Page 204 - LEIBY

204 Leiby – Border Smuggler

“No, I’m not accusing you,” the farmer apologized. “It’s just that
the communists have made our belongings public property, and
anyone can take what they want.”

Leiby assured the farmer that he was on his way to friends who
were waiting for him and would provide him with all his needs,
thanked him and bade him farewell, then continued on his way.

Leiby surveyed the area ahead of him and checked the map that
he had taken with him. He turned in the direction of the farm.

After several hours of walking, interspersed with short rides
now and then from kindhearted passing farmers, he finally
stood at the entrance of “his” farm. To his disappointment, he
found it totally desolate. Leiby entered the kitchen and looked
inside the huge empty vats of milk. He noticed that the few
drops of milk that remained on the sides of the vat were still
fresh and realized that the group that had been there had left
just a few hours previously. Leiby was famished after his long
trek. He rummaged around in the cabinets, but they were
completely empty too. It looked as if a crowd of starving people
had ransacked the place and cleared it out totally. He ran his
finger around the inside of the milk vat and licked it clean from
the drops of milk, but they didn’t assuage his hunger in the
slightest. A pot that had previously been used to cook potatoes
stood on the counter, and Leiby scraped out the remnants that
were stuck on the bottom of the pot, but still, he remained
hungry as before.

He made his way to the office, remembering that a bowl of
sugar cubes had stood there on the table sometimes, but the
door was locked. He banged on it as hard as he could, and when
it didn’t open, began kicking on it. He even tried sawing around
the lock with his pocketknife, but the sturdy door withstood all
his efforts.

“If I can’t get in through the door, I’ll have to try the window,”
Leiby decided, and ran down to the yard. He examined the
office windows from the outside but they were all barred. The
windows to the adjacent room,however,were unbarred,and gave