Saturday, June 15, 2013


Threads of Life

A posting for wewriwa.com
June 15, 2013

I continue with the story of the children, traveling with their grandmother from Poland or Russia to Canada after their last parent had died. They hope to find a home in Alberta, Canada with two uncles who had come there with their families previously. Minna, My grandmother, speaks although I fear a few of my words may be unknown by some 9 year olds.

“My cold did not go away the whole time on that despicable ship, nor did Gustav’s. From the cold wind of the ocean on deck, to the sweaty, stinking steerage section where they have packed too many of us in, to having no food, it was not a pleasant trip.  When we left the ship, I was afraid that Grandma would never find the train that we were to go on with so few people speaking German. She had a name written on a paper, but when she showed it to people they would often shake their heads. We lugged our heavy bags and finally found the right train. On it, we found a couple of seats. I fell asleep right away with my head on Grandma’s shoulder. We stopped at a relative on the way to Alberta where we had food at last and our clothes were washed, but I am afraid that I do not remember who they were or where they lived.. Boarding the train again, we finally came to Edmonton, Alberta and Uncle Friedrich was there to meet us.”

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7 comments:

  1. Very nice, Carol. I think your writing style is evolving, getting more descriptive as you write. :-) Well done!

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  2. What a dreadful trip that would be! Nice, descriptive 8.

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  3. What a long, gruelling journey! Glad to know they finally made it to their destination.

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  4. I like this change of point of view from what you had the week before. It sounds a lot more natural when Minna is speaking than with the third person narrator.

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  5. Though we've switched POV, the tone is still so arresting--full of detail and atmosphere.

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