into their home and treated me like a member of their family. A work camp is not going to be so bad, especially if it means saving their lives. I'm not afraid of work. I know what the Germans expect: cleanliness, promptness, order, everything must be spotless. It will be just like working in the barracks in Tylicz.
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I leave the Silbers' house, looking back one last time to seal it in my memory. I'll return, I tell myself; this won't last forever.
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"Good morning," I greet our good Christian neighbor.
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"Good morning, Rena. Are you all right, dear?"
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"I must go away and have a favor to ask of you."
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Her eyes narrow quickly. "What is it?" Everyone seems to be on their guard. I slip the diamond ring Mama gave me off my finger and place it into her palm, folding her hand around it. "I would like you to take care of this ring. It was my mother's . . . Would you take this coat for me, too, please?"
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Her eyes shift between disbelief and desire for these beautiful things. "These are valuable. Won't you need them?"
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Suddenly it occurs to me that I will never see these things again. I cannot speak. Placing the coat in her arms quickly, before I can change my mind, I try to turn away before she can see me cry.
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"Whoever made this for you must love you very much." She touches the beaver trim admiringly.
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"I am afraid that is true. I must go." I do not want to say goodbye to our neighbors, to my friends, my sister, or anyone ever again. Saying goodbye to my mother's diamond ring is painful enough. If I never wave farewell to another person in this lifetime, it will be a blessing. I keep my head to the ground, refusing to look back, hurrying towards town.
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Standing for a moment in the center of Hummene, I think about what a nice place this is and how kind the people have been to me. Slovakia has not been a bad place to live; although the past year has been wrought with trials and homesickness, there has been happiness here. I will accept what the Nazis fork out, but
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