zaklittle

zaklittle t1_j0domjj wrote

As I poked through the dusty, worn boxes and moth-eaten garments collected through a life spanning 100 years, I was reminded as if in a dream, of words whispered by the loving old lady to the grandson she adored sitting in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate and playing cards.

"James, it wasn't easy leaving the home country in a hurry, you know".

"I can't imagine grandma", I say. "We are learning about the war at school".

"Well it wasn't, and we couldn't bring much but I grabbed a few treasures I couldn't leave without", she says with a glazed look and a mouth that in the right light could have been a smile or a frown. as if remembering times unspeakable.

As the memory fluttered through my head, I just happened to move a suitcase, surely bought in the sixties, to reveal a black leather trunk. Cracked and worn but cleaner and more cared for than the rest of the 'treasures' up here.

"Oh wow", I gasped to myself, "this must have been what the old girl had told me about some 30 years ago".

I ran my hand over the embossed leather, tracing the letters that formed my grandmothers initials and maiden name. The cracks had robbed the truck it's true glory and made picking out the other words hard

A . . . I T - . A C . T - F R . I - E T H E L - B - B L O O M E N K O F T - W . . F . N - S - S

my curiosity peaked as the brass lock dropped open at the slight touch. I nervously lifted the lid and my mind raced with ruby and diamond. Gold and silver.

"Oh dear god", I uttered as I dropped the trunk lid. "Grandma was a nazi"

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