Lauren Baratz-Logsted
When I first saw this question, I thought, 'There are no mysteries in my life. What could one be - Why is the cat so fluffy?' Which, come to think of it, *is* a mystery, plus it could make a cute children's book. But then I remembered something:
My paternal grandparents were from the Ukraine. In 1921, my grandfather smuggled my grandmother - then pregnant with my father - and her sister out of the country in the back of a hay cart in order to avoid religious persecution. He had three brothers and sisters who were all killed. After he died, a postcard-like picture came into my possession. Sepia-toned, it depicts his three brothers in Cossack clothing (the leather boots are stunning), on the back of which is a handwritten message in gorgeous script. The mystery is that I've never been able to get it translated! Even when, around the turn of the millennium, a Ukrainian family moved in next door; the Ukrainian woman next door knew a languages professor at a local university and he couldn't help either. So the mystery remains: What does the message say??? Could it be: "The gold is buried in --"? Or something even more intriguing? Or maybe it's just "Don't forget we need more chickens"? I think now that I will never know, but I suspect there could be the basis of a good mystery novel there: a then-and-now story along the lines of Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Flanders Panel. (OK, since I'd be writing it instead of Arturo Perez-Reverte, it wouldn't be as good, but still.)
My paternal grandparents were from the Ukraine. In 1921, my grandfather smuggled my grandmother - then pregnant with my father - and her sister out of the country in the back of a hay cart in order to avoid religious persecution. He had three brothers and sisters who were all killed. After he died, a postcard-like picture came into my possession. Sepia-toned, it depicts his three brothers in Cossack clothing (the leather boots are stunning), on the back of which is a handwritten message in gorgeous script. The mystery is that I've never been able to get it translated! Even when, around the turn of the millennium, a Ukrainian family moved in next door; the Ukrainian woman next door knew a languages professor at a local university and he couldn't help either. So the mystery remains: What does the message say??? Could it be: "The gold is buried in --"? Or something even more intriguing? Or maybe it's just "Don't forget we need more chickens"? I think now that I will never know, but I suspect there could be the basis of a good mystery novel there: a then-and-now story along the lines of Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Flanders Panel. (OK, since I'd be writing it instead of Arturo Perez-Reverte, it wouldn't be as good, but still.)
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