July 17, 1945 Shanghai-China

Nina was running for her life, panicking again.
     There were hundreds of aircraft like birds in the high clouds above Nina in the Shanghai ghetto. Those big birds were cracking their engines, making horrible noises, roaring down toward her head, near fifty yards away. Then, suddenly, bombs were flying everywhere, exploding in front of Nina. It was horrendous.
     Nina had been on her way to a friend, but now she was racing back home. She was terrified by the whistling sounds the bombs made before they hit the ground and exploded. Houses and buildings were on fire. The people in the street were screaming in fear.
     The blast from the explosions was deafening and blinding. Nina became so frightened that she ran as fast as she could. Smoke filled the road like a pungent cloud. She choked on the fumes covering her nostrils. Her ears were drumming, and her eyes filled with tears. Nina kept running past her best friend’s apartment. There was a plume of smoke with fire rising from the site. Nina never forgot that ear-piercing whistle right before the bomb fell into the middle of her friend’s building. Her legs began to tremble when she saw human legs and arms flying through the air and dropping to the ground.
     When she got home, Nina and her mother crawled underneath the dining table for shelter. She could hear the dreaded siren outside, and she could smell noxious smoke. Nina was desperately worried that her Chinese girlfriend had been wounded or killed in the explosion.
     She expected the next airplane to carry bombs that would destroy her building. It petrified her. Then the bombing seemed to cease, and there was a moment of quietude. The sudden silence after the horrible explosion made Nina even more nervous.
     Soon, an airplane roared over them, with machine gun stuttering sounds. Then a bomb hit straight on the building across the street. Nina guessed the Japanese army’s oil tanks had been bombed. An enormous explosion shook their apartment building with immense noise. She could sense an awful smell and see the vast smoke. A chip from the bomb flew into their window like a brutal bullet. It dropped on her pillow, jumping ferociously to her foot. All at once,
     Nina felt like the world was coming to an end. 

