Joy exploded in Izaak’s chest as he recognized the rider. “Hero!” he shouted. “Gabe!” Izaak’s cries awoke the small house at the end of the farm. The door opened. First Albert, then Nel and all the children came running outside.
Izaak couldn’t move. He had to hold onto the wooden railing of the gate. “Jaap,” he cried, “call Uncle Piet and Aunt Anna!”
Finally, Gabe and Hero stopped in front of him. Izaak laughed and cried at the same time. He touched Gabe and Hero, stroking the mane of the powerful stallion.
As soon as Gabe dismounted, Uncle Piet and Aunt Anna came running, their faces wet with tears. Aunt Anna threw her arms around Gabe, and Uncle Piet took Hero’s bridle.
“You both have lost weight,” Aunt Anna cried, “but you’re alive!”
Uncle Piet thrust his face into the horse’s mane. Nobody spoke.
After feeding, Hero was reunited with Marijke and the filly. The two horses nuzzled each other’s manes. Hero walked around Marijke, while the mare stood still, Hera close at her side. The stallion touched the foal’s back with his nostrils. Then Hero turned and galloped across the pasture and back. He halted in front of his family and lowered his head to the grass. Marijke grazed as well while Hera darted around her.
When they were all seated around the kitchen table, Gabe finally had a chance to tell them about his adventures. “The Germans were so scared, they never cared if I was a Jew or not,” Gabe said. “As long as I looked after the horses, they left me alone. I had to look after ten horses.”
Izaak watched his friend admiringly. “Weren’t you afraid?”
“Not when I noticed how scared they were.” Gabe laughed. “In North Holland they got into heavy fighting with the Allied troops, and I managed to get away with three horses.” Gabe took a deep breath. He wasn’t used to talking so much, Izaak thought.
“I couldn’t travel with three horses, so I left Clasina and the other horse with a farmer, who will take good care of them. We can get Clasina later. Hero and I traveled all the way around the Ijssel Meer to get back to Friesland. At night we stayed at farms. Sometimes we stayed for a few days and helped the farmer with the haying.” He looked at the faces around the kitchen table. “It took us four weeks to get back here.”
Uncle Piet’s eyes filled. “You are a hero,” he said.
“No,” Gabe said. “It was Jan. Jan is the hero. He wanted to go with Hero when the Germans came.”
Izaak’s face colored.
“But I couldn’t let him do that. And I didn’t want the Germans to find him and that’s why … ” Gabe looked at Izaak. “How is your head?”
Izaak smiled. “It was only black and yellow for three weeks.”
“I’m not sorry.” Gabe laughed. They all laughed with joy and with relief.
“After I knocked Jan out and covered him with hay in the trough, I took all three horses outside, so the Germans didn’t need to go into the stable and search.”
A warm feeling glowed in Izaak’s chest. Gabe had protected him till the end.
That night Izaak tossed and turned again. It was a miracle that Gabe and Hero had survived the ordeal, but Izaak still waited for one more miracle.
When Jaap and Izaak were cleaning up the yard behind the barn a few days later, a cyclist came down the lane to the farm.
They both halted their work and watched. As the person neared, they saw that it was an old woman, riding a rusty bike. Her hair was gray and tied in a bun. Her cheekbones stuck out and her face was lined like parchment paper.
But something in her eyes caught Izaak’s breath. She dismounted and took a second to find her balance. Her eyes found Izaak’s.
Izaak’s lips barely moved. “Mama.”
“Izaak!” She stumbled closer.
Izaak ran and caught her before her knees buckled. She didn’t weigh much.
“Mama,” was all he could bring out. He didn’t notice that Jaap had disappeared until Aunt Anna came running out of the barn.
Aunt Anna helped Izaak walk his mother inside the kitchen.
Mama finally found her voice. “I can’t believe how much you’ve grown,” she said. Her lip quivered.
And Izaak couldn’t believe how old and small his mother looked.
“I will leave you two alone,” Aunt Anna said after she had buttered a piece of bread and put a cup of hot tea in front of Mama.
Izaak didn’t know what to say. Mama just looked at him.
“I can’t tell you how often I have thought of this moment.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Even when … ” She paused. “After you left, I found a hiding place in an old warehouse that had been boarded up. A young woman brought me food. There was no heat in the winter.”
Izaak shivered. He couldn’t imagine how Mama had survived the cold. And she was so thin. He didn’t think the woman had brought her much food. He had so many questions, but they all stuck in his throat.
The ball in Izaak’s stomach started rolling. He had imagined their reunion many times, but it had never been like this.
“Papa and Sarah were found in their hiding place and sent to a camp.” Mama swallowed hard. “They have not come back yet, but I have hope that soon they will return.”
Izaak sat still.
“Every day people return from the camps,” Mama whispered.
