Trafika Europe 12 - French Bon-Bons

Marat Baskin

and shoot them! Run for your life! I’ll take you to my mother’s farm, you can hide there, Germans are not there yet.” What could I say to her, Gotynyu? You know, she had four kids to care for, all of them very young. “I can’t run away, “ I say, “because anyone can tell from far away that I’m a Jew. They’ll catch me, and then woe be to you.” Yet my children all looked like Etta: blond and blue- eyed. They were always taken for Belarusians. “If you want to help us, just save Haim!” I said “If you take him, I’ll be able to breathe again! “Shloyme ,” Akulina cried. “I promise you that your Haim will be dearer to me than my own babies. You and your family were our neighbors all our lives, my kids ate at your table with your kids , and yours--at mine. Together we had joys and sorrows... If you and yours come back from the war alive, I’ll give him back to you; if not, he’ll be like my own son to me. Where there are four, there’s always room for a fifth one. And let me tell you one more thing -- my Stepan is not against it!” Haim clung to me, his little hands wouldn’t let go of me. When he finally fell asleep in my arms, Akulina took him from me. That same night she left Krasnopole. Take care of her, Gotunyu! And of her children too! And of her husband Styopka, too, he is in the army with

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