Every day was magical in this new and magical America. Samuel Itzkowitz, for seven of his eight years, had lived in a world devoid even of common contentment, but now he existed in a world of enchantment. Brooklyn! Even the name was filled with forward motion. Brooklyn! It soared. Sammy was born in captivity. He was born to Jews hiding in a root cellar in a Polish farmhouse. The farmers had rented rooms to his father's family for many summers, and when Warsaw became a branch office of hell, his family fled to the country. The farm couple took them in. Not gladly, and with more than a little trepidation, but they did it. Sammy's mother, Rachel, was pregnant. Sammy was born on December 25, 1940. He learned, as quickly as a new baby has ever learned, to cry softly, or not at all. They lived as moles, or bats in a cave. But even moles can emerge from their tunnels and bats from their caves. Yossel and Rachel Itzkowitz, and their baby Samuel, were trapped in their darkness for five years, as the world sorted itself out.
