La Tonya Jordan’s Reviews > Between Shades of Gray > Status Update

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The grouchy woman looked at my drawings of the Lithuanian coat of arms, Trakai Castle, our patron saint, Casimir, and the stork, the national bird of Lithuania.

Some people in the camp are to be moved. Elena and her family will be one of them. Andrius and his mother will not be moved. Lina is forced to draw a photo of the commander, Komorov. Lina finds out her father is in Krasnoyarsk Prison. Lina gives Andrius her drawings.

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"Not my children," whispered Mother. "Please, God, spare him. He is so young. He's seen so little of life. Please.....take me instead." Mother raised her head. Her face contorted with pain. "Kostas?"

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I thought of Munch as I sketched, his theory that pain, love, and despair were links in an endless chain.

"No, he won't. He probably never noticed you lived there," said the bald man. "You're not exactly the noticeable type."

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"And be glad of that," said Mother. "Be glad that not everyone is desperate for food like we are."

She ignored me and continued. "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."

Jonas almost died of Scurvy. Andrius brought him a tomato. The Siberian woman knew of a tea that could heal. It took two weeks for to Jonas to improve. it is Christmas and the sub freezing weather is getting into everyone's spirit. The Lithuanians gathered to reminisce about Kucios . Their Christmas Eve celebration.

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I remembered Papa talking about Stalin confiscating peasants' land, tools, and animals. He told them what crops they would produce and how much they would be paid. I thought it was ridiculous. How could Stalin simply take something that didn't belong to him, something that a farmer and his family had worked their whole lives for? "That's communism, Lina," Papa had said.

The Vilkas family is staying in a shack with an Altainia women where they are working duties. Lina and her mother are digging holes. Jonas works with two ladies making shoes. Since, Elena, Lina's mother can speak Russian the Soviets want her to be a translator and a spy. She has reversed. The Altainia woman name is Ulyushka.

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Death had begun to gather a crop.

"But how can they just decide that we're animals? They don't even know us," I said.
"We know us," said Mother. "They're wrong. And don't ever allow them to convince you otherwise. Do you understand?"

"Boy, you don't understand. The Germans aren't going to solve the problem. Hitler's going to create more," said the bald man. "Those damn lists," he muttered.

Lina and her family have been taken by train to a rural community where they were being sold to the local townspeople in groups. Lina and her family were not selected; therefore, they are waiting. Lina misses her father.

Lina, Jonas, and Andrius sneaked off the train and found her father when the Soviets were connecting trains. Since that time they have been separated.

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