Rosina Lippi

“No," he said after seeming to consider for a moment."But I'll let the girl come along, down to Ackenau. To keep them calm." He twisted in the driver's seat to look at Katharina. "She can walk back." Katharina's puzzled look seemed to amuse him. "If you would like a ride, that is. Schatz." The car moved back over the rutted path. Word had spread and now there were people, some of them curious, others angry. Bengato Jakob leaped across the stream and came rushing up toward the car but then fell quickly out of sight; Katharina thought he must have tripped. The car was creeping along, and folks had time to bend down and look in the windows, to mouth words at her. They crowded up close, pointing at the driver, fingering the standard with its embroidered swastika. Calling questions out, to her, to each other. Hands flitting against the window glass, calloused red palms. For a good ways Barbara walked behind, crying loudly, calling, "Be good, boys, be good, come back soon. I'm waiting for you." Michel was clutching at Katharina, his bent hands twisting in her skirt. Katharina put an arm around him. She hadn't seen Michel in a long time; he never came into the village, and she couldn't remember the last time she had been out at River's Bend. His blond hair was thin at the crown. He hiccuped, and then was silent. She tried to take Stante's hand again, but he turned away from her to watch the village slip by.”
― Rosina Lippi, Homestead