Sudetenland Tales by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Sudetenland Tales

Page 472

Peeking through the barely parted curtain of my front window, as was my habit, I often saw either pair of grandparents dropping by to visit the young couple and their beloved grandchild. Sometimes all four came by to visit at the same time. How could I take away from these grandparents, these God fearing, law abiding Americans who were in the twilight of their lives, all that they held dear; their very children, their sweet grandchild, their living legacy itself? Surely my guilt would be unbearable if I committed such an atrocity.

So I guessed I’d have to kidnap and kill the grandparents too.

For just a moment, my revised plan seemed like it might work before further logical complications dawned on me. What about the extended family? The brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles? The nieces and nephews, first cousins, etc.? How could I bear the thought of these folks receiving the terrible news, the news that such a huge chunk of their family had been tragically lost, imprisoned and slaughtered like animals no less? To spare them the pain, I supposed I’d have to kidnap and murder them as well.

But what of the second cousins, third cousins, cousins once removed, twice removed? Why, they’d simply have to die too. And