“No way The Gap can be over 5 feet,” I told myself in my head, “come on Adam, don’t be such a scaredy cat, you can do this.” I ran to catch up to Amir who was already at the edge of The Gap. I looked around me. We were on a little hill with grass all around us. Right behind us was a tiny, worn dirt trail that extended all the way back to the city. To our left and right was a plain filled with knee-high grass, and in front of us was The Gap. The Gap was a huge ditch made out of dirt and small rocks. It was seven feet deep and six feet wide, and it was very steep. When I was six years old, I heard rumors that some little kids had tried to jump The Gap because they thought it would be easy. They tried but then they fell inside the ditch and were stuck in there for hours and hours. When their parents finally found them, they were both dead and rumor had it that if you attempted to jump the gap, the spirits of those kids would pull you down and would make sure that you could never get back up.  I looked at Amir who was grinning, his one crooked tooth sticking out of his mouth. I was about to tell him that he was crazy to think that he could make this jump but before any words came out of my mouth, he leaped towards the other side. I was amazed by how high he sprung into the air, how he managed to grab the other side of The Gap, and how he pulled his 4 foot body frame up onto the other side of the ditch I gawked at him and when he stood up and dusted himself off. He waved over to me and beckoned for me to follow him. I looked down at my chubby self and resented the fact that I was only 3 feet tall. Amir picked up a rock and threw it at my leg to get my attention. The rock was small and round so it didn’t hurt when it bounced off my leg, but it got my attention. I took a few steps back and looked at my destination. “It’s just six feet away, its not that far,” I told myself, but constantly looking at The Gap made me more skeptical.

“Come on Adam! You can do it!” Amir yelled from across the chasm. This gave me more courage but I still wasn’t prepared.

“But you’re two years older than I am!” I yelled at him, trying to determine whether to jump or not.
“Just because I’m born in 1931 and you’re born in 1933, doesn’t change how far you jump.” Amir had never lied to me before and was always supportive of me as if I was his little brother, so I trusted him and went for it. I stepped back three more steps and started to run forwards. The Gap came closer, and right when I was on the edge, I jumped. I was halfway across The Gap when I felt my jump was starting to fail me. I started to fall down like a rock and I did anything I could to move forwards. I landed inside the ditch and Amir reached down to help me, but I was starting to slide down the steep slope. I grasped onto anything that my hands could find, little weeds, falling rocks, and then my hand grabbed something warm and soft. It was Amir’s hand. He tried his best to pull me up and I tried my best to use my short, chubby legs to help myself up. We struggled for a bit, but I eventually got up on over the ridge and I lied down on the grass.

Amir stood above me panting heavily with his hands on his knees. I closed my eyes and I felt a sudden pain in my left leg. I looked down and noticed that while I was struggling to get up the ditch, I had scraped my knee and it was slightly bleeding. Amir had noticed it too and stood up straight and looked at me. “It looks like we’re going to have to take the long way around.” On the far side of The Gap, there was a small bunch of trees. In those woods was another little path that made a big arch that eventually looped back into the city, where Amir and I lived. But the path took half an hour, and my leg was starting to hurt a lot. I was about to cry but then Amir held out his hand to help me up. “Here,” Amir grinned. I took the hand graciously and I slung my arm over his shoulder as he helped me on the long way back home.

The sun had almost set when Amir and I arrived at my house. We both went in and Amir had just helped me sit down when my mother came running in and analyzed the situation. She thanked Amir for helping and then sent him off with a kiss. She then told me to stand up.

“But it hurts a lot mother!” I told her and then pointed to my scraped knee. She scolded me for using Amir as a support all the way home and said that she was disgraced by the fact that I would stoop so low as to ask for help from a scraped knee. She told me to stand up again and follow her. I was so shocked about what she had just said that I followed her without question. She led me to the restroom and I sat down on the toilet while she turned the sink on and started to wet a clean towel. She took the towel, sat next to me and placed it gently on my left shin, where the scrape was. I winced but mother grabbed my hand and held on tight and I felt that the pain started to fade away. My mom started to rub my leg and it felt like she was scraping off all the rocks that littered the surface of my shin. When she removed the towel, all I saw on my leg was a tiny streak of red where I had a tiny cut. Mother left the room for a little while and then came back with a band aid and she lightly placed it on my leg. She looked into my eyes and told me to be careful next time. “Okay mother.” She hugged me and I hugged her back, loving the smell of her sweet perfume.

We then heard loud steps upstairs and my Grandpa’s voice boomed down the stairs asking if I was home. “Yes I am grandpa!” I yelled back. He came down the stairs and he poked his head into the bathroom. Grandpa said hello to Mother, Mother replied with a nod and walked out the room. He came up to me and asked me if I was ready to go again. I nodded vigorously and he motioned for me to go outside. With a smile on my face now, I ran out the bathroom, kissed my mother on the cheek, and then waited outside. The sun had just disappeared over the horizon when Grandpa came out with some blankets. He led me in the same direction as The Gap, but we turned left instead of continuing down the road. There was a small little spot where the grass wasn’t as tall as the other blades besides it and Grandpa spread the blankets on this spot. He then lied down on it and I cuddled next to him. When I looked up, I saw the dark expanse of the night sky. I closed my eyes tightly and I waited for a few minutes. Grandpa quietly turned around and tapped me on the shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked up.
The sky was no longer dark but it was dotted with tiny little white spots. Thousands of them shining like beacons, beckoning for a lost boat to find them. When I slightly turned my head to the right, I could see this little collection of stars that looked like milk and shone brighter than the rest of the stars. When I turned my head to the left, I can see the moon being accompanied by other stars around it. Even though Grandpa had taken me on these stargazing trips ever since I was five, I still loved how the night sky could surprise me. But the part that I loved the most about these stargazing trips, were the shooting stars. Occasionally, A bright light streaked across the sky leaving a trail of light behind it that eventually disappeared into the brightness of the other stars. But I wasn’t focusing on the trail of light the shooting star left behind this time, I was more curious about what happened to the star.

“Grandpa?” I asked. Grandpa turned his head towards me to show that he was listening. “Where do the shooting stars go?” He looked at me and thought for a second. He nodded and then looked back towards the sky when another star sailed through the sky. He said that the stars go to a mysterious place that not even smart scientists knew, but they believe that the stars go to a happy and magical place where it is bright enough to go to places and play, but the sky is always filled with stars. “Grandpa, is it possible for me to go where the shooting stars go?” He looked at me for a few seconds, and then said that if I manage to find them before they leave and if I look like them, then I could go with them. I looked at Grandpa, then I hugged him, “Thank you for showing me the stars tonight.” Grandpa said that he was happy that I learned something. We then folded the blankets that we had lied down on and then we headed back home where I dreamt of following the shooting stars to the happy magical place where the sky always had stars.

**********************

I looked through the window and at all the broken glass and rubble that littered the streets. My mother told me not to go too close to the window, “Just a bit more!” I replied. I didn’t know what happened. I was asleep one night and I woke up to the sound of glass breaking and people screaming. I was scared about what I might have found if I investigated, so I had hid under the covers and prayed for protection. I woke up early in the morning and when I looked out the window, I saw fires and glass on the streets. Before Mother and Grandpa woke up, I put on my thickest jacket and wore my favorite new blue shoes and made my way outside. I was trying to avoid the glass on the street when I noticed that outside one of the buildings, there were burnt books and scrolls that I recognized that Amir described to me as part of his religion. It was a sheet of paper that had some strange writing on it that I couldn’t read. The paper rolled up at the end into two wooden poles that could be unrolled or rolled up at anytime. But these scrolls looked all stomped on and ripped. I knew that these scrolls shouldn’t just be lying down on the ground, so I decided to head to Amir’s house to see what we should do with it.

On the way there, I saw a few people crying on the streets and I wanted to ask why they were so sad, but my mother always warned me to not to talk with strangers, so I went straight to Amir’s home. I knocked on their door, but there was no response. I knocked a few more times, but still nobody would open the door for me. My mother also told me that it was rude to open somebody else’s door, but I had to know what to do with the scrolls. I tried turning the knob quietly, but the door creaked very loudly as I swung it open. I gasped when I saw Amir’s home. Normally when I walked into Amir’s home, there was a long hallway with stacks of books on the left side and pictures hanging on the wall on the right side. But when I opened the door, half the books were gone and the other half were all over the place. All of the pictures on the wall had been taken down and they all were cracked on the ground. I took one step and heard a sickening crunch as I accidently stepped on their family photo. I picked my foot up and then I started to carefully trekked across the messy floor to the main room where Amir’s mother would normally have given me and Amir cookies.

When I turned into the main room, it yielded the same result as the hallway. Only a few pictures still hung on the wall, but every single one of them was cracked. Books were scattered all over the floor and all the plates and cups had been smashed in a single corner. I walked around and tried to understand what happened when I noticed that one corner seemed to be undamaged. I carefully navigated around the objects on the floor and when I reached the corner, I saw that the ground was covered in what seemed to be a red sauce and in the center of it was what looked to be like a small white jelly bean covered in the red sauce. I picked it up to examine what it was and when I put it near my eye, it looked like a crooked tooth, much like the one that Amir had showed off to me that one day when we jumped The Gap.

I didn’t understand how all of this connected and I was scared. I put the item in my pocket and I tried to get out of the house as quickly as possible. I ran home  with tears pouring from my eyes out of fear, frustration and confusion. As I entered my home, I saw that Grandpa was awake. He was about to say something, his face red with anger, but I ran up to him and hugged him and cried my soul out. I wanted to know what was going on and where Amir was and what I had in my pocket. Grandpa told me to calm down and tell him why I was so sad. I told him about Amir’s house and I showed him the object that looked like Amir’s tooth. Grandpa looked at me and frowned. I thought I did something wrong and I cried more, but instead of scorning me, Grandpa embraced me. “Grandpa,” I looked towards him, “I want to be where the shooting stars are. I want to be in the happy place.” I cried even more after that. Grandpa just held me tight and said that I will be soon if I try and that I must be strong. When he told me that, I stopped crying. He told me to go to sleep a bit more and then I suddenly felt very tired. I took off my thickest jacket and my favorite blue shoes that were now torn and then I went to sleep.

I woke up to my mother yelling that it was my birthday and that I was finally seven. I had forgotten what had happened the other day and I asked my mother if I could invite Amir to my birthday party. She looked at me sadly and thought for a minute. She then told me that Amir had just gone on a vacation and couldn’t make it. I believed her. I got of bed and my mother cooked me a breakfast that consisted of eggs, bacon, bread, and a spoonful of sugar. I happily munched on my feast and my mother played games with me all day until dinner when she revealed a chocolate cake and I squealed with delight. Mother and Grandpa looked very proud of themselves as I took my first bite into the delicious cake. While in bed, my mother kissed me on the head and told me to have sweet dreams and I dreamed of shooting stars.

A few days after I turned seven, I could not wait any longer for Amir to come back from his vacation. I asked Grandpa where they went and when they would come back. He said that he did not know, but he knew where they would be when they came back. Enthusiastic to hear an answer more than ‘I don’t know,’ I asked him where, and he answered at the train station. I jumped up and asked Grandpa if it was possible that they were there today. He told me maybe and I put on my shoes and my jacket and said that I was going to check if they were there. Grandpa smiled and put on his own jacket and said that he would accompany me. We then walked all the way to the train station which Grandpa said was about one mile away. When we arrived, I saw many trains coming and leaving the train station, but I did not see Amir anywhere.

I was about to tell Grandpa that Amir wasn’t here when I witnessed a train leaving its station. It started off slowly, but then it became faster and let out a trail of white clouds behind it. While looking at the train, I tugged on Grandpa’s jacket and asked, “Are trains shooting stars? They are shiny and bright, they are fast, and they leave a trail behind them. They must be shooting stars right?” Grandpa looked to me and laughed heartily. I frowned and he just laughed more. He then finally told me that the train isn’t a shooting star, but stars who want to go to the magical place must ride a train there. “So the stars ride trains? But don’t German people ride trains? But we aren’t stars.” Grandpa nodded and said that only a special group are stars and sadly not everyone is a star. “Can someone become a star?” Grandpa considered this question carefully, and after a few seconds, he nodded. Even though I had not seen Amir at all that day, I felt happy that I could still become a shooting star and go where the shooting stars go.

When I was going to school one day, I saw that some people on the street were wearing armbands with a yellow star on it. I did not pay much attention to it but I thought that they were very attractive. The next day, I saw many more people wearing the armband, but none of them seemed happy that they were. I wanted to ask them why they didn’t want to wear stars, but I was afraid that they were going to laugh at me. Everyday that I went outside, I saw people with those armbands. When Grandpa took me to the train station on another day, I looked carefully and I could barely see these men in brown shirts with an ugly star on their arm directing the a lot of people with the yellow stars into tiny train boxes. I did not tell Grandpa because I felt that I knew who the stars were, how to become one, and which trains were the shooting star ones.

The next day, I asked a person with the star on their arm where I could get one of those stars. They looked at me like I was crazy and then continued to walk away from me. I felt very sad that day. I asked many people over the next few days, but none of them told me. One day when I thought I should give up, I saw the armband with the yellow star just lying on the streets. I ran for it and picked it up. The star had six points and in the middle it said “Jude”. I didn’t know what that meant and I had a feeling that it mean star. I put it in my pocket and went back home as if nothing happened.

That night, I did not go to sleep, but instead, I pulled out the armband, wore my thickest jacket, my favorite blue shoes, and I snuck outside while Grandpa and Mother were sleeping. I started to make the long journey to the train tracks and when I finally reached them, I slipped the armband on and tried to find where all the other stars were. I didn’t look for very long when I saw a group of stars being led by the other group of people with the ugly stars. While that other group of people wasn’t looking, I snuck in with the other stars and I started to get excited. I was a star. They started packing us on the trains. The trains were very uncomfortable because it was very small, there were no windows, and they put in so many people at once. But I was happy because I was a star and I was on a train. I felt like I couldn’t breathe inside the train because there was so crowded and I thought to myself that everyone must be as excited as I was. I looked at the star on my armband as the train started to move. I was a star on a moving train I told myself. I couldn’t hold in the joy I was feeling and I felt like I was going to cry because I was so anxious to see my destination. The train started to pick up speed and I heard the people around me start to whisper and complain, but I didn’t. If I was a star on a moving train, then I was a shooting star. And I would find out where the shooting stars go.