![]() ![]() ![]() Mama once said the most wonderful thing about being young is our ability to make things normal. The eye looks, but it is the mind that sees. And I refused to accept my life inside a prison. But I knew I could never again be happy here. "The sooner you both accept that, the happier you will be." "We will never be able to leave," Mama said. Nobody wanted another war, not even if it brought the wall down. Her eyes glazed over, and I knew she was remembering the things she had often described to us from the last war - the nightly bombings, constant hunger, and millions of deaths of both soldiers and civilians. "If the west wins again, then there'll be nothing to come back to," she said. ![]() Mama looked up with eyes widened by dark memories. The tone in her voice sent shudders through me, but I still mumbled, "If the west wins that war, Papa could come home."įritz kicked me under the table, but it was too late. "One side has to back down or we'll have a third world war," Mama said over dinner one night. The soldiers stared at one another through binoculars, each trying to guess which side would fire first. I muted my glares and only mouthed the words when my teacher was looking - I couldn't bear to sing the lies.Īfter a couple of months, the west sent tanks to watch their side of the border, so Russia sent tanks to our side of the border. My schoolteacher taught us a new song that thanked our leaders for building a wall to keep the fascists out. If there had ever been a chance of Dominic and my father returning, then the wall took that too. With each brick, my hopes faded until nothing was left. With one stacked block of concrete over another, our prison slowly became a fortress. Sharp edges of broken glass were cemented into the top to prevent anyone from climbing over it, and watchtowers were built so fewer officers could guard larger areas. The fence began to be replaced with a concrete wall that was taller, thicker, and stronger. Then they made the decision that something more permanent was needed. Soon afterward, the police bricked over all the windows and locked up that building, and every other building that stood along the border. "They care plenty! Because they want everyone to know hers won't be the only death." His warm brown eyes met mine. I barely breathed as I read the article, but managed to say, "She died trying to get free! Why don't they care?"įritz pointed to the final paragraph, which warned the rest of us not to try the same thing. The morning after, Fritz showed me the newspaper that described her as a deserter and someone with a weak mind who had believed the lies from the west. ![]()
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