She did not. She was my father’s cousin. He had two brothers. Uncle Teddy survived Buchenwald. Uncle Jan joined the Norwegian Resistance movement. Dad outskied the Nazi ski patrol by playing the odds. Do I light a fire at night and stay warm or risk being seen?
No one gets the answer correctly. What Dad did was look up to the ptarmigans in the tree. He put his trust in the birds. He was wearing a white sweater. I never could believe that they did not see my ski tracks. They were only twenty feet away.
The Nazis in Norway moved in swiftly. Quisling paved the way.
They slammed Signe into a tree and turned her into oatmeal. Sport killing. She was on her bike. She was beautiful and her cousins adored her.
Dad was always so confident. My brother asked him one day, What inspires you? Dad said, I never had time for that. I was just trying to survive.