The American Spectator : A Christmas Tale

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A Christmas Tale

By Christopher Orlet on 12.22.11 @ 6:08AM

A Polish village, a war, and a brand new bicycle.

(Page 2 of 2)

Something caught in my throat. “I found it leaning against the wall of the pub.” I seemed to have done something wrong, but for the life of me I had no idea what. I dropped the bicycle to the ground and ran to my mother. I began to cry.

“Shhhh. It’s okay,” she said weakly.

My father stared blankly down the road. “I’m a dead man,” he muttered.

My mother bunched her apron in her hands. “Take it back to where he found it. Maybe they haven’t noticed it missing.”

“But it’s mine!” I cried. I still didn’t know what the matter was. My mother patted my head and shushed me.

My father sighed and picked up my bicycle. He looked at me, almost kindly. “Stop that. Be a man,” he said. He climbed on my bicycle and rode off awkwardly down the street.

Mother and I stood by the front gate a long time. We waited in silence until we saw the first star come out. At length she said it was time to go inside for supper.

Later that night, after I had gone to bed, my father came into my room. He sat on the edge of my bed. I turned away from him, still angry. “I am sorry,” he said. I felt his rough hands stroke my hair. I edged closer to the wall. I could tell by the sound of his voice he had been crying.

THE OLD MAN paused and slowly shook his head. “Six million people died in that war, but that was the only time I ever heard my father weep,” he said.

It was late and my wife and the baby had drifted off to sleep. This was many years ago when we were living in a small town in western Poland.

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About the Author

Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (14) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Moe Blotz| 12.22.11 @ 9:10AM

Quite a tear jerker. Was the old man your kin? I wonder how many more similar stories from the era remain untold. One of my mates from the place I worked in 1990s was the son of a Lithuanian refugee and his dad told some hair raising stories of tyranny in the old country. Merry Christmas .

POST American| 12.22.11 @ 10:10AM

----Great piece!

AND MEANWHILE,

"Understand folks --without the Consitituion
---without the Bill of Rights ---we're Mexico
--we're North Korea ---we're finished."

Just a little X-mas REALITY CHECK as
here at home NDAA is calling for
the 'disappearance' of American citizens
---on top of full-spectrum surveillance
nationwide, and the end of posse
commintatus.

----------------------UNDERSTAND FOLKS.

DO------------------------------------------------

John Navratil| 12.22.11 @ 11:42AM

My father, as a teenager, defused bombs for the Czech resistance and endured the frequent mid-night break-ins by the Gestapo looking for contraband. At the end, the Americans were thought by the resistance to be liberators. The resistance rose up, the Americans stopped advancing to leave Prague to the Russians, and many fighters were killed by the Germans during the final days before the Russians "liberated" Prague (thanks, FDR! thanks, Stalin!). Dad escaped to Austria after the Commies took over and closed the borders. His brother delayed a few weeks in order to graduate with a law degree from Charles University. He was caught attempting to escape and spent sixteen years in prison until the '64 general amnesty. As a "political" he never practiced law. Their parents were stripped of their wealth and shunted into the least desirable housing.

That's why I love Socialism as much as I do.

God Bless America. I pray we save it.

John Navratil| 12.22.11 @ 11:43AM

I don't know how this got posted as a response to "Post American". Sorry.

Occam's Tool| 12.22.11 @ 4:46PM

I do, too, John. Merry Christmas.

John Navratil| 12.22.11 @ 6:25PM

Occam's Tool,

Thank you and may you and your family enjoy this Channukah celebration. Perhaps after this country's defiling we can rededicate it with what remains of the oil of liberty.

rhoetus| 12.22.11 @ 4:55PM

Mr. Navratil: I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and that you are in good health. Many years ago members of my family left Slovakia.
Zedna Kapral wrote her auto-biography about her life in Czechoslovakia before, during and after WW2. I learned a lot about my father's former homeland.
http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow.....094317368X

John Navratil| 12.22.11 @ 6:33PM

rhoetus,

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you. I pray my health remains as strong as that of my Father and Uncle who still lives in Prague. They are 84 and 88, respectively. Dad and Mom (81) are in the Czech Republic visiting his brother as I write. I'm looking forward to helping him do a little carpentry work on my house when he visits for the New Year - I'm definitely the assistant.

I've ordered the book you've suggested. I look forward to receiving it.

rhoetus| 12.22.11 @ 7:48PM

I'm sure that you will enjoy the book. Cordially, rhoetus

Louis Jenkins| 12.22.11 @ 4:48PM

And the socialists will take all that we have if we allow it. A sad story.

Tina B| 12.23.11 @ 8:54AM

I thank you too, Mr. Orlet, for the trip to pre-war Poland, where my Papa grew up. I have just retired and before I go home I would love to see and touch the land of my father.

I trust we will have memories in heaven, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus would indicate this, as the rich man wants to go back and tell his family not to make the same mistake he did. After his death. I plan to ask my dad about his youth and his life as a Polish Army Captain in WWII. All those things I should have asked when I had him here.

God bless you Christopher, John N, and Occam's, and all other believers in a Holy God. Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is One.

Happy Chanukah and have a Merry Christmas.

Tina B| 12.23.11 @ 8:55AM

Oh, and keep your lamps burning till the Bridegroom returns.

Vasu Murti | 12.24.11 @ 3:30PM

(The folk song below receives airplay on KFOG 104.5 here in the SF Bay Area during the holiday season.)

"Well, Jesus was a homeless lad
"With an unwed mother and an absent dad
"And I really don't think he would have gotten that far
"If Newt, Pat and Jesse had followed that star