The Last Witness by Jerry Amernic Page B

there?” said Jack. “In Iran. Did you go to school in Iran?”
    “Of course.”
    “Did you ever learn anything about the holocaust or about the war when you were in Iran?”
    “Which war? There are lots of wars.”
    “World War II. Back in the nineteen hundreds.”
    “World War II?”
    “The Second World War. Isn’t that what they call it now?”
    “No. We never studied that but the Great Holocaust? Sure. That happened the year before I came to America. Everyone knows about that but even that is exaggerated.”
    “What do you mean?” said the woman.
    “What you read in America isn’t what you read in Iran. There they print the truth. Over here it’s all propaganda. Can you deny it?”
    “You’re talking about the Christian holocaust?” Jack said.
    “That’s the only holocaust I know about.”
    “And you think it’s exaggerated?”
    “Of course. They say hundreds of thousands of Christians were murdered but that’s not true. Yes there were a few murders when some Christians started preaching about Jesus to the Muslim community but that’s all. It was only a handful.”
    “I believe the number they claim is fifty thousand.”
    “It’s not true. It’s all exaggerated. But they should never have been preaching to Muslims in the first place.”
    “And what about the other holocaust? The Jewish holocaust.”
    “I don’t believe it.”
    “Why not?”
    “I never heard a thing about that until I came to this country. Now why is that the case? Maybe because it’s an American invention?”
    The traffic was crawling along, giving the driver plenty of time to keep glancing into his rear-view mirror.
    “This man is a survivor of the Jewish holocaust,” the woman said, raising her voice. “And that was the big one. Six million people.”
    “I’m sorry,” the driver said, “but I don’t believe it. Look. If six million Jews were murdered how come there are so many Jews today? Where did they all come from? There must be six million Jews in New York City.”
    “What kind of logic is that?” said the woman.
    “There is another holocaust too,” said Jack. “More than a million Armenians were killed by the Turks in the early nineteen hundreds.”
    “By Turkish Muslims?” said the driver.
    “Yes.”
    “Of course. What do you expect? It’s all lies. All of it.”
    The woman was shaking her head from side to side.
    “Do you mind if I ask
you
a question?” said the driver, looking into his mirror at the reflection of Jack.
    “Sure.”
    “How come no one here ever talks about Jews killing Muslims? What about that holocaust?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Jack.
    “I’m talking about Jews killing Muslim babies. Muslims have lots of children and Jews try to kill as many of them as possible to keep the population down.”
    “Where does this happen?”
    “Wherever there are Jews.”
    “I don’t think so,” said Jack.
    “So you don’t believe it?”
    “No.”
    “And the same way I don’t believe the story about your Jewish holocaust either. It’s not true.”
    The woman piped up. “Show him your arm,” she said to Jack.
    “What?”
    “Show him your arm.”
    “I don’t want to.”
    “What about your arm?” the driver said, glancing back again.
    “He has a number stamped on his arm. It’s from the camp.”
    “Really? Let me see it.”
    “Show him,” she said to Jack. “Why don’t you? Then maybe he’ll believe you.”
    Reluctantly, Jack removed his coat, peeled off his sweater, and rolled up his shirt sleeve. The driver had the cab at a complete standstill now. He turned around and looked through the glass partition.
    There,” Jack said.
    High up on his right arm was a letter followed by five numbers.
    A-25073
.
    “How did you do that?” the driver said.
    “He didn’t do it,” the woman said. “The Nazis did it.”
    “How?”
    Jack rolled his sleeve down and put his sweater back on. “They stuck a needle in me. It hurt.”
    “You