text: Amalia looked across the cafeteria. Everywhere, her people were running about, cramming their faces with food. While she herself was starving, the remnants of a pastry dangling from her lips, she had to take a moment to take it all in. For months, they hadn't eaten much more than a single meal each day, forced to work in the fields and factory. They made ammunition, picked potatoes, and did whatever their captors wanted. That last one was a rule as well as a task. She was only fifteen years old, which meant she was a potato harvester. And it seemed her days of picking potatoes were over. Her mother and father were gone; only her older brother remaining. When she first came here, she simply accepted her reality. It was the new world, a world where the powers that be did what they wanted. They told you what to do and how to do it, and if you so much as showed an ounce of defiance, you were shot. It occurred to Amalia that everyone here would have been shot, including her brother, as she watched him crack open cans of corned beef. He scooped the meat out with his bare hands, shoving it into his mouth by the canful. He stopped and looked at her, smiling a big, cheesy grin. She smiled back. Surveying her surroundings, she looked at others enjoying themselves. There was Bartek, devouring a small chicken while dipping slices of bread in its grease. Over by the coffee machine were Julian and a couple older women, dumping milk and sugar into large mixing bowls and drinking the sweet concoction with gusto. Not a single coffee mug was in sight. Little children lined up as Sister Maria passed out apples and other pieces of fruit. The children were laughing, the innocence of their faces reflecting in her tears. Amalia was suddenly overcome with emotion. She collapsed behind the table that she was standing at, sobbing and holding a croissant. She was at a loss. She was inconsolable. Before long, a group had surrounded her. Julian commenced stooping down with her brother, the pair gently placing her on a stool at the table. Looking to her friends and the last of her family, she shouted, the words and emotions breaking forth like a waterfall. "What do we do now?! This has been our life for so many years! What on earth are we to do now?" She wailed. The other Jews looked at each other, for many did not know the answer. But Bartek, in his wisdom, smiled. He ripped off the Star of David armband and threw it behind him. The band somersaulted through the air as the group of Jewish children cheered. He grabbed Amalia by the shoulders from across the table, placing his head against hers, before saying the sentence that would stay with her for the rest of her life. "We will do the best that we can, child. One day at a time.