewilderment at the line of people dragging their feet
through the thick mud.

“To somewhere nice… you’ll get candies there,” Leiby hastened
to promise her.

“But how will Mama find me there?”

Leiby felt a twinge of pain. Poor Mirushka was pining for her
mother, she needed motherly love that in truth, she would
never receive in the orphanage. His heart went out to her and to
Yosef, who truly wanted the best for his sister, but couldn’t give
her anywhere near as much as the farmer’s wife had given her.

“Mama will find you wherever you are,” Leiby soothed her.
He had a guilty conscience for deceiving her like that, but
what choice did he have? The last thing they needed now was
hysterical crying just at the time when clandestineness was
crucial.

The group advanced slowly but surely, with the stronger people
lending a hand to the weaker ones. They crossed swampy
expanses with a frigid wind blowing in their faces, but the
thought of the freedom almost within their reach kept them
going. Dim lights twinkled in the distance from the Slovakian
border guards’ station, and they knew that they had almost
arrived.

“Look, the border’s just ahead,” Leiby encouraged the stragglers
at the end of the procession. “Only a few more kilometers, and
we’re there.”