Anna's heroic move

2

 Everyone in the room gave a small gasp in surprise. "Or we could move towns, maybe start a new life" her Ma suggested, but nobody liked that idea either. "Why don't I live on the farm for a couple of weeks until they are gone, and for sure are not coming back" Otto asked. Her father stood up with great force, knocking over the chair he was sitting in and yelled, "If they found out you were alive, they will come after you. Since your plan currently is just to live there, and they will check the farm, you could get caught. Then that could back on all of us!" Everyone started raising their voices, it got so loud that Sofia started crying. She picked her up and started thinking of ideas. She found it hard to focus with all the noise. She the hand she was not using on her head and a tear slipped down her cheek. Everything seemed so hopeless. Suddenly the best idea yet popped into her head. She stood up and yelling over all of them "What if you died!" Otto turning over and giving her an exceptionally large eye roll said, "That is what we are trying to prevent Anna" She gave him an aggravated sigh, although she could see where he was coming from. "No, what if we faked his death so the Russian soldiers believed he was dead and they would leave us alone" Everyone sat quietly in disbelief for a second and then Ma said, in a tone of disbelief "That might actually work" 

So in the following days they developed a plan. First, they thought they needed to make it look real. They went to the city council to ask permission to use some of the burial wood to make a fake coffin and a wooden cross. The entire community shared wood for coffins and they needed permission to get some from the carpenter, thankfully they were given permission, so they at once got to work. Everyone in their village was in on the plan, except for a couple of elderly folks who claimed that it was not tradition. They were told to just stay in their homes for the day. As her father started to build a coffin and cross, a couple of Otto's friends started to get his 'burial plot' ready. All she had to do was find a way to hide Otto when the Russian's arrived. She at first had the idea that he could hide upstairs in the gable, but she soon realized that it would be too obvious. She asked different people around the village where they thought a good hiding spot was. She asked one of the women in the Ladies' Aid Society, Johanna, and even Fr. Tortschinski. But the best idea was from her father. He had the idea of hiding him in a grain cart out at the farm. He would lay under some of the freshly cut winter wheat. Although they knew they would check the farm, they most likely would not go through the fresh crops. 

So, as the day built up to the Russian's arrivals, Otto stopped leaving the house and the entire family wore black, and her father knelt eye to eye with her so she could see every aspect of his face and told her to act as if her brother were dead. The only one who had trouble keeping quiet was Sofia, since she did not understand what was really going on. The coffin was built so it felt heavier, so it felt like someone was inside of it. They had thought of every possible way to make it seem as if he was actually gone. It was now a crisp Wednesday and exactly two weeks since they had gotten the letter. It was about 10 a.m. and the whole family was dressed in black garments. Right before they arrived Anna kneeled next to Sofia "I need you to listen, we are going to play a game. We are going to see if you can stay very quiet, do not say anything" Sofia just responded with a nod. 

Anna snatched up her fur coat and went out on the streets to wait. After an hour, she finally heard the steady thump of feet on the snow-covered ground. She started to bite her nails because she was so nervous. The Russian soldiers marched right up to her and asked where Otto Kuntz lived. She was shocked to learn that he spoke both German and Russian. She did not respond but looked away instead. This time grabbing one of her braids and tugging on it, so it made her look up.