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From Grandma With Love
A Legacy of Values
By Toni Thomas
As I continued working, drawing the silk threads together, I thought of my mother. Before I had left that morning, she had said, "Be sure to leave on time ..." I knew she'd be worried when I didn't arrive as scheduled, so I changed my mind and gathered my things to go home.
I had just crossed a large bridge that spans the Seine River near my home when I heard bombers overhead. I frantically took cover until the planes had passed and all the bombs had dropped and detonated. One bomb struck the bridge I had just crossed. I hurried home.
When it was safe, my mother and I went to see the damage done by the attack. I remember walking back across the damaged bridge upon some rickety boards, hastily placed over the holes the bomb had made. Between the boards I saw the river flowing swiftly below, and it frightened me. But the biggest shock was seeing the little stocking shop. The planes had targeted the nearby train station, and the stocking shop was destroyed along with it. Nothing remained of the building where I had been working only moments before the air raid.
War is a terrible thing, but I did learn a valuable lesson about obedience. That day, the difference between life and death was that I had listened to my mother's words: "Be sure to leave on time."
Pat Bigler
Poway, California
