Fun times with Russell Gayer at Ozarks Writers League Conference. November 17, 2018 (Not the prompt 😉 )
Like us on Facebook
As always, please be considerate of your fellow Fictioneers and keep your stories to 100 words. (Title is not included in the word count.) Many thanks.
The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson (Many thanks for the gracious loan of your photo. 😉
Genre: Historical Fiction based on an actual survivor’s account.
Word Count: 100
PERSPECTIVES
Holding her granddaughter’s hand, Marta shut her eyes. “Doesn’t the water make a beautiful sound?”
Barely six, Segol fidgeted beside her. “It’s just water, Savta.”
“No. It sings the song of eternity.” Opening her eyes, Marta pointed to Segol’s new dress. “Your ema tells me you couldn’t decide between this blue one or the green one. She said you cried and cried.”
Segol hung her head and muttered. “Yes.”
“Such a choice. When I was six, I had to make a choice, too. Should I go with my mother to Auschwitz or flee to the convent? I cried and cried.”
***
Happy Thanksgiving this week to my American friends. I thought of reposting this story I shared 3 years ago. It’s a different perspective re Thanksgiving. The story is called “Keshagesh” which is a Cree word for “Greedy Guts.” Since many of you read and commented on it then, I’m just posting the link for the curious. https://rochellewisoff.com/2015/11/25/27-november-2015/
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
Now that’s shaming! Nice one, Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Neil,
For those of us who grew up under the shadow of the Holocaust, this was commonplace. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
A Hobson’s choice indeed. Good writing, as usual, Rochelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Neel,
I had to look up Hobson’s Choice. Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
The pleasure is all mine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s so powerful and moving. It packed a punch, that’s for sure.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Kristian,
My motto is “Never forget.” Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch.
Powerful story, but heavy trip to lay on a 6-year old.
Good to hear you read again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear CE,
It is a heavy trip for a 6 year old. One that was actually laid on the author close to that age. Thank you re the story and my reading. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pp. Pius XII, and the Church in general, did a lot of good for the Jews during WWII. I don’t respect any claims that contradict that. The six year old girl who was forced to make that decision must have been drastically marked for the rest of her life by having to lose so completely, no matter what she chose. No one can escape that kind of unhappiness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Larry,
The woman whose testimony on which I based my story went on to tell about living in the convent. After the war when she left it, she cried because she left friends and nuns she loved. I was touched when the Mother Superior hugged and kissed her and took her Crucifix off her neck and gave it to the child. I also think of Sister Agnes who was another unsung hero. Thank you for reading and commenting. And thank you from my folks to your folks. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
at least there was some really good news.
LikeLike
A shameful period of history if ever there was one. I do admire the way you tell such stories, Rochelle. And I am very glad you do it. Best wishes, Jilly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jilly,
With even the youngest of the holocaust survivors dying off, I feel it’s even more important for us never to forget. Thank you for your affirming comments. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s all true of course but most Americans would rather believe in the comfortable myth of Thanksgiving. Both stories are hard-hitting and good writing, Rochelle. Happy Thanksgiving! —- Suzanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Suzanne,
I did catch some flack from a couple of white-bread critics when I posted that story 3 years ago. It’s as true as it ever was. My only consolation in the American genocide is that my folks were in Eastern Europe suffering persecution. At any rate, thank you for taking the time to read both stories. 😉 Happy Thanksgiving to you, my friend.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
That puts things in perspective somewhat. We could all learn from that. Lovely pic of you and Russell too, Rochelle 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Iain,
It kind of goes along with “I cried and cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet.” Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 4 people
A gut-wrenching decision. How can we ever know whether or not it was the right one. Very well written.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My dear Etana,
Since this is based on a woman’s actual account I know she made the right choice. The nuns gave her love and safety until the day a group of Jewish soldiers came to take her to her permanent home in Eretz Israel. Thank you, my friend for reading and leaving a comment. That means a lot.
Shalom,
Rukhelita
LikeLike
Lovely to hear it n your own voice.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Dawn. Perhaps I should record them all like our friend C.E.Ayr?
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think the accent added a lot to the reading.
