Hans and Ilse by Reid Knight (the snowy day read aloud TXT) 📕

Karl sat on the ground, legs spread out. His eyes held a distant glazed look. His stomach made loud churning noises. The World War had ended. And it had taken away everything with it. There was no food, no money. His wife, Frieda, stood over him, spitting curses.

“Um Gottes Willen! Look at me! I look like a skeleton! My belly is throbbing and we don’t have anything to eat! What do you want me to eat? The ice outside? Arschloch!”

Indeed she looked like a skeleton. Her belly seemed to have caved in due to the entire vacuum inside. Her eyes, on the other hand, bulged out from their sockets. And her voice was shrill. No man would be able to bear that screaming for long. But Karl was immune. He’d learned to be. She was right, though. There was nothing to eat. He’d tried to hunt rabbits at first, but most of them were gone. Birds were harder to kill. Almost impossible. But for the last six days he hadn't seen a single living soul outside. Nothing. As if the whole world was hiding in a secret warm place. He was exhausted of hunger. His hands were trembling. His legs felt numb. He started rubbing his knees slowly, his gaze still fixed somewhere.

“Are you even listening, you bastard? And we have two kids to feed. As if two mouths weren't enough!” She threw the small pan she was holding at the wall. The damp wood cracked slightly. Karl had built the house with wood. Just what a poor woodcutter could manage. It had just this one room and another small outer room for the kids – Hans and Ilse.

Frieda spat on the ground and stomped away, muttering to herself. For a while, everything was silent. At first it seemed she was humming. But then her voice grew.

“Why give birth to lives you can’t feed?...”

“What father keeps the family hungry? Lets his wife rot…”

“And what will I say to Hans and Ilse? That your father’s an eunuch?...”

Hans and Ilse

, Karl thought.

“Forget about Hans and Ilse. They are nine-year olds. What about me? I’m dying…”

Hans and Ilse

.

“What are you looking at, mad man? Do you even care about me? About Hans and Ilse?...”

Hans and Ilse

. They were all over his mind now. Like a virulent thought.

“Why don’t you just kill us all? Huh? And get it over with?...”

Karl’s stomach made another churning noise. His eyes suddenly started to focus. He realized he was staring at his ax. The blade shone with all its glory, unaffected by time and decay. It stood for everything he wanted for his family; a bright life, freedom from misery. And it was calling him. Whispering something. But he couldn't hear it. Was it mocking him? Slowly, with the help of his last reserves of energy, he stood up. He started to walk forward, his dry eye-balls fixed on the ax. He picked it up and heaved it on his shoulder. Now he could hear it. It whispered things in his ear; things that he could have never thought of. Things he had to do. Like an obedient child, he walked toward the door.

“And where do you think you’re going in the middle of the night?” Frieda shouted.

His voice was distant. Almost hypnotic. “To get food.”

“To get wood? What in the name of…”

But he was gone.

#

“And they lived together, happily ever after,” Hans finished.

“It must have been so hard for Hansel and Gretel. I still don’t understand why their father wanted to get rid of them,” Ilse said, her head over his shoulder.

“Neither do I,” Hans replied, closing the big dusty book from which he’d been reading. There was a knock at the door.

“Quick! Get under the sheets. Pretend you’re asleep. It must be mother, checking in on us,” Hans whispered, pulling the sheets over his sister. She covered herself completely and closed her eyes. She didn't want her mother to be mad. She didn't want her to ask father to leave them alone in the woods…

She heard a creaking sound as Hans opened the door. She closed her eyelids tighter.

"Hello father," she heard Hans saying. And then, there was a swishing sound.

Text: Reid Knight
Publication Date: 01-28-2013

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