Missing by Frances Itani Page B

The horses inched forward and back nervously, while they waited.
    When the soldiers finally pulled the body onto shore, they lifted it and laid it on the cart. One soldier looked closely at the pilot, and Luc heard him say the word “Canadian.” So this was a Canadian pilot, who had died so sadly.
    Another soldier came over to Luc, who was still crying loudly at the edge of the pond. The soldier was angry, and he began to shout.
    “What’s the matter with you, boy? Get out of here and go home. This does not concern you. It is not your business. Go home to your mother and stay inside your house. You should not have come here.”
    Luc ran away from the pond, but he turned once to look back. He saw the soldiers as they walked beside the horse-drawn cart. From the direction they were headed, Luc knew exactly where they were going. The soldiers planned to take the dead pilot to the village church.
    Again, Luc did not go home. Instead, he ran ahead of the Germans and hid in some bushes at the side of the church. He was careful to stay hidden when the soldiers arrived. They banged at the heavy oak doors at the front of the church and called loudly for the priest.
    Luc stood up and peered through a window. He could see the old priest eating his lunch in a small office inside the building. The priest heard the banging, left his food, and went to open the main doors. The soldiers pushed their way inside and ordered the priest to clear a long table at the back of the church.
    The priest cleared the table and stood back while the soldiers laid out the body. They took off the pilot’s soft leather helmet and straightened his uniform and black leather coat.
    After the soldiers went away, the priest said a prayer over the body. Then he went back to his office to finish his lunch. Luc had watched all of this from his hiding place outside.
    Luc did not know what to do next. Because he was so late, he knew his mother would be worried. But he could not go home. Not after all that had happened. He suddenly thought of the airplane. He remembered the direction of the plane after the pilot had fallen out. It would have crashed somewhere outside the village, not near the pond at all.
    Luc decided to look for the crash site. He thought carefully about the aerial fight. The planehad been headed towards some woods about a kilometre from the frozen pond. Luc knew, too, that the soldiers would also be searching. They would want to examine the plane.
    Luc had lived in the village since birth, and he knew the fields and trees in every direction. He was sure he could find the plane, and he wanted to find it before the Germans did. Once more, he began to run, and he ran until he was out of breath.
    He found the crash site quickly. He checked around, but saw no one. He had arrived first, which meant that the soldiers were searching some other area.
    At once, Luc saw pieces of the airplane scattered everywhere. He was shocked at the way the wood and canvas had been torn apart. The wings had come off and were bent and broken. The force of the crash had driven the engine deep into the hard ground.
    Because Luc knew that the Germans would soon find the place, he looked around for a souvenir. He wanted to grab something and run home with it before he was caught. He began to dig at a large piece of canvas, and he tugged andtore until two strips came loose. Clumps of dirt stuck to both. He stuffed the two pieces of canvas inside his jacket so that no one could see them.
    Again, Luc looked around, and this time he saw the wooden propeller. Even in the shadows of the trees, the propeller shone with a high polish. The crash had broken it to splinters, so Luc tried to pull a small piece away from a bigger piece. After much effort, he was able to break off one splinter. He stuck this inside his jacket, hiding it beside the two canvas strips he had already taken.
    Looking around one last time, Luc saw a torn card that might be a piece of map or a chart. Maybe the