LikeLike
Nicely done, as always Rochelle. I enjoyed this story two different ways–both the facetiousness and folly of laying a heavy trip like this on a child, and also the larger theme–the metaphor of perspective…a thing that is easy to lose!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Karen,
The truth is that the choices most of us make these days are far from life or death. For a child to have been faced with such a choice is heartbreaking. The woman whose story I based this on did, indeed, have to choose.
Thank you so much for your comments. Nice to see you here this week.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice to be here! That is a heartbreaking choice indeed.
LikeLike
Good story. Art Speigelman wrote in Maus about how his father would always bring up the camps whenever he complained about anything. He also said that his parents kept a framed picture of his brother who had died at the hands of the Nazis, but none of him. “Why did they need a picture of me? I was alive.” He always felt inadequate because he hadn’t experienced the horrors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Josh,
I’d say that Speigelman’s father did go over the top. How sad for him. I know a man whose father was a survivor. Talk about bitterness being passed to the next generation, the man in question makes everything about the Holocaust. If you say, it’s raining today, he would counter with something like, “When my father was in the camps and it rained…” Very difficult person to be around.
Thank you re my story. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Goodness, that last line is a punch in the gut sort of line! Beautifully told, Rochelle.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, Susan. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
There are so many stories of Holocaust we don’t know. Thanks for reminding. Beautifully written as usual. We are so much absorbed in our sorrows that we don’t see around us how others are doing. We need these jerks to feel for others difficulties.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Indira,
Thank you for reading and commenting. As always your words fill and encourage me.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are so talented.
LikeLike
Very powerful story, made even more moving by your reading of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you on both counts, Trent. Perhaps I should follow CE’s lead and start reading all of them. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe… Actually, I think the accent you used is what did it for me with this – I knew who the character was much more plainly than just reading the words on the screen. It brought her to life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a pretty tough choice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Got that right, James.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
It sounds like a harsh lesson, but it’s one that has to be learned if we are to avoid revisiting the past. Beautifully done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Sandra,
What strikes me as funny is that there seemed to be two schools of thought after the holocaust. Some denied their Jewishness altogether, while others like my mother made sure we knew. “Never forget what ‘they’ did to ‘us’.” She would tell me. I saw those horrible films at a very young age. I don’t feel that I was scarred by it. In fact, I’m grateful to her that I grew up with a sense of who I am and where I came from. Wow…long answer. Shortened form: Thank you. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Dear Rochelle,
This is a harsh lesson indeed. And perspective is everything. Today we would say how can you try to teach something so serious to a six-year-old, as we wrap them in cotton batten? And yet, Marta had to live it herself at that same age.
Lotsa love,
Dale
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Dale,
I agree with you about harsh lessons. Perhaps my mother was over the top in sitting me down to watch the Holocaust films. But I never have felt abused or damaged by learning that harsh reality at such a tender age. It gave me a strong sense of who I am and where I came from. And, yes, Marta faced a harsh reality that no child should face at an early age.
Thank you for reading and leaving such affirming comments, my friend.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think we live in extremes. Now, heaven forbid little Bobby get sand thrown in his face by little Susie without Bobby’s mommy coming to his rescue…
And then you have the 6-year old latch-key kids left to fend for themselves…
LikeLike
Thankfully it’s a choice she won’t have to make. A powerful piece indeed Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Keith,
I’m sure Marta hopes Segol’s most stressing choices are over what to wear. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is a lot of intensity (and a lot of story) in this wee snippet. I love that about storytelling, how a scene this short… told in the right way… can tell us so much about where the reading is about to take us. A conversation that starts with attire choices, just to take us back to a time where a child (then) had to choose between being with her parents and not… is one few can resist. I mean, who wouldn’t want to know more?
Thanks for the glimpse into the story, Rochelle, and for hosting the prompt.
LikeLike
Such a burden to bear, a choice that must be impossible to make… maybe sometimes at six years choices should be made fore you… such memories are slowly fading I think, that’s why they need to be written down….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Björn,
In the actual incident that I base my story on, I don’t know if the grandmother set her granddaughter straight. But she said it was at that moment she realized the stories she had kept to herself needed to be shared. We must never forget.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Another well told tale, Rochelle, always interesting to see where the prompt takes you.
I just posted my story and there were 29 people ahead of me… what’s wrong with those people, this is Wednesday not Friday! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Ted,
Once upon a time when I first joined FF, it seems that we didn’t even post until Friday. Madison assures me that it changed before I climbed into the driver’s seat.
