Between Shades of Gray: Chapters 29-44

A pallet of straw sat next to the wall near the stove.

A few NKVD gathered near the door smoking cigarettes. They leered at Mother.

In the distance, beyond the shacks, I saw spruce and pine trees interspersed with farmlands.

In addition to davai, I had learned other important words, such as nyet, which meant “no”; sveenya, which meant “pig”; and of course fasheest, “fascist.”

Mother said something to the guard that prompted an irate “Davai” and the kicking of the shovels into our shins.

Mother said something to the guard that prompted an irate “Davai” and the kicking of the shovels into our shins.

“A guilty conscience is not worth extra food,” said Mother.

“Think of the demands that could be made of me in that office. And think of what could happen to people. I don’t need that on my soul. I’ll persevere like everyone else.”

My uncle, who had indulged in blackberry liquor, danced a disjointed jig around the backyard of the cottage, trying to imitate our mothers.

My uncle, who had indulged in blackberry liquor, danced a disjointed jig around the backyard of the cottage, trying to imitate our mothers.

Frogs and crickets chirped and warbled all around us.

My stomach convulsed with hunger.

“Very smart, love. Have you had some to drink?” asked Mother.
“Plenty,” he said, looking at me in my bedraggled state. “You can have a nice bath.”

Her face twisted with revulsion when she saw us.

I was too exhausted to muster a clever reply.

Joana draped askew in the rocker, gliding back and forth.

The bald man hobbled in on his broken leg.

“Where are we to get two hundred rubles?” said the bald man. “They’ve already stolen all that we had.”
Chattering ensued.

Shouts and wails erupted in the small room. Someone began to hyperventilate.

I was sliding, tangled in panic’s undertow.

“We do no good by becoming hysterical. We can’t think clearly if we panic. It’s scaring the children.”

Sweat trickled across the nape of my neck and along my spine.

His arms and legs dangled like a limp marionette.

Our standoff had deprived him of sleep.

He drew in a breath and blew a plume of smoke over our heads.

“Well, I can see you’re upset. Jonas said that you were nasty to Andrius. That’s unfair. Sometimes kindness can be delivered in a clumsy way. But it’s far more sincere in its clumsiness than those distinguished men you read about in books. Your father was very clumsy.”

He says I bewitched him the very instant he saw me. But do you know what really happened?

She would chat with the person and work next to them in the field, trying to bolster their spirit.

The NKVD’s hostilities strengthened my defiance.

The NKVD’s hostilities strengthened my defiance.

Her mouth sagged, forlorn.

“Nothing could be worse than Stalin,” said one of the men at the dining room table, “He is the epitome of evil”

“But Hitler won’t uproot us,” said the man.

I looked at the map of Siberia, shocked by its enormity.

My skin prickled at the sight of him, bristling on my arms and the back of my neck.