Page 163 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"And not enough future," Shifre added.
Hannah moved close to them. "Now—six million
Jews will die in camps like this. Die! There, I've said
the word. Does it make it more real? Or less? And how
do I know six million will die? I'm not sure how, but I
do."
"Six million?" Shifre said. '"That's impossible. There
are not six million Jews in the whole world."
"Six million," Hannah said, "but that's not all the
Jews there are. In the end, in the future, there will be
Jews still. And there will be Israel, a Jewish state, where
there will be a Jewish president and a Jewish senate.
And in America, Jewish movie stars."
"I do not believe you," Esther said. "Not six mil-
lion."
"You must believe me," Hannah said, "because I
remember."
"How can you remember what has not happened
yet?" asked Rivka. "Memory does not work that way—
forward. It only works backward. Yours is not a mem-
ory. It is a dream."
"It's not a dream, though," Hannah said. "It's as if
I have three memories, one on top of another. I re-
member living with Gitl and Shmuel."
"May he rest in peace," Rivka said.
"May they all rest in peace," Hannah added.
"And Lublin," put in Shifre. "You remember Lub-
lin."
"Yes, there is Lublin, but that memory is like a story
I've been told. I don't remember Lublin, but I remem-
ber being there. And then there's my memory of the

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