Word Count: 36,033
Summary of Events:
Keeleigh got called by her supervisor at the Village and they discussed her trying to come back to work the next week in the middle of her search for a non-relative who could read Polish. Kornelia accused Olga of turning off the radio — which she didn't like listening to because of all the war news — when she'd been in the cellar at the time; frustrated and hurt, Olga ran off, only to encounter Zygfryd, who talked with her about that, and much more, while he went to enlist in the civilian defence force being created to help protect Warsaw from the Germans. Keeleigh drove to work, but found herself too stressed to even try going out and playing her role, so she was sent home, where she decided to look in the other cardboard box . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
"Many of the papers in this box were much older than those contained in the other box. On top of that, there weren't any card-shaped ones.
In fact, Keeleigh noticed that there was a significant quantity of loose photos scattered in the box. She picked up one and looked at it. It appeared to be shot in a studio and showed a sizeable family of dour-faced people.
There was an adult couple, both of whom were holding little boys in their laps; the one on the woman's lap looked to be about two, and the other one looked to be four. Standing behind them were two quite handsome young men in the middle, each with a young woman beside them, and then two boys to the left and two girls to the right, the left side having a girl in front of the boys, and the right having a boy in front of the girls.
On the back of the photo all it said was 1938.
So then the two adults were her great grandparents: Zbigniew and Klementyna, and on their laps were Uncle Gustaw and Grandpa, and then Uncle Olek was in front of Aunt Malwina and Aunt Jadwiga, while Uncle Igor and Uncle Jarek were to the left, and it looked like Aunt Kornelia was beside them.
Aside from them, though, were four others: a little girl who looked younger than Olek — probably about six — a young woman who looked about the same age as Aunt Kornelia, and two strapping, handsome young men in the middle.
Was the little girl Adelejda? Was the other young woman Olga? And who were the young men? Keeleigh felt sick and confused. Olivia seemed to be right. There were more children in the family, children who hadn't been miscarried.
Setting the photo aside, Keeleigh took up the next one. It was all the same people, only the year was 1937 according to the back, and everyone looked younger.
The next photo had a tiny infant Grandpa, and was dated 1936, the year he'd been born. That had to mean the photo had been taken in December, possibly after Christmas, because Grandpa's birthday was the eighteenth of December.
The next photo was dated 1932; it had an infant in Klementyna's lap, and no Gustaw or Grandpa. Being as the next oldest child was a boy — and by count had to be Uncle Olek — that confirmed that the little girl was the infant.
After that photo Keeleigh found one with Zbigniew and Klementyna looking much younger and having only the two boys, who looked to be one and three in the picture. It was dated 1920.
Who were these boys? Keeleigh had always thought Aunt Kornelia was the oldest, but it seemed that there were two boys older than her. Had they died in the war or something? If so, why weren't they even remembered by the family for that?"
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