THE LIFE STORY OF MY FATHER

(Abbreviated excerpts from the novel of the same name)

FOREWORD

Our father Lazo often told us about his events from America, during our childhood. He went to work in America at the age of fifteen, with his older brother Đuro, who had lived and worked in America for three years. He worked hard, but he loved America with all his heart. Speaking to us, the children, and home visitors, he often said some events first in English, and then repeated everything in Serbian. We did not understand his stories in English, so we looked at each other during that time, and to strangers, especially those who came to our house for the first time, it left an amazing impression and they admired him. Our sisters' father's stories were occasionally boring, especially the ones they listened to for who knows how many times, while my older brother and I memorized it all and we could almost continue my father's stories if he happened to stop.

Lazo told us about his departure to America, about the jobs he did, about the evening English school, about the people he met and much more, but he never mentioned girls. I guess he was embarrassed to mention it before to our children, who were left without a mother early on. When he set off from Bosnia, he hadn't seen a train before, and when he arrived in New York, he couldn't help but marvel at the then tallest building in the world, the Woolworth Building with 52 floors. He had no idea what the sea looked like, and when he found himself in the Atlantic, he thought that this was the end of his life and that he would never see America. He carried dried ham to his brother and starved on the ship for a full six weeks, and when he arrived at customs, the customs officers threw his ham into the sea, fearing infection. Lazo looked at them with a horned look and thought that the Americans were completely crazy. When he met his brother Đuro, they were driving to the hotel in a carriage, and the coachman was black, so Đuro asked him not to look at him in such astonishment, as a coachman would not have noticed.

Many of Lazo's events were very interesting for us, the children, and our friends, and all the neighbors' children liked to listen to his stories. From miles away, everyone called him Ćić Lazo.

A SUDDEN WAY TO AMERICA

It was the month of May, only recently passed St. George's Day, the Patron Saint’s Day of Jelaca family, beautiful, warm, sunny days, greenery everywhere, numerous field works started in the fields, and Lazo and his friends kept sheep on Ćulumak, from where he had a wonderful view of the surroundings, everything to above the Krupska valley. He arrived with the flock at sunset, and Father Jovo greeted him in front of the barn and said to him:

- Go to the house, take a bath and get ready, you're going to America tomorrow!

"What kind of America," Lazo asked in astonishment?

- A letter arrived from Đuro, he sent you a passport and a ship-card.

Lazo remorsefully headed for the front door, where his mother Marija greeted him.

- I've already prepared what you will wear tomorrow, and upholstery with warmer goods, for the long journey. I also packed food for you to have in a few days, and for Đuro I packed one ham, as our mercy. You go take a bath and come to dinner, we are all at home, sisters Stana and Sava and your younger brother Dušan. When the father returned after doing all the evening work, everyone sat down at the table, and the father would be the first:

- You know that we talked, if Đuro manages well and finds a job for you, you should go too. You all know that it is difficult to live here, and the Austro-Hungarian authorities are still taking our young men into their army to guard their borders from the Turks. Tomorrow, some more young men from the neighboring villages will go, with whom we will meet in Krupa, at the station, from where you will all go to Zagreb for a medical examination, and then to Rijeka for a boat. The mother continued:

- My dear child, take care of yourself and call as soon as you arrive. We will worry. Say hello to Đuro and tell him that Stoja is fine with us. Listen to Đuro, he will be your brother and parent there. She hugged Lazo and kissed him, wishing him a happy journey.

All the other members of the household joined her wishes.

At the station in Krupa, they met three other young men, who set off with Lazo. They met and soon boarded a train to Zagreb. They found a doctor's office in Zagreb, the doctor examined them according to the valid regulations, and the nurse filled in their doctor's findings. As Lazo was under sixteen, the doctor drew his attention.

- You are healthy Lazo, but you are a minor for employment in America. As far as I know, they never hire anyone under the age of sixteen. I give you permission and you manage as you know how, they set off for Rijeka, Lazo is depressed, he thinks of what could happen to him. When they arrived in Rijeka and found the boat, they received all three boys and stopped Lazo, telling him the same thing the doctor had told him. Then one of the boys thought of it, and at the parting he said to him:

- You go to Trieste, find a ship and arrange for the captain to go to your parents. They can't check if those parents are in America or not. Try it and good luck. We will find Đuro in New York and tell him that he is waiting for a ship from Trieste.

