Читать книгу A Jewish Story - Sheldon Cohen - Страница 6

The Frohmans arrived in Minsk and moved into a small three bedroom home. They used their German furniture plus a few new pieces to reflect the Soviet flavor of their new homeland. The location was close to the clinic and hospital where Ben would work as an internist and Leah would work part-time in the children’s clinic as a nurse. David and Emily started school, made easier by their intense immersion in the Russian language over the last three weeks. Once acclimated to their new school, their parents would see to it that they became members of the local gym where David could continue with his gymnastics and Emily her swimming. To the great relief of their parents, the integration of their children into this new environment was going well.

The Minsk Jewish population was approximately 80,000 in 1936, representing about thirty percent of the population. For the most part, the rapport between the religions was a welcome improvement from what Ben and Leah remembered from their childhood, and what they had experienced in Germany since Hitler took over control of the government. They both breathed a sigh of relief; a heavy burden lifted from their shoulders, as fears for their children’s safety resolved. Living in a country where anti-Semitism was government policy and had the force of law behind it cast a dark shadow on the psyche of the two of them and, worse yet, robbed the children of security. It was stifling and oppressive—but no longer, thank God, now that they were in their new home. Anti-Semitism was not dead in the Soviet Union, but not being government policy was the critical difference. Christians and Jews got along very well in Byelorussia. The Frohman family joined the closest synagogue and enrolled their children in Hebrew school. It would be wonderful to live a Jewish life with a clear mind.

The history of Byelorussia was a centuries-long story of a country controlled by the neighboring powers of Poland, Lithuania and Russia. In October of 1917, the Russian Communist Revolution resulted in the establishment of a Worker’s Soviet (council) in Minsk. The Treaty of Brest Litovsk between Germany and Russia ended World War I for Russia, and forced Russia to give up Poland, the Baltic States and part of Byelorussia to Germany and Austria-Hungary. After the treaty was in force, German forces occupied Minsk and made it the capital of the Byelorussian People’s Republic, but this was short-lived. In December, 1918, after the armistice ending the War, the Russian army took over Minsk and proclaimed it the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. This too did not last as the city came under Polish control during the course of the Polish-Bolshevik (Russian Communist) War. Under the Treaty of Riga, Minsk returned to Russian control and resumed its position as the capital of Byelorussia SSR, one of the founding republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—where the Frohmans now hoped for a secure and better life.

After a week of settling in to their new home and adjusting to their new life, Ben started work in the Jewish hospital outpatient clinic. He had two small offices equipped to see patients and a consultation room for private discussions, paper work, record keeping and just to relax.

He was busy right from the start what with many of the younger doctors serving in the military. Those patients requiring hospitalization he admitted under his care and he would tend to his hospital patients first thing in the morning followed by outpatient office visits. He worked from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and was on call several times per week for emergencies.

For diagnostic purposes, he had at his disposal an x-ray and a small laboratory for blood and urine analysis. Not all of the available equipment was equal to the quality of German high-tech medical advances of the day and he missed them, but he prided himself on the best use of his own high-tech equipment: his eyes, ears, nose and hands. Trained as he was in the early days of the twentieth century, he considered himself a disciple of Sir William Osler, one of the first to teach at the bedside and promote the importance of the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The complete physical examination was crucial and he had the necessary ancillary equipment he needed to perform this task. In addition, he promoted Dr. Osler’s adage, “Let the patient talk, doctor, she’s trying to tell you the diagnosis.” He believed in this because he agreed that a thorough medical history and physical examination would establish, with a high degree of certainty, a correct diagnosis about eighty percent of the time.

He worked with Jewish, Byelorussian and Russian doctors and nurses. This was a welcome change from what he, as a physician, had experienced in Germany after Hitler’s assumption of power. As soon as Hitler took control, he was stymied and subjected to discrimination from surprising sources—those who had been friends. It was amazing to him how one man could change the thinking of intelligent people and turn neighbor against neighbor; proof of Hitler’s narcissistic power as he reminded himself.

He did not make a great deal of money in his new position in Minsk, but his income, as well as his wife’s, made them comfortable—and that’s all that counted after what they had just been subjected to.

Although medicine was rewarding from the professional standpoint, it was also frustrating because there was so little that doctors of internal medicine could do. In actuality, there was so little that they knew. There were many maladies of unknown etiology. The most common question he had to answer was, “What causes it, doctor?” “We don’t know, but there’s a lot we can do to help,” was his standard answer. He wished that medicine would advance to the extent that the answer to the questions about “cause” would roll off his tongue with ease and confidence.

Even the known that infectious disease like pneumonia and strep throat were not treatable with a specific agent to cure in all instances. At this time, the treatment was to make the patient comfortable, follow them with frequent vital signs and be sure that their hydration and nutrition was adequate. This was to support the patients own ability to heal; a little understood mechanism. Perhaps the day would come soon when specific treatment would be available and scientists developed a full understanding about the exact mechanism of self-healing. In the meantime, the young did well, but infants and the elderly had a high mortality rate.

Leah got right to work as soon as they arrived in Minsk. Because of the closeness of work and schools for their children, Leah would be sure to walk to Emily’s school with her little girl at least until she felt confident in her new surroundings and also until Leah was confident. She and Ben would go to work together as they both had to be there at the same time. Leah only worked until 2:00 PM, which would give her plenty of time to be with her children when they arrived home from school. All the logistics were falling into place.

Leah worked in the clinic and was responsible for immunizations. At the time, there was only immunization against Small Pox, Diphtheria, Pertussis (Whooping cough), and Tetanus. In addition, there was Rabies vaccine available for the occasional child bit by a rabid animal, and Typhoid vaccine as this disease was still a threat.

She also did clinical nursing working under the direction of the attending doctors. This included taking vital signs and doing triage to determine the severity of the problem to prioritize the sicker children and occasional adult to the front of the line. Enjoying nursing practice as much as she did, it was a labor of love.

The time came to take Emily and David to the gym to sign them up for swimming and gymnastics. Although they had passed by the facility, they had never entered, so they both viewed the visit with great anticipation.

They visited the gymnastic section of the gym first. When David entered, his eyes opened wide. The first thing he noticed was that there was a long vault run. He breathed a sigh of relief because the Berlin gym where he practiced was too small to accommodate this event. All the standard gymnastic events were available for practice. He looked at his mother—a wide smile on his happy face. There were many gymnasts there varying in age from three to adult. Their skills were evident to a nervous David.

The Russian gymnasts were the best in the world, so David was apprehensive and his mother could tell. “Don’t worry, David, you’ll show them a thing or two. My son is the best.”

Ben had visited the gym when he made his trip to Minsk and had introduced himself to Coach Anatoli Stepchik. Stepchik appeared to be in his early thirties, but still looked like the typical gymnast: firm and fit with the muscular definition of a prepared anatomical specimen, each muscle well delineated from its neighbor.

Leah approached him. “Good afternoon, Mr. Stepchik, my name is Leah Frohman. I hope you remember my husband, Ben, who spoke to you about six weeks ago. We’re the family who moved to Minsk from Germany, and my son David has been in gymnastics for eleven years. This is David, sir.”

Coach Stepchik approached David with outstretched hand, “Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Frohman. Hello, David, your father told me all about you. I welcome you to our gym.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“My, you both speak such good Russian,” said the coach.

“My husband and I were both born here,” answered Leah.

“Oh, I see. Welcome back.” Turning to David, he said, “How old are you, David?”

“I’m almost sixteen, sir.”

“Good, David, do you want to show me what you can do?”

An alarmed Leah said, “Oh, Mr. Stepchik, with all the moving that we’ve done, David hasn’t practiced for about three weeks.”

David interjected as soon as the last word was out of his mother’s mouth. “I can show Mr. Stepchik some things, mother. I’ve been doing strength exercises almost every day by myself to keep in shape,” said David.

Stepchik added, “If your mother’s worried, David. We can wait. There’s no hurry.”

“Please mother. I’m pretty sure I’ll be ok. I won’t do anything tough, I promise.”

Observing the pleading expression on her son’s face, Leah said, “Well, Mr. Stepchik, I don’t know much about gymnastics, but if David’s confident, I guess it’ll be okay.”

David leaped up.

“If it’s good with your mother, it’s fine with me,” said the coach. “Just do some simpler exercises. Pick your best stuff.”

With his coach watching, David warmed up with some stretching exercises, ran in place and then did a short tumbling run followed by a stint on the pommel horse and parallel bars. He kipped up on the high bar and launched into a series of giant swings, then dismounted with a one and one half twisting somersault. It looked perfect to Leah. “Ten,” she shouted.

The coach clapped his hands. “I like what I see, David, We’ll keep an eye on you for the first couple of weeks, but I’m pretty confident you’ll be on the senior team.”

The smile on David’s face could have lit up the gym at night.

“Let’s sign your son up, Mrs. Frohman. I look forward to working with him.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Emily had been sitting in complete silence, observing and showing patience, but smiling now because it was her turn; she could not wait to see the swimming pool.

The twenty-five meter pool was in excellent shape. On both long ends of the pool, there were three levels of wooden benches for observers. The swimming coach was a young woman by the name of Tamara Shebrianovich. Like most swimmers, she was slim and supple with loose flexible muscles. She asked, “How long have you been swimming, Emily?”

“Four years.”

“Can you swim all the four strokes?”

“Yes, I can, and I was going to start practicing the 100 meter medley,” said a wound-up Emily.

“Very good, can you show me what you can do?”

Emily looked at her momma who nodded her head.

Emily dove in and did all four strokes, with the coach watching in rapt attention. Then she leaped out of the pool with a broad smile.

The coach turned to Leah and said, “That’s very good, Mrs. Frohman. She shows promise at such a young age. It will be a pleasure to work with her.”

When Emily heard the news, she let out a whoop and jumped backwards into the pool.

Leah was ecstatic. As long as her children were happy, she was happy. She could not wait to share the good news with her husband. They were on the threshold of a happier life—and she thanked God.

The last quarter of 1936 brought a personal peace to the Frohmans, but anxiety to most of the countries of the world. Since Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party had assumed control of Germany, major European countries, as well as other world powers, embarked upon far-reaching diplomatic activity to form alliances to counter this new threat to world peace. Smaller countries were quick to declare neutrality, stating that their countries’ policies would remain independent of any great power. This was naiveté to the extreme, and they knew it, but that is about all a minor power could do. In the minds of many, there was no doubt that Hitler was preparing for war, and the announcement of Hitler’s four-year economic plan in October of 1936 did nothing to alleviate that concern.

In the Same month, Germany and Italy announced the Rome-Berlin Axis. This would result in a close collaboration between Italy and Germany, something that the Italian leadership (Mussolini) avoided during the first three years of Hitler’s takeover of power, as he was fearful of Germany’s territorial goals.

As Leah had surmised, when Italy invaded Abyssinia in October of 1935, the relationship with democratic countries of the world suffered. When Hitler and Mussolini aided the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War, that relationship with the democratic countries worsened. The strained relationship between Mussolini and the democracies prompted Italy’s rapprochement with Germany. Mussolini at first did not identify with Hitler’s anti-Semitism, but, as Germany’s strength increased, he too issued anti-Jewish edicts.

The next important geopolitical development occurred in November of 1936, when Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Commintern Pact. Japan was concerned about the fact that they were not a force in the Pacific and they did not trust Russia. Germany was fearful of Soviet Communism, in Hitler’s mind, the direct antithesis of his Nazi dictatorship.

Lenin formed the Comintern in 1919, two years after he overthrew the Czar and established a Communistic state in Russia. Russia and many of the Socialist, Communist and left leaning organizations and countries of the world worked toward the establishment of Communist parties to “aid the international proletarian revolution,” or—spread Communism throughout the world.

The Anti-Commintern pact of Germany and Japan was to be a counter-weight to Communism.

With a month passing since their arrival in Minsk, the Frohmans continued to adjust well to their new life. The children’s language skills were increasing at a pace that astounded their parents. Best of all, Emily became less clingy with her mother as she integrated well at school and started her swimming lessons and practice. Leah would accompany her to the pool at least once or twice a week. It was a welcome release to swim with her daughter, watch her progress and, at the same time, get some relaxing, healthy and fulfilling exercise.

David was fully engaged in gymnastics and made the senior team. This honor depended only on one’s skill set; age was not a factor. Seniors competed with other seniors from other clubs. He made good friends with one of the gymnasts who also helped him improve his skills. This young man, Valery Gregov, was a year older and lived close to David’s new home, so they also spent time together away from the gym. Valery was a Christian, and other than telling David that he had had one pair of Jewish great grandparents, their difference in religion was never an issue. This was very different from what he had experienced in Germany. David took up the name of Val for his new friend.

Val took David home with him on one occasion and he met Val’s parents. The mother was at least a head shorter than her tall and well-built husband who stood six feet, weighed 200 pounds, and was forty-eight years old. He worked as an engineer responsible for the upkeep and smooth functioning of the Minsk civic building, the site of government for Byelorussia and the Minsk district, which housed the mayor of the town and other civic functionaries including Communists representatives beholden to Moscow.

