Peter Juščák. (source: Courtesy of P. J.)
The author is a writer who focuses on researching totalitarian regimes.
When I was a schoolboy, I read a story by [Ohio-born Slovak writer] Fraňo Kráľ about his time working on a construction site in Nazi Germany. One day, a boy on a bicycle crashed near him, and the future writer helped him up. The boy accepted the help, but then noticed the third-category foreigner and angrily pulled away, even spitting as if the help were poison.
Years have passed, and history seems to be repeating itself. Instead of a construction site for an airport, there is now a supermarket in Košice. Instead of a writer, there is a Ukrainian preschooler named Beňo. Beňo has a dragon. The dragon is not alone; there are many dragons, perhaps even too many.
It is a mystery why this little refugee is so fond of dragons, dinosaurs, and similar creatures. From pocket-sized babies to full-grown figures that fill a child’s arms.
Beňo’s mother, a doctor, helps Slovak people daily at the clinic, and with her kindness and soft tone, she quickly won the favour of patients and neighbours in the block of flats.
