Nancy - Short Fiction

Diverting the attention of everybody

It seemed to be as a routine. My father left us in the school very early and went to the farm. I loved that school to which I had moved that year. It was located in the highest place of the town and had a large place where we used to play during the breaks. I had learned new games and had made different friends.
The class had finished for that day. We were ready to go home, but we couldn't. At least for some time. An unusual movement was taking place at the train station and we could not take the train, said the station officer. Three police cars were parked in the street behind the station. It was the first time I had seen so many vehicles together in that little town. Fortunately, my brother was with me but I started to be scared, I just wanted to go home. My friends were also upset about what was happening. We used to go home by train, a twenty minutes trip and fifteen minutes walking, always hungry but happy. That day was going to be different and we could not tell our parents, we didn't have telephones nor any way to say that we were going to be late.
My brother, who is two years older than me, was trying to protect me, but as a boy, he was more curious than me. He went to the corner of the station building and looked at the front side of the building. He beckoned to me to follow him. As I watched what was happening, I couldn't believe. There was a freight train parked and many policemen carrying heavy guns that I had never seen before in all my life. Some of them were ready to shoot and two were waiting for an exact moment to open the wagon sliding door. My imagination had gone to the war stories my mother used to read for us in Japanese. Few minutes had passed and the officers finally opened the door, but no one was inside the wagon. They acted in the same manner for the rest of wagons but nothing happened. The operation had finished and the policemen seemed to be disappointed. Our train arrived and we went home with a long delay.
What we heard in the next day was the follow: as we were in the military dictatorship time there were terrorists escaping from the regime and they were supposed to be hidden in the forests of Ribeira Valley. The police was chasing them that day. But it was not all. While the military police was performing the operation, somebody had stolen one of the police car and we heard that it had been found intact in the neighboring district, ten kilometers away from our little town! The guilty was never found.