My Name Is Naomi

Chapter Two

Present Day December 1941

Munich, Germany

Naomi settled down quietly before the wooden stage, the red paint starting to peel slightly at the edges. Her little sister, Ayala, wanted to show them the puppet show she had been preparing for them to see after dinner.  Naomi gathered her skirts around her and pulled a blanket over her cold legs. It was starting to get chilly in the house, especially now that winter was upon them.

Suddenly, a little puppet with purple yarn hair popped up.  Ayala, who was hiding behind the stage, made a funny little voice for it, "This is the story of Chana's first Rosh Hashanah.  Chana is the youngest in her family."

Naomi's mother smiled at that and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I think Ayala is going to tell a story about herself."

"Shhh, don't ruin it!" Ayala whispered harshly, her head peeking above the stage. She narrowed her brown eyes and popped back down.  Chana the puppet appeared again, saying. "One day, Chana got really angry at her older sister, Leah.  So she decided to dump her paints all over Leah's new doll, the one she had gotten for her thirteenth birthday."

Naomi remembered that.  She had been devastated that Hadassah had been ruined by the red and blue paints. Her mother had bought her a new one later on, but it had never been the same.  She still remembered that as if it were yesterday, even though she was now eighteen.  Naomi focused her attentions back on the play, curious as to how Ayala was planning on telling the rest of the story.

"Chana immediatly felt terrible. She loved her sister Leah, and it was wrong to ruin her doll like that.  But she never said she was sorry.  Then Rosh Hashanah came around. Rosh Hashanah had never meant anything to Chana. She had been a good little girl, until she had dumped the paints on the doll.  But Rosh Hashanah was a time for forgiveness, so Chana went over to her sister Leah."

A doll with blue yarn for hair popped up. Naomi assumed that was her or "Leah" in the story.  Chana moved her head as she spoke "I'm sorry I ruined your favorite doll, Leah."

Leah nodded and wrapped her little puppet arms around Chana, "I forgive you Chana. You are my sister and I love you."

"The end!" Ayala popped up from the stage suddenly.

Naomi and her parents clapped as she took a bow.  Ayala shyly came over to Naomi and handed her the Leah puppet.  Naomi smiled, "She looks just like me.  Except my hair isn't blue."

"I like the blue." Ayala commented, leaping onto her mother's lap.  She looked to her mother. "Did you like the story?"

Her mother stroked her hair and smiled, "It was lovely."

"Can I tell another one?" Ayala begged. "I have a lot of them!"

Her father chuckled and scooped her up into his arms, "No, I think it's time for bed. Chana and Leah must be tired."

"Are you tired Chana?" Ayala asked the puppet who shook its head.  She showed her father. "See?  She isn't tired."

"Well, tell Chana you can play tomorrow and leave her down here." her father said calmly.

"Chana, we can't play until tomorrow.  You have to sleep.  Here, Naomi. Put her to bed," Ayala held out the puppet.

Naomi took the puppet from her sister and gently placed her with Lena behind the stage.  She stayed downstairs near the warm fire as her father and mother went upstairs to put Ayala in bed. 

That was when everything went horribly wrong.  She hadn't heard the planes coming until they were just over the house.  Naomi had thought it was odd that planes were flying so low to the ground.