CHRISTY (greeting us at the door)
hi everyone. glad you could make it. do you remember my mother, oma?

TROY
i don't think i do.

OMA
we met at the animal fair with the kids a few years back.

TROY
oh right. yes. hi. how are you?

OMA
fine. fine. come. come out of the hall. sit down.

(oma and i move to the living room and take seats. the others go into the kitchen leaving just the two of us to talk)

TROY
so how's your visit going?

OMA
oh just fine. i'm tired from the travel, but that is to be expected.

TROY
sure. so how's life up north in canada?

OMA
oh, it is good. this is the nice time of year and we spend a lot of time at our cabin.

TROY
now did you always live in canada? is it where you grew up?

OMA
oh no. i am from germany.

TROY
how did you come to live in canada then?

OMA
well a girlfriend of mine travelled there after her schooling and met a boy. when she came home, she and the boy stayed in touch. he wanted to get married but her father would not allow it without meeting him. so the boy came to germany and they got married. shortly after that they went back to canada because the boy did not want to stay.

TROY
that must have been hard on her family.

OMA
yes. sure. but she and i would write often and she kept saying i must come and visit. so i did and when i was there i met a man and got married and stayed.

TROY
how did you meet?

OMA
at church. all the germans would go to the church and there were always gatherings and functions afterward. everyone spoke german. it was nice. that is where we met.

TROY
how old were you?

OMA
i had just finished school.

TROY
college or high school?

OMA
college.

TROY
so you were twenty-one, twenty-two.

OMA
yes.

TROY
that was quite brave of you. was your family affluent, well-off? i mean had you travelled internationally before?

OMA
well, my father was a banker. i guess we were well-off. but towards the end of the war, things changed and we had to move around more often. when the bombings started, we lived in berlin then, they sent all the children to the country. we then lived on a farm.

TROY
goodness. that must have been a horrific time.

OMA
yes. yes it was. it was very terrible. but it got worse after the war. i saw many dead babies ... from the cold. traveling was hard and they just died.

TROY
did you say dead babies?

OMA
yes. and then it got even worse after they divided the lands and the russians came. then there were many rapes.

TROY
did you say rapes?

OMA
yes. the russians raped many women. it was usually in the barns. on the hay.

TROY
oh my lord. how old were you then oma?

OMA
oh me and my sister were very young. just little.

TROY
i can't imagine. no one really talks about a country once a war is over. so much of the discussion deals with the end and war-time struggles. i'm sure your country was in a horrible state. how long were you away from your father?

OMA
he died, so i did not see him after we left berlin.

TROY
he died. was he a soldier then?

OMA
no. the country still needed to keep things going so he did that. he was a banker. but he disappeared one day.

TROY
disappeared?

OMA
yes, just disappeared. in berlin. much later my mother received a letter from a hospital. it was about my father. years later my sister and i tried to find his grave, but never did.

(she coughs)

OMA
this cough. i've had it for weeks. it just won't go away. i went to the doctor and he said it would pass but it has been four weeks.

(marty comes in from the kitchen)

MARTY
troy, you and gant need to go get the food.

TROY
oh. yes. the food. please excuse me oma. i've been summoned.

OMA
yes. yes. go get food.

(i'm standing in the foyer waiting for gant. oma came up to stand behind me.)

OMA
your wife. what nationality is she?

TROY
she may not look it but she's german-polish.

OMA
she is very beautiful.

TROY
yes she is.

OMA
and you, what are you?

TROY
i'm adopted so i'm not quite sure. my birth name was lombardo.

OMA
well, that sounds italian, no? lombardo. lombardi. yes italian.

TROY
i guess so. partly-so at least.

OMA
have you ever met your mother? your birth-mother that is.

TROY
no, i haven't. but my adopted mother spoke to her once.

OMA
oh?

TROY
yes, but she didn't want to talk to me. or wasn't able. whichever, it just didn't work out.

OMA
yes. yes. it is a hard decision for a woman.

TROY
yeah. i imagine so. the interesting thing i learned at that time is that i have siblings. three older. that shook me a little bit. growing up i always assumed some high school girl got pregnant in ohio and the family shipped her to pennsylvania to live with relatives through the pregnancy so when i learned i was her fourth child, it kind of disturbed a notion i always held.

OMA
yes. yes. this is hard.

(i look at oma. she's looking off at nothing and tears are streaming down her face)

TROY
oma? i'm sorry. i didn't mean to upset you.

OMA
no. no. you haven't. i'm just an old lady and get sad easily. your story has just moved me. i'm sorry. it will stop in a moment.

TROY
oma. i apologize. i promise i won't talk to you anymore tonight. i promise.

OMA
no. no. non-sense. go. go get our dinner. i will be fine.