Of Windmills and War Read Online Free

bunkmate. Dad had slowly placed his
knife and fork on his plate, then folded his hands. Looking back and forth
between them, he said, “There will be no discussion about Joey at this table.
Is that understood?”
    Danny had
stared into his father’s tired, bloodshot eyes, then looked at Mom. Her head
was bowed as she seemed to study her plate, not saying a word. She just sat
there with a bite of meatloaf on her fork. Danny looked back to see Dad’s
reaction.
    “I
said, is that understood?”
    “Yes,
sir,” Danny croaked. Mom nodded her head.
    From
that moment on, they never mentioned Joey again at the dinner table. Instead,
Danny and his mother found stolen moments to talk about Joey’s letters when his
dad was out of the house. Sometimes it meant waiting until he left late at
night on his film routes. Then they’d sit at the kitchen table and read the
letter together, even though they’d both read it separately when it first
arrived. He hated having to hide the fact he was interested in his brother’s
news. But even more troubling was the silence that so often filled their home.
    Danny quickly
finished his last lawn for the day, collected his pay from Mr. Smithson, and
hurried home. He stopped first in the garage, grabbing the broom to sweep the
remaining blades of grass off the old mower, then stepped out of his filthy
shoes. He took the back steps two at a time and found his mother snapping beans
on the back porch.
    “How
was your afternoon? Get all your yards done?”
    He
leaned over, planting a noisy kiss on her cheek. “Sure did. And for a change,
they all paid me today.” He dug the bills out of his pocket and waved them at
her. “I need to make another deposit.”
    “Good
for you, son. Why, at the rate you’re going, you’ll own that bank one of these
days.”
    “Not
hardly. Hey, did I get any mail today?”
    Mom
smiled. “Letter from Hans on your pillow.”
    “Anything
from Joey?”
    “No,”
she said, her voice dropping a notch, “but we can read yesterday’s letter again
if you’d like. Your father’s leaving early tonight.” She winked at him and
patted her pocket.
    “Sounds
good. I’m gonna go wash up then read my letter from Hans.”
    “Dinner’s
in about an hour.”
    Ten
minutes later, Danny got dressed after his shower and tossed his dirty clothes
in the hamper. He reached for Hans’ letter, then stretched out on his bed to
read it.
     
    Dear Danny,
    It is
hard for me to imagine such temperatures as you have in Chicago ! Today
it is 19.1° C. here. I believe that is 66.4° F. Much cooler than your 99°!
Today I had to help my sister Anya fix her bicycle. Everyone rides bicycles in The Netherlands , as I
told you before. And most everyone takes very good care of their bicycles
because we have to depend on them. But my little Anya (she’s only a year
younger than me but she’s really small for her age) is not so careful. And with
all our rain lately, her bicycle has rusted once again. She’s terribly hard on
things and always frustrated when things go wrong. I told you before what a
tomboy she is, but have I mentioned she’s also bull-headed? Such fights the two
of us have!
    Congratulations
on the new job at the grocery store. I would think you would be very busy
working and going to school in the fall. Here, most everything is brought to us
so that we do not often need to go to the market. It’s considered an honor to
supply the local pastor with bread, vegetables, milk, and even meat from the
butcher. But this is also done for many other residents as well.
    What
have you heard from Joey? Any news?
    Everyone
here seems quite nervous. None of us believed Hitler could take Austria , yet
he did. We thought that England and France would step
up and try to stop him, but they have not. Our country always stays out of war,
but the news we hear is still troubling. It’s quite hard to understand all that
is happening.
    I have
enclosed a picture of our family as you requested. This was