Silence was not quiet or calm, and it was not peace.
A Definition Not Found In The Dictionary. Not Leaving: An act of trust and love, often deciphered by children.
The crowd was itself. There was no swaying it, squeezing through or reasoning with it. You breathed with it and you sang its songs. You waited for its fire.
Jewish shops that were still in operation in Molching. Inside, a small man was stuttering about, crushing the broken glass beneath his feet as he cleaned up.
It takes a lot of love to hate you like this.
The yawn of a girl can be so beautiful it makes you cringe.
Rudy, please, wake up. God damn it, wake up, I love you. Come on, Rudy, come on, Jesse Owens, don’t you know I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up...
God damn, you were so beautiful, Mama.
It could be worse. I could be you.
He would wink at the girl, and clumsily, she’d wink back.
She was a girl. In Nazi Germany. How fitting that she was discovering the power of words.
The road was icy as it was, but Rudy put on the extra coat, barely able to contain a grin. It ran across his face like a skid.
The minutes were cruel. Hours were punishing. Standing above him at all moments of awakeness was the hand of time, and it didn’t hesitate to wring him out. It smiled and squeezed and let him live. What great malice there could be in allowing something to live.
The last thing I wanted was to look down at the stranded face of my teenager. A pretty girl. Her whole death was now ahead of her.
When a woman with an iron fist tells you to get out there and clean spit off the door, you do it. Especially when the iron’s hot.
You ate it up and you didn’t ask for more, and you didn’t complain.
Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
I have to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am, glad I was there.
I am haunted by humans.
I certainly wasn’t born with creative writing. Maybe there’s a certain amount of learning and then it’s up to the person. I think in the end it’s your favourite books that are the best teachers. That’s the way I’ve learned the most, by far.