Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Author:Jennifer Roy [Roy, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780761463108
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Published: 2006-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

LATE FALL–WINTER 1944

Pails of Coal

The grown-ups have asked us children

to carry pails of coal

up the stairs

to help out,

when soldiers are not nearby.

The pails are very, very heavy

when filled with coal.

After the first time I carried some pails up,

my hands felt sore

from where the metal handles

bit into my palms,

but my hands are getting used to it.

It feels good to be able to

help the grown-ups.

It feels good to be strong enough

to climb the stairs.

Blue Sky

So, over the past few days,

while the grown-ups have been out in the ghetto

working,

some of the children have gone upstairs

and outside.

So far nobody has been caught.

The soldiers don’t come around

to the workers’ houses

so much anymore.

I think it is very bold

of the children

to take such a chance,

but I can’t help but notice how happy

their faces look when they come back.

I have a small scrap of fabric

that Dora found

and gave me.

It is pale blue.

It looks like the sky.

When the others return

from their adventures outdoors,

I take out my blue scrap

and look at

my sky.

But deep in my heart,

I know that it cannot replace the

real thing.

Up and Out

I am tired.

Tired of being inside this cellar.

Tired of being afraid.

Tired of being me.

I shove my blue scrap of fabric

into my shirt pocket

and put on my shoes.

They are too tight,

but I can still walk in them.

I get up and start walking.

Are these my feet climbing up to the top of the stairs?

Can this be my hand pushing the door open?

I go through the door,

out of the cellar,

into a little hallway.

There is another door.

I open it.

One hard push,

and I am outside.

I am outside!

The air smells so good, crisp like autumn,

not stale like cellar air.

For a minute I am blinded by the

sun.

My eyes adjust.

My heart goes boomboomboomboom.

I look around.

Nobody this way,

nobody that way.

There is a chill in the air.

The wind feels cold,

but the sun peeks out from behind clouds

and invites me out

into the yard.

I walk further outside,

feeling grass under my feet,

sunshine on my face.

There are trees in the yard.

Most of the leaves have dropped to the ground,

but not all have fallen.

And then I see it.

Hanging from a tree branch—

a large yellow pear.

Dora says that the workers are not

supposed to eat from the trees.

They are supposed to save the fruit

for the Germans,

while the workers get by on the food

the soldiers don’t want.

My head is worrying, but

my feet are still walking.

The Pear

What if the Germans come into the yard?

What if they are looking out the window

of one of the buildings?

What if someone sees me?

I am drawn to the tree

like a bee to honey.

Closer.

Closer.

I can touch the tree branches now.

I reach up and grasp the pear.

Its skin is yellow green,

ripe.

I twist it a bit, and the pear

pops off its branch

into my hand.

It is solid, smooth,

real.

There is no stopping now.

At this moment there are no Germans,

no worries.

There is only me and this pear.

I take a bite.

Cool, juicy, sweet.

Perfect.

Delicious!

I eat some more.

My hand gets a little sticky,

but I don’t care.

I am out in the sunshine

eating a pear,

just like any normal girl

who isn’t Jewish in Poland,

on a regular day.

Suddenly I realize where I am,

what I am doing.

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