Threadbare Sunrise

"Darkness was her friend. Light was the enemy." Surah Isakova Marcovici fled the shtetl ghetto to the thickly forested Carpathian Mountains. "Go! You will survive!" commanded Isak to his eldest son and daughter. They separated, and she was alone to forge for herself. The two survived, all the rest perished. She lived on leaves, roots, bark, grains, and berries. She hid in caves, and under improvised branch canopies, constantly rubbing wax peppers into her skin to keep the Nazi dogs off her scent. Ironically, after my dad passed away, she could only sleep with the lights on. "Now, the night is fear and horror. It terrifies me." In memory of my mother, Sara Rosner, 1925-2017—a survivor.