She rubbed sleep from her eyes. “Where, Papa?”
“Never mind, child. Just get dressed.”
“Is grandpa coming too?” She remembered the conversation with her grandfather on the ice. “You will leave soon.” he’d said.
“No, child! It will only be us.”
“Will I see him again?”
Her father held her. “I don’t know.” He whispered. When he pulled away, she thought she saw a tear in his eye. She dressed quickly. At the last moment, she reached under her pillow, and pulled the small disk out. She placed it in her sock and then put her shoe on. “Hurry, Georgia!” Her father called.
“Coming, Papa.” That night they walked through the mountains with other refugees. The next day they were safely in Austria. They later immigrated to Montreal, Canada, where they made their home.
Georgia kept the secret of the disk. It was with her at all times. During the day it was in her shoe. At night, it lay hidden under her pillow. She cried for her grandfather less now. She missed him, as she did each night, when she removed her shoe and peeled her socks off. The disk would fall free and remind her of the day on the Danube. Twenty years later, her mother developed cancer. It was terminal. Georgia held the disk. “At the moment they take their last breath.” her grandfather said. She knew what she would do. Her phone rang, “Hello?”
“Georgia?” The voice spoke in Hungarian.
“Yes?”
“This is Aladar.” he paused. “Your Cousin.”
Georgia barely remembered him. “Aladar? How are you?”
“We know you have it!”
“What?”
“The disk! We need it. My young son is dying from leukemia. Only the disk can save him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You lie! Please help my son.” he pleaded.
Georgia thought of her dying mother. “I don’t know anything about a disk.” she said and hung up the phone with a shaky hand. She thought little of the call that night. Her thoughts were on her mother. The days passed. Her sister called, “Georgia, the hospital called. They want us to be with mother. They think her time has come.”
