The Stolen Star

without taking anything with her? The cousins slipped two bundles next to her: one with food and the other with clothes. Michael nonchalantly asked Nina:

  “Are these yours by any chance?”

  “What? Where? ” she asked in a small lost voice.

  “Here,” said Ben nudging the bundles closer to Nina.

  "How could I not have noticed taking them?”

  Nina untied the bundles, fed the children and dressed them in warmer clothes. They immediately calmed down, despite the bombs that were falling all around the train. And when Nina put on her warm cardigan she found the two gold rings in her pocket. Oh, how useful they were going to prove later on. It was only later that she began to wonder, whether it had been an Angel sent from heaven that had left these rings in her pocket. Thus, the family escaped hell on earth in one piece.

  Soon great-grandfather was killed and great-grandmother was left alone with the children. It was very difficult for her. Michael and Ben watched on in disbelief at this fantastic story. How could anyone survive such harsh conditions? On more than one occasion the boys were ready to rush to their relatives’ aid. But the Wise Old Man stopped them, explaining that the time that they had available was strictly rationed. But then, when their great-grandmother was rushing to cross the great river Volga just as the ice was beginning to thaw out, the red button began to flash! The cousins found themselves flying in a starship right above Nina. But an Angel was leading her over the ice floes and she successfully avoided falling into the treacherous water and finally reached the far shore. Nevertheless her boots were completely soaked through. Nina wearily sank onto a nearby bench and closed her eyes. At that moment Michael and Ben swapped her wet boots for some dry ones. A minute later Nina was already running to get to her work at the bread factory on time, where the bread rations were a bit more generous.

  The family moved gradually westwards as the country became liberated from the enemy.

  Thus, Nina found herself in a small town in the Ukraine where she had gone to work for some small farmers. No sooner had she entered the farmyard than she was attacked by their vicious dog. In an instant the cousins rushed to help drive the huge dog away from Nina. They were going to need more than a couple of big sticks so Ben shouted to Michael:

  “What are dogs afraid of? Do you think they might be frightened of bears?”

  “Well give it a try, quick!”

  Within a second Ben, who was standing behind Nina, turned into a huge grizzly bear. The vicious dog was completely taken aback. She gave a frightened little yelp like a small puppy and ran off at full pelt.

  “Phew, thank goodness we've frightened it off!"

  However, the horrible dog had still succeeded in biting Nina on the leg. Later some soldiers helped to make it better. The wound healed but for a long time afterwards Nina wondered what exactly had frightened the dog off? Once the cousins had got out of earshot of the vicious dog and its owners they fell about laughing. Michael told Ben, how funny it had been when Ben, in the form of a bear, had waved his great paw at the dog and said:

  “Get out of here, you horrible cur!"

  There was one very touching scene when the two little girls, went to the bazaar with two buckets of water. The idea was to sell the water by the cup for whatever the passers-by could afford. The boys' grandmother looked especially funny, the bucket reached right up to her waist and it would take all her strength to drag it around with her crying in her little voice:

  “Who wants my lovely cold water?”

  The cousins couldn't resist helping her and secretly filled her pockets with so many coins that later everyone was amazed at how much she had been able to earn. But the next day when all the other children who lived in the same huge makeshift hall rushed off to the market to sell water they found that everyone had already drunk their fill the day before.

  Later Nina arrived at Kamianets-Podilskyi.

  “Is it the same town?” asked Ben.

  ”Yes, exactly the same, look there is the same Turkish Fortress,” Michael replied in surprise. Great-grandmother Nina's brother Ivan lived in Kamianets-Podilskyi. He had now become Father John which was a great surprise for Nina.

  “Didn't you used to be a maths teacher?" Nina asked in surprise.

  “Well, it’s a long story,” answered Ivan.

  And the following is Nina’s brother’s highly unusual story. Michael and Ben were all ears.

