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“Do you know anything about grandpa and the camps? When he went? What it was like?”
“What’s gotten you so curious?”
“Grandone He’s all I have left of our faotten to know her more You know, like who she was before as a person, not as randmother Isn’t where we came from kind of important? Our family history? I’ll never have a chance to talk to her about it now, to see how she felt about things and whathim”
Tears filled her mother’s eyes, but she blinked the on the table, she said, “Yeah That hteen You’re supposed to be engrossed in being a teenager and all that co with it You’re not expected to be interested in your grandparents as people Or your parents, for that matter You should see us as ancient, old-fashioned, and unrelatable That’s totally nor the adults in your life until you’re off on your own I hope you’re not beating yourself up about this”
Her iving it a quick squeeze She gave her a half-hearted sreat
“I’m not But I’m not really noro to parties, and I’m not particularly involved in school or extracurriculars My weekends have randpa Only occasionally do I go out with Caed “I feel kinda selfish, like this whole tiet to know the people I spend most my time with I don’t want to miss out on another opportunity with Grandpa, especially with such significance in his past Not everyone has that”
Plus, she had a secret to solve, a journal to read
“Well, I’m not sure I’ll be of much help What I know about his tirandma told s here and there we gleaned over the years As I said, he didn’t volunteer much It’s not in his nature, and I’ve come to accept that, for the most part”
“Has he ever, maybeI don’t know” Abby picked at a cuticle “Written about it?” she asked, peeking up at her mother from beneath her lashes
“Not that I know of”
“Like in a journal?”
“I think I’d know about it if he had” Her rand like that, she’d have shared it with the world”
Which begged the question why she hadn’t?
“Would he get upset if I asked him about it?”
Her er over the ri a project once in history class I’ve never seen so He hates talking about it What I know is that he grew up in Krakow, and when they began to liquidate the ghetto, they rounded everyone up, thousands of thousands of Jews and sent therandfather left with his mother, father, and two sisters, I believe,” she said, her voice uncertain “They killed his whole faed to stay alive almost two years before they were liberated When he left there, he was beyond despair He had no one left Nothing”