The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Several days later, when Susan and I went into the village, I stopped at the
pub to say hello to Daisy. “Oh, dearie,” said her mother, pulling me against
her large bosom and kissing the top of my head. “I’ve sent her away,” she
said. To Susan she added, “You’d better send yours too.”
The village was evacuating its own children.
Across the channel, Hitler’s army waited, less than thirty miles away. He
invaded the Channel Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, which belonged to
England.
The Channel Islands surrendered.
Kent, which was the part of England where we were, was the closest bit to
the German Army in France. When Hitler invaded, he would land in Kent.
Susan said nothing to Daisy’s mother, but later told Jamie and me not to
worry. If our mother wanted us to go somewhere else, that was one thing, but
until Susan heard from our mother, we were staying put.
A few days later Lady Thorton came to try to make Jamie and me go. All
the other evacuees and nearly all the village children were leaving. The WVS,
Lady Thorton said, would find a home for us somewhere safe.
“Their mother won’t know where they are,” Susan protested.
“Of course she will,” Lady Thorton said. “I’ll see that you get their new
address, and whenever she contacts you, you can pass it on.”
Susan hesitated. “I’m not sure.”
Lady Thorton’s nose narrowed the way it did when she was angry. “There
will be an invasion,” she said, in a tightly clipped tone. “German soldiers in
our streets, in our homes. War in our streets, quite possibly. The children
should be as far away as we can send them. Margaret isn’t coming home this
summer. She’s going straight to her new school.”
I felt a pang of regret. I’d been expecting to see Maggie soon.
Lady Thorton said, “You must send them away.”
Beneath the regret came a bigger wave of emotion, coiling up, rising in my
gut. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know what it meant. I looked out the
window and frantically tried to think of Butter.