Free Last Stork Summer by Mary Brigid Surber Page A

already lost that battle, that’s why we were here.
    I needed to calm myself down; we had no rights, or claims to anything here. Even if it was only temporary, at least Anna got a break from the mindless, difficult labor inflicted upon us. I cautioned myself to focus on what I needed to do this morning, which was to get my work assignment for the day.
    I was hopeful that I would get another chance to look for the storks while working outside. I must be working on straw shoes today. Then suddenly, I realized I’d been daydreaming again. Everyone was walking away and assembling into their workgroups but I hadn’t heard my name called for any group. I hoped that didn’t mean I was on camp clean-up. I couldn’t bear the feelings I got when cleaning around the sick children shivering in their bunks, burning up with fever, too sick to eat or make it outside before losing the contents of their stomachs. Camp life was too harsh for many of the children; homesick, starved, cold, lonely, so many succumbed to illness. It was a known fact that if you went to the camp doctor you probably wouldn’t come back, so most kids tried to avoid appearing ill. I always forced myself to attend roll call and receive a job assignment, no matter how ill I felt. Now, I had Anna to consider as well as myself.
    Then I saw the young soldier I’d spoken with the day I’d gotten Anna out of the barracks and away from the dog. He approached me with his dog and an older man. I searched my brain for some kind of explanation.
Was I in trouble? Would I be the next example of public discipline? What could this possibly mean?
I reminded myself to breathe and stay calm even though my legs were betraying me and starting to shake.
    “Ewa, right?”
    I nodded my head.
    “We have a special job for you today.”
    “Something we think you deserve, and will be very good at performing.”
    Experience had taught me that changes in a place like this were usually bad. This was a change I hadn’t anticipated. I was familiar with the different jobs we did here. I’d been doing them for years. Perhaps this had to do with the beautification program though.
    I didn’t know what to think. I was slightly relieved about the “special job” they had for me, even though my heart sank with disappointment because once again this meant I’d have to wait at least one more day before looking for the storks. I found myself being silently escorted by two large, uniformed men. They walked with ram rod stiffness, spotless uniforms, and bootsshining to perfection; one in front of me and one behind me, taking long steps making it difficult for me to keep up with them. I hoped we weren’t going very far because I didn’t know how long I could continue this pace. I was used to traveling to job sites in groups of children; guards slowing slightly to accommodate the steps of smaller feet in the group. The fact that I was by myself, being escorted by two soldiers made me feel uneasy, but it was too late. If I tried to escape I’d be shot. The fear I felt was like a shiny necklace hanging around my neck for all to see. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to arrive at our destination.
     
    Circling slowly, climbing higher, white wings gleaming in the sun .
    Floating, gliding on the airstreams, storks and Poland, home as one .
    The storks make their long migration from southern Africa back to Poland. Along the way, they stop in Sudan in northern Africa. The availability of locusts in Africa provides them the nourishment they need for their winter survival and spring departure. The journey takes them between 20 and 30 days. During their arduous migration, they avoid the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea by crossing the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey. They are reluctant to fly across large bodies of water because they like to glide, and thermal air currents are not found over water.
    The route they’ve traveled for centuries has remained fixed because of the geographical location