The same evening, Lazo went to Trieste by train, he was helped by a married couple of Slovenes, who were traveling by the same train, and somehow the next day he arrived in Trieste. He found a suitable ship for America, looked for the captain, and he checked his documents, and when he heard that his parents were in America, he took him on board and ordered the sailor to put him in a four-bed cabin. When he got the accommodation on the ship, he felt happy, he succeeded and soon fell asleep as soon as the ship left. It was the ship Martha Washington, built in 1908, 460 feet long and weighing 8347 tons. It had accommodation for 2190 passengers. Ship set off slowly, with the long sound of a siren, and developed a speed of 17 knots in the open Adriatic Sea. The waves were not big, the ship rocked slowly and Lazo slept well the first night. Two days after departure, they arrived in Piraeus, Greece. The ship stayed there for more than 24 hours, during which time the necessary groceries were filled, so Lazo asked sailors to load coal with them, which they allowed him with astonishment, because he was bored.

Leaving Piraeus, the ship headed for Syracuse in Sicily. The waves on the open sea were much bigger than through the Adriatic and the Aegean Sea. As they approached the port of Syracuse, they saw the walls surrounding the port. And the next morning they went en masse to see the city, the squares, the churches and the streets. In front of the churches, street musicians lured the audience, expecting alms. Two days after the ship was filled with the necessary provisions, it set sail for the Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean, towards Gibraltar. The ship passed through Gibraltar without delay, sailed into the Atlantic, and headed for the then largest port in the world, Casablanca.

They stayed in Casablanca for three days, because the ship had to be filled with food for the needs of all passengers, and with coal for a four-week voyage. The sailors were all scorched faces from working with coal, and the ship's servants in white coats. Passengers are allowed to enter the city daily, with warnings on what to keep. Lazo went with two other elderly people from Lika, whom he had met on the ship until then, who were also his roommates in the cabin. In Casablanca, he listened to various languages and saw a variety of costumes. The merchants shouted at the top of their voices, each offering his own goods. The port was packed with many world nationalities, of all races.

It sailed into the Atlantic late at night, when it was completely dark over the ocean, an eclipse that Lazo had never felt before. And, the farther they went, the Atlantic became more and more harsh, the waves got bigger, the ship rose and fell high, many passengers got sick and vomited. The first night they barely lasted, and as the sun rose and the waves calmed down and the sailing became pleasant. But as they moved further and further away from Europe, further and further in the open Atlantic, the waves grew bigger and bigger at night. As the voyage lengthened, and the passengers were already numb, somehow everyone accepted it as normal. It was, it is true, beautiful days and nights, calm, with milder waves, so it lasted almost a full four weeks of sailing. Lazo thought he would never get to America. At night he dreamed of various scenes that frightened him, he dreamed of going to hell. And as they approached New York Harbor, some passengers began calling out loud to their relatives, who were waiting for them. They arrived in America at the end of June 1913. Lazo was fifteen at the time.

FINALLY IN AMERICA

Ellis Island was used to receive emigrants from all over the world. A reception center has been built on the island, a huge building with about twenty lines in which the arriving passengers stand in lines, until the arrival of the line for checks when entering the country. Lazo's ship waited for about two hours to enter the port, and about five more hours passed from the disembarkation to his arrival at the checkpoint. When it was his turn, he got a girl who spoke Serbian, as a translator.

"Name and surname," the clerk asked.

-Lazo Jelača! The clerk said that to Gelaka, which surprised Lazo.

- What do you bring of value?

"Nothing," Lazo replied.

- Do you have any food?

- I have one ham, my parents sent it to my brother!

- Give it to me!

- I wore it to my brother, how can I give it to you.

Lazo took out the ham, and the clerk took it and gave it to another clerk to throw into the sea. Lazo's eyes remained wide open, wondering if these Americans were crazy, throwing ham into the sea, and I was constantly hungry all the way.

- How old are you, Lazo?

Eighteen, Lazo replied. - And I lied to him. I was only sixteen, but taught by the recommendation of a doctor in Zagreb, I dared to lie and it worked.

