Olga led her two younger sisters away from the camp as she kissed her brother and whispered: "Run in the opposite direction and yell your head off to confuse the enemy. You're faster than us so you should be safe. We'll link up with you just beyond the forest."

Just as Lars ran, Olga thought, I hope they don't catch you-just remember yell as you run and, hopefully, all of us will survive. . . one way or another we must all survive!

Lars raced off and as soon as he's reached a safe distance from his sisters he begins yelling like a maniac.

After a short time, as the girls crept further and further away, they heard a gunshot and assumed their brother was dead but they ran, never looking back to the end of the forest, too frightened to stop, too scared to make a sound, ashamed of what they might see.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ten years later on a dreary Christmas Eve, Olga boarded the Park Avenue bus and inched her way through the crowd, looking for a seat.

"Is this seat taken?"

"No. . . No. . . . It's not? Why. . . you're Olga, aren't you?"

"Yes, my name was Olga, but I go by Elaine now but I haven't-"

"Please join me."

"How did you know my-"

"Hello."

"Hello, how did you know my-"

"We never said goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

"You haven't changed at all-not even an inch taller. . . same hair . . . although you're wearing it up now. . . same nose . . . same deep blue eyes."

"Do I know you? Elaine stared into the young man's deep blue eyes-eyes as blue as hers, examining his face, recognizing feature after feature. "Lars! It's you? It's really you. . . I heard a shot, I thought you were-"

There was a wild dog coming straight for me. Captain Sorokin shot it.

"Captain Sorokin?"

"He was one of the men who rescued me. They weren't our enemies. They weren't chasing us. They'd come to rescue us and I never knew if you made it or not. I've worried about you all these years.

"It's me, it's your sister and yes, the others are fine. We made it to the beach; the marines were waiting for survivors. They picked us up. We're American citizens now.

"Promise me you'll never say good-bye again."

"Promise me."

And as they looked deeply into each other's eyes, they both repeated those words one more time: "Promise me you'll never say goodbye again!"

The End

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