Rebecca & Junice by Julia D

In just two short hours Becca will be arriving in Harlem, New York to stay with her distant cousin Junice for the summer. A lot has happened this year with Becca, like the death of her beloved Grandmother, Gemma. Junice couldn’t make it to the funeral when Gemma died because her mother was being put in prison for drug possession and she needed to be there to take care of her sister. Becca feels sorry about the way Junice has to deal with her mother in prison and how the state is trying to put Junice and her sister in foster care, even though that’s the last thing Junice wants. Becca feels a little guilty not being there for her cousin this past year, but she had a lot going on too. Becca decided to take off for Poland shortly after Gemma died to learn more about who Gemma was, and what her life had been like. But her trip was over. She needed to go visit Junice who she hadn’t talked to since Gemma died. They had a lot to catch up on.
The plane begins it’s decent in New York. Junice would be at the baggage claim waiting for her. Becca safely gets off the plane, and heads straight to baggage claim. There she spots Junice wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She looks exactly the same as she’s always had, but somehow seems different. She has a glow in her face, almost as if she looks happy, which is something Junice rarely is. Usually she is always mad at the world for something, especially after her mom went to prison and the whole foster care thing.

“Junice, my goodness how are you! It’s been way too long!” Says Becca.

“I’m great, but I’ve got something really important to tell you. Lets grab your stuff and get a taxi, i’ll explain everything on the way home,” said Junice.

On the forty-five minute taxi ride into Harlem, Junice tells Becca about how she has met someone. This shocks Becca, which makes her beg Junice to tell her every single detail of how they met. Junice talks about her current boyfriend Damien. She goes on and on about Damien’s family, what he wants to do in the future and what he likes to do for fun. While listening, Becca is shocked that Junice was able to get close to anyone, but in a way she is very happy that Junice has finally found someone.

“Wow Junice, Damien sounds great! I am so happy for you! It sounds like you guys really like each other. But before you go on finishing the rest of your story, I want to talk to you about Gemma.”

“Oh my goodness yes! Your sister told me that you went to Poland, and how you were trying to find out about Gemma’s life and everything. What were you able to find out?”

Suddenly the taxi pulled up outside Junice’s Harlem apartment, Becca began to tell her cousin about her trip to Poland. She talks about how she got to Poland and had a translator help her travel and translate for her. She was also able to discover that their grandmother was actually a survivor of the Holocaust, and was persecuted because she was Polish and because of her Jewish belief.
“Whoa, hold up. Gemma was a Holocaust survivor?” Asks Junice.

“Yep, I had no clue until I met Josef who was a big help. Now sit tight I’m getting to the good part.”

Becca gets back into storytelling mode and goes on to tell Junice how Josef, a man she met while in Poland, heard about the awful torturing that was going on in the camps during the Holocaust. Josef later joined a secret group to help rescue victims. He and his group had set of for Chelmo which was a concentration camp. While spying on what went on inside the camp, he witnessed horrible things that people should never see. One night he noticed a woman with red hair still alive and breathing in a pile of bodies. He rescued this woman and preformed CPR on her. The women turns out to actually be Gemma, but she told Josef that her name was Ksiezniczka, which Becca explains to Junice that she found out it actually means 'princess' in Polish. And so the CPR that Josef preformed on Gemma refers to in her fairy tale as 'the kiss of life'.

“Ohhh so thats how that part ended up in the story that Gemma always told us.” Said Junice.

“Yep, but wait we are getting into the best part, when Gemma fell in love,” said Becca.

“Gemma had a boyfriend!? Get out!”

“Yes she did, but it’s rather sad, but ill keep going,” says Becca.

Becca starts off the story again, beginning with how Josef talked about Gemma falling in love with Josef’s friend Aron Mandlestein. He was also known as "the Avenger." Later on down the road, Gemma and their secret group were almost killed by Nazis, trying to hunt their group down, and Gemma then decided to marry Aron and take on the new name Gitl Mandlestein. Gemma used this name on her passport to America when Aron died.
“And so that’s Gemma’s story, and how she got the U.S,” says Becca.

“Fascinating stuff Becca. I’m so proud of you for taking this adventure on. You know, you were always Gemma’s favorite,” says Junice.

“Was not! She loved us all equally. Although I was the youngest and you guys would always pick on me!”

“Haha true. Hey what do you say we order some food catch up some more?”

“Sounds good to me.”