And just when the interrogation was coming to an end, a loudspeaker was heard in Serbian:

- If Lazo Jelača arrived at the port, let him go to the exit, his brother Đuro was waiting for him.

- At the exit from the building, Đuro was waiting for me. We hugged and kissed, and then he led me to the carriage, in which the coachman was a nicely dressed black man. I stared at him, to which Đuro drew my attention not to look at him. He drove us to the hotel where Đuro had spent the previous night. There, Đuro sent me to take a bath, and while I was bathing, he burned all my clothing in the oven, fearing lice and infection. Đuro already had a new suit with upholstery ready for me, which I did not expect. When I put on a new American suit, I exclaimed loudly: - I became an American. He soon took me to a restaurant, where we had a good meal, no lunch, no dinner, anything in between.

- The next day, I woke up when the first rays of sunlight shone through my window and illuminated the ceiling of the room. After breakfast, we took a carriage to the city of New York City to sightsee it, because as Đuro said, it is not known when we will have the opportunity to do it again. We visited many places, Đuro told me about everyone's name, although I couldn't remember them all then. I was impressed by the tall buildings, which I had not had the opportunity to see anywhere before. At that time, the tallest building in New York was the Woolworth Building, 52 floors, to the sky, I would be afraid to climb to the top, and just look down.

- On the third day, we boarded the train, at the station above which was written the name Grand Central Station. The train looked neat like a hotel, in which there was even a restaurant car, where we also had lunch. I told Đuro what our train was like, which took us from Krupa to Zagreb. Then I told him all my adventures, from Zagreb, through Rijeka and Trieste, and along the way all the events on the ship. He knew a lot of that himself, because he experienced a similar thing when he left Bosnia. We traveled through Pennsylvania, the landscapes along the way were beautiful to me, and in the evening we arrived in Pittsburgh, where Đuro, as he said, had his friend Petar Vignjevic, from neighboring Vojevac. From the train, we saw where the two rivers: Allegheny and Monogajela meet and form the Ohio River. The train continued to Chicago, and along the way, Đuro told me about our people who lived and worked in Cleveland and Gary. I was enchanted by the vast fields, the state of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, full of grain. In the evening, we arrived in Chicago, at Union Station, which, they say, has 700 trains a day, with 400,000 passengers. We stayed there until the next train to Milwaukee for about two hours, and when we extended it was already night and I slept almost the whole way.

Early in the morning we were in Milwaukee, about which Đuro told me how beautiful the city is and that a lot of Serbs live in it. From there we had a local bus to Mayville, a town about a hundred kilometres away, where Đuro lived and worked. We got there around 10 am, local time. I noticed that the arriving passengers go out through one door, while the departing passengers enter the other, they do not interfere.

The house, which Đuro rented, had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, a pantry, which we call a “shpaiz” (German word), and a terrace. The house was beautiful, it had a small garden and flowers, next to the street, with one big tree, which Đuro called Maple three. - When I went out on the street for the first time, I waved to a neighbor, as a sign of greeting, and he waved at me back, with a smile.

- In the first days of our stay, when Đuro was not working, we toured the streets, he showed me where the food and household goods store is, where the school, police station, bank, municipality hall are and where the workshop where he worked is. When I stayed alone, I walked again and went out to the bridge and the lake, so I got to know the whole town.

LIFE IN MAYVILLE

I arrived in America in the last days of June 1913. The weather was mostly warm, the days were sunny, greenery was everywhere and some fruits were already starting to ripen. The shops were well stocked, the school year was over, the world moving through the streets were greeting each other, everything impressed Lazo, when it was almost all new to him, he had nowhere to imagine. Đuro asked his acquaintances about Lazo's employment. It will be like this for a while, when an American at work suggests that he turn to Fritz Wagner, who had his own ice supply company. Đuro arranged a visit and they agreed that Lazo would start as a coachman, to transport ice from house to house. There were no refrigerators on the market at that time, so the food was kept on ice. And as Lazo was already experienced with horses, he accepted the offered job, joyfully, and started working all happy. He always came to work on time, did everything successfully and gained first impressions, and satisfied the boss with his behavior. He also started learning German, which made Mr. Wagner especially happy.

