Chapter 6

Outside, he sees a van. Voices downstairs stop, and outside Edek can see Stormtroopers taking his mother to the van. When she is inside, he fires, hitting a soldier in the arm and puncturing a wheel. The van careens away swiftly.

Edek runs to his sisters’ room and busts it open. He tells them what he did; Ruth says that was silly, and they must get away. They barely have time to dress properly. They cannot go out the front door; the only way is the roof. They climb up the attic and out on the roof through a skylight. Edek warns tiny Bronia not to make a sound.

It is a terrifying couple of steps in the V between the chimney and the roof ridge. They slide into the ridge and cannot see what is going on below. All of the roof ridges in the area are connected, which is lucky: they would not have gotten away otherwise. They climb for about a hundred yards; then they hear a magnificent explosion. They see their house billow up into fire and smoke.

Edek calls for them to keep moving and they finally descend a twisted fire escape. They hurry far away from the fire. The pale dawn breaks and they shelter in a cellar of a bombed house.