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The two brothers made their way stealthily through the countryside. It seemed the whole world had gone crazy all at once. Cossacks were randomly attacking villages in the area with no discernible pattern. Several times, already, they'd had to quickly get off the road, and hide in what underbrush was available, to hide from a contingent of drunken cossacks, intent on doing damage to whomever, whatever they ran across.
Random violence, for violence sake only. What had the world come to. Ari (short for Aryeh) was only 15, and Schmoolich had only recently become 17. Their parents were distressed that neither boy had shown much interest in getting married, concentrating more on their studies. They were both good students and good sons. But Abba and Eema were gone now, they reminded themselves... better to keep moving.
They wandered through the countryside, purposely avoiding the local towns, many of which were not known to be friendly to Jews, and sleeping overnight in cemeteries, when they could find them. Cemeteries often offered a bit of safety (they were usually walled off and people wouldn't randomly show up at a cemetery at night), and a bit of shelter from the weather, as they could set up next to one of the walls, or ocassional find an open mausoleum. It was spring in Russia, but spring in Russia was still cold at night.
Food was an issue, but the countryside and the cemeteries provided some sustenance, as wild onions grew everywhere... it wasn't optimal, but would keep them alive, as they ate the onions like apples. Ari quickly learned to hate onions, and would forage around looking for fruit trees, and supplemented their diet with the occasional apple, or pear. After what seemed to be weeks, they came to a shoreline. Beautiful sand beach, along a cold inland sea... the approached it carefully, as beaches had very little cover, and their dress, with the tsitsis hanging out of their shirts, and their long earlocks (payos) easily gave them away to even the casual onlooker at Jews.
They decided to walk along the shore, because eventually that should lead them to some sort of port, or place where they might "hop a ship"... maybe they would work for passage. But the beaches were just too populated, so they made their way back to the woods, to wait until dark. After evening fell, they found their way back to the beach and continued on their way. Walking along, and chatting to one another, they missed the sounds of the approaching horses. Suddenly they were surrounded by cossacks intent on doing them harm. Mocking them, poking them with the tips of their swords from atop their large horses, Ari & Moolie were trapped.
One of the cossacks, who seemed a bit more drunk than the others, took a large swing at them with his curved sabre, and Moolie fended off the blow with his forearm. It sliced through his jacket and shirt, and opened up a painful and sizeable wound... Ducking down quickly, and under the cossack's horse to escape, caused the horse to spook and rear up on his hind legs... and that caused several of the other horses to panic as well, and run, with their riders, a bit up the beach. Ari & Moolie took advantage of that opportunity to run back to the cover of the forest, with angry cossacks in quick pursuit.
Once into the cover of the underbrush, both boys made themselves as invisible as possible, by lying flat on the ground, and throwing enough greenery over them. Lying perfectly still they heard the horses approach and enter the woods. Moolies arm throbbed, as he listened to them approach the very spot where they lay. Moolie stared directly in to Ari's eyes, to hold him where he was... non-verbally encouraging Ari not to panic... Don't run... we can't outrun them. Stay put. The cossacks, sensing a kill, and knowing there were nearby, methodically plodding through section after section of the forest... coming right up to them, and in fact... one hoof of a horse, stepping directly on Moolie's back, and continuing on. The horse whinnied, when he stepped on Moolie, knowing that he'd stepped on something unfirm, but the Cossack, didn't notice, and moved on.
Soon, the horsemen had tired of this game, and moved on... Ari & Moolie lay still for almost an hour before they dared to move, and finally it was Moolie's throbbing arm that forced him to adjust, and seek relief. Moolie, eyes still darting around watching for the cossacks return, removed his jacket, and shirt, and found a 4-5 inch gash on his right forearm. It was still oozing, but was no longer actively bleeding... but it was an open wound that would cause infection if left alone. Moolie knew the only thing he could do was pack the wound with clean dirt. He gathered up a handful of dirt, while Ari tore his shirt into bandages, and they wrapped his arm as best they could. It throbbed even more now... that's going to leave a mark!
At that moment, they decided that they had to rid themselves of signs of their Judaism. And with a small "eating knife" that Ari carried, they cut off their payos (earlocks), removed the fringes that they wore that hung out of their shirts (representing the 613 commandments that Jews are obligated to follow)... whispered apologetic prayers to God, hoping he would understand... tried to make themselves look pure Russian and not Jewish... and then got back up, and made their way toward the lights in the distance. A clear sign of a port... maybe we can find work (as non-Jews), or passage. Boys without a country.
to be continued.
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