The Power of Testimony

VIRGINIA PRODAN
it to me for you. It is a dress from East Germany, from his
relatives.” I looked up and saw an ocean of love in his eyes.
Then Elena came in. “Did you get drunk with your
friends again?” she boomed. “Get up and take a shower!
You are disgusting. Stop being silly, playing with dolls like
a child!”
Then she grabbed me by the back of the neck. “Put that
doll away,” she bellowed. “Finish the floor and set the dinner
table!”
I never met Stephen’s parents, but I had heard that his
mother wanted him to be a tailor, so she bought him a sewing
machine, which stayed in our house forever. He did not
want to be a tailor, so to escape the training and without his
mother’s permission, he joined the army and served in World
War II. He rarely talked about his experiences there, but one
night the rest of the family dozed off as we were watching a
war movie on TV, and Stephen and I were the only ones left
awake. As the soldiers on the screen dodged an explosion,
sending blizzards of dirt into the air, he started to sob.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “If you don’t like this movie, we
don’t have to watch it.”
As I gently rubbed his back, he began to speak in a hushed
tone.
“I was in the battlefield, hidden with my battalion in a
trench, when suddenly the world changed into darkness.
A bomb exploded not far from us. Death buried me. My
nose and throat were full of mud. I panicked. I couldn’t
move. I could see my entire life playing out in front of me.”
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