Hencida

The short years we lived in Hencida I was too young to remember; what I do know is what I heard from my parents.

One little story is from when my younger brother was born. I was about an eighteen month old baby walking in the backyard of our home by myself, and promptly fell into a deep ditch of lime! Noting my hollering, my maternal grandmother came to my rescue. She came to stay with us for a short while to help my mom at childbirth. It was about this time that my parents also hired a maid-helper who shamelessly stole my gold earrings from my small earlobes!

The next episode in Hencida was when my three-year-old brother Alexander (Sanyi) played with an axe and pieces of wood: (we used to make thin pieces of wood and play with them in place of real toys). As I tried to pull a thin piece of wood, my brother chopped on the second finger of my right hand. That left me with a reminder for the rest of my life! My father took me to the doctor, who washed my injured finger with strong alcohol and bandaged it - no more. That was supposed to take care of the healing. My father used to remind me later years what a brave little girl I was then. I did not even cry when the doctor treated my injured finger with strong alcohol.

My parents also told me about a poor old Jewish couple who lived in a dilapidated small house in Hencida. One night a thief stole into their house, and the wife told her husband she was fearful about the strange noise so close. The husband quieted her down - they hardly dared to breathe for fear that the Christian thief may harm them. So when the thief finally left them, they thanked the Almighty for leaving them unharmed - at least bodily.

© David Muskal, 2001