Mikhail, Val’s father, said to David, “So you’re the new friend Val told me about. He said that you were a very good gymnast, and now the senior team has a chance at the title in the district. I’ll come to the gym some day and watch you guys work out.”

“That’ll be fine, sir,” said David, but I wish I was as good as Val.”

“Ah, a modest boy; I like that. Val told me that your family all came here from Germany.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Welcome to Minsk.”

“Thank you. We like it here.”

“Val says you have a sister?”

“Yes, sir, her name is Emily.”

“How old is she?”

“She’ll be nine soon, sir.”

“Do you have a telephone at home, David?”

“Yes sir.”

“Here. Write the number down on this of piece of paper. We’ll call your parents and have a get-together here some time. I already talked about this with Val’s mother. I still have old Jewish artifacts from my Jewish grandmother who got it from her ancestors. They’re very old. I’m very proud of them, and I would like to show them off and meet your family.”

“Thank you, sir. I know my mother and father would sure like to see them and meet you all too.”

When David returned home, he told his mother that he met Val’s mother and father. He said, “They’re very nice, and they want to have us over to their house sometime. The father said that he had Jewish grandparents and had some of their old Jewish stuff that he wanted to show off. He asked for our phone number.”

“That’s nice. I hope he calls. What kind of Jewish stuff did he say he had, David?” asked Leah.

“I don’t know. He called them artifacts and said they were very old. His grandmother got them from her ancestors. I bet they’re from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries.”

“That would be very nice; I’d love to see them. I hope they call.”

Within a few days, Leah received the call from Mrs. Gregov, Val’s mother, Sonya, and Leah accepted her invitation to dinner at their house.

“I’ll have my husband’s sister’s nine year old daughter here to keep Emily Company, Mrs. Frohman.”

“Oh that’s thoughtful of you. I’m sure Emily will like that.”

“We’ll have a light dinner and then we’ll talk. I don’t know how religious you are, but you can be sure we won’t have any ham or pork…or milk with meat for that matter.”

Leah laughed. “We’re not super religious, but we never eat those, so thank you.”

“My husband has told me all about his Jewish Grandmother. He has such fond memories of her,” said Sonya.

“That’s wonderful. I’m anxious to learn all about your family. David and Val have developed a great friendship. He tells me that Val’s the best gymnast on the team.”

“That’s nice of David. He’s a fine boy.”

Leah said, “Thank you again for the invitation and we’ll see you Saturday evening. We look forward to it.”

The Frohmans arrived at the Gregov home anxious to establish a good friendship with the family. This was the first hoped for close relationship with other than fellow employees at the hospital and clinic.

They received a very warm and cordial greeting from Val’s parents and had a typical Russian dinner including two varieties of pickled herring, potato salad with chicken, hard-boiled eggs, pickles and beets and for dessert, cake with loose-leaf tea. They engaged in small talk while the children were present.

After dinner, the children went off to do their own thing while Ben and Leah, and Mikhail and Sonya viewed Mikhail’s grandmother’s beautiful and very old Jewish antiques including a collection of dreidles of all sizes, a kiddush cup, two menorahs, a set of candle sticks and four wine glasses and a wine bottle. They discussed each in turn.

“Those are absolutely exquisite,” said Leah, “and you’ve kept them in such good condition.”

“Thank you, I wouldn’t part with them for the world. They remind me so much of my grandparents,” said Mikhail.

“I know what you mean,” said Leah.

“When I told my sister that you were coming and that I would show you our grandparent’s things, she gave me something I would like to show you.” He took it out of a drawer and gave it to Leah. “I never even knew about it. She remembered packing it away years ago in her attic, so she gave it to me to add to what I already had and said I should ask you what it is. Neither one of us knows for sure.”

Leah held it and turned it eying every centimeter. “Oh, this is beautiful,” she said. “It’s called a Yad—that’s Hebrew for hand. When the Rabbi, or anyone, reads from the Torah, like we do on Sabbath, the reader can hold this and point to the part he is reading with the little hand and little index finger at the end of the long handle. It isn’t a requirement that one uses it, but the idea is that the Torah parchment is considered sacred and it doesn’t absorb the ink, so if the Torah is touched with the fingers, it could damage the letters. Look Ben, did you ever see such a beautiful Yad?”

“No. That is truly exquisite,” he said with genuine admiration.

