10
Zillah Moody
were a gift from above, low maintenance, and they laid eggs, reproduced themselves
and afterwards they could be killed and eaten. But
food still had to be found for them. Even they had to eat. In some
years the harvest was slightly better than others and Jurgis could lay
up barely enough oats, peas, grain, vegetables and fodder to see them
through and there might be enough grain to feed the hens. Then
they would keep as many as they could, collecting the eggs for sale
to a Jew in town who gave them a price on market day. He bought
dozens of eggs from many different farmers and sent them in large
quantities into Seinei where he made a profit on them. Life became
slightly more easy as the children had grown up and moved on. Now
only Jonas was left at home, and the boy's mother and Jurgis were
very proud of him. He had learned a trade and was in demand as a
carpenter and he was so good at it that he could work for people at his
own discretion. He had built things in wood at the manor, repaired
carriages and was generally well thought of. Jurgis often basked in the
reflected glory. He was the apple of their eye, and the mainstay on the
farm who kept everything running these days.
There was always something Jurgis had wanted to tell Jonas and
indeed the others, some bits and pieces of family folklore he had intended to
pass on but he had never had the time to do so. When he
did mention anything, them being so young, their attention span was
short, as easily distracted they rushed off to do something else. Now
deep inside he felt that he had almost left it too late.
He was the only person still alive who knew the full story. He felt
they ought to be aware of their heritage but he didn't quite know why.
He thought back many, many years to a morning in early January.
The weather once again had been devilishly cold. That winter the
first dusting of snow had arrived on November the sixth.
He remembered the snow beginning to fall on his wife's birthday.
She was a year younger than he was.
From that day the weather had got rapidly worse all the way up to