July/August 2020

On a spring morning we arrived from Lublin to witness what was left of the death camp; a rusty peeling sign came into view it screamed: “Sobibór.” The Nazis destroyed evidence of the gas chambers. What was left were the grounds through which Jewish bodies walked to take the shower of death. As I stood on the platform and touched the tracks, I felt like a little girl named Hanna looking for her murdered parents. Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, 13Brookline, Massachusetts

Trust is like leaving a dog alone and knowing it won’t knock over your pawn on the forgotten chessboard. Trust is believing love won’t last but knowing that hope will go on always reborn. Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, 13Brookline, Massachusetts

Once a cop, now he mows grass. He was once fearless and brave, now he fishes off the bridge and sells oysters to local bars. Not his shiny patrol car but his wife’s old sedan, not a sheriff’s star but sticky sand. He still dreams of his siren as the lawn mower rumbles. Rich people’s gardens are his last assignment. Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, 13Brookline, Massachusetts