The Choice of Hope
Chapter 4
By Lou and Gem
Hope prized open the file, but there wasn't all that much. It only said a little about Mike's parents, gender and birth in-
"1952?" she exclaimed, and she tossed the file closed. Was it a hoax? Was Mike just playing a trick on her? Or had he time traveled? What was up with this whole thing?
"Hey! What's up!"
She glanced around. And there was the boy with the voice identical to the one who told her his identity.
"Who are you, really?"
"Your brother."
Was it a teasing voice? Was he still trying to play a trick on her?
"You're not."
"Yeah, I'm not. So, what? We're all in the same boat, you see. And that's a trick file, by the way," he said, pointing to the one she had slammed shut. Mike grinned as Hope tossed it at him. He caught it and tucked it in his pocket. "I wasn't born in 19-whatever. I was born in 1933."
The year made Hope's mind flare with something she couldn't grasp.
"That's when I was born. You ever been to an orphanage?"
"Used to be. But someone adopted me."
"Lucky you," Hope spat.
"Aren't you adopted?"
"No. I escaped. To find the Lisa's." Hope said. "You know, my parents? And what do you mean, we're all in the same boat?"
"I used to live in Germany, you see, and...well, after the World War, it hasn't been the same here or in Germany,"
"Well, to escape it, I'm going to America."
"The Depression is going on there, Hope." Mike warned.
"I don't care. I'm going to find my parents, and I don't care what happens along the way!" Hope snarled, her anger at Mike slowly subsiding as she bolted into the snow.
And Hope didn't know what dangers lay ahead.