From Mr. Wagner, Lazo received a list of consumers, with the addresses and quantities of ice delivered to them, and the business began successfully. He always sang while driving, pretending to be happy in front of consumers. He soon came up with an idea and placed on harness the horses bells, which consumers heard as soon as he entered their streets. Everyone liked it, so even new customers started signing up. The owner was delighted, and his business began to increase. Lazo started with wages of one dollar fifty cents an hour, and it will happen before the Christmas holidays that his boss increases his per diems to two dollars an hour. When he had learned a little German, Lazo met Mr. Wagner in the yard and answered him in German:

- Good morning her Fric! How are you?

Fritz Wagner, was surprised and happy at the same time, replied:

- Thank you, Her Jelača! I am very well. How are you?

During August, Đuro enrolled Lazo in an evening school for English. Lazo worked every day from 8 am to 4 pm, and went to evening school from 6 pm to 9. He also had time to sleep, he usually got up around 7 am. On Sundays, he sometimes went to church, Catholic, there was no Orthodox one in Mayville, and sometimes he went out on the town to see local sports games and simply to get to know the people. His first winter was colder than the winters in Bosnia. At the end of June 1914, he finished the first year of the English language and already successfully communicated.

- During the summer vacation, I found myself in a grocery store and noticed a beautiful girl in front of me, she turned to me and called me, - Hi, How are you? Aren't you new here in Mayville? I understood her and I answered her:

- I am Lazo. Yes, I'm new here. I came from Bosnia last year.

- Well, you speak Serbian, don't you? She continued in Serbian.

- I say, I am a Serb. - Where are you from Bosnia? - From Jasenica, if you know where it is? - I'll ask my parents, they'll know for sure. And we went home together, where she lives on my street, about 200-300 meters from our house. At the party, she told me that her name was Andja (English Angie) Stipanović. Since then, we started seeing each other quite often, sometimes we walked to the lake, and one Saturday night we went to the cinema, and then we held hands for the first time. I liked Angie, and I got the impression that she liked me too. So we started having fun and that summer passed in our fondest memories. When I told Đuro who she was talking about, he already knew her parents, and he told me that they were from the neighboring village, Dubovik.

At the beginning of 1915, Đuro enlisted, as a volunteer, in the American army, he had the information that he would get the status of an American citizen, which gives him certain benefits. At that time, all Americans knew where Bosnia was, after the Sarajevo assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip on Vidovdan in 1914, which the Austrians took as an occasion for the beginning of the First World War.

- And while Đuro was serving his military service, I independently performed all my duties, worked, went to school, bought groceries and prepared meals for myself. Angie came to me from time to time, when we both had free time, so she also helped me prepare meals. She knew some recipes from her mom, which was helpful to me. The two of us truly fell in love and I occasionally stopped by her parents. They accepted me sincerely, and I respected them. They treated me like a future son-in-law, a "boyfriend" of their only daughter.

- From the army, Đuro wrote to me that he believes in President Woodrow Wilson, which I also accepted, so on one occasion I even praised that opinion to a teacher at school and he publicly praised me for that. I wrote to my parents how I live and told them that I had a girlfriend from our area, but I did not mention to them that I intended to bring her to Bosnia, which they were most interested in.

AT THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

We were sitting again that August day, when I was with them on school holidays, on the hill above our house, when my father continued his life story. It was evening, he had just returned from the field, and the sunset behind the fort was beautiful, orange. Lazo intended to tell me about his love events, which I provoked him with, but he was a little hesitant.

- The sound of horse bells on my horses became known to all the inhabitants of Mayville, and thus they liked me. I arrive in front of one of the best houses, and a man and his wife are already waiting for me in front of the house. He approaches to help me bring ice into the house, and I stare at his wife, who has enchanted me with her looks, especially her breasts, through her semi-open cleavage. She noticed that, so she smiled, and her husband said to me:

- You, young man, you look very good, you are healthy and strong. Where are you from?

- I am Lazo Jelača, a native of Bosnia. I came three years ago.

