I received this peace offering 53 years after an offense was committed against me. An offense that has stayed with me through out those many years and the "offender" finally came forth and apologized.

The year was 1954. We lived in Cerva on top of a beautiful mountain among a half dozen families whose fathers were posted to that town. My uncle from "America" had visited and showered my sister and I with real toys. American beautiful toys. Among those were two dolls. My sister's was a composition doll, much bigger than mine in the shape of an adorable baby. Mine was made of a harder type of celluloid. Since my sister's doll was more life like, I decided to give it a bath without her permission. To my horror, I watched the doll disintegrate before my eyes. I still can hear my cries. I was heartbroken. Totally heartbroken! This had been the most beautiful doll I had ever seen.

My sister must have been furious with me, although I do not remember her shouting at me in anger. Instead, she asked me for my small celluloid doll. She had a little garden and told me she was going to have my doll guard the garden from the birds. I willingly obliged. She was placed in the play garden and I thought all was well with the world. My sister was being so sweet to me. Out of the blue, my sister picked up a boulder. I am sure that the stone probably was the size of an adult hand, but in my memory, it is a gigantic boulder. She calmly rose it above her head and with a sweet smile on her face, dropped it on top of my doll. She casually mentioned a volcano!

I saw the boulder crush my helpless doll into a hundred pieces. I remember screaming so hard that I could barely catch my breath.

Through the 53 years this incident would come up, more often than one might imagine, and I felt so hurt that she maliciously killed my dolly......

This Christmas, she acknowledged she was wrong and apologized. Now, as I told her, I still wait for the apology of the time she and her friends put me inside a burlap sack and threw me down a flight of stairs. That was one way of getting rid of a annoying little sister.