They’d fortified the ceiling.
So they said.
The old structure needed periodical reinforcing.
So they said.
The thickness of the walls supported their claims. The deeply recessed windows. The heavy coats of paint on ancient plaster.
‘Twas all a ruse. Of course.
The false ceiling hid a warren of crawl-spaces and narrow hiding places. A stream of escaped slaves was followed by a flood of those fleeing Nazi persecution and thereafter a steady trickle of modern-day refugees.
The ceiling hid them all. Young and old. Broken and defiant. Desperate and bewildered. Men and women and the all-too-heartbreaking child.
Some stayed a night. Others for longer sheltering. Hilda had stayed the longest. A girl on arrival, she was almost a woman at war’s end. She emerged educated. In silence. In stealth. In compassion.
She became the guardian of those who followed.
Fortified with hope of one day needing it no more.
For the Crimson’s Creative Challenge
Note: Dedicated to all the heroes who — often at tremendous risk to themselves — had managed to shelter the needy, the desperate, the voiceless, and the vulnerable during times of injustice, persecution, violence, horror, and hate. To all who do so still. May we one day need to do so no more.
Na'ama Yehuda 
Wow! Beautiful and heartbreaking and, yet, hopeful.
💚✨💚
Adele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D.
AdeleRyanMcDowell.com Adeleandthepenguin.com MakingPeacewithSuicide.com Channeledgrace.com
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Thank you, dear Adele. You, who knows of holding hope for those who feel hopeless, knows the power of it. So, here’s to not giving up hope … and to compassion. XOXO Na’ama
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Na’ama Y’karah,
I wonder how many stories there are of children who grew up way too soon under such circumstances. Beautifully written.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle. I suspect there are way too many of them … May there be less who need to, soon.
Shabbat Shalom! Na’ama
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That’s a powerful piece, expansive in its scope… which says much about our society as its trundled through the painful pages of history. One day… one day… 🙂
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One day … one day …
Society is capable of great compassion. Also of great harm.
My hope is that the compassion of individuals will one day soon be the norm for leadership, as well. Most of them had been – and too many of them still are and even in some places increasingly are – more concerned with power, intimidation, corruption, abuse-of-power, hate, division, and xenophobia …
But, one day …
Yes!
And … thank you!
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Alas, history paint a gloomy picture, although tis true that hope colours it in rainbow tints
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Indeed! Yay to rainbow tints …
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Those are my moments again 🙂
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🙂
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