- He introduced himself to me, his name is Trevor, he is the owner of the company "Itasca Woodmaking Incorporated". If you would be interested in a job with us, deforestation, we pay well, but the working conditions are quite difficult. Winters are cold and are works done from sunrise to sunset. Think Lazo, he repeats my name, so let me know if you decide. Introduce me to your wife, Luis, a beautiful blonde, a Swede, in my estimation a woman around 32 to 34 years old. When I stopped by Trevor's company to inform me in more detail, he told me that they pay 3.50 to 4.00 dollars per hour, and suggested that I stop by their house to inform me in more detail.

- I stopped by in the evening, after I untied the ice, it was Wednesday, a warm day, the beginning of autumn when the trees got the golden color of the leaves and the birds gathered on the power wires, before they left. When I rang the bell, Luis appeared at the door and told me that Trevor was not at home. And just as I was about to turn around, she stopped me and invited me into the house. I was a little shy, but I came in anyway. And as I entered she hugged me and hung around my neck. Her beautiful breasts touched me and a male instinct awoke in me, so I hugged her and we kissed. She started to undress me, and she started to take me off. I saw what would happen, I asked her about Trevor, to which she replied that he was on his way and not coming until tomorrow. She took me to the bedroom, the double bed wide, heavy curtains darkened the room, pillows embroidered with flowers, the smell of lilac. We found ourselves naked, naked. She is a very pretty woman and experienced, she started her game in which she is an extraordinary master. She took away my innocence that I did not regret, she taught me love. We loved each other all night. I think we both fell asleep just before dawn and woke up when the sun's rays shone through the curtains. We took a bath together, and then she made breakfast. I went home before I left for work.

- I love you, I love you very much, she repeated it twice. - My husband works a lot, and even when he doesn't work, he benefits from it in bed. You were extraordinary. I want you again. We kissed goodbye, she barely let me out of her arms.

- A couple of days later, it was Sunday, I wasn't working, so I was lying down when someone rang the doorbell. I got up in my pajamas, opened it, when Luis came to make love. And we loved each other on my couch, in still warm bedding, until noon. I offered to make lunch together, but she thanked me and left. She told me: - I got what I was breathing for and I am happy. I love you, and closed the door.

Đuro's three years in the army also passed, and when he returned, I told him everything I had done, except certainly Luis, I didn't mention it to him. He already knew about Angie. I said what Trevor suggested to me, to which Đuro replied:

- You are now an adult, you have gained American experience, we came to America to earn money, consult with Angie, and decide for yourself. That's what I did. Angie replied that she would miss me, but she was aware that I had come to make money, and she just begged me to call her occasionally and not to forget her. Two days after all the arrangements, I told Trevor to accept the offer, and he arranged for me to be transported to Itasca, near the Canadian border.

The barrack in which we were accommodated was right next to Lake Itasca, which branched into three branches, and water flowed out of it, forming the source of the river Mississippi. The water in the lake is clear, transparent to the bottom, but it is quite cold for swimming and there are a lot of fish. I met the other workers, settled in and prepared to cut down the trees. The local Indians also worked with us, they pulled out the felled trees with their horses. They were very skilled, it seems to me better than us whites. We worked until sunset, with a noon break of about half an hour. The first day I was tired, but I covered it up. Later, as the days went by, I got better and better. It will last like that until spring, the winter was very cold, the thermometer on the barracks showed up to minus forty degrees. And when spring came, the work in the forest became pleasant, the natural freshness corresponded.

- One week, my Indian friend Carrie took me to his house to visit. At home, I met his wonderful wife Yvonne and their five children, who were playing around the house. As we did not have any shops nearby, I only managed to bring the children natural forest fruits, when they also had them in their surroundings. I greeted Yvonne, according to Serbian custom, with three kisses, which I explained to her. She prepared a good lunch, meat from the caught venison and vegetables from their garden. We spent a pleasant afternoon, and in the evening I returned alone to the barracks. We all said goodbye with kisses, three times, they liked it.

- For the Christmas holidays, we all got 14 days off and I arrived in Mayville unannounced. I didn't find Đuro at home, so I went out of town to have lunch and stopped by Bank America, to see Angie, where she was already working at the time. She was the happiest for me. In the evening, I also visited her parents, and I saw Đuro only after he returned from work, he worked in the second shift. For the Christmas holiday, we celebrated together, the two of us and Angie’s parents with them. On Christmas Day we all went to church and there I met Trevor and Luis, we said goodbye when we left the church. And for New Year's Eve, we all spent it in City Hall, where the event was organized for all citizens. And there I met Luis and Trevor again. She shone in a beautiful dress, with prominent breasts. I was with Angie all the time, but I secretly looked at Luis whenever I was given the opportunity. And Luis looked at me more than Trevor.

