My mother calls me, and I run laughing out the door,
I am weightless, impatient, I cannot be constrained.
I skip towards the trees. I want to scale their twisted limbs to the tippiest top.
There I am a King and a Lord, and no one can reach me.
My father's hand holds mine, and I am nine feet tall.
His latest gift, a little chestnut mink stole, encircles my shoulders, just like Savta!
He walks beside me, his step shortened to mine,
waving at each person we pass down the broad boulevard.
I did it! I took my first step! I did it as I fall flat on my rump. I am a big boy now!
Soon, I will walk like Mama and Papa do, soon I will run and jump. For now, I reach for the table, to pull myself up,
I did it! I did it! Now I will do it again.
The new boy is here, he has red hair. I've never felt like this before.
My heart races, I can't focus, is he looking at me? I want to talk to him,
But instead, I sneak glances his way, hoping he will come to me.
The Yad slips in my sweaty grasp. I nearly drop it. Where was I? Oh yes, I found my place.
Am I doing this right? I don't want to mess up. My Abba is watching, my Ema is crying.
I can feel myself growing up.
Papa says my bridge is the finest he's ever seen. Such strength, such stability, an elephant would not fall through.
I don't know whether I believe him, it's only matchsticks and glue,
but someday, just maybe, I can build a real one of steel.
Do they let girls build bridges?
E minor, G Sharp, A flat, the mischievous notes frolic in my mind,
the chords soaring and dipping, even the birds are jealous.
My eyes close, my fingers dance on the edge of my desk. I can't wait to get home.
I am lost in another world, full of elves and fairies. A world I have created in the pages of my diary.
I sometimes escape there when the world around me grows dark and frightening.
Mother says it won't last, but I don't believe her.
I can't wait to grow up, I have so much to do. I want to take a train from one end of Europe to the other.
I want to see America. I want to go to university to study science.
I want to have children of my own.
Mama says I can do anything. So, I've decided I will study the stars.
I already know all the locations of the constellations. Cassiopeia is my favorite.
I really can do anything. I can be a doctor, a scientist, a sculptor, a writer, a teacher, anything at all. I have so many things I still want to do.
Mama, why won't they give us any water? I'm cold, Papa.
Please, I want to go home. I want to grow up.