But it wasn’t long before she discovered why Alexander had vanished so suddenly. Soon afterward, Sasha Korol—working through the list of addresses he had scribbled down on the bus the previous evening—arrived at her door and explained what he had witnessed of the medical airlift to Moscow. Unbidden, he also brought Natalia money—100 rubles, almost a month’s salary—and a carton of milk for the baby. Setting down the milk on the seat of Alexander’s bicycle in the hallway, she went into the bedroom to pack. She filled a small suitcase—clothes for the boy, a couple of dresses, some shoes—and went
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