“What is this chain at the end opposite the finger?” asked Mikhail.

“That’s what is used to hang it from the Torah for safekeeping after the Torah is read and covered up and put away until the next time.”

“Ah…that’s good to know,” said Mikhail. “Thank you so much. Now we know all about everything my grandmother left us. I showed this collection to someone years ago, without the Yad, and they wanted to buy it. But I will never sell it.”

“I wouldn’t either; never in a million years,” said Ben.

Mikhail added, “I was thinking that when Sonya and I are old we might donate it to a Jewish museum, so that people can always enjoy it.”

“That is a great idea and very thoughtful,” said Leah.

“Thanks for the information. I’ll tell my sister,” said Mikhail. “I have another question, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, what is it,” said Ben.

“My guess would be that the condition for Jews was not good in Germany and that’s why you moved to Byelorussia.”

“Not good is an understatement,” said Ben. I believed our lives were in danger. Not only the Frohmans, but all the Jews of Germany; Hitler and his Nazi Party’s hatred knows no bounds.”

“You were wise to run from that madman. People who hate like that can never change. If they ever feel threatened, they’ll do whatever it takes to get rid of the threat. How did Hitler handle the threat from Roehm and his supporters in ‘34? It wasn’t a problem for him. He killed them…simple. That’s how dictators work. We have our own dictator here—Stalin.”

“Really? I know so little about him. In Germany all we read about is how great Hitler is,” said Ben, “Tell me something about Stalin.”

“Well, when Stalin was a young man and an early member of the Communist Party, the Czar put him in Siberia twice. When Lenin overthrew the Czar in 1917, Stalin became part of the organization. He was too clever, though. He took advantage of his position and built up a power base. When Lenin died, there was a fight for power between Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Well, you know who won that battle. Stalin’s in charge and Trotsky was clever enough to flee for his life. Nobody even knows where he is today. And if he’s smart, he’ll never show his face again—if he wants to live that is.”

“Dictators seem to be all alike, don’t they?” asked Ben.

“That’s the nature of the job. It’s kill or be killed the way I see it. Look what Stalin did with the Ukraine.”

“What’s your take on it?” asked Ben.

“Ukraine was one of the only parts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that resisted Stalin’s collectivizing all the peasants. They like their own independence; they always have. Stalin said…no chance, so he made the peasants turn over most of the grain quota to the state. That’s why there was massive starvation there. Millions died.”

“You are giving me a real education, Mikhail, I appreciate this. He turned to Leah, and said, “I hope you’re taking this all in, Leah.”

“Yes, I am.”

“And I haven’t mentioned those who died in the Gulags, all to cement Stalin’s dynasty,” answered Mikhail. “And when he had finished, he turned on opposition within his own party. Talk about paranoia…he wrote the book on it. If you offered opposition to his leadership you disappeared.”

Ben turned to Leah and said, “Did you hear that, Leah; just what I said about Hitler. Paranoia and narcissism must be a trait of all dictators.”

“I don’t doubt it at all,” said Mikhail. “All they see is enemies ‘of the State.’ And ‘enemies of the State’ cannot live. They have a single minded purpose in life—power and control—that’s all they live for; it’s all that drives them. Nothing must get in the way. He’s getting rid of opposition as we speak.”

“Have you heard about Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Mikhail?” asked Ben.

“I heard about it, but I haven’t read it.”

“I read it about ten years ago. I got it from a friend of mine. I read it from the standpoint of his anti-Semitism, but he also talked about what he called the German need for Lebensraum, living space, and he meant the Soviet Union. On top of that, in his mind all Communists are Jews. In fact, he doesn’t talk about Jews separate from Communists. He refers to them as the Jewish-Communist menace. So with him hating Communism, and his opinion that his country needs more living space in the Soviet Union, what does Stalin think about that?”

“There were a few attacks on Hitler in the press, but beside that you don’t hear much about it. You’re right though, the conversations I have at work tell me that they view Hitler as a threat. You know that we helped Germany after World War I by setting up some military training sites for them in Russia, so they could dodge the Versailles Treaty, but when Germany signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Poland we terminated the German military training sites.”

“What did Hitler have to say about that?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure he wasn’t happy and it strained our relationship with him further. I do know that Litvinov who is the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and also a Jew, considers Hitler to be the greatest threat to the Soviet Union and he worries that we don’t have a strong enough military, so he’s trying to contain Germany by working with other countries and the League of Nations. This is a chess battle for the world.”

