Fractures of Life

By Lynn Applebaum

For Leah, her life seemed simple. Then, one day, she met the perfect guy and their passion developed into a romance for a lifetime. After becoming a chartered accountant, she landed a forensic accounting job with an agency that was actually a front for spy activities. Her life takes her into the world of corporate corruption, money laundering, the Mafia and espionage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Apr 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9780228856184

Lynn Applebaum

Toronto-born Lynn Applebaum hails from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. She has a Master's Degree in Education and is a retired college professor, where she taught financial and management accounting. During her 20+ years, Lynn co-authored several educational textbooks. Her motto was "teaching is my passion, not my job." Lynn has more than 40 years of management-level and accounting experience.Lynn has been married for 50+ years, and has two children and five grandchildren who are the delights of her life. Lynn enjoys crocheting and knitting in her spare time, but her true love is writing.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 by Lynn Applebaum

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-5617-7 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-5616-0 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-5618-4 (eBook)

Dear God

Pick up the pieces of my broken life.

Please put me back together again.

Jeremiah 17:44

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband who has been my inspiration, my proof reader, and my motivation. Without him this book would have never been written.

This book is also dedicated to the memory of my father. Although most of this book is fiction, elements shared in the prologue are factual, told to me by my father, a World War II veteran. Many of the stories are true life experiences of this author.

Snippets of Book

No matter what she did, she couldn’t get the image of Simon’s dead body out of her mind

And the stars aligned, the Gods looked down favourably on Leah, and the impossible happened

She had no idea what series of events would happen to her that would turn her world upside down

Her dreams died that day and so did her self-esteem, self-confidence, and belief in herself that she could be successful in life

What happened next was beyond any expectations she had for her future

Prologue

1920

On a Monday in October, 1920, it was a rather nice fall day in Minsk, Russia with a brisk breeze but thankfully, no rain. The sun was gleaming in the sky making everyone squint and the temperature was very pleasant, when it all began. Many families were out walking on the streets and in parks with their families. A new baby boy came into this world who would be known as David. His father, Issac, was a retired general in the Russian army who was a strict alpha male Russian man, firm in all ways of life; basically, my way or the highway. His wife, Bertha, was a cousin to the Russian royal family and a beautiful lady. Orthodox Jewish women were subservient acted like what we now know as ‘Stepford Wives’. She was kind, loving and gentle and grew up with the privileges of the wealthier families of that time.

Suburbs of Minsk was a popular area for orthodox Jewish Russian families. They lived, practiced their religion, ran their businesses and taught their children because the Russian government classed Jews as the lowest on the totem pole, somewhat like blacks in America before the late 1960’s. If a Jewish person accidently killed a non-Jewish person, they could not go to the police and report it because they would be shot on site; they were considered to be guilty and unworthy of living. Hence, they clustered themselves into communities so they could live as normally as possible. That’s what made what happened next, life threatening.

Isaac’s father had a business, a local bar and inn, on the edge of the town. All different faiths of people frequented the bar. There was a local drunk, well known to the police and everyone in the town. This man came in to drink like he did every evening. This night was particularly different because when he came in, he was already drunk and very angry about something. When Isaac’s father said, at midnight, that he was closing for the night, the usual crowd shuffled out the door. Isaac’s job was to make sure that everyone left before his father took the cash box out to count the money, they made that night. Isaac saw this drunk man walk out. He left the door open because it was a very hot and humid summer night in 1921 – Isaac continued on with the preparations they would do every night to close up their business.

Low and behold, the angry drunk man walked back into the bar, walked up to Isaac’s father, whose back was to the door, picked up a bar stool and attempted to hit his father over the head. This man just didn’t want to stop drinking that night. Isaac walked into the bar area, by chance, from their storage room and saw what was going to happen. He grabbed the closest weapon he saw, a fire axe, ran up behind the drunk man and hit him on the head with the blunt edge of the axe. The man crumbled to the floor, not moving a muscle. Isaac’s father never had any idea what was actually happening behind his back.

His father turned around abruptly and was shocked at what he saw – his son holding an axe and the local drunk lying dead on the floor. The look of shock and dismay was prevalent on the dad’s face. Isaac began to tell his father what had transpired and why he hit the man. Isaac stated that they should let the police know what happened. His father very loudly protested NO! Isaac was concerned about what they should do next. His dad said that they would wrap the drunk in a sheet, put him in their store room and close up exactly like they would any other night. And, that’s precisely what they did. As they walked out of their place of business and locked the door, two police officers happened to walk past them. What they did next set in motion how Dave would live the rest of his life.

At 2:00am, both Isaac and his father walked silently to their bar. They went into the back door, making sure that no one saw them. They took their cart, without the horse that pulls it, took the dead drunk out and put him in the back. The two of them pulled the cart into the woods behind them, walking for two hours. They both used the shovels they brought with them and dug a very deep grave where they placed the body. They walked quickly back to their bar, put the shovels and the cart away and silently went home, making sure that no one saw them. They slipped into their bed and tried, in vain, to go to sleep. They woke up at their usual time, and preceded with their day’s activities like nothing happened.

Isaac’s father sat his son down at the bar before they opened and had a long conversation. Isaac, his wife and baby son would have to leave Russia immediately. He wanted them to go to Montreal, Quebec in Canada where his family had been moving to, to get away from the persecution suffered in Russia by anyone who happened to be born Jewish. The arrangements were made and they packed their bags like they were going on vacation, which is what they told the border patrols to be able to leave Russia. Isaac’s dad hugged him and told him that he was not to tell anyone that his family name was Vaskaboinic. When they would get as far away as possible, Isaac would have to go back to being a tailor so he could make money for them to survive. The very last thing he was told was that when he booked passage to Canada, that he should take the family name of the wealthiest family in the country they lived in.

They said their goodbyes; many tears fell as Isaac and Bertha realized that they would never see their family again. Sadly, they left. Isaac realized that there was an envelope in his breast pocket. He reached in and took it out. There was $600 of Russian Rubles in there; that was more money than Isaac had ever seen at one time. The three of them made their way to London, England, where they found a flat and Isaac worked as a tailor for two years. They were able to save enough money to book passage on a ship that left England, headed for New York, and then on to Montreal where his family happily greeted them.

They started their new life, under false pretenses, never uttering a word of what happened that terrible night when Isaac became an axe murderer.

1949

It was a colder than usual day in February in the late 1940’s. It had snowed the night before so it was beautiful to walk outside with the sun shining on the ankle-deep snowflakes. They sparkled like dazzling diamonds – if only they were real, Dave could scoop them up and have all the money they needed for this baby, his first child.

Ruth had been feeling a little tired and achy today so he let her rest. After all, she was not due for another two weeks. He needed to get outside for a little air and have a smoke. He made sure she was comfortable on the couch of their little flat with the single window that looked out into the alley of the grungy hundred-year-old building next door.

The flat was so small; it was all he could afford on his meager post office salary of $16 a week. It was a single room that doubled for their bedroom, kitchen and living room – all 250 square feet. The bathroom was at the end of the hall which was shared by the three tenants on the second floor of the century old brownstone home in downtown Toronto. He gave her a cup of her favorite tea with honey, kissed her forehead, put on his heavy winter coat and boots and stepped outside for his ten minute walk around the block. His thoughts drifted to the joy and excitement of his first baby being born and the sadness he saw from his years when he was in the army.

As he shuffled his feet through the fluffy snow, he was reminded of the debris he had to step around when he was in Poland, in the Canadian army, in the concentration camps after the American troops fought the Germans back out of Poland. His army camp was one of many who were asked to liberate the survivors. Those who survived these death camps were emaciated, with hollowed eyes that showed the immense sadness of losing all their family. Dave could not get the image out of his mind of the look on their faces that clearly said, ‘why did I survive?’ He was there because they asked for soldiers who could speak Polish or Yiddish, the language of the Jewish people in this camp. The people he was helping were ‘his’ people. And it was very painful to see the horrors these camp inhabitants had to endure. All of this was why he looked at the birth of his first child as a blessed event and made a promise that he would never allow this new baby to have to go through what the Nazis’ did to the world.

Dave said silently to himself, I can’t dwell on the past. I must look to the beauty and happiness of today and the future. The sadness of his image was pushed away, so, he forced himself to think of something that gave him joy and enlightenment and he smiled almost instantly when he thought about being stationed in Holland on his way home after the war.

