Danylo looked up to Ian on the stage. The boy was standing in stunned silence beside his piano. It was as if he were trying to figure out what all of this clapping was for. Ian had been so wrapped up in the music that he had forgotten about the audience. He was just now coming back to earth and it dawned on him that these people were clapping for him. That they actually approved of him. What a strange world it was.
Ian bowed to the audience in thanks, and then held up one hand, asking for silence. "Thank you," he said. He walked towards the piano bench, and the people in the audience began to sink back into their seats, expecting him to play an encore. He hesitated for a moment in front of the bench, then shook his head slightly. He looked back up at the audience and said in a loud clear voice, "Thank you. Please enjoy the rest of the concert."
Then he turned and disappeared behind the curtains.
Lisa turned off the spotlight and the stage was plunged into darkness. The audience was murmuring their surprise and they were totally unaware of Lisa and Kat who had scrambled onto the stage to pull down the ribbons of cloth. In a flash it was down, and the two girls darted through the curtains close on the heels of Ian.
Kat could see the light go back on the other side of the curtain, and Dr. Bradley was back on the stage introducing the next performance. She quickly followed Lisa and Ian as they walked away from the back of the stage and out a door that led to a school corridor.
"That was fantastic," said Lisa.
Ian looked at her with an expression of incomprehension. Kat understood. When she was in the midst of sculpting, she was totally in another world. The school could burn down and she wouldn't know it. He looked utterly exhausted. The best thing for him would be to get home and go to bed, but his parents were still in the auditorium.
The three friends walked down the corridor that lead to the front of the school and they stepped outside into the winter air. The cold seemed to revive Ian somewhat. He breathed in, and then stretched out his arms as if to embrace the world.
"It feels so good to get that over with," he said. "I had no idea whether I would be able to go through with it or not."
"I'm amazed that you did," said Lisa. "You must be tired."
"And sore," said Kat.
"I am," said Ian. "And I couldn't have done it without your help." With that, he gave both girls a bear hug.
Just then, the front door of the school opened and Dylan and his friends walked out.
"That was quite the performance," said Dylan with a smirk. "Didn't think you'd be up to it."
"Why don't you just get out of here?" said Kat angrily. "Don't you think you've done enough damage?" Kat had trouble reconciling this new Dylan with the one she used to know. What was his problem, anyway?
Dylan regarded Kat with an offended look on his face and addressed Ian, "I see you've got your bodyguards with you."
At that, Dylan's friends chuckled. "Two girls and a fag. I'm scared," Dylan said in a taunting voice.
Ian stepped away from Kat and Lisa, then walked over to where Dylan stood. "You wouldn't be so brave without your own body guards," he said, pointing at Dylan's husky friends.
"I'll fight you anytime, anywhere. Just name the place," said Dylan, anger flashing in his eyes. His fist was midway in the air when the door of the school opened again.
Dr. Bradley stepped out of the front doors of the school. She was accompanied by an artsy-looking man wearing a camel hair sports jacket over a T-shirt and jeans. She looked from Ian to Dylan and surmised what was going on. "I take it you three are leaving the concert?" she said to Dylan and his friends. "Students from other schools are not allowed to loiter at Cawthra. If you're not off school property in one minute, I'll call the police."
"Come on guys, this place is boring," said Dylan. The three slouched away into the night.
"Were those the boys who beat you up today, Ian?" asked Dr. Bradley.
"I didn't get a good look at them," said Ian evasively. Kat and Lisa remained silent.
During this exchange, the man quietly waited a few steps behind Dr. Bradley. When it was clear that nothing more was to be said on the subject, he stepped forward and reached out his hand to Ian.
"My name is Hal Stevens," he said. "I would like you to give me a call."
Ian looked at the card. It said, "talent agent". He frowned in confusion and stuffed it in his back pocket.
CHAPTER 39
WHEN KAT WOKE up the next morning, she was surprised to see Genya up and dressed. "You're not wearing a uniform to school today?" Kat asked.
"I'm going to the hearing," replied Genya. "Dido's testifying today, isn't he?"
It was as if they were almost a family again, thought Kat as the four of them walked into the hearing room. If only her father were here. She surveyed the audience and noticed that there were more people than usual sitting on the plaintiff's side. On Danylo's side, Kat was delighted to see several familiar faces. In addition to Michael, both Ian and Lisa were there, as well as Lisa's father and grandmother. Danylo's friends from the Ukrainian community were also out in full force. In fact, there were so many people that some of them ended up sitting in the last row on the plaintiff's side. Genya sat between Kat and Orysia in the front row of the defendant's side.
When Danylo took the stand, he wore a brilliantly white starched shirt under his grey suit. Kat had expected his face to be pale and his hands to tremble, but she was wrong. Her grandfather looked full of anticipation. As if he were finally being given the opportunity to set the record straight. For his sake as much as hers, she hoped that was possible. She glanced over at Genya, and noticed her sceptic's demeanour: arms crossed and brow furrowed.
Kat looked back at her grandfather on the stand. He nodded courteously towards the people who had come to support him.
Step by step, Mr. Vincent took Danylo through the fateful years between 1939 and 1945. She listened in awe as he described how his position with the auxiliary police had been planned from the beginning by the organizers of the resistance. He hadn't gone from policeman to fighter: he had been a patriot all along. As Danylo spoke, Kat watched Genya's demeanour from the corner of her glasses. Slowly the arms uncrossed and the brows unfurled. Almost imperceptibly, Genya began to sit a bit straighter in her seat. It was as if she were no longer ashamed of her grandfather. Could she even be a little bit proud? wondered Kat.
"Mr. Feschuk," said Mr. Vincent. "Why did you and your fellow auxiliary police wait until the winter of 1942–43 to defy the Nazis?"
"How do you rebel with no strength?" asked Danylo. "We had no government, no weapons, no organization."
As soon as the Nazis arrived, Kataryna and the others had fled to the forest. She knew she was safer there than in the village because the Germans lost their way each time they came there. But Kataryna and her friends could not fight the Nazis yet, they could only hide. They had no weapons. They had no military training. While Kataryna and her friends prepared the forests with bunkers and hideouts, other resistance fighters stayed in Orelets and let the Germans think they were on their side. How else to steal weapons and information?