The Children’s Train

As nighttime crept around the train, it barely made a difference inside the almost pitch-black rail car. Several people had died. Their bodies were carefully laid in the corner, waiting for proper funerals that would never come. There was crying, moaning, and audible prayers, but there was nothing else that could be done for the dead. At a stop to load more people into the already crowded train, Anna heard that they were being taken to the Mengele Ghetto, just inside Poland, until it was decided which camp could process them the quickest.

Eddie peered through the barbed wire twisted around the train’s small window. He pointed at the moon. “Look, Mutti. Look at the Nazis’ moon.”

“No, Eddie. No one has power over the moon,” Anna said.

“Then that’s where I want to live,” Eddie said.

Anna put her arm around Eddie and sang “The Sleepy Moon.” Eddie rested his head on his mother’s shoulder. She always made things seem better and had kept him safe, refusing to put him in an institution when he was little. Eddie quietly sang along with her, remembering the old days before he knew about death.

The Moon. The Moon.

The big sleepy Moon says goodnight to you.

He’ll see you soon.

Close your eyes, make believe and

Float away on the tune

Of the big sleepy Moon.

The Moon. The Moon.