Chapter 23
Miro startled them. He leaped out of the nest and raced toward the interior of the forest. Tensely they watched him run. Every few steps he would stand still, stretch out his head, listen, and sniff.
“Miro has sensed something. He wouldn’t leap away for nothing,” said Adam.
After an hour of scouting, he came back and stood next to the tree. Adam climbed down and carried him back up, rubbed his legs, and pressed him to his chest. Gradually warmth returned to Miro’s body. “What happened, Miro? The cold outside is biting. Don’t run any risks,” Adam said to him. “Miro is different from us,” he said to Thomas. “Sounds and smells come to him before they reach us.”
“Did you learn anything from Miro’s behavior in the past few days?” asked Thomas.
“It seems to me he’s annoyed with himself because he can’t catch the signs that come to him from far away.”
“What should we do?” Thomas asked softly.
“If the snow keeps falling, and the cold gets stronger, we won’t have any choice except to climb down and light a fire to keep warm.”
“Won’t the fire give us away?”
“We’ll do it cautiously.”
That night Adam heard his mother’s trembling voice speaking to him. “My Adam, we have arrived. Don’t be afraid. You know our forest very well, and everything that’s in it. I’ll try very hard to come in the evening.”
Her voice was clear, as if she hadn’t spoken months ago, but just now. Adam wakened from his slumber. Heavy snowflakes fell from the sky and filled the dark with gray whiteness. Thomas was sleeping deeply. Adam was afraid the cold would trap him in its web, and he woke him. Thomas asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Aren’t you cold?”
“No.”
“Try to move your toes.”
“It’s hard.”
“Let’s rub them so they won’t freeze. Your toes can freeze easily when you’re asleep.”
Chapter 27
From above, in the last watch of the night, they saw a short creature, wrapped in a blanket, tottering and wandering in the snow. The tiny creature advanced with difficulty, stumbling with every few steps. Clearly it was about to faint, or it was wounded and trying to resist the wind that kept knocking it over.
They didn’t delay but climbed down. They immediately saw that it was Mina.
Her face was bleeding. She was breathing with difficulty. Adam and Thomas held her and carried her to the tree, and carefully, from branch to branch, they carried her up to the nest and immediately started taking care of her.
“What happened to you, Mina? Don’t be afraid. Thomas and I will watch over you.”
Now that they had wrapped her up, once again they realized how light she was, almost weightless.
Meanwhile the thunder in the distance had stopped. It snowed harder from hour to hour. By now it was a meter deep. They curled up together. The blanket that Mina had brought with her helped to cover them. But the cold penetrated anyway, and it stung and hurt them.
“We won’t have any choice but to go down and light a fire,” said Adam.
“Maybe we should wait another day,” said Thomas.
“We’ll wait as long as we can, but no longer.”
Meanwhile they rubbed their hands together, and they rubbed Mina’s feet to draw her out of the cold and her weakness.
The peasant angel left them a pitcher of milk and half a loaf of bread. They put drops of milk in Mina’s mouth. She opened her eyes for a moment and then quickly closed them.
Miro wouldn’t stand still. The narrow space they were trying to seal off from the cold seemed to oppress him. A couple of times he was about to leap, but Adam stopped him.
Finally he freed himself and jumped. Adam wanted to run after him, but he realized he couldn’t catch up with him. Miro raced quickly, as though pursued, into the interior of the forest. They watched him fearfully. The darkness, which had fallen, separated them from Miro.
“Where did Miro run to?” Thomas asked in a trembling voice.
“Miro wouldn’t run off for no reason. Danger doesn’t deter him.”
Adam bent very close to Mina’s face and whispered, “Just another small effort, Mina. We’re getting close to the end of the war. In a little while, just a bit, the Red Army will come and liberate us.”
Chapter 28
But the night continued, long and dark. The cold grew more intense from hour to hour. Mina wasn’t breathing well. From time to time grunts of pain escaped her lips. Her mouth wouldn’t accept liquids, and the boys were afraid for her life.
Adam said, “In the morning we’ll go down and light a fire.”
Thomas agreed with him. “We mustn’t stay up in the nest and freeze.”
Trembling with fear and shivering with cold, at the first light they saw two people in the distance, stumbling through the snow, and Miro was running in front of them.
“Miro,” Adam called with all his strength.
Miro heard his voice and stood on his two hind legs, which was what he used to do when he had something to announce. “Miro,” Adam called again in a voice that shook the nest.
They were about to climb down, but they didn’t want to leave Mina alone. From above they observed the figures as they approached.
Fortunately the snow stopped and the visibility improved. Adam called out, “Mom!” and shook the nest.
“Are you sure?”
“I can see her.”
They wrapped Mina in blankets and the canvas and slowly, from branch to branch, they brought her down.
They were about to run together to their mothers, but they stopped their legs.
When their mothers were close to them, with Miro in front of them, Thomas couldn’t restrain himself and started running. He didn’t get very far. The deep snow stopped him. Their mothers were also struggling with the snow. They advanced slowly. The distance between them and Thomas grew shorter, but still a gap remained.
Adam called out from where he was, “Mom, not much more, just a little bit.”
The mothers arrived, out of breath, and fell onto the snow. Adam’s mother let out a loud moan such as Adam had never heard from her. He gripped her and called out, “Mom, it’s all over.”
She managed to say, “My hero,” before she fainted.
Adam put a few drops of milk on her lips. His mother opened her eyes and said, “Whom should I thank?”
Thomas’s mother didn’t say a word. Thomas hugged her hard and finally shook her and said, “Mom, why aren’t you talking?”
Adam’s mother asked, “Who’s the girl on the twigs?”
Adam answered with a stifled voice, “She’s Mina, a girl from out of this world. In the days when we had no food, she brought us bread and corn pie. She’s sick, very sick. The peasant who hid her beat her and threw her out of the house.”
“Good God!” said his mother. “We have to bring her to the Red Army infirmary right away. Where is the girl from?”
“She was in our class. We have to save her,” Thomas said.
Adam told her, “She’s our age, but she was always short. The peasant who hid her mistreated her, but she risked her life and brought us bread and corn pie, and thanks to her, Mom, we’re alive.”
“She’s an angel. I have no doubt she’s an angel,” said his mother, and her head sank down.
Chapter 29
They didn’t delay. They wrapped Mina in blankets, laid her on the canvas, and carried her. It was hard to advance. They had to stop every few steps.