“Nah,” said Freddie Merrill,
“The lady truck driver wasn’t no nurse, she was a mechanic!” Tommy Hastings elbowed
him.
“A girl working on trucks…”
Charlie Fairlaine started. From down the hill came the roar of a truck climbing
the hill. Over the grinding of gears, they heard shouts. Curses. Charlie said,
“That doesn’t sound like it’s in English.”
Tommy said softly, “It’s not
English. It’s Finnish. The Socialists found us…”
Freddie whispered, “We’re
dead.”
Charlie grabbed the shirts of
both boys and dragged them after him, saying, “Neither one of you’se is dead
yet! Let’s go!”
Tommy let Charlie drag him
along. Freddie pulled back, “We have to hide! You’re running in the wrong way!
You want us to get caught!”
"I’m not giving you to the
socialists!” Charlie exclaimed. The truck ground its gears again and more
cursing poured from the street.
A voice shouted in perfectly
good English, “The boys won’t be anywhere but here! We grab them, torture them,
find out where the picture is!” The lights from the truck suddenly bounced up
the hill, sweeping wildly over buildings, the tower, the houses across the
street.
Freddie shouted, “That’s not
the Socialists!”
“It is! They were talking
Finnish…”
“Why would somebody talk
American if they’re with the Socialists?”
“There’s American socialists!”
Tommy said, “Come on! We have to...”
“We don’t need to be afraid!
It’s Americans!” Freddie shouted, pulling away from Tommy and Charlie. He
pulled away from them, running backwards.
“Come on! It’s the
Socialists!”
“It’s not!”
The truck swung into the
gravel parking lot, headlights swinging, hitting the creamery. Charlie stepped
next to Tommy and said, “When I say ‘throw’, hit the headlights.” Freddie ran
toward the truck. “Trip him!” Charlie whispered. Tommy stuck his foot out,
knocking Freddie’s feet out from under him, sending his life-long friend
sprawling in the gravel and dust. Charlie shouted, “Throw!” Tommy let fly.
Glass exploded from one headlight, then the other.
Finnish cursing poured from
the back of the truck as the sound of people trying to get out without knocking
each other over – which they were failing to do – rumbled over the dark parking
lot.
“Grab him!” Charlie said, pushing
Tommy forward. They scooped up Freddie. “Hit the truck!” They ran across the
lot, Charlie found the door and opened it.
“Pysäyttää heidät! Tappakaa heidät!”
“They want us to stop so they
can take us home!” Freddie cried out, struggling against Tommy and Charlie. “They’re
here to take us home!”
Charlie shouted, “They want
to kill you!”
“How do you know?”
“My girlfriend is Finnish! I
can speak it!”
“What?”
“They’re gonna kill you guys!
Get in!”
“What?”
Tommy grabbed Freddie’s face
and shouted, “Get in or we’re gonna die!” then shoved him into the truck and
shouted to Charlie, “Go! Go! Go!”
The truck roared to life,
Charlie turned the headlights on and swung the truck around, charging the Finns
and their truck. The Creamery truck fish-tailing on the loose gravel, Finns
leaped to save their lives, and with a tremendous BANG! The truck was suddenly
sliding in the other direction. For a moment, it hung at the edge of the
abyss...
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