The Promise

Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

June 1929
Lüneburg, Germany.

There was a grove of trees by the river and sitting in their shade was a young boy with a suntanned face and white blond hair. She knew his name was Erik Schultz and that he was thirteen years old. A whole year older than her.

But they were in the same grade.

"That's because I'm exceptionally smart," Ruth Kohen thought with pride.

Carefully she limped her way through the tall, summer grass. Despite her hurt foot it was imperative that she keep as quiet as possible. If Erik saw her coming he would sprint away like a frightened doe, and Ruth was determined to catch him this time.

They knew each other quite well. The Kohen family had come to Lüneburg in December of last year to help Ruth's maternal uncle with his shop. They lived just three houses from the Schultz family and Erik and Ruth would often end up walking to school together. He sat directly behind her in class and she knew for a fact that he would copy her math answers, though he always denied it when she would confront him about this cheating behaviour.

She knew he loved his Oma, Frau Hurst, very much and would go for an hour long walk with her in the evenings. He was also the only Schultz who attended church with Frau Hurst and always memorized the Sunday School lesson by heart.

She knew he had an amiable disposition and made friends easily. He was popular in school and everyone wanted to be associated with him. She also knew that for some reason he would get tongue tied whenever she was around him and never once addressed her first. Ruth was almost ready to believe that he didn't even like her, but then yesterday Paul Schmidt had said that boys run faster than girls and Ruth had challenged his way of thinking and he had dared her to race him down hill.

Since Ruth was a sensible girl she of course agreed to the dare. But, as fate would have it, her foot caught on a little ditch in the dirt path. This caused her to trip and roll the rest of the way down the hill. The mishap wasn't in itself a bad thing as it made her win the race, even though Paul kept claiming it wasn't a fair win.

More importantly, however, it had been Erik Schultz who caught her when she rolled down to the bottom of the hill. Corrie Schmidt later confided to her how the second she tripped Erik had raced with lightning speed down the hill in order to catch her. He had helped her up and as she had twisted her ankle he assisted her to her door and delivered her to her mother.

If he didn't like her he would have never gone through so much trouble. But Ruth had to know for sure. So today she had violated the order to stay off her injured foot, borrowed her father's cane (without asking) and snuck out the window to go and confront her rescuer. She knew where to find him. On pleasant summer afternoons he preferred to go down to the river with his canvass and paints.

Inch by inch she made her way nearer to him until at last she was right behind the artist who still hadn't noticed her, so absorbed was he in his work.

Coming round to his right Ruth reached over and gave his arm a little poke.
"Hey there, Erik."

The sound of her voice and the fact that she had touched him caused him to give such a start that he nearly toppled over.

"Oh, uh, Ruth, hi" he stammered out. "I didn't notice you approaching."

Ruth smiled wickedly. "Giving your reaction I think I realized that."

The color rose to his cheeks."How's your foot?"

"It's fine, thanks. Papa says it will be as good as new in a few days."