Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: HISTORY (03/10/22)
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TITLE: Two at a Time | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lorie Coffin
03/18/22 -
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The mother lifted her filthy hands to her face, sobbing uncontrollably. It was an impossible ask. How could she be asked to do such a thing?
“You are giving your girls the best chance. Trust me?”
The children clung to their mama, refusing to be wrenched from her side, wet tears cleaning streaks down their small faces.
“Shhhh! We cannot make a scene. Settle down now,” Irena whispered.
The mom steeled herself and straightening her back, nodded to the woman. She kissed each child and said, “Be brave. Mama loves you.” The children calmed down somewhat and lessened their grip, reaching out to take Irena’s outreached hand.
“Come here, child,” said Irena quietly as she reached for the older child. Taking soot from the fire, she rubbed it underneath the girl’s eyes, blackening them. Then, she removed the hot water bottle from her bag and placed it on the child’s face.
“Leave this here on your skin for a bit, okay?”
The child nodded and did as she was told.
Irena turned to the four-year old, the younger of the two and smiled. “You get to do something really great today, okay? Can you play the invisible game with me?”
The little girl wiped her runny nose and nodded as Irena tucked a dirty whisp of hair behind the child’s ear.
“Good,” Irena replied. “I have a big surprise for you later if you show me that you can be really quiet, like a mouse.” The woman flashed a couple of orange candies and both girls let out a little squeal.
Irena smiled and went to work, lifting the smaller child onto the stretcher and into the false bottom. “Lay down here. It’ll only be a few minutes. And remember, you are a little mouse, okay?”
The girl nodded and lay back while Irena lowered the board over top of her and a sheet. Then, she lifted the older girl onto the stretcher, laying her head on a small pillow and covered her with a blanket. Taking rouge out of her bag, Irena rubbed a little of the red color on the girl’s face and dotted it all over her like she had a rash.
“Perfect. Now, shhhh!”
Irena pushed the wheeled stretcher into the back of her vehicle and, clasping the mother’s hands goodbye, she jumped into the driver’s seat and headed for the camp exit. She was a social worker who had access to the Warsaw Ghetto. She was there to check for diseases but realized she could rescue a Jewish child on the pretense of illness while hiding another.
“God, help me now,” she muttered under her breath.
“Ready, Ralph?” Irena asked, glancing at her German Shepherd in the passenger seat. The dog barked, right on cue, just as he’d been taught. He served to intimidate the guards and covered any noise of the children.
They drove past tent after tent on their way to the gate. Emaciated people lay around watching, some aware of her secret mission. She had done this countless times but it was always a fresh risk each time. Getting caught would surely mean death.
Pulling up to the gate, she signaled her dog to bark again as the armed Nazi guard approached the vehicle.
“What is it?” the man shouted gruffly over the barking of the dog.
“A child of eight, possible typhus.” It was the disease the oppressors feared.
Usually, because of this, she was immediately waved through.
“Step out,” he commanded.
Irena’s heart pounded as she got out of the vehicle and went around to the back of it. He gestured for her to open the tailgate. She did so, pulling out the stretcher and the guard could see the girl’s rash. The child moaned, tossing her head as if delirious as the guard reached out to touch her cheek. It was hot to the touch because of the water bottle.
“Don’t touch her! She has a fever and could be contagious!” The guard pulled his hand back quickly. He lifted the blanket and the sheet, looking all around the bed, inspecting it. The little girl moaned again but there was not a peep from the four-year old making like a mouse in the false compartment.
The guard, satisfied, waved for Irena to push the stretcher in and get going. She wasted no time. With her dog barking furiously, she drove through the gate into freedom, into history.
*Based on the true story of Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker and Christian who risked her life during the Holocaust, rescuing 2500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and settling them with Christian families until after the war.
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And thanks be to God for the unending ways he helped them all help His Chosen People.
And thank you for your heartwarming story. It was a blessing to read this morning.
She was up for the Nobel Peace Prize and lost to Al Gore and Global Warming. That's when I lost faith in the so called peace prize. But GOD always remembers those who display his love and tenderness through themselves. She suffered dearly for her bravery but never gave in! What a hero!