Midnight, November 9, 1938 Berlin-Germany

Nina Friedman held her Papa’s big hand and hurried home in the dusk. Her ponytail waved in the chilly air as they walked in silence. Nina saw the pigeons flapping their feathers in the cold breeze. She was puzzled by how crimson the streets and buildings were, wondering if all this color could be from the sunset.
     Suddenly, the metal-like screech of a siren broke through the fragile evening air, shivering Nina’s heart. She felt Papa squeeze her hand. Nina clenched her teeth as the shrill of the sirens came closer and closer. Then she saw a black Mercedes-Benz cruising along the street. She could see the miniature Nazi swastika flag pronged on the car’s fender. The vehicle roared over the dead leaves and dust on the street, disappearing around the corner. Nina tried to keep up with her Papa, her tiny legs moving as fast as they could on the frigid Berlin Street.
     Albert Friedman was born in Berlin thirty-nine years ago. He was a tall and thin man with a distinguished appearance, a reddish face, and a high-bridge nose. Albert was proud of his nose and always called it his enormous proboscis with a joking tone. But he never imagined a time when this nose would bring him so much trouble. He always walked fast, swinging his arms wide, taking large steps. Albert rushed home after working an entire day with his daughter at his musical instrument store in downtown Berlin. He kept worrying about the siren wailing on the way home.
     “Mama, we are home.” Nina hugged her Mama’s leg.
     “Sweetie, it’s cold outside.” Mama bent down and kissed Nina’s cheek. Nina had crystal clear pale blue eyes and chestnut hair, just like her Mama, Alona. Two cute dimples on her pink cheeks enhanced the charm of her smile.
     “Honey, you look exhausted today.” Mama took Papa’s black coat.
     “Yes.” Papa’s voice was low and deep. He squeezed a smile at Mama.
     Nina was happy to be home, warm, quiet, and with the pleasant smell of food. Mama kept their home immaculate clean. A violin was the centerpiece of a collection of landscape paintings hanging on the wall. Several family pictures were on top of the upright piano. Nina was positioned in the middle in most of the photos. One picture was of Nina as a baby, in her Mama’s arms by the Rhine River in Cologne. Mama still called Nina “Baby” once in a while, even though she was already eight years old.
     The three of them sat around the table and ate dinner in a strange silence. There was no usual chatting tonight. Papa looked nervous. He seemed reluctant to initiate any conversation about the tensions in the street. Nina was sensible enough to discern the odd atmosphere at the table, so she kept quiet for a while.          Finally, Nina broke the awkward silence.
     “Mama, can I play piano after dinner?”
     “Sure, Sweetie!” her mother smiled at her.
     Nina played a simple piano piece called the “Fluttering Leaves.” Her playing was exquisite that night. The melody of the beautiful music was floating in the room with a gentle rhyme. It spoke of the spectacle of the autumn leaves, dropping and flying in slow motion. So many leaves spread all over the picturesque mountains with a gentle tempo. The red, green, brown, and yellow leaves across the river were fluttering, keeping pace with the larghetto of the music.
     Nina’s tiny fingers were flying over the piano keyboard. She played each note with a gentle and solid strength. The colorful leaves seemed to be slowly drifting down and down. Nina did not know that every time she hit the D note on the keyboard, the music vibrated in her Papa’s heart until she saw tears streaming down his cheeks.
     “Doesn’t the music remind you of the beautiful life we once had when we were young, living by the Rhine River? Do you remember the glamorous life we used to have?” Albert kept asking his wife.
     “Yes, I remember,” Alona held her husband’s hand. She understood Albert was sad because their remarkable life was slipping away since Hitler came into power. The harsh reality of the increasing anti-Semitism in Berlin was a constant worry. 
     “Almost every note you played was so touching. Thanks! Sweetie!” Papa stroked Nina’s shoulder.
     “Mama, can I play more?” Nina murmured.
     “We’ll play it tomorrow. Let’s go to bed now,” Alona said.
     “Good night, Papa! Mama!” Nina was always an amenable girl.
     Nina heard more dogs barking before she fell asleep. She hid her head under the quilt. “Why are the dogs barking so much tonight?” Nina worried and tossed around in her bed.
     “Bang!” Suddenly there was an enormous burst of sound near Nina’s bed.
      “Ah!” Nina jumped up, screaming,
      “Papa!”
      “Nina!” Papa and Mama rushed together into her bedroom.
      Someone had thrown a stone through the window. Papa found shards of the broken glasses all over on the bedroom floor.
     There was chaos in the street. It sounded like someone was smashing something. People were shouting, dogs were barking. Nina felt the air was filled with terror.
     “What are those noises?” Mama asked.
     “That must be the Nazi SS,” Papa said.
     “What are they doing?” Mama peeked out from the broken window.
     “There is nothing good coming from those people,” Papa couldn’t see what was happening. The street lamp was too dim.
     He turned to Nina. She was trembling. “Sweetie, don’t worry!” Papa said, holding on to her.
     “But why? Papa, why?” Nina asked.
     “Those bastards smashed our window. They have targeted our apartment,” Papa said.
     “We need to be more careful,” Mama whispered.
     Nina could still hear people yelling in the street, and the sounds of things being crushed continued. She was scared, not only for herself but also for her parents.
     “It was an omen of what has happened here tonight,” Papa murmured.
     Nina understood Papa referred to the sirens and Nazi flags they had encountered on the way home before dusk.
     “Listen,” Mama held her husband’s arm.
     Footsteps thundered on the wooden stairs just outside their home.
     “Boom! Boom! Boom!” Deafening knocks shook the front door.
     “Papa!” Nina looked petrified. She was almost jumping out of her skin.
     “Sweetie! We will be fine,” Papa embraced Nina firmly. Then, while trying to calm his daughter, he instructed her to hide behind the stairs.
     At that moment, the bang on the door became much more violent. Nina was terrified. She crouched into the tiny space, her heart beating almost as loud as the pounding on the door.
     Before Mama could unlock the door, it was flung open by force.
     Two Nazi SS men pushed into the apartment. One was fat with puffy eyes, and the other was skinny with a toothbrush-style mustache. They were all in black.
     “What are you looking for?” Papa asked even though he knew these men only meant trouble.
     “We are looking for you,” the short SS man said.
     “Bang!” The mustached SS man hit two framed family photos on the wall with a stick like a baseball bat. The glass over the photos was smashed, falling onto the floor. Then he smashed a glass bottle engraved with the Star of David that was on the table. At the sound of broken glass, Nina covered her mouth to muffle her crying.