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Show 1-5 I glanced at my mother and she patted my shoulder without looking at me. Another nurse stepped out of the train and motioned to someone behind her. A tall man in uniform backed out of the train, holding the ends of a stretcher, Another man followed, holding the other end. "Stretchers," whispered my mother. As the first passed us by, I looked at what was on it. I saw a covered figure with a face like I had never seen. The eyes were closed, the nose flattened and twisted to one side and only a mass of bluish skin where the mouth should have been. A hole at the side of the face moved In and out as the form on the stretcher breathed. I could not look away. "Mother. . ."I whispered. Mother put her hand on the side of my face and gently turned my eyes away into the folds of her skirt. She held my hand firmly as I began to tremble. Suddenly, I felt my mother move forward and then felt something press against me and someone take my shoulders and turn me. I held to my mother's skirt, my eyes closed against what I might see. "Annie, look who's here," my mother said and I felt myself gathered into a different darkness, one of rougher texture and sharper smell. "Hello, my love." It was my father. |