 |
| https://www.travelblog.org/Photos/9736382 |
"How did it go Aunt Grace?" asks Karma as she turns to look back while pulling the old green Chevrolet Impala onto Route 22 at the Bloomsbury exit.
"I'm floating" sighs Grazyna Czarcinski relaxing her ample frame back onto the bench seat with eyes closed. "That Dr. Honaker has some magic hands."
"It's those dark eyes that strike me" Karma continues, glancing up into the rearview mirror while pulling into the center lane to stay away from the railing as they cross the Raritan River bridge into Somerset County.
"Now that you mention it" awakens Grace as she turns to face Karma, "his eyes do remind me of old Father Hajduk when I was a girl in Poland."
__________
The Czarcinski's had fled Poland in the early days of the Russian occupation of Czestochowa (chens-toe-HOH-vuh) in 1946. A stout Catholic of the eastern orthodox variety, the father, Stanislaw, a former fighter in the Nazi resistance, couldn't bear another occupation and sought advice on where to go at Jasna Gora Monastery in the outskirts of the city. Told of a sister church in an American town near New York city, he leapt at what he saw as one last chance at religious freedom. He and his wife Boska escaped by train with their two children in the chaotic time when Germany had fallen and eastern Europe had not yet settled into Soviet dominance, eventually disembarking at Bound Brook, New Jersey.
__________
"Well, that priestly doctor caught me meditating on the lawn" admits Karma as she slows way down to enter the Somerville circle. "He invited me to visit him at someplace called Waverly Hall."
"Just put your head down and go" Ruth proclaims, gesturing at the cars swerving around them.
"I don't know Aunt Ruth, he kind of creeped me out."
"I meant about the circle" laughs Ruth. "That's what my tata always said, but then again he couldn't read a lick of English."
"When's your next appointment?"
"Let's see" Ruth responds as she scrabbles around in her large tote bag on the floorboard and pulls out her reading glasses and a white card. "That's odd, it's Sunday September 21."
"Oh my god, which way do I go" Karma exclaims while pulling into the median between routes 22 and 202/206. "There are too many twos on these signs."
"You know what they say about a fork in the road" Ruth shrugs. "Either way will get you there."
"When's your next appointment?"
"Let's see" Ruth responds as she scrabbles around in her large tote bag on the floorboard and pulls out her reading glasses and a white card. "That's odd, it's Sunday September 21."
"Oh my god, which way do I go" Karma exclaims while pulling into the median between routes 22 and 202/206. "There are too many twos on these signs."
"You know what they say about a fork in the road" Ruth shrugs. "Either way will get you there."
No comments:
Post a Comment