Honey Cake by Joan Betty Stuchner

Author:Joan Betty Stuchner [Stuchner, Joan Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-47790-3
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Miss Kiersted motioned to us to sit down again. “I will give you all an extra ten minutes to finish the test because of that rude interruption.” Her face was very white. We picked up our pencils in silence, and for the next ten minutes the only sound I could hear was that of pencils on paper.

The next day it rained. “Copenhagen is so boring in the rain,” said Elsa when we walked home from school. This would have been the perfect time to tell Elsa about my dangerous mission with the éclairs, only Papa had warned me not to tell anyone, not even Elsa.

It was very difficult to keep the secret, but even though the news was bursting to get out, I had made a promise to Papa. And promises must be kept.

We decided to play in the Jensens’ living room. Mrs. Jensen was reading a newspaper. Elsa and I sat by the window, looking down at people scurrying by clutching their umbrellas. Two new soldiers were standing together across the street instead of on the corner. One looked up. Why weren’t they in the usual place? Were they spying on us?

“I know,” said Elsa, “let’s play with Vic and Dora!” Vic and Dora were the Jensens’ budgies. Their cage hung on a stand in a corner. They weren’t all that much fun to play with, although they had a cage full of bird toys. Unlike canaries, they didn’t sing, and they rarely talked. Sometimes they nipped my finger with their beaks. I turned away from the window. Maybe the budgies would help me forget about the soldiers.

Mrs. Jensen looked up from her paper. “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you two take the cage into the kitchen and clean it out?” That didn’t sound like much fun either, but we agreed to do it.

The blue budgie, Vic, was named in honor of the comedian Victor Borge. Dora, the green budgie, wasn’t named for anyone in particular. Vic bobbed up and down as Mrs. Jensen placed the cage on the kitchen table. He looked funny, and we laughed.

“Victor Borge made people laugh too,” she said as we began to clean out the cage. “He made jokes about the Führer. Hitler put him at the top of his list of enemies. Imagine that. The most dangerous man in Denmark was a Jewish comedian who plays piano and sings funny songs!” Mrs. Jensen laughed.

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