Izaak held onto his stomach. In a swift movement he stood up, opened the kitchen door and ran outside.
Beside the wooden gate, the ball left his stomach and he threw up. Tears flooded for Papa and Sarah wherever they might be.
A soft nudge made Izaak look up. Hero caressed his hair with his lips.
“Oh, Hero,” Izaak sighed and pulled the animal’s head down. His tears ran down Hero’s face. “Where are they?” he whispered.
Izaak didn’t return to the farm for the evening meal.
Gabe joined him after. “Not hungry?” he asked.
“No.” Izaak looked at his friend. “Have you heard from your family?”
“No.” Gabe stood beside him. Together they stared ahead, silent.
The sun set in a colorless haze. Gabe walked back to the farm. Izaak followed him inside and went straight to bed.
Izaak’s mother stayed on the farm for a week. She had to build up the strength to bicycle back to Amsterdam.
Finally, Izaak and Mama stood outside, packed and ready. Their saddlebags were filled with food to take back to a tiny flat that Mama had found for the two of them before she had come to the farm.
Izaak was not so sure about going back to Amsterdam.
He said good-bye to the Ademas. “I’ll miss you, Jaap.” Izaak’s throat felt thick.
Jaap nodded and pumped Izaak’s hand.
“We’d like you and your mother to spend your summers on the farm.” Aunt Anna held onto Izaak’s arm. “But first you have to get settled in your home.”
Mama hugged Aunt Anna.
Uncle Piet patted Izaak’s shoulder. “I can use some help this summer.” His voice was hoarse.
Gabe stood at Izaak’s favorite wooden gate.
Izaak ran over and thr ew his arms around the boy he admired so much.
“I’ll be back,” he said through his tears.
Gabe nodded.
Then they were on their way. As they rode to the village, Izaak looked back. Gabe had mounted Hero. The stallion galloped to the end of the pasture. Gabe’s hand went up. Hero neighed. Izaak waved. The rider and stallion blurred together.
His heroes.
Author’s Note
Hero is a work of fiction based on true events during World War II.
The stallion Held (Hero) is a real horse that belonged to my great uncle Jan Hoogterp. On the eve of the liberation of the province of Friesland, the stallion was taken by fleeing German soldiers. Seventeen-year-old Andries Hofstee, farmhand and Held’s caretaker, vowed never to leave his beloved stallion alone. Andries and Held drove a wagon full of German soldiers west over the Afsluitdijk into North Holland. Andries a
nd Held were able to escape during heavy fighting. They wandered for a month from farm to farm until the whole country was liberated, after which they returned to my great uncle’s farm.
During my research on the couriers, girls and women who worked for the resistance during World War II, I learned that many Jewish children were taken from Amsterdam to farms in Friesland by young girls sometimes on the carriers of their bikes. These children went to school, disguised as nieces and nephews of the farmer and his family. After the war some children were reunited with their families, but in a few known instances, when the Jewish parents had perished, the farm family adopted the child.
Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940. Life became difficult for the Dutch citizens, especially the Jewish people. As the war progressed Jews lost their jobs, were forbidden to walk in parks and ride buses. Schools were closed for Jewish children. On their outer garments they had to sew a yellow star with the word Jood (Jew) printed on it. Later, their property and possessions were taken and they were ordered to live in a ghetto in Amster dam. From the ghetto a train left once a week to transport Jews to the Dutch concentration camp, Westerbork. In this camp the Jewish prisoners waited for further transportation to camps in Germany and Poland. The first transport from Westerbork to Poland happened on July 15, 1942.
Many Jews disobeyed the orders and went into hiding. Dutch people risked their lives to transport and hide Jewish people. In July 1942, Piet Meerburg, a student from Amsterdam, traveled to Friesland to find safe homes for Jewish children. As a result, the involvement of the resistance movement in saving Jewish people, especially children, increased.
The war lasted five years. The winter of 1944–1945 was called the “Hunger Winter” as so many people died of starvation in the big cities. It was also one of the coldest winters, and without fuel to heat their homes, the Dutch people suffered terribly.
For more information on World War II and Friesland and for the study guide, please visit my web site at: www.marthaattema.com
Photo credit: M.J. Hughes
Hero is martha sttema’s second Young Reader about World War II. Her first was Daughter of Light (Orca, 2001). Hero was a real stallion owned by Martha’s great uncle and stolen by the Germans just as the war was ending. A boy from the farm went with the horse and managed to escape and bring Hero home. In Hero, truth becomes powerful fiction. Martha’s next project involves building instead of writing. She and her husband are building a straw bale house, which will be both their home and an educational site.
Other books by martha attema:
A Time to Choose
A Light in the Dunes
Daughter of Light
When the War is Over
Hero Page 6
