The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

bones. On top of that, over my birth hovered the trauma of my brother's birth, who came out with his legs first and was choked and died three hours later, as the midwife did not pull him fast enough. This time, when the midwife saw that I was going out from my mother's stomach, too with my feet first, she quickly pulled me out with all her strength before I suffocated. As a result of this intense pulling, I broke up both legs and I had to pass my first years of life when I'm in gypsum. I learned later that it was my father who gave me the name. The town whispered when he spent his time in Hungary, years before he met my mother, he was beloved by a woman named Gizela. When my father came home for a vacation he gave the name to his sister’s daughter and to his cousin’s daughter, who carried another names, and when I grew up, I heard people say, "He can't forget his girlfriend, so he has Gizela everywhere". I was a quiet but stubborn girl. My mother told me I was throwing the same thing a thousand times to be picked up for me, but once they were lifting and giving me, I would throw it again. Until Cila, my sister, was born I was an only child, and when she joined our family I was filled jealousy. One day she cried and cried and I rocked her hard until the baby carriage in which she lay flipped over. When Mama heard that she was stopping to cry, she hurried into the room and found Cila on the floor with the cart over it. Over the years, Cila and I became good friends, but I couldn't join many of her games because of the gypsum to my feet, and it pained me that everyone can run and jump while I'm not. By the age of three I had hardly gone. My parents had a big bath in which they used to wash me without the gypsum getting wet, and every three months they would take me to Belgrade or Sarajevo, where they would reduce slightly the space between the legs, until finally took it off. During the war, when we hurriedly left the house, this cast remained in the back of the basement. I was born at almost 5 kg, while my sister Cila was very small. Both of us were born at home, but when Cila was born, my parents didn't invite the midwife who gave birth to my brother and to me, but instead ordered a doctor. This time too, it was a breech birth, but the doctor knew what to do, to deal with no harm to Cila , beyond that she was small. Shortly after Cila was born, my mother held me in her lap, and the cast on my leg caused her a severe wound and chest infection. She had to undergo seven surgeries following this incident and had no milk to breastfeed her baby. Today there are cornstarch and milk substitutes on the market that can help in such situations, but then they knew that cooking water of the corn are nutritious food for babies so my parents would buy large quantities of corn and cook them toasted as they are, along with its hair. From the cooking water they would make a kind of concentrate drink and give it to Cila . That was her only diet of her first month’s life.

My jealousy in Cila passed quite quickly, and I began to enjoy myself from having a sister. One thing prevented us from playing together - while I was cramped and restricted in traffic,

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