At any rate, I’m glad you liked my story and took the time to say so. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
I remember that, then everyone posted on Thursday and finally Wednesday. You are a pied piper luring your writers to respond to your very prompt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s well written, as always. I have a question: would an almost 6yr old know what a convent is or what happened at concentration camps?
LikeLike
Dear Stu,
I suspect Marta would explain it to her granddaughter if she didn’t understand. But when I was six, I lived across the street from a Catholic family. I knew what a convent was and, believe me, as a baby boomer I knew all too well what happened at the concentration camps. My guess is that Segol has some inklings of what happened.
Thank you re my story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
I found the contrast between my father’s early life and my own quite shocking, and now my own childhood sounds almost victorian when compared to my children’s, but I am grateful that saddest thing that ever happened to my kids seems to be the day the internet was broken! Thank you for another classy tale! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear JWD,
Although the Holocaust was recent past when I was a child, my toughest choices as a kid were such things as ‘chocolate or vanilla ice cream?’ And the biggest hardship was that we had black and white TV and dial telephones. My grandfather’s story was very different, having escaped the pogroms in Eastern Europe. Thank you for your kind comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
These kinds of ‘perspectives’ were ones too many children I know had grown up with, and some do today, raised by more recent survivors and refugees of the impossible. It is a painful – and one might say, needless – lesson, and it can end up minimizing the no-less-real if thankfully more normal choices that children who aren’t facing life-or-death are faced with. And yet, this very pain often holds a reality that needs telling and an identity that would be unnamed but no less real even if the words weren’t said. It may also be why cultural trauma often passes onto the second and third generation (and beyond) — because it is more than just the awfulness lived, but also the awfulness revisited and learned about, and the shame transmitted. Well done as always, Rochelle.
I’ve added my contribution to the link-a-think-thing, but here it is copied, as is my ‘thing’ to o:
https://naamayehuda.com/2018/11/21/outdoor-sunday/
Na’ama
LikeLiked by 1 person
Na’ama y’karah,
100 words limits the whole story. I don’t believe the woman in question shamed her daughter (in real life) but it was then she realized the stories she had kept to herself begged to be shared. I did not intend to infer that Marta shamed Seqol. More like my mother’s mission to make sure I knew who I was and where I came from. “Never forget” followed me from the cradle to now. Thank you for your comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Ah, the things people are “outraged” about today are put into stark contrast with your story. Thanks for helping us all remember.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jo,
It’s all about point of view, isn’t it? Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
no matter what the circumstance, for a 6-year old making choices can be difficult indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Plaridel,
The saddest part of my story is that a six-year-old child really did have to make that life or death choice. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
one of the heartbreaking stories that i read was that of a survivor. she was but a little girl when she and her mother were separated. as her mother was walking away, she called her. her mother turned around, looked at her without saying a word, and then continued walking. she said that was the last time she saw her mother.
LikeLike
That story is similar to the one my story is based on. Tragic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bam! What an impactful story Rochelle. And I love that pic of you and Russell, btw 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you on both counts, Anurag. It’s always fun to be around Russell. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Quite a difference between the two choices, but upsetting to each. I wonder if little Segol really understands her grandmother’s words? One day she will.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Ali,
I sure Segol doesn’t understand it all yet. But someday she will. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very different perspectives in very different times. I can’t help but feel reassured the only thing Segol has to get upset about is which dress to wear. Thank goodness the choices her grandmother had to make are not ones Segol has to make too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Clare,
I’m sure that Marta is also grateful that her granddaughter’s toughest choice is what dress to wear. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Some choices stay with us for eternity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
True story, Liz. Thank you for coming by. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Wow. Puts things into their proper persepective, doesn’t it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Linda,
That’s what the story’s all about. Perspectives. Wow is always a compliment. Thank you. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was the darkest phase in the history of humanity.
