Franz was watching  Emma sleep.  Her face bore deep lines from all the  suffering that she had endured during the dire years, the loss and grief, it had taken its toll. Emma did not have a restful sleep, she was tossing and turning, tears running down her face.  Franz  was very concerned, she appeared to be choking. Franz put his arms around Emma, he wanted to help her, but how? He was just a stranger who had been saved by Emma in his ordeal. He desperately tried to comfort her, he still was feeling very weak from the long walk trying to escape the egregious assaults from his father. Emma opened her eyes, reached for his hands, leaned close to Franz, she could hear his heartbeat, she cried bitterly.For so many years of hardship, grief, the loss of her family had been bottled up. She had been torn from all the suffering. Emma had her protective shell to hide her struggles, that had given her strength to go on and deal with the inevitable, uncertain future. She had kept her faith. In her sleep all the traumatic memories had surfaced unbidden again. Will Emma ever be able to put the past behind, will she ever be freed from unimaginable pain that was tearing her apart?

Lara had just returned from her three-week recital tour, it had been a remarkable experience, good reviews and she also had received some memorabilia from her childhood home in Latvia. Lara enjoyed  being home again, sitting in her studio and playing the piano, she selected a few pieces from her repertoire. Every piece brought back memories, it felt like being on the stage again and performing. Lara was happy. It started to get dark, Lara wanted to open some of the gifts  she had received. In a small package she found a lovely amber pendent shaped like a heart, in an envelope was  a dried leaf of a birch, some dried flowers from a meadow, finally she opened an envelope, there were pictures of some people. The pictures had faded a great deal and a little torn. Who are these people? Why was Lara given those pictures? After the gruesome WW ll she had settled in Toronto, Canada and for decades had been trying to find “the missing link” of her family. All the suffering, loss, agony, the harrowing sights were deeply etched in her memory and kept haunting her. The pain, the question of not knowing what happened to her family, was pondering her over and over. Lara’s father never spoke of his parents, consequently Lara felt that a link was missing. She turned the picture over and saw a faint inscription: Franz Lang. She pleaded for answers in silence. Did Lara find “The missing Link?”

————————————————to be continued————————————–