Farim raised fat goats on the valley floor with his wives. It was his job to carry the galvanized pails of milk to the gypsum miners, far up in the lifeless hills.
Heinrik longed to follow Thomas Mann into the blue, rarefied peaks of literature. In the end, he became a school teacher and felt the touch of small hands on his sleeve all day long.
His country put a gun into Talik’s hands and sent him to defend a certain line. He became fond of killing, a master, and rose to have the orange moon sewn to his left breast pocket.
Grudijn spent his hours on a boat pulling nets from a green water. The smallest portion of his catch went to nourish pumpkins in his tiny garden plot.
Ronna had five children and died birthing the sixth. She was buried in the sweet smelling earth.