The Memory Keeper of Kyiv

by Erin Litteken

Ukraine is fertile and plentiful, and Stalin thinks we should be the breadbasket of the Soviet Union,”

Everyone wants Ukraine’s fertile soil for their own, and nobody wants to let Ukrainians rule it.”

Her voice broke as she translated the words into English. “Just make it through today, and hope tomorrow will be better.”

Surely they would let him go soon, she told herself. He’d done nothing wrong. Then again, neither had anyone else. Nothing made sense anymore.

The forgotten patch of sunflowers, buried in the weeds of the overgrown yard, smiled up at her. The sunflower palace. Her and Alina’s secret place. Despite everything, they fought to grow, to live, to rise up amidst the ruin of their land, somehow still blooming right here, for her. Like her.

Looking to the future doesn’t mean you have to forget the past. You can have both.