Ben laughed, “Poor Hitler. Doesn’t he know that the Russians are the greatest chess players in the world?”

Mikhail laughed. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have to find out. By the way, the Jews aren’t the only people Hitler would like to get rid of.”

“Well, in his Mein Kampf he wasn’t too keen on the Slavs,” said Ben.

“That’s it. He views the Slavs as all Central and Eastern Europeans, and he refers to them as the masses put on the earth to serve and obey.”

“Serve and obey him, I suppose,” said Ben.

That’s right…him and his Aryans who are destined to control the world as far as he’s concerned.”

“We ran from him once. I sure hope we don’t have to run from him again,” said Ben.

“I doubt that will happen. He’d have to be insane to war against us. Let him read about Napoleon.”

“I sure hope you’re right, Mikhail…well, Leah, I think we should round up the kids and go home. Mikhail and Sonya, we can’t thank you enough for your hospitality.”

“It was our pleasure,” said Mikhail. “By the way, have you visited the forests around Minsk yet?”

“No.”

“Then you must come with us the next time we go for a picnic.”

“Sure, Mikhail, that sounds like fun. When do you go?”

“On a weekend. We’ll probably go pretty soon before it gets too cold”

“I have to take call on certain weekends, but if I’m off call, I can make it. The whole family would love it.”

“It’s a date then. I’ll be in touch.”

It took them two weeks to get together and they found themselves in one of the many forests for which Byelorussia was famous. The Frohman family, who never visited the forests of Germany, was spellbound as they viewed their surroundings. The forest was thick with trees blocking much of the sunlight. There were birds in great flocks flying over the treetops and landing as one on the swaying branches. Small animals scurried over the blanket of fallen leaves.

Mikhail had picked a location with a flowing shallow stream where the water was so clear you could see the rocks lying on the bottom and fish competing for the spaces between them. On the other side of the stream were shallow hills thick with trees and brush as far as the eye could see. There were pine trees by the thousands. The quiet, the solitude, the beauty almost made the Frohmans forget why they had come.

Val taught David about the trees and the streams. On the other side of the stream, David found a fairyland of light and dark, shadows and sunlight, trees and brush, and what seemed like millions of chirping birds. Frogs croaked a duet with the chirping birds. David’s eyes widened, his mouth opened, his breathing deepened. He felt like an ancient explorer discovering the New World. He stopped adjacent to the stream and stared into the water. “Look at all the fish in the stream,” said David, “there must be a hundred of them.”

“That’s why we pick this place,” said Val. “Right before we go back home we all fish here.”

“Do you catch any?” asked David.

“We sure do. In fact, my dad brought plenty of fishing poles and bait. You’ll be able to fish too. We always go home with about ten or fifteen fish and we eat for weeks.”

“That’s great. I never fished before.”

“All you do is put the worm on the hook, stick it in the water and wait. I’ll show you what to do when the fish bite.”

“Okay.”

“Did you see that picture in my house of a tree knot hole?” asked Val.

“Where was it?”

“It was hanging on the wall over the small desk in the corner of the dining room where my father does some work sometime.”

“Yeah, I did. You mean the drawing?”

“Yep, my father drew it.”

“I wondered what that was,” said David.

“Well there it is,” said Val pointing into the thick of the forest.”

“Where?”

“Let’s go, I’ll show you,” said Val.

David followed Val into the thick of the forest. They stopped before the largest tree in any direction, standing straight up perpendicular to the forest floor higher than any tree within sight.

“Yeah, this is King Tree,” said Val. “That’s what my father calls it.”

“Wow, that is something,” said David with neck extended. “Where’s the knot?”

“On the other side, about six feet off the ground.”

David walked around the tree and stopped in front of the knot. “It’s big enough to put your hand in there. How deep down does it go?”

“Only about nine inches,”

“My father thought that it was so beautiful that he did a chalk drawing of it and then he did a water color. He’s a great artist, I think. Too bad he doesn’t have enough time to do it more, but he does have a few pictures.”

“Sounds like a great hobby,” said David.

Val said, “It relaxes my father. He draws every chance he gets, which isn’t too often though. We better get back to camp. I’m sure we’ll go fishing soon.”

When they arrived back, the families were already fishing. David smiled as he watched his mother, father and sister intent in their new adventure.

“Come on, Val, set up David and lets get some dinner for the next few weeks,” said Mikhail.