The Truth

So far, Heddy has discovered a German man hiding in an abandoned house just down the beach from her family home. A new boy, Lester, comes to stay with his aunt and uncle, and he and Heddy become best friends. They share a kiss. Heddy's brother, Willis returns from the war and suffers from nightmares. Now, Lester has blurted out that the German is on the island.

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Willis stares hard at me. "Heddy, you know anything about this?" He takes a step closer to me, standing straight and not bending down like he usually does when he asks me something. "You better answer me, and you darn well better be truthful."

Mrs. Colette's' eyes glimmer like oil as she watches me squirm under my brother's gaze. "The two of these are sneaky. Thick as thieves. You won't get the truth out of either one of them," she says.

Willis grimaces. "Mrs. Collette, please. Neither one of them are liars. May I speak with Lester outside? Alone?" He never stops staring at me.

"You won't get the truth out of him. Leave that to Wayne and me. We'll make him tell the truth. Yes, sir, he will regret sneaking around to protect a Nazi and for stealing."

I look at my feet, unable to look at Lester and not willing to look at Willis. He's mad. I could see it in his eyes.

"Mrs. Collette, may I speak with him outside for a moment?"

She heaves a big sigh before grabbing Lester's shoulder and pushing him forward. "You come right back inside, young man, as soon as he's finished asking you his questions. You hear me?"

Lester nods and skirts by her.

We follow Willis out to the porch and wait for him to start yelling. "Tell me about the German."

I cut my eyes at Lester and clear my throat to buy myself a few seconds. I need to think. Artie is in danger because of me and Lester. I need to figure out how to tell Willis without really telling him.

Willis stomps his foot on the ground. "Somebody had better start talking."

"He's a nice man, Willis. He talks just like you and me. He loves this country. He truly does."

"How long have you known about him, and where is he hiding?"

It won't do any good to lie about how long I've known him. "School had just let out. I-I was spying on him. But he was real nice. Willis, you have to believe he's a good guy."

Willis shakes his head. "I don't know what to believe, Heddy. All I know is you and Lester are playing a dangerous game. Why didn't you tell anyone about him?"

Lester shrugs and looks ashamed. But, I know why I didn't. Artie is my friend. Even Nonni trusted him. "Artie is my friend. He misses his family, but he said he couldn't go back home because Hitler would make him kill people. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. You have to believe me."

"It's true, Willis," Lester says quickly. "I was afraid to meet him, I thought he might be a spy, but he's just a regular guy."

Willis rubs the back of his neck and blows out a puff of breath. "This is serious, you two. You are children, you can't make judgement calls when you aren't equipped to do it."

Lester speaks up. "My aunt was holding back one of his letters. It was from his momma. She said she missed him and his brother had to go off to fight. She was worried about both Artie and his brother."

"Lester, even spies have mothers. You go back inside and Heddy and I will go on home. If your aunt and uncle ask you about any of this, you be truthful with them. Don't give them any reason to come down hard on you. This whole mess is bad enough, without you lying for no reason."

I look over at Lester as he glances back at the door to the post office. "Okay," he says softly.

I reach out real quick and grab his wrist. "You don't remember where he is, ain't that right?"

Lester shakes his head. "I can't remember exactly."

Willis has started walking ahead. "Come on, Heddy," he says without turning around.

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My daddy is pacing all the while Willis is telling what happened at the post office. He won't look at me, not really, he just looks from Willis to my momma. "So, is the German still here on the island?"

Willis shrugs. "I don't really know, and I doubt very much that Heddy will tell you."

Momma slides her chair over to where I sit at the kitchen table. "Honey, please. This is very serious. He could be a spy. He could be telling Adolf Hitler where we are. You can't protect him, he's not one of us."

My bottom lip quivers. Artie isn't a spy. I would know it, I'm not stupid. "He's nice. He loves America. He told me. He came here a few years ago. People were nice to him, until the war changed their minds. Then they threw a rock through his window. They scared him off. He had to hide."

Finally, Daddy kneels in front of me. "Ladybug, where is your friend hiding?" he asks, his voice is gentle and calm.

"Dr. Monroe's house," I say as a wealth of tears spill down my cheeks. "You aren't gonna hurt him are you?"

He taps the end of my nose with his forefinger. "No, tomorrow Willis and I are going to walk down there to see what he's up to. It's better if we meet him, too, don't you think?"

"I guess so."

Willis starts towards the back door. "Any one else smell that? Something is burning."

Daddy and Momma follow him to the back door. We all walk out into the yard. The sun is all but set, and the sky over the ocean has a pinkish hue. Willis looks to his left and points. "Smoke!"

I look to where he is pointing, and, sure enough, a plume of black smoke is billowing up to the sky. And, it looks to be coming from Dr. Monroe's house.

"Artie!" I scream.