Peter & Max - Bill Willingham [26]
“Yes, sir,” Peep meekly said, and Max was astonished all over again. In all of their visits over the years, although Squire Peep was always jolly and pleasant, he was also unmistakably the man in charge. He told people what to do and no one ever told him what to do — except for sometimes his wife did, but Max already understood how marriages involved a private exception to many rules. As far as Max had known, Squire Peep ran the entire county and everyone in it, and now here he was, nodding and bobbing his head at the behest of these terrible men.
Max must have made a noise then, some small voicing of his surprise, because in the adjoining room his father suddenly looked his way, and transfixed Max with such a look as he’d never seen the man produce. No one else took notice of him. Peep continued bobbing his head while the officer kept issuing commands — exactly what additional commands Max wasn’t able to recall later, as his attention had shifted entirely to his father’s intense regard. Never taking his eyes off Max, Father slowly and carefully raised one finger to his lips, silently ordering Max to remain quiet. Then he whispered a quick word into Squire Peep’s ear before excusing himself from the room full of foreign officers. No one moved to prevent his leaving. In fact, no one showed any sign that they cared what his father did, one way or another. Father padded over to join Max in the other room.
“What has happened?” Max said, in a frantic whisper, pregnant with the future possibilities of panic and weeping.
“Shush,” Father said, also in a whisper, but one under rigid control. “This isn’t a time for you to talk, or ask questions, son. It’s a time for you to listen and obey. Your mother and brother are waiting for us in the great hall. That’s where I want you to go too. If you see Mrs. Peep, or any of the daughters on the way, take them to wait there with you. Don’t go outside and don’t talk to any of the soldiers. I don’t think they’ll hurt you, as long as you stay quiet and stay out of their way.”
“What do we do once we’re all there?” Max said.
“Nothing. Just stay put and try to help keep everyone calm. Can I count on you to do that, son? This is one of those moments I’ve told you about, when you have to step up and be a man. Can you do that?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I’m comforted to hear it, Max. So, go do what I told you and in a little while Mr. Peep and I will join you there and explain everything.”
Max obeyed. For the first time in a long time, he was pleased to do exactly what Father told him to.
THE GREAT HALL was full of unhappy people. Most of the indoors servants and all of the outside workers were crowded in there. Mother Piper was seated at one of the benches along the wall and Peter stood beside her, trying to look brave, but mostly looking scared and uncertain. Mrs. Peep and all six of the daughters had also eventually arrived, reporting, as others had before them, that soldiers were all over the grounds and in the house. But for now at least the invaders seemed content to leave them alone here in this chamber. The girls were oddly disarrayed in small ways. One had a splash of brown mud staining her yellow dress. Another had lost one shoe and was absently holding its mate in her hands, and wouldn’t let anyone take it from her, as if it was some sort of protective talisman. And the bratty little one who Peter liked sat directly on the cold flagstone floor, crying and sobbing with great, racking sobs that shook her entire body.
“They killed them!” she cried. “All my little lambs! Gerta, and funny Apfelkauph! And Peter too!” She’d gone through the list many times,