Chapter 9
LATER THAT DAY, Nellie and Mina walked across town with the children. They wore all their clothes, and each carried a pot or a stack of chipped bowls or cups with broken handles. Nellie had told them to collect everything that was theirs and carry as much as possible with them. She didn’t want to go back a second time. Guards were everywhere, and she had spotted one of the men talking to Zelda.
The children had asked where they were going, and whether they would see their mother.
Nellie couldn’t bring herself to lie as Mina suggested. Koby and Ewout were old enough and wise enough to see through that. So while they walked, she told them about the shed and that it had belonged to the Queen’s family, and when she said that sea cows were hanging around in the barn, Bas said, “Who
