Part Five

Part Five

Leo spent the remainder of the journey talking to Yehudah or sleeping. Yehudah had shown him a photograph of his family before the war and Leo, remembering that he too had packed a photograph of his family, checked in his suitcase for it. He was heart-wrenched when he couldn’t find it, but he knew instantly why. He could still remember his mother’s words as she made him promise, you must forget about us, about this life, and just carry on living. He tucked himself away in the corner of the carriage for a while, refusing to speak to anyone, and soon he fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke, the first thing that he noticed was that it was much lighter now, and that beside him Yehudah was practically bouncing up and down off his seat.
“Where are we?” Leo asked, a yawn caught in his throat.
Yehudah jumped in surprise at the sound of his voice but then turned to Leo, grinning. “We’re in Holland.” He replied, sounding simply delighted about it.
“Holland?” Leo sat up straight and stretched out his arms and legs, still stiff from the sleep. He’d never been to Holland before. “What so important about Holland?”
Yehudah gave him a look similar to the one he’d given him last night. It was a look that meant, are you kidding? “This is where we get off the train,” he told Leo as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh,” Leo replied, still rather confused. “But I thought we were going to England?”
“We are going to England. But England’s across the water. We need a boat or ferry to get over there.” Yehudah explained. He didn’t seem the least bit irritated with how little Leo knew. In fact, he found Leo’s naivety fairly amusing.
“Oh,” Leo said simply, feeling a bit like an idiot. He could feel his cheeks and ears burn bright red.
There was another hour or so left of the train journey which Yehudah used to show off his geography skills. He was trying to prove to Leo that Holland was closer to Germany than it was to England. Then, when they were finally ordered to leave the trains, Leo and Yehudah rushed forward to the front of their group to try and get seats again. Yehudah was taller and stronger than the other boys, whereas Leo was exceptionally smaller and weaker than some of the others, so Yehudah pulled Leo along beside him as his pushed his way through the crowds of old or newly acquainted friends. Once on the boat, he found an empty bench and slammed his suitcase down onto it before anyone else could take it.
Leo was rather tired by this time from all the walking and pushing he’d had to do and so he collapsed into a deep sleep almost immediately, his dreams seemed to be very set on making him break his promise to his mother.
Then they arrived in England. The border was very easy to get past, once they proved that they were all from Germany and had come on the Kinder Transport. The security even managed to astonish Yehudah which only made it seem more impressive in Leo’s eyes.
Finally it came to the moment when Leo and Yehudah had to go their separate ways. Yehudah was going to a small home by the port whereas Leo was going to an old neighbourhood about forty kilometres from the port. It was hard for him to say goodbye to someone he’d grown so close to, but Yehudah promised him he’d see him some day in the future. Leo should’ve known by then that not everyone kept their promises.