About a week later I wake up to see Evangeline sitting on the sofa, her legs tucked under her, listening

intently to the wireless in front of her. I recognize the voice. It is the voice of David Lloyd James the BBC broadcaster. Captive children, an appeal from Germany. This is David Lloyd James. This is the fifth broadcast made on behalf of forty five allied children who have been Nazi captives and have no homes. It is one in a series of broadcasts this day on each week which will be addressed to relatives that are hoped to be living in Great Britain. the voice says. He goes through numerous names. The last two names, however, is what really grabs my attention. I call two people called Costa, Maria and Martha Costa, on behalf of your daughter and sister, Nicci Costa. This thirteen year old girl survived three camps including Theresienstadt, Bullenhuser Damm and one which she does not know the name. She was separated from her family during the round-up and sent to a camp of which she cannot name. She was then sent to Bullenhuser Damm children s Tuberculosis testing center, in Germany, where she escaped and made her way toward Great Britain. After a bombing that happened she decided to make her way over to Pakistan. She was, however, caught on the way and sent to Theresienstadt, in Czechoslovakia, where she stayed until she was released by the Soviet Union. I would also like to call upon Kuehn, Gabriel Kuehn, who is a close friend of hers that is believed to currently be living in Germany. That is the end of today s list of people in this country who are being sought after by children on this continent who were released from German camps. Would anybody who recognizes himself write to the British Red Cross, Foreign Relations Department, 29 Belgrade Square, London SW1. The wireless says. I didn t know that they would actually do it. I say. Oh, they ve been doing it for weeks now. This is week five of the program. Do you think they ll find me? Of course. They would be stupid not to try to find you. I race upstairs and grab a sheet of paper and a pen. I begin to write a letter to Gabriel.

Dear Gabriel,

How are you? I have missed you very much since you left. Trinette, Damian and I have survived and I am currently living with a very kind couple here in Italy. However, if my family is found I may end up moving back to my old home. Please write back as soon as possible. I really do hope that you lived. Nicci Costa Once my letter is done I find an envelope and place it inside. I seal it shut and write the addresses on it. I then ask the driver to bring me to the post office. Why do you want to go to the post office? he asks. I have a letter to send. Why not just put it in the box? I need a stamp. He drives me over and I buy a stamp and place the letter in the box. Then he drives me back home. When I arrive home I lie on my bead and eventually fall asleep. Weeks pass and I hear nothing from Gabriel or from anyone else and I begin to feel worried. What s wrong? Evangeline asks. Nothing. I lie. I m sure it s not nothing. The problem is that I haven t heard anything from my friend and my family hasn t called yet. It might take a while, sweetheart. I guess. Maybe you don t have the right address. Maybe. I walk up to my room and wait. Every day the mail comes and none of it s for me. Another week passes and finally I receive some sort of good news. Gabriel has written back.

Dear Nicci, I am fine. Ive missed you too. Im glad to hear that you all made it and that you are happy. Im sorry it took so long to write its just that I was never quite good with letters. I have been adopted by my

uncle and am still in Germany. He heard about you while listening to the wireless and I contacted the Red Cross, which is how I received your new address. Please come and visit me during the Holidays. I really do miss you. I will try to write faster next time. Gabriel I stare at the small, messy print and can barely believe my eyes. Gabriel is alive! He made it! I race down the stairs toward Evangeline and push the letter into her hands. She reads it quickly and hugs me. You were right! I shouted. I knew he would write to you. I started to worry. I thought that he might not have made it. Don t you have other friends to write to? Go. Go write to your friends. I sit down and write letters to Trinette, Damian and Gabriel and badger the driver into bringing me over to the post office. I buy the stamps and mail the letters. I really hope it won t take that for them to respond. In a week I have received letters from all my friends as well as one from my sister. Dear Nicci, I am so glad to know that you have made it. I was listening to the wireless when they put up the report. I thought Id never see you again. I have sent along with this letter the adoption papers. If I get the papers back youll technically Ill be your guardian. Isnt that weird? Anyways Im sorry to tell you that mum didnt make it. I am currently living in an apartment in London and will be awaiting your response. Your sister,

Martha
I reach in the large envelope to find the adoption papers. I race downstairs and hand them to Evangeline. You won t believe what happened! Martha wrote back and she says that I can go live with her in England! I shout excitedly. Where are the papers? Evangeline asks excitedly. I hand her the papers and she signs them. Now when you re at the post office buy a big orange or beige package and use it instead of a normal envelope. She says to me as she hands the papers back.

I race outside and don t even bother to take the car. I just run down the streets until I arrive, panting, at the post office. I need a big orange envelope and a few stamps. I say. Does it need to be delivered by airmail? Yes sir. Then once you ve got it all done you can hand it to me. I place the letter and documents into the folder and seal it shut. I then add the stamps and hand it to the man. Have a nice day. He says as he places the letter in a big box that says airmail on it. You too! I race all the way back to the pretty white house and collapse on the sofa. Ran all the way, huh? Evangeline asks me. Yup. All the way. Want some lemonade? Sure. I take the small glass of lemonade and chug it down. Once I m done I place the empty glass on the table and lie there watching television. May I walk to Trinette s house? I ask Evangeline. Why don t you get Adriano to drive you? Okay. I step into the car and give Adriano instructions on how to get to Trinette s house. I arrive and find that the house is completely untouched. I ring the doorbell and her cousin answers it. Is Trinette there? I ask her. Trinette, Nicci is here to see you! she shouts. Trinette walks out and, after seeing her in Theresienstadt, she is unrecognizable. Then again, so am I. Hi! Want to go watch a movie? she asks. Sure.