One of my schoolmates , a few month ago, visited Auschwitz as a tourist. She described the horrors of the concentration camp and this gave me goosebumps.
making a choice for a six year old is difficult. Take it or leave it…. The Hobson’s choice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Kalpana,
A dark time indeed. I’ve not visited Auschwitz but would like to just once. Although I’m not sure I could handle it. Marta’s choice is based on an all too true story. Thank you for reading and leaving such a nice comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Very powerful story. What difference of choice between two generations. Line between freedom and concentration camp.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Abhijit,
There definitely is a difference from generation to generation. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
It’s good for Marta to help Segol keep things in perspective. She will appreciate that someday. We should never forget. Beautifully written story as always. I really like yours and Russell’s red noses, what a hoot. Have a nice weekend, Rochelle!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Brenda,
I’m glad you put my story in perspective. It was never my intent for Marta to shame her granddaughter. It’s that infernal word limit. 😉 Being with Russell is always fun. He’s as much of a nut in person as he is on the page. Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
The word limit is truly difficult some weeks. I remember my mother telling me stories about her life situations when she was growing up, her family actually lived in a tent in an abandoned field for a good part of her life. I’m sure there were times as a typical kid (growing up not poor) that I didn’t take her words to heart, until I was older.
I love your stories, Rochelle, they are always thought provoking and of course well told. I purchased “This, That, and Sometimes the Other” this evening and look forward to getting into it. Take care!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure your mother had some great stories. There are so many things I wish I had asked my grandfather when he was alive. Although one of my cousins and I agree that he might not have answered them. Ah well, hindsight. One of the stories in “This, That, and Sometimes the Other” is about the conversation I wish I’d had with him, but never did. It was a cathartic story to write. Who knows how close I came to facts? Anyway, that one’s called Smiling Sam. Enjoy!
Thank you and shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rochelle,
What a beautifully written story about such a horrific part of history. And you’re right, we should never forget. What a painful decision of a child to make but I’m thankful that she ended up in the loving care of nuns instead of what was considered to worst concentration camp. There are many unsung heroes who saved many lives at risk of their own if discovered.
Shalom,
Adele
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Adele,
I wonder how many more unsung heroes there were of whom we know nothing about? Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Thanks for posting again Rochelle, I missed it first time round. a lovely, poignant story
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Michael,
I’m not sure which story you mean. The story on this page is one I’ve not posted before. However at the bottom of the page I posted a link to a story I posted three years ago. Either way, thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry Rochelle, misunderstood the intro.
LikeLike
No need to apologize, Michael. The operative is that you enjoyed my story. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
She deinitely put things in perspective!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely, Andrea. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an important lesson for a six-year-old to learn! It certainly brings her out of her “bubble”. Powerful story, Rochelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Magarisa,
I wonder how many children today live in a bubble, not knowing anything about the past. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
heartbreaking choice. I much prefer the little one’s current dilemma of blue or green. What a horrific choice for a child back then.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Laurie,
I’m with you. A child shouldn’t have to make such a choice, should she? Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
A beautiful story. Loved hearing you read it In the audio. perspective indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Ronda,
It’s a good thing I check my spam folder every day. I found your comment there. SMH. I’m thinking perhaps I should start doing this on a regular basis. Our CE Ayr, always reads his stories. Thank you for taking the time to read. Glad to have you aboard. Scratch the Wonder Dog behind the ears for me.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Gritty takes on the harsh reality. And bravo for speaking the truth through fiction while history is being rewritten by the winners..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dahlia,
I fear with the survivors aging and leaving us that no one will care to keep the memory alive. So much injustice in the world. I also cringe at how history is being sanitized. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Until a few years ago I was naive enough to believe history was a real account.
LikeLike
“Based on an actual survivor’s account”.
Now that really puts it in a different light. It’s important to have these stories from these terrible events around the world, so we have a record for the next generations.
The partition of India is estimated to have up to 14 million people displaced and an estimated 2 million deaths on both sides. It is only in recent times that a project was started to collect the oral histories of the survivors of the largest involuntary migration in recent history.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Subroto,
With so many stories out there, there’s no need to make things up, is there? The plight of humanity needs to have a face to make us care. Oral histories are so important. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Nicely articulated. Very powerful story.
Please check my blogs http://mesmots1987.wordpress.com and share love.
LikeLike
Thank you, Scorpio. Very kind of you to drop by and leave a comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Its my pleasure.
LikeLike
This is heartbreaking, to live with memories of a holocaust 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear SL,
Thank you so much for coming by to read and comment. Best wishes on your writing journey.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike