Milkweed

When Misha returns to the backyard garden, the little girl is not there. Instead, he finds pieces of paper marked with arrows. He follows the arrows and digs up a wrapped chocolate candy. When he finishes eating it, the little girl is sitting on the step—she planted the piece of candy. Misha introduces himself and tells her about his family. The girl tells Misha it isn’t nice to steal; Misha is fascinated by her shiny black shoes.

Misha asks the girl if she’s Jewish. She holds a finger to her lips and whispers that she is, but she isn’t supposed to tell. She asks Misha how old he is, but he doesn’t know. The girl stands in front of him and tries to guess Misha’s age from their respective heights. She’s turning seven tomorrow, so she guesses that Misha must be eight. She invites him to her birthday party the next day.

When Misha returns the next day, the little girl angrily tells him that he’s late—she refused to start the party without him. She pulls him inside, to a table laden with food and a beautiful cake. When a man lights the birthday candles, Misha is horrified. He blows out the candles, grabs the cake, and runs from the house. When he gets home and tells Uri, Uri laughs hysterically. He explains what birthday cakes are, and then the two of them split the crumbled cake. Uri tells Misha that its icing says, “Happy Birthday, Janina.”

The next day Misha steals a beautiful cake from a bakery. He places it on the back steps of Janina’s house, lights the candles, knocks, and runs.

Wandering the city later that day, Misha sees men carrying torches and thinks at first of birthday candles. In the window of the bakery he stole from, men are painting a big yellow star. When the owner comes outside, the men with the paint restrain him, taking off his clothes and painting him from head to toe with white and yellow paint while he struggles. The men with the paint all laugh and then send the man back inside. Misha sees the windows of other shops being shattered and another man tied to the back of a wandering horse.

The next morning, Misha and Uri go outside and see Jewish shop owners repainting their windows, labeling their shops with the word “Jew.” Misha says that he’s glad he isn’t a Jew, but Uri tells him, “Don’t be too glad.”