Stanley J Kajs

Tales of Slavonic Souls Stanley J Kajs

The lead story presents Rosemarie, who dies twice as a child, and returns to life with the gift of prescience, hence her title, Sybil. Joseph, her brother, seriously injured as a toddler, chooses a vocation of ministering to the poor and homeless, a calling he performs under harsh and dangerous conditions in West Texas. The third Slavík, Anna, challenges the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on the Eucharist-in public. She does so as a child and later as a married woman with children. The progress, as well as the resolution itself, will interest the reader. Also, Anna endures the death of her son, Leonard. Overwhelmed by grief, she undertakes a journey to Purgatory, guided by Angel Gertrude, to meet with him. During the tour, the reader learns about souls who inhabit this region of the afterlife and the environment they struggle in to reach Heaven. In this volume, the Slavík children meet the Reyes family and find themselves in an unfamiliar culture-one they find fascinating, and a relationship that becomes enduring. In their first encounter, the Reyes children rescue the Slavík Band from a dilemma on New Year's Eve. The Reyes family appear in future stories, narrated by Helena Procházka. A few characters assume the task of resolving pending family obligations. Frank Novák travels from the Rio Grande Valley to Nová Praha to collect an inheritance his Uncle John sent him from Moravia-his winnings in a poker game with Borislav Kartezhnik, alias, The Russki. The news reaches Undesirables, who covet the loot. The consequences of Frank's indiscretion places him head to horns in tight quarters with the El Gran Toro, Rodrigo, the Reyes prize bull. In "Nazis on the Train," a story in The Children, volume one, the lead Klansman, Cannon, threatens the ladies from Nová Praha for humiliating him. Joanna Slavík forewarned the Town Council before resuming her journey to Prague. Members meet and offered solutions to address the inevitable attack. The plan to make the town vanish seems the only viable non-violent way to thwart the villain's scheme. The outcome surprises not only the townspeople but also Cannon and his goons. In a panic, Henry Hrab?, a banker, rushed his family from Prague to America in 1904, leaving a treasure of gold hidden for more than forty years. On his deathbed, he requests his son, Hal, return now to Communist-occupied Prague, find the gold, and give it to the Czech Underground, whom he considers the rightful heirs. Hal puts his own life in jeopardy in three cloak-in-dagger tales, attempting to fulfill his father's deathbed wish. Within a few days, Hal returns to Nová Praha just in time for his own funeral. Citizens of Nová Praha rescued Eugen Vlcék from a dysfunctional upbringing by his parents. A judge in Georgetown, Texas, awards the ten-year-old to Greta von Brunhofner's brother-in-law in Germany. The results transform Eugen to perform heroic feats. Fifty years later, he returns to his old home to visit those who fought the battle for his soul and helped change his life direction.