Which Way is Up?:

Nothing felt right anymore.

How could Danny-boy be found guilty? The sentence was worse. He ended up with twenty-five years in prison. It didn’t seem fair. Kat did her best and it still wasn’t enough. How could have ended up this way? I tried to make sense of it all with Kat. She couldn’t even explain it to me.

“It seems that they wanted to make an example of Daniel to the country,” she said. I stood there, looking pale.

“It’s just as Milo said…” I mumbled. Kat turned to me with a puzzled look on her face.

“What was that?” she asked. I shook my head and raced off to my room. Ever since that morning, everything felt different and I didn’t like it.

Everyone stares at us when we walked on the streets. It felt everyone German began to hate us. Milo didn’t make it any better for us.

“They hate you because you are a foreigner,” he explained.

“But why?” I asked.

“Everyone is scared here,” Milo told me. “Ever since Daniel was found guilty, it’s turned crazy.” I didn’t like the sound of that. I had to talk to Kat to get the truth.

“What’s going on around us?” I asked her. “Are we being invaded?” Kat lowered her pen on the paper.

“Yes,” she finally admitted. “We are being invaded.”

“By who?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” she replied.

“Do we know the enemy?” I asked.

“There are many speculations,” Kat explained as she turned to me from her desk. “Some people say it’s the Russians. A few people are saying it’s an inside job. I even heard that it’s someone from an unknown country.” I looked at her in a curious way.

“Who do you think it is?” I asked. Kat lowered her shoulders at me.

“I can’t really say, love,” she replied. “There is just so much going on in this country.”

“Is it true that they hate foreigners now?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t exactly say hate,” she replied. “Everyone in Germany is afraid. The worst that could happen is that a witch hunt could break out under our noses.”

“Oh…” I mumbled. I looked over at her for a long moment. “What will happen to us?” I asked her. Kat walked over and hugged me.

“To be truthful with you,” she said. “I have no idea. So please, will you and Lyle be careful when you go out these days?”

“I will,” I said. “Will you be careful too?” Kat nodded as she held onto me.

“Yes, love,” she said. “I will.” I wouldn’t let go of her. Throughout most of the summer, the attention on us grew worse as the days went on. More and more German people kept staring at us as Lyle and I walked to the activity center in the mornings. Some of our neighbors would even shut their curtains when we passed by their houses. I turned to Lyle one afternoon after a swim at the activity center.

“It’s all creepy here,” I whispered. He only nodded.

“How long will this go on?” I asked him. My brother only shook his head. My eyes trailed down to my feet.

“Will we even be able to go to the activity center anymore?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” he replied. I tried to keep up a brave face. Shortly after that exchange, more people started disappearing. This time, it was more like foreigners in Germany were getting out while they could. At or around this time, Milo started to hang around us more often. Well, more of me in particular. (That was another thing I began to notice that year. The foreigners in Germany started to huddle together out of some strange form of comfort or safety. I had a good guess as to why before it became clearer to me years later.) Strangely enough, Lyle didn’t seem to mind Milo being around us.

“So, where are you from, Milo?” he asked.

“Wisconsin,” he said.

“And where is your family?” Lyle asked.

“I don’t know,” the younger boy said. My brother and I looked at him, stunned.

“You don’t know?” I asked. Milo shook his head.

“But why?” Lyle asked.

“Don’t know,” that blue-eyed angel said. In that moment, I felt compelled to learn as much about him as I could. However, not right now. I happened to look up and notice more eyes staring at us just outside the activity center. I turned to Lyle and Milo.

“Uh… let’s just get inside,” I whispered. “The staring is getting uncomfortable.” Lyle and Milo looked up to see what I was talking about. My brother pressed his lips together.

“I’m used to it by now,” Milo replied. “Everyone always stares at me.”

“Either way, can we please go inside?” I asked. I nearly had to push my boys inside to avoid the staring eyes on the outside. The inside wouldn’t be any better by this point. It didn’t really matter; I just wanted to escape.

However, I still have one saving grace left. I have been saving up most of my allowance for that beautiful white clock in that antique shop window. I would do anything just to have it. Every day, I pass that store just to look upon its beauty. Whenever I see the cravings in the white material, life doesn’t seem so bad anymore. I think Kat would be proud of me for actually not wasting my money on sweets like I did in the past. Things might not have made sense at that time, but at least that clock in that yellow-tinted shop window was enough to keep me going for the rest of that summer. I just needed a little more Euros to reach that 84.50 Euro goal before Christmas time. However, my plans ended up almost derailed and then saved just before school started back up again.