Page 100 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Hannah stood slowly, thinking: / will be brave. I am
the only one who knows about the ovens, but I will be
brave. I will not take away their hope, which is all they
have. I will not tell them that the Nazis often lied and
said people were going to take showers when they took
them to be killed. Her legs were weak. She felt she could
not make one foot go in front of the other. She was
glad that Gitl's hand was at her elbow the entire time.

The showers were ice cold, but Hannah was so relieved
it was water—and not the gas she'd expected—that she
stood under the sprinklers a long time. She tilted her
head back and opened her mouth, drinking in the cold
drops until hef belly was full.
Suddenly the showers were turned off.
"Schnell, schnell!" the soldiers shouted, ushering them
back, without towels, into the cold room.
Head down, hands over her breasts, Hannah walked
through the line of soldiers, remembering how childish
she'd thought the blue dress and longing for it.
Their clothes were gone. With nothing to dry them-
selves and no clothes to put on, they waited, shivering,
in the bare room. The children began to make small,
whimpering sounds and Hannah had to stop herself
from joining in. \
Just then the door from the outside opened and a
soldier escorted a short, dark man into the room.
"Here is the barber," the soldier said. "You will
make a line for him and he will do his job. There will
be no noise. Remember—no hair, no lice."
Lice? Hannah thought. We have no lice.

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