Chapter 7 scene from Pavel's perspective:

Chapter 7 scene from Pavel's perspective:

It was a normal afternoon. I was heading to the house to make food and do my tasks, but before I could reach the house, Lieutenant Kotler Stopped me. “Hey you!” He shouted, pointing at me. “Come here!” I stopped and turned around and went over to him as I was told to. I was worried that I might have been in trouble. “Take this little man to the storage shed at the back of the main house. Lined up along a side wall are some old tires. He will select one and you are to carry it wherever he asks you to, is that understood?”. I nodded my head “Yes, sir”, I said quietly. “And afterwards when you return to the kitchen, make sure you wash your hands before touching any of the food, you filthy—”.  He was speaking so aggressively that he spat while talking. “Off you go then”, he said, waiting for me to go. I turned and led the boy to the storage shed.

When we reached the storage room, the boy had picked a tire, and I carried it. It was quite heavy and I struggled a bit, but I managed to drag it to the large oak tree that he had wanted me to carry it to. I put the tire on the ground and then I left.

A while later, I was in the middle of peeling potatoes when I heard someone say “Oh dear!”. I looked out the window and saw the little boy on the ground, with cuts on his leg. I ran out of the house and came quickly to help the boy. “I don’t know what happened,” he said. “It didn’t seem dangerous at all”. “You were going too high,” I said quietly.

I carried him back to the house and into the kitchen, putting him on one of the wooden chairs. I kneeled down to examine his injured knee.

“Where’s mother?” he asked, looking around the room.

“Your mother hasn’t returned yet, I’m afraid,” I said. “I’m the only one here.”

“What’s going to happen then?” he asked. Tears starting to form in his eyes. “I might bleed to death.”

I gave a gentle laugh at his dramatic statement. “You’re not going to bleed to death,” I assured him. I brought a stool to put the boy’s leg on. I got up and opened the first aid box. I took a wet towel and gently rubbed it on the boy’s knee. “Will I go to the hospital?” he asked. I told him that it’s nothing bad and that he will be fine, in a calm voice. I applied some green liquid to the cut and taped it with a bandage. “Thank you,” said the boy. “Your welcome,” I said. I told him to relax his leg for a few minutes and to not go near the swing today. He nodded his head.

I washed my hands and returned to peeling the potatoes. The boy was still sitting on the chair. “Will you tell mother what happened?” he asked. “I think she’ll see for herself,” I replied. I now had moved on to peeling the carrots.

“Yes, I suppose so,” he said. “Perhaps she’ll want to take me to the doctor.”

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“You never know. It could be worse than it seems”

“It’s not,” I said, while peeling the carrots.

“Well how do you know?” he asked quickly. He seemed to be getting a little irritated. “You’re not a doctor.”

I stopped peeling the carrots for a moment and looked across at the boy. I thought about what to say to him. Whether I should tell him the truth or not. “Yes I am,” I finally answered. He looked at me with surprise. “But you’re a waiter,” he said. “And you peel the vegetables for dinner. How can you be a doctor too?” I told him that I certainly am a doctor, and that just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer. I sat and talked with him for a while. I told him that I used to be a doctor before I came here, and he told me that he wants to be an explorer.

Then I suddenly heard the sound of the boy’s mother Elsa, coming. I quickly returned to sink and began peeling the vegetables again. She came in and asked the boy what had happened. He told her that he fell and I had helped him. She sent him upstairs and thanked me. I nodded my head. “If the commandant asks, we'll say that I cleaned Bruno up”. I was relieved that I hadn’t gotten in any trouble.