- Two days after the holiday, when all the employees went to work again, Luis stopped by my place and invited me to her place for lunch. She said again that Trevor had traveled to Chicago, for two days, and after lunch, it is known what she had invited me for. Again, we made inexhaustible love until late at night. This time, I didn't want to stay with her during the night because of Đuro, who was at home.

- There is a new period in my life in Mayville. Đuro learned from some people that Ford, the auto industry in Detroit, is looking for new workers and offering good earnings, so he became interested in that and pushed me to go to Detroit. My answers to him were that I did not want to leave Angie, that I intended to marry her and stay in America forever. Then he went to the change that we promised our parents in Bosnia that we would return. He really had a wife there, so I told him that he could go alone and leave me and not take care of me. It was worth nothing to him. When he saw that I was against everything, he started the story that my relationship with Luis was known and that Trevor was ready to do evil. He threatened me that Trevor would take revenge on Angie. I told Angie about everything, except my relationship with Luis, of course. When I realized that "the devil took the joke", I gave him my consent, adding that I would transfer Angie to Detroit and marry her there. He agreed, but he kept adding that we had to go to Bosnia, so I could return.

- Somehow, in those days, when my thoughts were completely torn, Angie came to me while I was still lying in bed. I accepted her and while I hugged and kissed her, she hung around my neck and attracted me as much as she could. The touch of our bodies excited us both and we began to take each other off. When I reached for her beautiful breasts she blushed in her face and her temperature rose. I lay next to her, and then we got together. She was innocent, but she wanted to give me her innocence. We had a wonderful time, we enjoyed each other, we loved each other until late in the afternoon, and when we both felt exhausted, we took a bath, made lunch and then went for a walk to the lake. We sat by the lake, walked until the sun set and at the first twilight I escorted her home. We kissed in front of their door and she entered the house.

DETROIT AND THE ROAD TO NON-RETURN

- Before leaving Mayville, Angie's parents made us dinner at their house and that evening passed as if we had just returned from the funeral. Nevena, Angie's mother, said that she hoped that we would have a wedding soon and was looking forward to it the most in her life, and Angie's father Nikola said that they were ready to help Angie and Lazo get married, and when the children came they would help them. in every way. Angie and I were mostly silent. Angie even cried. Đuro said almost nothing, he felt guilty in front of Nevena and Nikola.

- When we left for Detroit, Nikola, Nevena and Angie escorted us to the bus station, and on the bus to Milwaukee and on the train to Chicago and further to Detroit, I almost didn't open my mouth. I hated Bosnia and everything that awaited me there, I prayed to God that our ship would sink. When Đuro asked me why I was so sad, I replied:

- You know, Đuro, you are my brother and I love and respect you as a brother and a parent, how you took care of me, but I would like to stay in America. I found my happiness here and I want to stay with her, and you have a woman in Bosnia who is waiting for you. It's best for you to go back, and leave me here and don't worry. Đuro listened, then added:

- You have the right to plan your own life, only this time you have to accept this job, and if you decide to stay the next job you have to find it yourself. It's important to me that I took you from Mayville, so you don't have problems with Trevor.

- When we arrived in Detroit, we checked in at Ford, and they showed us the factory and gave us information about where we would work and the conditions (salary, working hours, benefits, etc.). Đuro negotiated everything about it, I just sat and listened. On the same day, we walked the nearby streets and found an apartment that suited us, at a distance so that we could walk to work. We came to work the next day, after we settled in and got the necessary food. We worked in the foundry, twelve hours a day, with one half-hour break for lunch. It was very hot in the foundry, we sweated a lot and changed every two hours. And, I was so listless, I thought it was better to die, to get rid of my suffering.

