Summary

The Beginning - Arrival

The Beginning

Abraham Setakian’s grandmother tells him the story of Jusef Sardu, son of a Polish nobleman, a gentle giant in the family’s village in the old country. Jusef is very kind, very tall, but very frail. His father seeks to strengthen his son, and so brings his son out on a hunting party to go after wolves. But no one from the hunting party makes it back except Jusef, who locks himself away in his castle. Slowly, over time, children begin disappearing from the village. Most of the village is abandoned over time. When the Nazis invade a decade later, Abraham’s grandmother reminds him to keep running as if he was running from Sardu.

On September 24, 2010, Captain Peter J. Moldes of Flight 753 from Berlin to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport...