by Scott McGee

Father: Alright now, my little puppet, it’s time for bed.

Girl: Papa, I’m scared.

Father: Of what, precious?

Girl: I’m scared of the war.

Father: Sweetheart, don’t be scared of the war. You are very safe here.

Girl: How do you know?

Father: Papa knows everything.

Girl: Ya, but how?

Father: I just know. Now you must not be scared. You must trust in your papa and you must, must get some sleep.

Girl: But the bad men will come and take me away in the dark.

Father: Svetlana, listen to me.

Girl: Ya, Papa?

Father: Here, sit up. Now, I want you to listen very closely to me, okay?

Girl: Okay, Papa.

Father: War is never a good thing. And War is sometimes a very scary thing. But War is sometimes very necessary.

Girl: Why, Papa, why?

Father: Listen. When bad men come along and try to rule the world, it is up to the good men in the world to stop them.

Girl: Why?

Father: Because if we didn’t stop them… then what would happen?

Girl: The bad men would make everyone else bad.

Father: Ya. They would do that. Why else?

Girl: The bad men would kill all the good men.

Father: Ya. This is also true.

Girl: And that is not good.

Father: No, my dear, that is not good. And that is why, sometimes, when the bad men are getting ready to do these bad deeds, that the good men must rise up and stop them. And if this requires a War, then this is what must happen. Do you understand this?

Girl: I think so.

Father: Good. Now, did you know that many years ago, my Papa fought in a War as well.

Girl: Really?

Father: Ya. He fought for our country and for the good men. And guess what?

Girl: What?

Father: He won. We won.

Girl: We did?

Father: Ya.

Girl: We beat the bad men.

Father: Yes, my love, we beat the bad men.

Girl: How?

Father: Well, the bad men lived in many different countries in what at that time was called "Europe." But… we found them and took them away. There were also a lot of bad men that lived in a country that was called "America" and they didn’t believe in the War. But they were bad and so we went over there and beat them too.

Girl: We did?

Father: Ya, we did. And here’s a secret… this very bad country…

Girl: America?

Father: Ya. Very good. America. This America… which is no more… it was once located exactly where we live right now.

Girl: It was here?

Father: That’s right. But we beat the bad Americans and took most of them away…

Girl: Like the filthy, dirty Jews?

Father: Of course, my dear, we took away the filthy, dirty Jews.

Girl: They sound horrible. They scare me.

Father: Well, they can’t hurt you now. You will only find them in terrible scary stories.

Girl: Ya?

Father: Ya. And more than that, at the same time, we also took away many others who were not pure like we are now. And now we live here in this beautiful country, and everything is like it should be, and do you know why?

Girl: Why, Papa?

Father: Because we fought for what we believed in and we destroyed the bad men. Just think, if the Americans had chosen to rise up and fight us, we may not be here right now.

Girl: Really?

Father: Really. And that is why it is important for us to fight against the bad men again. But don’t worry these bad men are very far away from you in a country way across the ocean in the middle of the desert. Okay?

Girl: Okay.

Father: Good. Now, you get some sleep, my dear.

Girl: Okay, Papa. Danka.

Father: You’re welcome, my sweet. Goodnight, Svetlana.

Girl: Goodnight, Papa. Heil Hitler.

Father: Heil Hitler.

Father turns off the light.