Both my parents were protected and hidden by heroic non-Jews who risked their lives for the sole purpose of doing what is morally right. Here you are, decades and decades later, doing the same.

There is absolutely no justification for this assignment, but please know that it pains me to read how your teacher’s misguided attempt to teach history has resulted in him being demonized. Life, I have learned, isn’t always so simple. I will be reaching out to him in the hope that I can be of assistance.

Stay brave. Stay strong.

Thank you,

Elias Dygola

Community Relations Director,

Voices of WWII Vets and Holocaust Survivors

Chapter 48: Mason and Kerrianne

Furious, livid, pissed. Nope. None of those words come close to Mason’s father’s controlled fury before this morning’s hockey practice. Reg flinched as Coach Hayes told him to remove everything from his team locker as the rest of the team stood by and watched in awed fear—fear that Coach Hayes would bench the Riviere Rockets’ top defender for regionals.

Nope. Mason knew better.

He also should have known better that his father wasn’t upset about the embarrassing antisemitic content of Reg’s letter to the Lake Towns Journal editor, only that Reg had defied his order. “You’re going to act outside the rules of this team,” Coach Hayes said in Reg’s face, “then you don’t belong here. Go get dressed in the public locker room. On the ice, I expect you’ll remember you’re a part of a team.”

A small slap on the wrist and a free pass to use words of hate.

Disgusted, Mason parks his SUV and heads into school. The letter to the editor made things a little clearer, and Kerrianne had a part in it. At least, that’s Mason’s theory. He strolls into the office, surprising her. “I need to talk with you.”

This is it. He’s breaking up with me. She’s sensed it coming for weeks. The signs have been there. Not returning her Snapchats, turning her down when she invited him to her bedroom, forgetting to pick her up after her choir practice. He’s never done any of those things before. She sets a hand on the stack of papers she’s going through. “I can’t. I have to finish entering attendance before Miss Wather gets back.”

Mason leans over the counter. “This can’t wait.”

She grips the arms of her chair, bracing herself. “Then say it.”

He drops his voice to a whisper. “You gave Reg the master locker combination list.”

Kerrianne almost wishes Mason were breaking up with her. This is a hundred times worse. “H-he told you?”

“No. You just did.”