I'm Still Scared (3 page)

We went down the staircase with “NO TALKING” until we came to the door to the auditorium. It was also the gym.

Mr. Walters, the janitor, had opened up the big wooden doors that separated the gym part from the auditorium. All the seats, made up of six wooden folding chairs connected to each other, were set up in rows, filling the whole room.

This was serious.

The teachers helped us get settled in our chairs.

Miss Burke walked up onto the stage. She always wore purple. Today she looked very stern.

“Students, please all rise.” A sixth-grade boy came up on the stage holding the flag.

“We will now say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.” We did.

“You may now sit. Yesterday, as many of you know, a terrible thing happened at Pearl Harbor. It is in Hawaii. Our entire Pacific Fleet of ships is based there. Even though it is far away from here, it affects us as well. Later, at noontime, President Roosevelt will talk to the American people over the radio. Mr. Brown, the superintendent of schools, has informed us that we are closing the schools early so you can be at home with your families when the president speaks.

“I want you all to go right home. Older children, if you have a younger brother or sister, be sure to see that you take him or her home safely. We'll see you all back here tomorrow when school will be in session, as usual.”

Buddy came down to Miss Gardner's room to walk me home. Jeannie lives just around the corner from our house, so she came with us.

When we got home, Mom was surprised to see us. She was in the kitchen with Maureen.

“School got out early,” Buddy said.

“So we could hear the president on the radio,” I added.

“That's good,” Mom said. “Your dad is coming home to hear the president, too. I'm fixing cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. We'll eat as soon as he gets here.”

We heard Dad's car pull into the driveway. Dad came in, kissed Mom and Maureen, patted Buddy on the shoulder, and mussed up my hair.

We all sat down at the kitchen table and ate our lunch. Dad got up and turned on the radio in the living room as Buddy and I helped clear the table.

Then we all gathered around the radio.

“The president is going to talk to a joint session of Congress,” Mom told Buddy and me. I wasn't sure what that was. But I knew it was important.

“Here we go,” Dad said.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said, “the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

Right after President Roosevelt spoke on the radio, the phone started to ring. All the relatives were calling.

Mom and Dad decided that we should go down to Wallingford to see Nana and Tom and Uncle Charles.

When we got there, my grandfather, Tom, and Uncle Charles were still at Tom's grocery store.

“You children stay in the parlor and play with the blocks. Buddy, get them out of the sewing room. I have to talk with your mother and father,” Nana said. She took them right into the kitchen.

Buddy, Maureen, and I were building things with the blocks when Tom and Uncle Charles, his girlfriend, Viva, and his best friend, Mickey Lynch, came in. They said hello and went into the kitchen. I could hear talking. Then it sounded like someone was crying.

Tom came into the parlor. “Well, kids,” he said, “how is everything going? Shall we play a game of Chinese checkers?”

I went into the sewing room and got the Chinese checkers board and the bag of marbles that were used to play the game. Tom had taught me how to play last year. I loved it. I was better at it than Buddy. But today I couldn't pay attention.

“Hey, Timothy,” Tom said. (My grandfather called me Timothy for a nickname.) “That's the third bad move you've made. What's the matter?”

“I'm scared,” I said.

“Oh, Timothy, me bucko,” Tom said as he sat down and pulled me up into his lap. “You don't have to be scared. You'll see, everything will be all right. You have to be brave.”

“How come all the grown-ups are whispering and whenever we little kids come into the room, they all stop talking?” I asked Tom.

“Well,” Tom said, “I think that some grown-ups just don't want to frighten all you kids. War is pretty scary, so they are just trying to protect you.”

I was beginning to feel a little better.

“Will we all be killed?” I whispered.

“Oh, I don't think so,” Tom said. “You know, Nana and I, your mom, and Uncle Charles went through the First World War and look at us. We're still here. It will be okay. I'll make sure of it.”

I really felt better now. I knew that I had the best grandfather in the world.

“Come into the kitchen, children,” Nana called. “Have some soup.”

The grown-ups were sitting around the big kitchen table. Viva was drying her eyes. Mom and Nana put out three bowls of homemade vegetable soup. The grown-ups weren't eating.