In the small town that his troops were stationed, a 65-year-old lady, dressed in tattered clothing, asked if there were Jewish men in the camp because she wanted to make a traditional Sabbath dinner on Friday night. She was not Jewish, but she spoke Yiddish which she learned to communicate with the Rabbi in her town. She was his housekeeper and knew the customs and traditions celebrated each Sabbath. The camp commander thanked her for her kindness and took her information and address. He said that he would send five soldiers for dinner that coming Friday before sundown.

Dave was one of the five men who went to Mrs. Johansen’s home on Friday. Each man brought gifts for her – flowers, wine, silk stockings, chocolate and cake from a local bakery in town. She was very appreciative of their kindness, something she did not expect. Not having very much herself, she accepted their gifts with open arms. Although she did not know these men, she felt overwhelmed and hugged each with grateful arms. They all spoke Yiddish throughout the evening, discussing everything from stories about the Jewish people in her town and how she avoided being taken to the concentration camp with the Rabbi and his entire family. They all had a wonderful time and hoped they could do this again.

Mrs. Johansen hosted a Shabbat dinner every Friday evening with different Jewish soldiers from Dave’s camp. Several weeks later his commander asked him to come to his office. Dave wondered what he had done to deserve a face-to-face with the camp commander. Was he in trouble? He racked his brain all day until 3:00pm when he was scheduled to speak to Commander Greenby. So, Dave showed up ten minutes early, sat outside Greenby’s office and waited for the axe to fall. Finally, at 3:05pm, the door to his office opened and Dave was ushered in. What happened next was unexpected and enlightening.

Greenby said, Dave, you have been asked here for humanitarian reasons.

Totally puzzled, Dave posited, humanitarian reasons?

Yes. It seems that you and your four best friends have made an everlasting impression on Mrs. Johansen several weeks ago. She has asked that the five of you return this Friday evening after dinner time but that you bring our camp clergy, Rabbi Monson, with you. Do you have any idea why she would make this type of invitation?

Dave pondered what Greenby had stated. Why would Mrs. Johansen make this type of request? Was she looking to migrate to Canada and needed their help? Was she hiding Jewish children somewhere and wanted them taken to Canada to be raised by Jewish people? Having no idea why she would have made this appeal, he said, She must feel comfortable with my friends and myself. Why she wants Rabbi Monson there, I have no idea other than it must be some religious issues. Can the five of us please be granted leave for a few hours on Friday evening to find out what she wants?

Greenby said yes, so the five soldiers and the Rabbi took a jeep out of the motor pool and went to Mrs. Johansen’s at 6:30pm. She ushered the soldiers in and welcomed the Rabbi. They sat anxiously in her sitting room while she made tea for everyone. Once the tea was served, Dave said, Shabbat Shalom. Thank you for inviting us back to your home. You are a very gracious lady and we appreciate your kindness. You asked us to come tonight and to bring our camp clergy, Rabbi Monson. Would you please enlighten us as to why you have made this request?

Mrs. Johansen smiled, put down her tea, and grabbed a hanky from her apron pocket. She dabbed at tears in her eyes. You could see her eyes viewing images of her past that brought her great sorrow. Finally, after she composed herself, she explained. I have a very sad story to tell you about the Rabbi that I took care of. The whole family was sitting on the stoop of their house. The children were playing kick-ball on the front grass when the German trucks pulled up and the soldiers jumped out with their guns aimed at everyone. The Rabbi’s youngest son, Moshe, was only five years old. He was scared so he ran to his mother. The soldiers shot him dead.

Tears rolled down her face as she relived this experience. She wiped the dampness away and continued. I was walking back from the market with the Shabbat dinner food I was going to prepare. I saw everything that happened. She began to cry.

Dave came over to her, put his arms around her and hugged her with all the compassion and understanding he could muster. Rabbi Monson consoled her until she was able to speak again. She continued, The soldiers rounded up the Rabbi and all of his family and put them into the truck. They took them away to the camps. But, God willing, the Rabbi said to me as the truck went by, in Yiddish, that I had to save the Torahs in the synagogue. In the middle of the night, when the streets were empty, I went to the synagogue and took all the Torahs to my house. I hid them in my attic.

Rabbi Monson said, What you have done is a Mitzvah, a blessing.

Dave’s eyes were wide open in astonishment. This was a miracle! A sacred sign! And, yes, a Mitzvah. He felt like his chin was on the floor because his mouth was open and he just could not close it. Since the war was over, he wondered why she had waited so long to tell someone about all of this so, he asked her, Why didn’t you tell us about this before?

