Antoni & Irena

My grandmother had cut a deal with my grandfather over tea at a literary club meeting in Toledo in 1901(?). They both had been invited to the afternoon event and time stopped for both of them. She fell for the first time, he for the second. He had been married and divorced since his first wife was unable to have children.

So the deal she cut was as follows. "We will marry. I am of the manor born and a Duke's daughter. You are a peasant. I am a coup for you." She cooed like a little pigeon and continued, "I demand once a year trips to the motherland for purposes of random purchases and other fun stuff. You will pay. I will travel alone or with the progeny." He replied, "Yes."

He never said that he was afraid to return since he had been a double agent and worked for a judge in Poland. He had left Poland, changed his name and arrived in the USA with his lungs working and a nickel in his pocket. But more on this later ...

Susan Paryski