Descendant of Aaron - Instead of a prologue

         Alexander Vild

Historical novel based on actual facts

 Translated from russian by author
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          "A nation that forgets its past has no future."

               
      


                Instead of a prologue


    Alek was awakened by the loud voice of the announcer, the radio was
broadcasting "Pioneer Dawn"(1). "Back to school", he thought without optimism.
    It was warm like summer, a light breeze refreshed and brought the scent
of apples from the garden. Wonderful time - early September!
    In the courtyard, on a bench his best friend Victor - faithful "Sancho
Panza" was already waiting for him. In order not to waste time, he reinforced himself with young nuts, peeling off the yellow peel and sending snow-white nucleoli into his mouth. His hands were smeared with not yet dried nuts,
like he used iodine.
    Lessons in fourth grade flew by quickly. Friends went out into the street. Petya(2), their classmate, was not in class today. They said he was sick. "Let's go and see Petya," suggested Victor.
    Petya lived in the forest. His father worked as a forester. Petya's house stood on the outskirts of the forest. If you follow the path through the field, you will get about two kilometers. When they were leaving the village, their classmate Vovka(3) joined them.
    Friends walked merrily along the narrow path separating the field and the forest. The gentle sun softly scattered its rays, the birds chirped carelessly, and grasshoppers were frolicking in the grass. But the field was already empty, the crop was harvested.
    A forester's house, tiny from afar, appeared in the distance. The guys were just in the middle of an empty field, when suddenly two well-known hooligans appeared out of nowhere.
    These were big boys who always skipped lessons, smoked and liked to do all sorts of dirty tricks.
"Hey, little fry! Where are you in a hurry?", They blocked the way to the guys. The friends stopped. Alek immediately got some unpleasant sensation: "Now they will start pestering him." And, as always, the feeling did not deceive him. The two brutes approached very close. One of them was holding a ski pole with a sharpened tip.
     "Oh, Vovka, is that you?" - they recognized Vovka. Then they looked at Victor and at Alek. Victor did not arouse much interest in them, while Alek, short, thin, with thick blond curls and gray, wide-open eyes, attracted their attention. "And who is this with us?"- One of them addressed Alek in a malicious voice,- "So what kind of nation are you?"
    Alek gritted his teeth and not a word. Barely holding back his tears, he fixed his eyes full of hatred directly into the eyes of the offender. "So who are you - a Zyd(4) or a Jew? What is your surname?", The same boy continued to ask questions. In response - not a word, only a burning look. The bully put the point of a stick to Alek's chest and said: "Now I will pierce you!" Alek stood like a stone and looked straight into the eyes of the offender. "What are you staring at me for?" - the bully could not resist. “What is his last name?” - he asked Victor. Victor immediately blurted out: “Goldstein". "Ah ... I see," the brutes grinned silently. "Well, okay, so be it - live," - summed up the hooligans and left.
   As soon as the big boys disappeared, tears gushed out of Alek's eyes. Quite frightened Victor tried to console his friend: "Don't cry. You held on so bravely, and now become limp." Alek was crying not out of fear, but out of resentment: "What did he do them bad, why do they hate him so?" he thought.

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1. "Pioneer Dawn" - name of radio broadcast for pioneers in USSR
2. Petya - short name for Petr(rus) or Petro(ukr)      
3. Vovka - short(nick) name for Vladimir(rus) or Volodymyr(ukr), usually used
   by children
4. Zyd(pol) - jew, abusive name for jew in USSR