Her reply made all six of the men in the room feel very special and chosen. She said, I have entertained many Jewish soldiers in my home on Shabbat but have not found anyone who I felt was deserving to have these precious Torahs until I met you.

Rabbi Monson said that he would like to see these scriptures so she took all of the men to her attic. Under the floor boards were five Torahs that were from the early 1850’s. They had been used in their synagogue for many generations. The Rabbi said, Why didn’t you give these Torahs to the synagogue in your town?

The Germans took all the Jewish people within 100km of my city to the death camps. No one survived. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are less than a month away. I want these Torahs to be used in a synagogue where the Jewish faith is revered and respected and I feel that all of you will make sure that my last wish is fulfilled. she announced.

Dave looked at the Rabbi and asked if he could make sure that her wish is granted. He said he would make sure that the Torahs are sent to Toronto and placed in a synagogue where they would be appreciated, and the Rabbi was a man of his word – he did what he said he would.

The five soldiers were so moved by Mrs. Johansen and her heroic actions that, when they returned home, they all saved what little they could together to fly her to Toronto to visit with the men a few years later. Rabbi Monson held a special evening at his synagogue to honor Mrs. Johansen and her dedication to the Jewish faith. She died five years later, peacefully in her sleep, in her town in Holland. Not having any children or family, the five men buried her in a simple grave with these words on her head stone… Here lies a special hero.

Overall, World War II was very traumatic on him especially seeing his friends die. Dave lied about his age and joined the army because he needed to get out of his family home. At least in the military he would get room and board. He was the first born of six children and the only boy. He had only been allowed to complete his grade six education because, after all, he was a ‘man’ and was expected to go to work and help support his family. It was the time of the great depression, so having enough food on the table to feed everyone was always a problem. The family lived in the residence behind the tailor shop that his father owned. They had one large room where his parents and sisters slept. Dave slept on a cot in a corner of the tiny kitchen.

He would say goodbye to his pals at the army boot camp in Hamilton and then watched them get into the trucks that took the soldiers to the ships and to the front in Holland and Belgium to fight against the German army troops. He never knew how many of them would return; it was very stressful and emotional. At least Dave had the sense to do whatever he could to keep himself safe.

While he was at boot camp in Hamilton, he witnessed a serious car accident on the army base. Realizing he would be kept back from being shipped overseas, he jumped at the opportunity to be a witness. He met and made friends with many guys who were shipped over to England, then to Belgium and then to the front who never returned. Dave could have been one of these guys. He was lucky that his five best childhood friends had survived their tenure in the army. By the time he was shipped to Belgium, the Canadian army had moved close to Poland. He was stationed in Holland and became one of the guys in the motor pool. Being handy with tools and great at organizing ‘things’, his supervisors realized his natural talents and put him in charge of shipments of food and supplies that had to be driven to the front-line troops.

One day, Dave saw a posting for the position of Batman – a personal aid to the General of the army base. Many men applied for the position but Dave had the gift of gab and knew how to take care of things – he got the job. Now he would never have to go near the front again. His job was to take care of the General – shine his boots, clean his clothes, keep his quarters clean and tidy, be his chauffeur, prepare his meals, his secretary and overall…. all duties that the General needed done. He stayed with the General until the war ended when he returned home and married his one and only love – Ruth. And now she was having his child. What a precious gift she was giving him. He only wished for the good health of his wife and baby and that his child would always be happy and have a good life.

Two weeks later, Ruth woke up with sharp cramps in her stomach, worse than she had ever had before. Was this it, she thought? Is this what labor is like? Her friends had been telling her what to expect but she could not wrap her mind around how severe they were. Tomorrow was her due date. All day she was feeling discomfort but thought it was just her muscles protesting against her huge belly. Ignoring this new pain, she looked at her alarm clock – it was 3:00am – and Dave was snoring up a storm. Should I wake him or wait a little longer? Everyone said that the first baby takes hours and hours to come out, so Ruth said to herself, I’ll wait a little longer.

Dave got up at 6:00am to get ready for work and found Ruth sitting up in bed. She turned to him, with tears in her eyes, and stated, Dave, today you will have to miss work because I need to go to the hospital…the baby is coming! He froze in place – his chin dropping to the floor – and then a huge smile came across his face.

