Midwinterblood Part 3, Chapter 6 Summary

  • The next day, they bring David downstairs to the kitchen.
  • Rebecka is cooking and Erik and Benjamin are out working on the farm.
  • David knows there's a whole lot of work to do on a farm because he used to spend his summers at a farm in Devon. He remembers looking at he birds back then and just knowing that he would fly one day.
  • He feels badly for imposing on their household so he asks to help out and Rebecka gives him a bowl of peas to shell. It isn't much, but at least it's something.
  • David asks if they were arguing about him. Rebecka says no, but Erik, who has appeared in the doorway, doesn't quite agree.
  • David explains how grateful he is, but that he can't really go anywhere with a broken ankle.
  • Erik is furious and tells David he should never have come here. They're not part of this war—World War II—they're a neutral party and they'd like to stay that way.
  • David didn't exactly plan to show up, though, and he tells Erik to give him his gun and he'll go.
  • But Erik tells him he dropped the gun in the sea. He's also heard that Axis soldiers are approaching the area looking for wounded Allied soldiers—now the war is coming to Blest Island (a.k.a. Blessed Island in later years) whether they like it or not.
  • David demands his gun back, but Erik is angry and storms out of the house leaving David with Rebecka, who's trembling at the stove.