In a cold dark forest of Germany, the sound of an old piano penetrated the air along with the aroma of a hearty meal. Lulled by the rich melody, a young boy ventured beneath the thick umbrage of the oaks and across rippling streams. The smell of autumn leaves brought him comfort on that gray day. He reached a small cottage and the piano music filled his heart as the smell of the food sang to his senses.  He sat beneath the windowsill whose white paint was crackled and aged. The weathered wood on which he rested his back moved to the steady beat of the music. As the playing ceased, the chilly brown-haired child was shocked when the door to the petite house opened. An old gentleman with a long white beard and a friendly disposition noticed him. The man picked up some firewood as the boy started backing away. The old man invited the boy inside his humble dwelling. The boy with threadbare clothes all in dreary colors was delighted and followed the man inside. As he walked through the constricted doorway, he was greeted with the site of a charming home. An amber fire was crackling in the corner; the wooden walls were adorned with vintage pictures and antiques. His toes felt a soft rug through a hole in his boot. The old man smiled, his eyes sparkled, and he led the child to a large faded couch. He asked the boy if he wanted some steaming potato soup and to hear a story… the young man excitingly agreed and soon he had a hot bowl of soup. As his frozen hands where thawed by the bowl, the petite child listened as the man began his story. He told of an exuberant young man who longed to have a family. He said the man found the most perfect girl and they ventured together to watch sunsets around the world. They fell in love and were married then bought a small cottage together deep in the dark woods of Germany. They watched sunsets from a hill overlooking the woodland. The girl got sick and her husband could see her slowly fading away. He longed for her healing and did all he could to make her recover. The day she died, a bitter rain fell on the depressing forest. He made her favorite potato soup (the same he had made the little boy) and sat on the old faded sofa. He placed pictures of their trips on the walls and pinned their keepsakes with them. While telling the tale, a tear came to the old man's furrowed eyes. The boy asked if he was the man in the story. With a grin, the old man gently nodded. Silence filled the room and the boy stared at the vapor twirling off his soup. He gradually spoke and told the man why he was unaccompanied in the forest. He told of the brutal knocking on his door he heard just hours prior. He explained how the Nazi soldiers took all his family away and of how he watched from his hiding place. He said he ran as far away as he could from his residence. He told of how he ventured into the unfathomable dark woods and heard the harmony the old man played and smelled the delectable soup. He looked up at the man and saw love in his eyes. He felt a sense of security and smiled revealing his smirk which was missing one tooth. The man asked if the boy had relatives to reside with. After the boy shyly replied no, the man came to the conclusion that it was his fate to take care of the adolescent boy and to finally have a family. As the years went by, they lived together and watched the sunsets. On the anniversary of the day they met they had their potato soup. The little boy learned to play the aged piano and particularly liked the song he had heard through the deep forest on that frosty day. The old man became ill and was going to be with his wife at last. Before he died, he told the boy to keep playing the familiar song. The same song the old man had played his spouse, the same song the whole long line of people would play while they ate their potato soup and a lived in the old cottage in the deep gloomy forest in Germany. Eventually the forest was demolished, but the cottage still stood. The descendant of the little boy opened his own bistro whose specialty was potato soup. Every day at dusk, he would play the melodic song on the old piano. He named the restaurant “The Haven” because it was his great grandfather’s safe house from the Nazis and it was the home of the most benevolent man in the woodlands.