We Were the Lucky Ones

The train platform is packed full of people, with passengers and those meeting them. Halina leads her family members over to the side, wondering how they will find Genek and Selim. Nechuma tells them to listen for Polish.

Mila is the tallest, so she scans the crowd. However, she does not see them and bends down to reassure Felicia that they will find them soon: “As she stands, her eyes catch something in the crowd and her heart pauses” (356). Mila calls out to Genek, who sees her and shouts her name back. Nechuma, Sol, and Halina all excitedly jump up and down, hearing his voice.

Felicia asks if her father is there also, and Mila sees Selim walking behind Genek. Mila brings Nechuma forward, saying she should be the first to greet Genek: “The tears that have welled in Nechuma’s eyes stream down her cheeks like water from a broken dam when she finally sees her eldest striding toward her, even more dashing in his army attire than she remembered him” (357). Genek reaches her and they embrace. Halina then launches herself into his arms and hugs him as well. Genek hugs the rest of his family.