After the soldiers took Father our life in the Sakiai changed completely. In our home, where Mother and Father had read us the old stories by the fire, taught us our prayers, and watched us at play with our toys, we found we now had masters to answer to.
Kazimeras and Ruta came to us from Russia and they could not be trusted. Any wrong word or deed from us was likely to be reported back to the Russians. “They are not like our people. They are our conquerors and enslavers,” Mother said.
Kazimeras sat in Father’s chair. He broke the bread first, like Father. Our mother could not watch him, but Ruta took pride in her husband’s passing of the bread to us all.
Kazimeras grinned back at Ruta, showing his teeth to be rotten; like little greying fossils these stumps stood proud of their black g
