beget

Originally uploaded by kristalynn.

i recently took a trip to visit my grandparents with the specific intention of sitting down with my grandfather and getting his war stories. he has such an interesting past, i don't want to just let it fizzle out. nor do i want it to be in vain.

i wanted to collect his stories, and hopefully compile them. i think we're a pretty complacent populace - very easily having forgotten what others had to endure in order to give us the cushy lifestyle that we've come to assume.

i set up my camera to record audio.

"grandpa, i want to talk to you about the war."

"what? there was no woman!"

although he is a tad hard of hearing, he did hear me correctly and did respond fittingly. he was quick on the defensive because there had been recent allegations, amongst family members, that he had impregnated a woman before he met the first of his series of wives. i did want to get into the story of this alleged half-aunt, but not right off the bat.

"i never said anything about a woman," i mollified.

"it was '39. germans occupied the whole region..." he began.

her name was lee. she was six months pregnant with my grandfather's child when her husband, who was presumed to be dead, came home from the war. with malaria. my grandfather had to leave. the husband stayed and raised the girl.

"it was wartime." he said.