1.04 Personal Narrative

Listen my grandchildren, to the story of my past, the good and the bad, how your grandfather and I met, and the cruelty of the world around us. It was the date November 9, 1938. I was playing at my best friend, Rebecca’s house. Her house was a part of her father’s shop, which sold everything from shoes, to toys, to makeup, to clothes, anything you could ever imagine. It was getting late and I thought heard the sound of anger, I knew it was my father. My father was a part of the SS, this stood for “Strict Sense”, all I knew about it was that it was a Nazi party. He was a very strict man, but enjoyed spending time with me. My mother was not very happy with his work, but supported him to make him happy.

A few men come into the shop and raid it until there is nothing left. No make-up, no clothes, no toys, nothing. Just the sound of shattering glass and Nazi soldier’s boots clicking on the ground. As they are leaving, one of the men pushed Rebecca to the floor and started hitting her. I pull her away, and we run. We see men in the streets being laughed at, we see diches in the ground, glass everywhere. We run for longer than I could have of ever thought of, Rebecca has blood dripping from her temple to her grassy green blouse. She falls in a ditch and the Nazi soldiers are coming for us. She tells me to go on, and we connect necklaces for the last time. That day, I saw Rebecca for the final time. I run, run until I can’t feel my feet anymore, run until I can’t see anyone in the massacre behind me. I stop. I look. I hear. I see a shadow out of the corner of my eye. He speaks,” Come here” I walk toward him and finally see his face. He was wearing a necklace, it looked like the one Rebecca’s father had, at the time I did not know what that weird looking shape was. He tells me there is a boat. The boat will leave to America on November 10, 1938. As we walked to the docking area we bonded, bonded over things Rebecca and I have never talked about. He was 15 and named David. We snuck onto the boat and had to stay in the boiler rooms. It took 2 and a half weeks to get there.

David got out before I did, but waited for me. After we got accepted into the new land, we searched for work. Finding a job was difficult at the beginning, until we started to make friends. Our friends helped improve our english. I got a job as a seamstress, and David worked in a factory. Finally, we were able to afford our own apartment. Two years later, David asked for my hand in marriage. We have been together for seventy-five years, and hopefully more to come. We have our beautiful children, grandchildren, and great