Addy did as she was asked, taking out place mats and spoons, and then sitting to wait for her sister. She placed her palms flat on the table, pleased to see the shaking become slightly more controllable.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

Elise set two steaming bowls on the table and sat down across from her. Addy watched as she folded her napkin on her knee and reached for her spoon before looking up and finally acknowledging her question.

“We’re going to eat our soup and then do the dishes,” Elise said matter-of-factly.

“About the men! We can’t just leave them out there, Elise!”

Elise gave her the same fixed, firm kind of look her mother had always given her. It was as if her mother had passed away and Elise had somehow morphed into her.

“There is nothing we can do, Addy. Don’t you see? If we go out there, the Germans could be watching, and the only way to stay safe is to keep our heads down and not draw attention to ourselves.”

Addy wiped away her tears with the back of her hands. “I can’t stop thinking about them,” she confessed.

Elise set down her spoon and reached across the table. Her palm was warm and she linked their fingers together. “I can’t stop thinking about it either, Addy. It’s running through my head over and over. But there’s nothing we can do. They’re already dead, so the best thing we can do is force our minds on to other things.”

Addy squeezed Elise’s hand, holding on to her for a moment longer before they both picked up their spoons and began to eat. She was so sick of soup, especially given their limited ingredients, but at least it temporarily quieted the growl in her stomach.

There was a noise outside, then a sudden thump, and it made Oscar bark.

“Enough!” Elise scolded.

When he didn’t stop straight away, Addy scooped him up and kept him on her lap as she ate. His warm little body was like a heater, and she liked the weight of him against her, even though her mother would have rolled in her grave to see a dog at her dining table. And it was also nice to hold him when she was scared; he always helped to calm her down.

There was another thump then, and Elise’s eyes met hers across the table. She could see that her sister’s spoon was shaking now, as if her tremble had been contagious. There was something, or someone, out there.

“Keep him quiet,” Elise said.

Addy nodded, not about to make a noise herself. Her heart was starting to beat fast and she could barely stomach another mouthful of her soup. They had so little, though, so she wasn’t going to let it go to waste.