Half-Blood Blues

Back in 1992 Poland, Sid and Chip get off the bus. They walk through fields toward Hiero’s house. Sid thinks about friends he lost, including Ernst, who took revenge on his father by asking to be sent to the front lines, where he soon died; Paul, who died in a concentration camp after a rival pianist recognized him in the street and turned him over to the Nazis; Fritz, who wandered and starved to death after the war; and Delilah, who returned to her native Canada, married, and died of cancer shortly thereafter.

As they near Hiero’s house, they pass sculptures formed out of farm machinery, including one that looks like Hiero. Hearing no answer to their calls, and with the house’s doors open, they step inside. Passing into the back, they find an elderly Hiero, who speaks to them in Polish before recognizing and embracing them. Hiero, who now goes by Thomas, his middle name, is blind.

Hiero tells them that he worked as a blacksmith and stayed in the house after the business closed. He denies making the sculptures, but Sid and Chip can see that he’s lying. He shows them his cellar, where there are more sculptures, including one that resembles Sid holding his bass.