Adam and Thomas

Chapter 27

From above, in the last watch of the night, they saw a short creature, wrapped in a blanket, tottering and wandering in the snow. The tiny creature advanced with difficulty, stumbling with every few steps. Clearly it was about to faint, or it was wounded and trying to resist the wind that kept knocking it over.

They didn’t delay but climbed down. They immediately saw that it was Mina.

Her face was bleeding. She was breathing with difficulty. Adam and Thomas held her and carried her to the tree, and carefully, from branch to branch, they carried her up to the nest and immediately started taking care of her.

“What happened to you, Mina? Don’t be afraid. Thomas and I will watch over you.”

Now that they had wrapped her up, once again they realized how light she was, almost weightless.

Meanwhile the thunder in the distance had stopped. It snowed harder from hour to hour. By now it was a meter deep. They curled up together. The blanket that Mina had brought with her helped to cover them. But the cold penetrated anyway, and it stung and hurt them.

“We won’t have any choice but to go down and light a fire,” said Adam.

“Maybe we should wait another day,” said Thomas.

“We’ll wait as long as we can, but no longer.”

Meanwhile they rubbed their hands together, and they rubbed Mina’s feet to draw her out of the cold and her weakness.

The peasant angel left them a pitcher of milk and half a loaf of bread. They put drops of milk in Mina’s mouth. She opened her eyes for a moment and then quickly closed them.

Miro wouldn’t stand still. The narrow space they were trying to seal off from the cold seemed to oppress him. A couple of times he was about to leap, but Adam stopped him.

Finally he freed himself and jumped. Adam wanted to run after him, but he realized he couldn’t catch up with him. Miro raced quickly, as though pursued, into the interior of the forest. They watched him fearfully. The darkness, which had fallen, separated them from Miro.

“Where did Miro run to?” Thomas asked in a trembling voice.

“Miro wouldn’t run off for no reason. Danger doesn’t deter him.”

Adam bent very close to Mina’s face and whispered, “Just another small effort, Mina. We’re getting close to the end of the war. In a little while, just a bit, the Red Army will come and liberate us.”