teeth pushed one of the old ladies back into her seat, but she stumbled, throwing a weak little hand against the window to catch herself, which made many of us gasp. More police rushed in and ran down the aisle, only this time the diplomats who’d been reading their papers trailed behind them like dogs on a tether.
The doors closed suddenly on both ends of the train car. A piercing quietness followed. Few people moved, aside from their eyes. Heat waving up from the tracks into our still compartment roasted us like chickens. A baby’s cry from somewhere buoyed the restless uncertainty ballooning among us all, then a whisper of sabotagers swept through the car almost faster than the heat, louder and louder until someone finally said, ‘Résistance.’
Résistance? I stood on my toes, trying to see into the other train car, when a man caught my eyes through the body gaps. ‘They’re invisible,’ he whispered, eyes tormented and grey. ‘Phantoms in the night and in the day.’
I gripped my pocketbook, suddenly feeling nervous, watching police run along the outer edge of the car, looking under the train as if there was something or someone to find. Seconds passed, holding our breaths, mouths as wide as our eyes, waiting for a shootout, arrest or both. Then the police stopped running, lit cigarettes and appeared to be chatting.
The whole train exhaled at once.
Some looked relieved nothing serious had happened; others chuckled as if watching the French police run around with nowhere to go was amusing and worth the trouble. The doors opened, sending a burst of fresh air into the train car. The woman across from me who’d seemed unnerved by the gendarmes rushing around was now in a tizzy, bolting from her seat and pushing herself into the crowded aisle. ‘If you please,’ she said, the heel of her clunky shoe smashing the top of my foot. ‘Out of the way!’
I yelped, though it did nothing but startle the old ladies next to me as she elbowed her way through the train car and past women and children as if she were the only passenger who mattered. I followed the pack, shuffling toward the exit, armpits near my face with hands pushing me on the back.
People walked around outside in a daze, unsure where to go or what to do. A young mother balancing a toddler on her hip told passengers the train would continue on, all we had to do was wait, but the blaze of the afternoon sun made the thought of waiting seem unbearable.
A lone train conductor ran a hand through his dishevelled hair next to the loading steps.
‘When will we be off?’ I said, slinging my pocketbook over my shoulder.
The conductor stopped fiddling with his hair and put his cap back on, fitting it tightly onto his head. ‘Secure a ride,’ he said. ‘Before they’re all gone. The regime is searching the train. Bomb, probably.’
‘Bomb?’ I threw a hand to my chest. ‘Secure a ride?’
‘Look around.’ He waved a finger at the swelling crowd; some were unloading their own freight. ‘These are the general passengers we had on the train. The other passengers are from the regime, filled up most of the compartments. If you don’t catch a ride now, you think the government will give you one of theirs?’ He pointed. ‘Look.’
Two Armistice Army soldiers stepped off the train, and my stomach twisted into a knot. I turned away, shaking my head. One moment I was safe on the train, and now I wasn’t sure if I’d even get to Lyon at all. I walked around asking—begging some would say—for a ride from the cars that had seen the train stop and had enough sense to drive over from the village. ‘All full,’ I was told.
An old man in a wheelchair smacked his cane against the side of the train. ‘They’re Germans dressed like the French!’ he cried as I ran by. ‘Get away! Get away!’ The porters tried shushing him, ducking and dodging the old man’s stick as he whirled it in the air. A squadron of Vichy fighters droned overhead. ‘Traitors!’ The old man pointed his cane at the planes, and I looked up, covering my ears.
I heard Gérard’s voice in my head instead of the planes, yelling for me. Adèle! I’m going to find you! Just imagining his voice sent a shudder through my body, and then to my utter shock, a lorry pulled up in the dirt and three police jumped out,