The Second World War ended, there was a truce in Bosnia, America prospered economically, and the mood and joy were felt everywhere. - I wrote to Angie in a letter and promised her that I would start looking for a job for her soon. On Sunday, we both went out to the city together, so we found a Serbian church. A couple of weeks later, our famous scientist Nikola Tesla came to visit Ford, who came to our church after an agreement with Henry Ford. Numerous Serbs welcomed him there, and after his address, we all gave him financial contributions, intended for his research work. Tesla was elegantly dressed, tall and with a slightly drunk face, he thanked everyone, although he did not shake hands with anyone.

The other side of America could be seen in Detroit. The city also had a lot of poor people, mostly blacks, who slept en masse on the streets. When winter came, it was scary to watch them all lie. Đuro often pointed out that we don't have to worry about that. "We can't save America," he would say.

- I spent my first vacation in Mayville, with Angie, and Đuro went to visit his acquaintances in Pittsburgh. Angie and I also spent three days in Milwaukee, most often walking along the lagoon on Lake Michigan. Shortly after my return to Detroit, I found a job for Angie at the bank's local branch, Bank of America, and she moved in with us. She rented a one-bedroom apartment not far from her workplace, so she wouldn't have to use city traffic either. Ever since she moved in, we’ve been meeting every week, we’ve loved each other and figured out where to go when we get married. For her birthday, on May 5, 1920, her parents came to visit her, so the next day, on St. George's Day, we all went out to lunch at a nearby French restaurant. Engie looked overjoyed, she shone in her face, and her parents were very happy, Angie turned 20 that day. I was two and a half years older than her. My birthday is January 13, I was born for the Serbian New Year, according to the Julian calendar. That is how the next two years passed, my and Đuro's relationship

- We have earned enough money, we will both be able to build houses for ourselves and it is time to return. I started to oppose him, but he attacked again with his previous ideas, and we worked hard a lot, and to disappear because of Trevor and who knows what else. I see that "the devil took the joke" and there is no justification for Đuro. - Come back to Angie as soon as you see your parents, she will definitely be waiting for you. And finally, I give him his consent, and he soon buys tickets for the ship from New York to Rijeka. He asked me if I wanted to take Angie with me, so that he could buy a ticket for her as well.

- When I went to Angie to tell her the last decision, she told me that she was pregnant. Only then did all my thoughts and plans go awry. And that collected person understood my situation and said to me: - You go, I will not, I will stay where I am, and if you return, I will wait for you. I love you and wish you a happy journey. We parted with eyes full of tears, we were hugged and we both cried.

- When we set sail from New York, I looked at the sky all the time, in my mind I prayed to God that our ship would sink. The waves in the open ocean were getting bigger as we drifted away on the high seas, but God did not want to answer my request. When we arrived in Rijeka, we had to exchange all the money we earned into Yugoslav dinars, so we each had a suitcase full of those low-value banknotes. We arrived in Bosnia, my parents didn't live long, I couldn't go back to America anymore, I had to build this house, I married your mother and now I'm where we are. I loved America and Angie with all my heart, I loved them the most in my life. And was I wrong? I did! Am I blaming myself? I did! That's what I needed. I deserved that from God. Well, you were present when Angie suddenly came to visit us, it was in July 1956. You met her in person. She wanted to see me again before we went to the grave and she wanted to tell me about Nikola, our common son.

And as we talked like this, my father spoke more, and I listened more, sitting on the rampart above the house, on the eve of sunset, he added:

- Here, Simo, you had the opportunity to see and meet Angie, she recently visited us, when you were here for the holidays, and I hope that you will be able to go to America in your life, so if you succeed, look for Angie and our common son, Nikola, your brother, I will certainly never see him.

When I asked him what they were doing in those seven days in the field, guarding the sheep, while she was visiting, he answered me briefly: - We loved each other and cried.

- And, here I was given the opportunity, I arrived in Canada. While working on my doctoral dissertation in Winnipeg, I contacted Angie. We agreed to visit them in the spring of 1969, when I had a planned visit to the University of Kansas, but just then there were big floods in Mayville and they were cut off, and I had to cancel the visit. On other occasions in 2002, I was in Milwaukee, I phoned Angie who was no longer alive, and the male voice, I guess it was Nikola, didn't really give the impression that he was willing to meet. So, I never heard or saw Angie again, and I neither saw nor even met Nikola.

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