Calmly, he went over to where she was slumped in pain in bed and comforted her. When the pain subsided, he helped her get dressed, grabbed the bag they prepared weeks ago for the hospital and went to the secret place he had stashed $5 – the money he had saved to take a taxi to the hospital. After calling for a cab from the pay phone on the first floor of their rooming house, he carried his petite wife down the stairs and sat her on the front porch. He went back for their bag and knocked on their neighbour’s door – a friend of his who worked with him at the post office. He told his colleague what was happening with Ruth then quickly went to her outside where she was sitting on the steps. The taxi arrived within minutes and they were whisked off to Mount Sinai hospital on Yorkville Avenue.

The attendants at the hospital took Ruth to the maternity ward. She kissed her husband, told Dave that she loved him dearly, and was taken to the delivery room. These were the days when the husband was not allowed into the room. She persevered through the next 10 hours with the aid of her nurse. Finally, at 4:20pm, Ruth’s new baby was born without any complications weighing in at seven pounds, four ounces and crying loudly announcing, Hey……I have arrived!

Meanwhile, Dave was nervously pacing in the waiting room since his wife was taken away, along with five other fathers. Not being able to be by Ruth’s side, his mind was wondering, thinking about the well-being of his wife and baby and conjuring up terrible things that could happen. One of the other fathers recognized the nervousness and concern on Dave’s face and finally said to him, Is this your first child?

Dave posited, Yes. Does it show?

Yes, said the smiling, very calm gentleman who was reading the newspaper and drinking a coffee. Don’t worry. I’ve been through this before.…. several times.

Does it always take this long?, Dave said

It’s different with each person and each baby. My first took 24 hours; my second took 10 hours. This is my third one. I’ve been waiting eight hours so far so I suggest you grab a book or magazine and sit down and try to relax. If there were any problems, the doctor would have come out and told you. No news is good news, the man announced.

Dave felt a little bit at ease but his concern and worry about his family were prominent on his mind. His anxiety was mounting but he was actually able to grab a few minutes of sleep here and there. He found himself silently praying for the safe delivery of his child and that Ruth would be okay. After many hours had passed, the doctor came out and told Dave that his wife was ready to deliver the baby, that he was going in now to bring his child into this world and, that either he or one of his nurses would be out to let him know whether he had a girl or a boy.

Dave thanked God for watching out for his family and was grateful that this long wait was finally going to be over. Now time seemed to almost stand still; one minute seemed like an hour. He turned to his new friend in the waiting room and asked, What happens after the baby is born?

The doctor will check the baby and your wife to make sure that they are both okay. Then the nurse will come out to congratulate you and will tell you if it’s a girl or a boy. After an hour or so, your wife will be taken to a room to recover and your baby will go to the nursery. You’ll be able to be with your wife during visiting hours and view your new child in the nursery, the experienced man said.

So, Dave scrutinized his watch, waiting for the time to pass. He closed his eyes. Tears began to fall down his face as he realized that his life would unbelievably change forever, in the next few minutes, something he welcomed with great joy and happiness. These tears were showing his gratitude to God, not only for watching over his wife and new baby, but for keeping him alive through the war so that he could have such a fulfilling life ahead of him.

Finally, the nurse came out and told him that he was the proud father of a new baby girl who had a very good set of lungs and that they were both doing very well. After a short while, he was ushered into the nursery to see his new child. The nurse was right – she had a really good set of pipes! That’s my girl, he thought and vowed to give her the best life he could. After this, he was allowed to see his beautiful wife. He thanked her for giving him such a precious gift, kissed her forehead and told her how much he loved her.

If he only knew what was going to be in store for his first born, he may not have wished this child into this world.

1

They named her Leah Rebecca after Ruth’s mother and grand-mother who had passed away when she was very young. She lived up to her vocal gifts of crying……. a lot! They tried everything to make her happy but nothing worked. She was being nursed so they were totally puzzled. After a week of constant crying, they took her to the doctor. After examination, the doctor concluded that Leah had a sensitive digestive system. It was causing excessive gas and discomfort and some constipation. The doctor suggested Gripe Water, a mint-water mixture that helps new born babies with gas. He comforted the anxious parents and said that it would settle down in a few days, so Ruth and Dave took the street car to the pharmacy and then back home. They gave Leah the Gripe Water and it was like magic water! It worked. That night was the first day that the weary parents were able to get a few hours of sleep.