Chapter Three: The Way Life is:

I never understood our politics growing up. Everything just looked black and white to me. That’s how little kids my age see the world. However, it all started to change for me in the coming events. Lyle knew a little bit better than I ever did. I looked up to him because of it. One day while were walking to school on our first day, I said, “Lyle.” He turned to me after looking both ways before crossing the street to get to the “tunnel bus” as we called it.

“Yeah?” he asked. I shuffled my pink jellied foot a little bit.

“I heard we might have a war soon,” I spoke up. “Is that true?” Lyle’s face expression didn’t change.

“Claudia, they’ve been saying that for months!” he said bluntly. “Nothing has changed yet.” We crossed the street when the traffic was clear. I still wasn’t satisfied. Little kids like me could be curious to no end. That is one weakness of us. That was certainly my weakness.

“But they keep talking about it,” I said. “I’m scared that you might get shipped off to war.” Lyle snorted at me.

“I can’t go to war!” he protested. “I’m only a kid!”

“You’ll be thirteen soon,” I pointed out.

“True,” he said. “I still can’t go to war.” I nodded a bit. He did have a point there. I don’t know why I thought that. Maybe because I wanted Kat all to myself at the time. But, that’s not important anymore. Lyle and I crossed the street safely.

“But are we really going to war?” I asked again.

“Why are you so obsessed with war?” he asked me. I shrugged at him.

“Dunno,” I said as I pulled my backpack onto my shoulders again. “Everyone keeps talking about it.” We walked all the way to the tunnel bus station.

“I’ll believe it when I see it!” Lyle huffed.

“But what if we do go to war?” I asked. “And then what?” My brother shrugged at me.

“We prepare for the worst,” he answered. “The boys and girls go off to fight to protect Berlin from the enemy.” I looked at him oddly.

“Girls fight in war too?” I asked puzzled. Lyle tried his best not to laugh at me.

“Of course, silly!” he boomed. “This isn’t the 1800’s anymore! Kat would be offended be that question.” I nodded at him a little bit. Kat was a bit of a feminist. She always encouraged me to embrace education tightly. Kat taught English at the university. I have been there a couple of times. The campus looks nice. Big and green. The art statues scare me though. Kat doesn’t mind them at all.

“It’s all in one’s own taste in art,” she told me one day after I complained about the statues on campus. I didn’t believe her at the time. Whoever picked out those statues must have awful tastes in art! I kept this to myself however. Kat told me that I had to be nice and keep the hurtful truth to myself at times. It was so hard to do that at age at times. I always speak my mind whenever I feel like it. Kat does love my honesty, but she would love it even more if I kept it in my head.

That thought brought me to my other question to Lyle. I looked up at him with my trusting blue seven-year-old eyes.

“Who is our enemy?” I asked him ever so innocently. My brother looked at me blankly. I could tell he really didn’t want to answer that question at all. I waited him out like I normally did when I want him to tell me a secret that I was dying to know so badly. He was about to speak when the tunnel bus pulled up.

“Oh look at that!” Lyle said right away. “The bus is here! Let’s get on it!” My brother got on right away. I frowned at the distraction.

“Drat!” I mumbled to myself. Then, I walked onto the bus. I’d have to get him on the way to school. The tunnel bus is a piece of work. Many people love it. From what I’ve read from the pamphlets, it is clean, efficient, and electric run. Lyle and I like it because we get to see Berlin at day and night as we ride to school and back. I never knew that Berlin could look so pretty outside a moving window. Today however, my mind wasn’t on the view of the city. I turned back to Lyle once we sat down with our backs to the stations.

“So who is our enemy, Lyle?” I asked him again. My brother looked at me with wide eyes of confusion. I waited for him to talk. He tried to fight me off. Too bad that never works for him. I always in win at this game. Today was no exception to the rule. Lyle broke down sighing as the tunnel bus began to move. He bit his lip as he thought of how to answer me. My brother does that when he can’t come up with the right answer—or at least the one I want to hear. I waited on still.

“Well, they are a small army off the coast of Spain,” he began. I listened on as he tried his best to explain everything. I know he has a good answer for this. My brother is the smartest person I know, next to Kat of course. Lyle forced himself to go on. Who knew one little question could be that hard? Lyle shook his head in defeat at long last.

“I can’t really say it!” he said at last. “It’s hard to explain.” I looked at him funny.

“Why?” I asked. Lyle breathed in.

“I don’t know!” he yelped. “Just know that the enemy is a small army off the coast of Spain! That’s it! I can’t think of anything else to add.” That answer did it for me. I didn’t ask another question after that. The rest of the ride to school was a silent trip as we watched the view of the city below the hill as we rode into the heart. Maybe the teachers could tell me something about this enemy we are about to fight. Maybe…