A Mother's Secret

The village of Kowitz was untouched by the war. Or so it seemed. Even in the winter it looked like a golden sanctuary. Was it only two years ago that she'd left her child, her Mina, here for safekeeping? And now Mina would be a three year old, walking, talking, laughing. It would be so good to hear a child laugh, her child...

The shack stood where it had always stood, waiting for her. Her heart beat faster; then, it did not seem to beat at all as she approached. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. Of course. Wanda would be out with Mina, gathering wood, getting food, doing chores.
"Who are you looking for?"
Eliza turned around to face a woman as old as her mother would be, if her mother had lived. "Wanda Zbyszek," Eliza answered.

"She's not here."
"I see that. Do you know when she'll be back?"
The woman shrugged. "She's left Kowitz."
"Left Kowitz!"
The woman stared at her suspiciously, not about to give out further information...

Now what was Eliza to do? "Give it up," Tadeusz suggested. "Wherever this Wanda Zbyszek is, if she doesn't want to be found, she won't be."
If she doesn't want to be found? Could it be that Wanda didn't want to return Mina to Eliza? Could it be that she now thought of Mina as her own child? Eliza begged favors, put ads in the papers that were again publishing. Missing child? Was she out of her mind, everyone wanted to know. There were hundreds of thousands or children missing, most of them dead. She'd be lucky if she even found the child alive.


Genre: General Fiction