The rainbow never sets

from the Polish schools, but we gave them a thrashing. Only twice I got hurt, remember when I had to stay home for a few days with my arm in a sling? That's when they got me when I was on my own. Four of them against me. The other time I got hit by a stone, but that only gave me a bad bruise."

"But who started it all?" I said defensively. "If Germany had not threatened Poland, those kids would have left you alone."

"Oh yeah?" "And besides, in Poznan you come up against the Poles who live in the city. They don't have any German friends like us. You go to a special German school, they go to their own school, and you never mix. I like my friends here, and I don't want the Germans to fight the Poles."

Günter tried to stop our argument: "There is nothing we can do about it. If there is going to be a war, there is going to be a war. Horst is older than I and much older than you. He has gone to school in Poznan for three years. He should know."

"This year we too have to go to Poznan to start school," I said stubbornly. "What will happen to us? Will we be bashed up as you, Horst? I don't like it. I'm really scared."

"Don't be a frightened owl," said Günter. "We will be staying at the Siebenbürger boarding house. Don't you remember we met a number of the other boarders only a few weeks ago when they came to stay a night here from their bike-ride? You romped with them on the straw where they slept. They are all big, strong boys, so you really needn't worry too much, you know."

I had enough of this. I wanted to go to a place where I was free from worry. Not far from where we were talking was our beloved climbing tree which had three stems, one had been claimed by Günter, one by Bernd, and one was mine.

"Let's go on our climbing tree, Bernd," I said. He too had enough of all that talking. Horst of course, considered himself too old for such childish games.

Although I was the youngest, in size I came right after Horst. Two years earlier Günter and I were much the same size. We looked like twins then. But since then I had shot up and left Günter behind. Bernd had always been wiry but small, smaller than Günter. Horst and Günter were still talking when we came back. I didn't want to listen to them. I'd rather do a bit of dreaming by myself.

*

I was only one and a half-years old, I could hardly walk, but already Günter and I played 'horses' together. I was in the harness and he held the reigns firmly in his hands: "giddup", he called, and he wanted me to trot

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