Lea's Load
by B. K. McSwain

"Lea! Did you eat the last apple I was going to use to make us a pie? Don't you know there's a war going on?" her mother shouted out the window.
Lea, sitting below on the apartment stoop, tossed an apple core into the bushes; yes, she knew there was a war going on. Ever since that German guy decided to invade Poland, there had been a war going on turning her life in Rome, Italy, inside out and upside down until she couldn't even eat an apple in peace. Lea grabbed the bucket and trudged to the custodian's closet for a mop with little consolation that her work efforts helped pay the rent while papa was away in the war. Fear inched up her spine as she opened the door to the dark, dank, and dusty closet. She steeled herself to run in and run out when a movement in the corner caught her attention.
Sunlight streamed in, shining a beacon on blonde hair that stuck up like thatch from a young man's head as he crouched, clothed in a tattered German uniform, with his arms wrapped around his knees, shaking and muttering.
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