Free Oscar by Unknown

sleep in this field for the night, think of the bloody children.’
    ‘I am thinking of the children, you stupid woman.’ he spat back. ‘There’s nothing but fields for miles, it’s getting dark, and the kids are tired—what the hell do you propose I do?’
    There was no reply; she knew that he was right. Besides the fact that the children were tired, they were also hungry, and what could be better to feast upon than fresh corn?
    Oscar almost salivated, pulling on the corn’s stem to claim his prize. The other children followed after him and pulled on a stem each, their rasping fingers trying to reach the food they needed. John could see that some were struggling. The women just stood there, watching and waiting for the children to concede and ask for their mothers’ help.
    ‘Don’t just stand there watching them struggle, go and help your children.’ he boomed in frustration. The women herded together like a flock of sheep and he became the sheep dog, ushering them towards their kids.
    ‘Get over there, the lot of you.’ he ordered.
    #
    Oscar and the rest of the kids ate their raw corn as they were watched by the adults, who refrained from eating anything. They sat drinking water from the canteens that they had found within the houses they had left behind, and speculated about anything that didn’t involve the day’s events. John sat watching over all of them, neither drinking nor eating; his thoughts lay elsewhere.
    For most of the day, the only thing he had been thinking was:
what are my comrades doing at this precise moment?
He knew all too well what went on in the camps, and prayed that they had evaded any kind of resistance. He wanted to believe that they had gone into hiding until it was safe for them to surface again, but he somehow knew that they hadn’t been that fortunate. He had to rid himself of such thoughts in order to stay sane and able to get the others in his charge to the safe place he had talked about.
    One of the women in the group stared into his sad, faraway eyes, wondering what was going on in that mind of his.
    ‘Can I ask you, John, what the matter is?’ said the woman. ‘I’ve been watching you all night, and you have done nothing but stare into thin air.’
    ‘Are you finding us too big a burden to shoulder?’ she added.
    He snapped out of his trance-like state and smiled uneasily at her.
    ‘No, Grace—none of you are a burden to me.’ he cried. ‘The others are playing on my mind.’
    He hung his head and brought his hands up to meet his face. Grace felt the urge to mother him, to take him into her bosom, to comfort him. She knew that he held himself responsible for what might have happened to Miriam and the rest, her husband included among them.
    His hard exterior had all but melted away. Everybody in his presence was shocked by the sudden transformation. They had only ever known him as their no-nonsense leader, without an ounce of compassion. Even he didn’t know what was happening to him. Maybe he needed a situation like this to bring out the decency in him.
    ‘I’m sure they’ll be fine, John—they know how to handle themselves.’ Grace concluded before returning to the others.
    #
    An hour or so had passed, the children had laid their heads down for the night and the women were becoming weary.
    ‘I think it’s time you all got some shuteye.’ John said, a slight tinge of aggressiveness attached to his tone.
    Nothing was meant by it, but he was as tired as the rest of them. He chose to watch over them instead of sleep; like a shepherd watching over his flock until morning, ready to ward off any danger that might be lurking within their corn field cubby.
    In this day and age, you couldn’t afford to make a mistake—one slip-up, one word out of place, and the government would find an excuse to have you interned. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to his flock.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    I t had just struck six-thirty in the morning. Miriam hadn’t slept a wink,