We walk down the street to the movie theater, just as we had done a million times before. I get some candy from the candy shop next door and we settle in to watch the movie. It s quite an interesting movie, quite funny too. Once we leave we walk to the park where we used to play and buy two kites from the kite man. The kite man is a guy who walks around with a cartful of kites every summer and sells them. We pick out a red one and a blue one and get them up in the air. We fly the kites for quite a while and then pull them back in and walk back to her house. I call Evangeline and ask her if she can have Adriano pick me up. Ten minutes later Adriano is waiting by the door. I say goodbye to Trinette, and Adriano drives me home. When I arrive I begin to write letters to Damian and Gabriel. I quickly race to the post office, buy stamps and mail both letters. I race back home to find an amazing array of food laid out on the table. Is it a holiday? I ask. No. she answers. Then what is all the food for? I ask. Special visitors, my sister is coming over. I turns out that her sister is a short little woman who has a British accent. Is this the poor dear? she asks Evangeline. Yup. Straight from Theresienstadt. Evangeline answers with a hint of pity. Aren t you pretty? I ve got presents for all of you! She hands me a box with a pretty red bow and pink paper. I open it quickly to find a new pair of white shoes inside. Evangeline s present is a beautiful vase which she switches with the old one that was on her table, getting water and petals everywhere. The last gift is a huge book for Evangeline s husband. I surprisingly never learnt his name and should probably try to do so later. Thank you. I say. You re welcome, dear. We all sit down for supper. Special Italian dinners are much different than normal ones. You start with an Aperitivo, in other words wine, and move forward to the Antipasto, which is the appetizer. Once you are done both of those you move onto the Primo, or first course, and after that is the Secondo, second course. You get a few courses later on, such as cheese and fruits, but usually children stop eating at around the Secondo, with exceptions toward Dolce or dessert. In front of me is the Antipasto. I huge platter is laden with cheese, olives, ham, small tomatoes, bell peppers sliced into tiny pieces and some roasted garlic. It s like making a mini salad. You choose what you want and mix it as a salad in your plate.

Evangeline takes a bottle of wine and pours some for her sister, her husband and herself. Usually you would do that first but I guess that for my sake she decided to serve the food first. Evangeline finishes quickly and runs into the kitchen with all the empty plates and platters, quickly replacing them with new ones. She returns with a plate full of Gnocchi in cheese sauce. She puts it on the table and so begins the Primo. She does this with every course. I skip Formaggio e Fruta since its just cheese and fruit and wait for Dolce. Once all the cheese and fruit is gone Evangeline returns with two plates. One plate holds four small chocolate cups and one holds a cake covered in Dulce de Leche. I take a chocolate cup and end up eating three slices of cake. By the end I am stuffed. I do not think I can hold another bite. While the adults are drinking coffee and wine I walk upstairs to my room. When I arrive I fall into bed and sleep. About a week later, after just coming home from school, I receive a letter from my sister. She has sent me a boat ticket for England and two train tickets, one to get me to the coast of France and one to get me from the British coast over to London. I race downstairs to show it to Evangeline and run back upstairs to pack my bag. The time flies by and I find myself at the train station saying goodbye to Evangeline and her husband and walking up the stairs to take my seat. The hours pass quickly and I find myself boarding a boat to England. I no time at all I have arrived and am on the train to London. When I arrive I see my sisters smiling face waving furiously toward me. When I arrive she hugs me tightly and we take a taxi over to her new apartment. She shows me my room. Its small and nothing like the one at the white house but its home to me. I walk downstairs and Martha decides to show me around London. We visit castles and see Big Ben. We eat Fish and Chips and run down the Tower Bridge. We do absolutely everything you could possibly want to do in London. We walk home eating French fries (or chips as they call them here) which we had left over from lunch. When we arrive we have eaten every fry. I race upstairs to write letters to my friends to tell them about what happened. I finish Trinette and Damian s letters easily but I still have a question to answer in Gabriel s letter. Martha, during winter break can we go to Germany? I ask. Why? Do you have friends there? Yeah. One of them asked me if I can visit over winter break. You can go but I won t be able to. I have to go back to Italy, get all the rest of our stuff and sell the house.

I can still go to Germany right? Sure but you re going alone. Okay. It starts to rain but I run to the post office and mail the letters. When I get home I am sopping wet. Go get changed, it s almost supper. Martha says. I have noticed that from three years of life in England she has started to get a British accent. I race into the living room, eat as much as I can as quickly as I can and race off into my room. I change into my pyjamas and fall asleep. Luckily the time change is only an hour so I fall asleep quickly. Next morning I wake up and go eat breakfast where Martha tells me that I must go to school. Once were done we race down the street and to the school office. We sign papers and take a tour. Once were done we have seen every room in the building. Here is your school supplies list, your list of teachers, school map and other important papers. You will start school in two weeks. The woman at the desk says as she hands us a folder. That was easy. I say to Martha after we leave. I guess. But school here as a lot harder especially since you missed grades five through seven. I am going to get you a tutor as soon as possible. We race to the store to pick everything up and run back to the apartment. Soon life will go back to normal. I have good food, clean water, I m going to school, I can take as many showers as I want, I am not alone and I am alive. I take out the silver pocket watch and open the back. I see the scribbled words, Deangelo s final words. I did not fail him. I found Abigail s mother. I told her the story. I continued the legacy. The pocket watch is not just any watch. It is a beacon of hope. If it survived that war it can survive anything and if a simple pocket watch can, then so can I. I can survive anything.