“The silent monster is full of restrained power; resolute in its onward sweep, impervious to danger, it looks a menacing engine of destruction, steady to its goal, and certain of its mission.”
-Patrick MacGill


The Mustache Man is supposed to make everybody happy, but he’s what keeps me up at night. He’s worse than the boogey man. He doesn’t just scare kids at night, he takes away all my friends and neighbors and hurts them just because they’re different. I don’t know where the Mustache Man takes them, but I know it’s a real bad place.


Before, everything in Munich was normal and happy, but then those big ugly monsters with the funny signs on their backs came to our town. When I came home from school one day, I saw a bunch of families with their tiny bags standing outside. The officer men were smiling, and they were telling the families that they had to go somewhere else to live for a little bit. I saw the officer people kneel down and tell my friends that everything would be ok, and nobody would hurt them. But I know they were lying, or else they wouldn’t have those big sticks in their hands that hurted people. And when they smiled, I knew it was because the Mustache Man told them to. Their smiles weren’t real at all, it was the kind of smile you make when you’re about to do something wrong. I wanted to tell my friend David that they were really bad guys, but I didn’t wanna scare him, and I knew there was nothing he could do.

I’m not really surprised the Mustache Man came back to Munich, because one year ago I saw him kill some of our shop owners. He put everything on fire and made all those nice people cry and scream. When I looked out my window, I thought it looked worse than the place where bad people go when they die. It made me so sad to see everyone getting hurt that I cried into my teddy bear all night. The evil monster said he did all this bad stuff because he was fighting back, but those good people never did anything wrong in the first place.



Even after all the bad stuff the Mustache Man did, people in Germany still love him. Everyday at school we salute him and learn about all the “good” stuff he does for us. His real name is Hiller, and sometimes we watch his scary speeches. He has a funny mustache that he always shaves wrong, and he always yells even though there’s something that makes his voice real loud. He lies the whole time, and says the reason why Germany is getting poor is because of the Joohs. He also said the Joohs are bad people, but I don’t know how he would know that unless he talked to all the bajillions of Jooh people. I don’t understand any of it because even though Hiller’s all wrong, Mrs. Habermann nods her head and says he’s the smartest and bestest leader in the whole world. My parents told me that’s called prommaganda. They said Hiller is a liar, and he controls the newspapers, the radios, and TV and makes them be on his side. Then everybody listening will get their brains washed and they’ll believe his every word. That’s why Mrs. Habermann mushes her old forhead and nods her head all the time. Hiller must have reeeaally washed her brain. But my parents don’t listen to Hiller, they don’t like him at all. They say he’s mentally unstabable and he’s blaming the Joohs for a bad country so he can exterminamate them.


Almost every night, my parents sit in the living room and listen to the liars talk on the radio. My Daddy gets real mad sometimes, and yells at the radio even though it can’t talk back. This makes me surprised because my Daddy’s usually real calm about everything, since he’s a doctor and all. Sometimes when the Mustache Man gives me nightmares, I go downstairs to my Mommy. She holds me and tells me that Hiller will never get us, and we will always be safe. But I don’t believe her, because her eyes are red and her nose is all stuffy when she says it.


My parents have been acting kinda weird. They always talk in a whisper voice when I’m around, and for dinner my Mommy makes twice as much food, but I never see the leftovers. I think they’re hiding the Joohs in a secret hiding place in my house. Maybe that’s why Mommy and Daddy are always so nervous and paramanoid. I think they don’t wanna tell me because it’s a secret. But I’ll never tell because I know the monsters will get us. I hope it’s my best friend Paul’s family in our secret hiding place, because we’re real close to them and I want them to be safe. I want everything to be like before. Like when my Mommy and Daddy would laugh and tell funny stories at the dinner table, and when my Daddy would tickle me and play with me, and when me and my friends would play catch in the street without being scared of any monsters snatching us away.

Now, every night I sit and I pray with my hands together, and my eyes shut suuuuper tight so the tears doesn’t come out. I ask God to make my Mommy and Daddy smile again, and to bring back all those people I love. Then I ask God to make the Mustache Man stop being a bad guy, because I know that even he can change.