When I was a very small boy, I lived in Portugal with my Papa, Momma, brothers, and sisters. I used to play in the country side near my home with my brothers, cousins, and school friends. While growing older I learned to do my daily chores before play. During this time war in our country was in progress. I had heard my father, grandfathers, and uncles rumoring that they were afraid that the soldiers would come and take the small boys to shoot for them too. My older brothers had already gone to war.

I became very afraid when suddenly my uncles were gone. Then, Papa was gone and Momma was crying a lot. So I got a very brilliant idea.

I got up in the middle of the night and gathered apples, a bag of grapes and a loaf of Momma’s homemade bread. I put them all in a knapsack. In my pocket, I carried Grandpa’s pocket knife he had given to me a few months ago when I turned eight years old. I also had a handkerchief that Momma always made me carry, and a rabbit’s foot that Papa had given me two months before he left for the war. I had saved a few cents during my lifetime and I had a total of twenty-five cents. It was warm outside so I took along a light coat and of course, I grabbed my cap.

The moon was full and the stars shone brilliantly in the clear sky. There was plenty of light for me to see where I was going. I knelt down under the huge tree in our back yard and prayed that God would guide me and that He would keep my family safe too. Our family’s pet dog, Shag, was sleeping in his box. Since he was almost blind and very hard of hearing, I did not disturb him.

I very quietly slipped away through the garden, through the vineyards, over many hillsides, and across many creeks until I came to a large river. How could I get across this river? I walked up and down the side of the river until I saw a log that was stuck along the side of the riverbank.

I searched the area for a large, wide stick and ran back to the log and climbed onto it. I pushed and pushed for what seemed to be a long time and finally I pushed the log free from the riverbank. I was on my way! Wait! I wasn’t drifting to the other side of the river! I was drifting DOWN the river and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. My heart pounded and pounded and pounded. Oh, what was I going to do? All I could do was to hang on and pray. And that I did.

The current of the water was steady, so my log didn’t throw me off. The water was warmer than I expected it to be. I wrapped my arms around it and tried to enjoy the ride. Fish would come almost to the top of the water and dart back down when they would see me coming near them.

Occasionally, at the edge of the water, a dog would bark at me as I floated by. I could hear frogs and birds chirping, but as I would come near them, they would be silent…as if to say, “you can’t find me.” The sun that was rising left a glare on the water, so I shut my eyes. I must have started to doze off to sleep as I awoke finding myself sliding off the log. I grabbed onto it quickly again. The mouthful of water that I got while trying to steady myself, tasted salty.

After what seemed to be hours and hours, the river widened. There weren’t many trees. There were docks, all along the sides of the riverbanks, with small boats tied up at the docks. Some of the boats were large, some were very large and some were very funny looking, like things I’d never seen before.

I was getting very sleepy, but I reminded myself that I had to be alert. So, I kept throwing water on my face to wake me up. Suddenly, I saw it. I knew this was where I was supposed to go. I saw a huge ship. I knew it was a ship instead of a boat from pictures I saw at home. It had three poles in the middle of it that almost reached the sky. On those poles were big white sheets that stuck out on the sides with a lot of ropes holding them. On the ship was a lot of men yelling to each other, nodding, and carrying big boxes and sacks up onto the deck. Then they would disappear into the ship.

I saw a big archway entrance, in the distance, between the harbor and the city. There were many, many buildings all around. It was very noisy, too. Horns blowing, people yelling and laughing, and all kinds of birds were squawking.

My log got snagged between two little boats and it stopped. I fell off the log and was able to grab hold of the side of one of the little boats. I pulled myself into that boat. Then I heard a very rough voice bellowing to me, “Who are you and just what do you think you are doing in my boat? Now get out of here you scally-wag and make it quick!” I hurriedly ran down the dock and onto the sand. The old man was still yelling at me. Couldn’t he see I was running as fast as I could. I ran so fast and so far, that when I finally fell down, I could hardly breathe.

After a few minutes, I heard some dogs barking and cats meowing. I got to my feet and said to myself, “Josef, if you want to get on that boat, you’d better get moving!” So….