Droozy
was a young girl with much to be happy about, yes, much, yet sometimes she was a
sad little girl. She had very curly black hair and large bright green eyes. She
loved to run races through the beautiful fruit garden
which surrounded the house in which she and her family lived. Hans was her very
best friend. He was rotund and jolly and several years her senior. When Droozy
played with him she always was the winner. He preferred her over his other young
playmates. Hans was a wealthy boy who lived in the large house in the garden
while Droozy lived in the small house which was a part of the Landauer estate.
Inside the garden Droozy could pretend that everything was good and happy in her
world. She could ignore the times that outside were Nazi children
who would pull her braids and call her dirty Jew and other bad names. She could
forget the beatings she received when going to school and the pain of not being
able to be a part of her classmates fun or games. Inside
the garden she could watch Herr Landauer playing cards with her father under a
shelter made of trees. How happy she was when Dad would take her on the road to
farmers’ homes where he sold shoes after he had to give up his store by order
of these people called Nazis. How happy Droozy was when a farmer would give her
a freshly laid egg and how frightened when a deaf mute child tried to play with
her, making strange sounds. There
were happy times when Mother would bake fresh bread called Challahs for Friday
night and when Droozy could accompany her to the Bakery where they had big ovens
into which the unbaked dough would be placed and how wonderfully good it would
smell when the golden brown braided loaves came out of the huge oven. The
homemade noodle soup, fish, chicken and cake, that was served on the Sabbath,
spread their delicious odor through the house. A
happy time too was when Droozy’s baby brother was born. Dad packed up his two
daughters in his Opel car and drove many miles to Fuehrt, another town, for the
circumcision of little Benjamin. When they arrived at the hospital there was
their Mama in bed smiling at them. They couldn’t wait to see their newborn
baby brother, who looked just like a big toy doll. Droozy was looking forward to
walking this living doll in the high baby buggy that was waiting for him at
home. Although
the two girls quarreled sometimes, Droozy admired Fanny since she was more than
two years older and seemed to know so much about boys, how to have friends and
many other interesting things. Fanny was very different from Droozy though. She
did not like to run in races or sit close to her beloved father or tell little
secrets to Mama. She liked writing stories, talking to girlfriends and reading.
Droozy always hoped that Fanny would run with her, play hide and seek, and tell
her some secrets. This never happened and Droozy always was just the little
sister who was in the way. Droozy had many adventures of her own, however. |
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