Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief - by Katrina Nannestad

Flowers are Mama’s favourite thing in the whole wide world. Even though our garden and village are crowded with them, Mama will be so happy when I give her these gifts from the meadow. She will put them in a jar of water and place them on the windowsill so that everyone who walks by can also enjoy the sight of them. And tonight, when she has read a fairy tale to Yelena, my twelve-year-old sister, and me, and settled us down in our wide, warm bed above the stove, Mama will choose her favourite meadow flower, study it, then embroider its twin onto her headscarf. Mama’s headscarf is covered in flowers. Every week she adds another with her needle and thread. She says the flowers make her feel beautiful. But Mama is beautiful even without a scarf full of blooms. She is the most beautiful woman in the village, with yellow yarrow hair, blue, blue cornflower eyes, soft cherry-blossom cheeks and a magic smile. When Mama smiles, everyone around her smiles, too. They cannot help it. And Mama smiles a lot. Even now, when all she has left is Yelena and me. Papa and my sister Roza joined the Red Army at the start of the Great Patriotic War. All the papas and big brothers in our village joined up, and some of the big sisters, too, like Roza. But now, Papa and Roza are no more. We miss them, deep, deep in our hearts and souls. But we must all make sacrifices for Father Stalin and Mother Russia, and we are proud that our family has been part of the fight against Hitler and his German monsters.

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