Free Tell No One Who You Are by Walter Buchignani

trouble for Nicole. Monsieur and Madame Bernard were standing right behind her.
    “It’s nothing,” she began to say, but her voice cracked.
    Nicole bent down and looked into her face. “What’s wrong? Tell me.”
    “It’s nothing.”
    “Is it your hair?” Nicole asked. “Don’t worry. It’s not that bad. It’ll get better.”
    “It’s not that,” Régine said, and held out her hands.
    Nicole took hold of Régine’s hands and her eyes widened. Calluses covered her knuckles completely. The tips of her fingers were cracked and showed traces of dried blood. Her fingernails were broken. Nicole rose and stared at the Bernards. Régine had never seen her so angry.
    “Go up to your room,” Nicole told Régine. “I have some things to discuss here.”
    Régine climbed the stairs wondering if she had done the right thing. Would her father have approved? She sat on the edge of her bed and remembered what he had told her as he sat at his worktable and cut a square of red material into the shape of a star to glue on the back of the yellow Star of David the Germans were forcing them to wear.
    “If you are forced to do something you think is wrong,” her father had said, “then you must protest.” Régine decided she had done the right thing by showing Nicole her hands.
    A few days later, Nicole returned. She took Régine aside and told her she had made arrangements for her to stay with another family. That was not all. Nicole said she had something to tell her. She could not explain to her right away although it was very important.
    “Go pack your bag,” Nicole told her. “We don’t have much time.”
    What important news did Nicole have for her? Was it about her father? Régine hurried up the stairs. She was relieved to be leaving this household after only one month. She returned downstairs and said a curt good-bye to Monsieur and Madame Bernard. They looked embarrassed.
    Nicole was waiting outside. Régine went to join her, passing the two girls who stood watching. She heard them giggle just before the door slammed behind her.

Chapter Twenty-two
    R ÉGINE BOARDED THE TRAM and took a seat by the window with her duffel bag in her lap. She scratched her messy head and waited nervously for Nicole to tell her the important news.
    Nicole held her briefcase tightly as she spoke. She had to talk fast, she said, because there was very little time. They were going to the bus station in Brussels. Régine would take a bus that would bring her to a new hiding place in the countryside.
    “You understand? It won’t be like before,” she told Régine. “I won’t be able to visit you. It will be too far.”
    Régine could not hide her disappointment. “You mean, I won’t see you?”
    “It is only for three months,” Nicole said, “and I’ll write.”
    “Where will I be living?”
    “In Andoumont,” Nicole said. She put her briefcase flat on her lap. “It’s a small village in Liège.”
    Régine had never been to Liège but knew that it was south of Brussels, not far from the Ardennes mountains and the German border. She had learned by heart at the
école primaire
all the nine provinces of Belgium and their capital cities. The capital of the province of Liège was easy to remember because it was also called Liège.
    Nicole rummaged inside her briefcase. “It’s smaller than Boitsfort. And the people you’ll be with live on a farm.”
    Many children from Brussels had been sent to live in thecountryside since the German occupation began more than three years before. The countryside was safer than the city in the case of bombings and food was more plentiful.
    “These people have two children,” Nicole said, still rummaging. “So you won’t be alone. And you’ll be going to school.”
    “To school?” Régine’s eyes lit up at the prospect. “Really?”
    “Yes,” Nicole said, pulling out an envelope. She looked through the window and frowned. “We’re almost there. We’re very short of time, so