Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold - Plough

The Sun Troop44stick to topics that interested the children. Sometimes Emmy would forgetand relate her worries—a troublesome visitor, the mounting debt at the grocer’s.Then Eberhard would nudge her, “But Emmychen, now we are concentratingon the children.” Sometimes there were clashes: Papa and Mama spokefrankly to each other no matter who was listening. This never made Heinerinsecure. Having often heard his father and mother saying to each other, “Iwouldn’t want to live one day longer than you,” he never once doubted theunbreakable bond between them.One morning the family had gathered for breakfast as usual when Eberhardnoticed that Heiner, who usually lingered at the table, was eager to be on hisway. So was seven-year-old Monika, who was edging toward the door. “Whereare you two going?”“I …can’t tell you,” Monika said.That was the wrong thing to say to Papa, and he repeated his question. StillMonika refused to answer. Finally, she offered: “But Heiner has forbidden meto say what we are doing.”Eberhard turned to the boy. “Heiner, I want to hear all about this, immediately!”Heiner shared everything, first hesitantly and then freely. How, one by one,he had told the other children what had happened in his bedroom the nighttheir father had read them the story of Rachoff. How they had decided tofollow Jesus as a group. How he had decorated the schoolroom for their firstmeeting with wildflowers, a candle, and a red cloth on the table. It had beena solemn occasion, he told his parents, and the children he had invited hadentered the room in silence. This was not going to be a club—absolutely not.It was going to be a fighting unit, a squad always ready for action. They hadargued about a fitting name and finally settled on one. They would call themselvesthe Sun Troop.Heiner finished, and Eberhard sipped his coffee. The bedroom was quiet.Then Heiner announced, “I have arranged to meet with some village childrenabout the Sun Troop this morning. We’ve picked blackberries to eat withthem at our meeting. If we stay here longer we’re going to be late.”Homage to a Broken Man