  Several days before the War Ivan had come to Kamianets-Podilskyi to visit some relatives. When the Second World War started they were unable to get away quickly enough before the Germans had taken the town. Expecting our army to quickly repulse the enemy Ivan and his wife thus remained stuck in Kamianets-Podilskyi. At first Ivan remained at home and busied himself writing a new mathematics text book for his senior classes. Then a number of horrendous events began to take place: the Nazis began to herd all the local Jews into a terrible ghetto. Then one day they came knocking on Ivan's door, although he and his family were all Ukrainians. For some reason the Nazis thought that Ivan looked like a Jew and he was taken. Literally the next day his wife ran to the head of the SS and showed him Ivan’s diploma proving that he had graduated from a seminary. The SS commander became extremely angry and shouted that the document could have been forged and that Ivan would have to prove himself what sort of priest he was. Ivan’s wife went away in despair, they didn't even take the message she had brought for her husband.

  Michael and Ben immediately pressed the red button and found themselves standing next to Ivan’s wife who was on her way to the ghetto. She was carrying some food and warm clothing for her husband. But at the entrance she unexpectedly met up with Ivan. He had nevertheless been let out with orders to start serving as a priest the following day. In her joy at seeing her husband, Ivan’s wife dropped her bundles and ran to embrace him. The cousins quickly grabbed the bundle containing the food. Being invisible the boys soon got into the ghetto where the prisoners were being held. The sight that greeted them defied description! Adults, old people and children were crammed in together like sardines. The door was guarded but unlocked. The boys quietly opened the door, went inside, lay the bundle by the doors, unwrapped it and quickly slipped to one side. They had barely caught their breath before the food disappeared and was given to the children.

  “Those swine aren’t even feeding the children.” Michael angrily hissed to Ben.

  “Why would they bother to feed them if they’re getting ready to murder them?” Ben sadly replied.

  “How could they kill innocent children?” Michael exclaimed in horror.

  “Haven’t you seen any films about the War?” and speaking in a barely audible whisper Ben said: “Let’s set them free tonight!”

  “That would be brilliant!” Michael joyfully agreed.

  When night fell, the German commanders went their different ways leaving only one guard. The cousins spent a long time trying to think of a way of distracting the guard and finally came up with an idea... That night a German motorcar and sidecar rode up to the main entrance of the building where the prisoners were being held. Two rather small and clumsy German soldiers dragged a big case from the sidecar and left it in the guard’s restroom. They put the case on the table so that its contents would be visible to the guards and then muttered something totally incomprehensibly in German.

  “This is a present to celebrate the holiday.”

  The reason being, that it was just before New Year’s Eve, and then left on further business. However, there was such a strong smell of coffee coming from the case that it was only a matter of minutes before the guards were crowded together in the guard house. A few minutes later they were all drinking the most wonderful coffee and no-one was in any rush to return to their post.

  The two small dispatch riders, who, as you’ve guessed, were Michael and Ben, opened the gate of the hall where the prisoners were being held. r />
  “We are letting you out, run for it!" Michael shouted to the prisoners. But nobody stirred but just stood there in silence.

  “Don’t be afraid, we are on your side, the guards are sitting drinking coffee in the guard house. You have ten to fifteen minutes to get away," Ben tried to convince the poor prisoners.

  Then one of the older men got up and said:

  “We can’t all get away; they will catch up with us older ones and shoot us. So, if you can, take the children and young people and we will stay here so that they will think that nothing has happened. At least that way we can hold them up for a while and the children will be saved.”

  The boys formed the children into a chain holding hands with Michael at one end and Ben at the other. Then they switched on their invisibility buttons. In an instant all the children had disappeared, the grown-ups simply gasped in amazement. What miracle was this! Michael and Ben led the children out of the building and when they had put a safe distance between them and danger, they split the children into several groups sending each one to different villages. There they were hidden by the peasants who looked after them as their own. And thus all the children were saved.

  Having become a priest, Ivan did many good deeds. But the most important of them was supporting the partisans by sending them food which people would leave at the