A Stone for Danny Fisher (1952) Read Online Free

until my voice was hoarse and a mere squeak in my throat. There was no answer.
    The moon had come up now and its white light threw a deep shadow from every rock. The night was alive with strange sounds and peculiar movements. As I began to get to my feet, a rat came hurtling through the air against my chest. I fell back screaming in terror. The dog jumped after the rat and caught it in mid-air. With an angry toss of his head, he broke the rat’s neck and flung it away from him.
    I stood up and placed my back against the wall of the pit, too cold and frightened to do anything but stare out into it. The dog stood in front of me, the hackles standing out sharply as he barked. The echoes sounded as if a hundred dogs were waking up the night.
    I don’t know how long we stood there like that. My eyes kept closing and I tried to keep them open, but I couldn’t. At last I sank wearily to the ground.
    Now I didn’t know whether Mamma would be angry with me. It wasn’t my fault. If I hadn’t been a Jew, Paul and Eddie wouldn’t have pushed me into the pit. When I got out I would ask Mamma if we please couldn’t be something else. Then, maybe, they wouldn’t be mad at me any more. But deep inside me I somehow knew even that wouldn’t do any good. Even if Mamma was willing, Papa wouldn’t change. I knew that about him. Once his mind was made up, he never changed. That must be why he had remained a Jew all these years. No, it wouldn’t do any good.
    Mamma would be very angry with me. Too bad, I remembered thinking as I began to doze, too bad this had to happen after the nice way the day had started out.
    The dog’s barks were louder now, and somewhere mixed up in their harsh echo I could hear someone calling my name. I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t, I was so tired.
    The voice grew louder, more insistent. “Danny! Danny Fisher!”
    My eyes were open now and the eerie white light of the moon threw crazy shadows in the pit. A man’s voice called my name again. I struggled to my feet and tried to answer, but my voice was gone. It was only a weak, husky whisper. The dog began to bark furiously again. I heard voices at the top of the pit, and the dog’s barks became more shrill and excited.
    The gleam of a flashlight came pouring into the pit and moved around searching for me. I knew they couldn’t hear me calling, so I ran after the ray of light, trying to show myself in it. The dog ran at my heels, still barking.
    Then the light was on me and I stood still. I put my hands over my eyes; the light was hurting them. A man’s voice shouted: “There he is!”
    Another voice came from the darkness above me: “Danny! Danny!” It was Papa’s voice. “Are you all right?”
    Then I heard a scrambling, sliding sound of a man coming down the side of the pit toward me. I ran to him, crying, and felt myself caught up in his arms. He was shaking. I could feel his kisses on my face. “Danny, are you all right?” he was asking.
    I pressed my face against him. My face was sore and scratched, but the feel of the rough wool of his suit was good. “I’m all right, Papa,” I said between sobs, “but Mamma will be sore. I wetted my pants.”
    Something that sounded like a laugh came from his throat. “Mamma won’t be angry,” he reassured me. Raising his face toward the top of the pit, he snouted: “He’s okay. Throw down a rope and we’ll get him out.”
    “Don’t forget the dog, Papa,” I said. “We got to take him out too.”
    Papa bent and scratched the dog’s head. “Sure, we’ll take him out,” he told me. “If it wasn’t for his barking, we wouldn’t have known where you were.” He turned suddenly and looked at me. “Is he the reason you’re down here?”
    I shook my head. “No,” I answered. “Paul and Eddie threw me down here because I’m a Jew.”
    Papa stared at me strangely. The rope fell at our feet and he bent to pick it up. I could hardly hear the words he was muttering under his breath: