Between Shades of Gray

As the days go by, the ground begins to thaw, and Elena receives a letter from their former housekeeper’s cousin that suggests that Kostas is still alive but does not say where he is. Lina feels bad for keeping this information from her mother, so she tells Elena how she came to know that her father is in Krasyonarsk Prison. Elena is angry at first, but cannot help but be happy that he is still alive. There is further commotion at the camp as deliveries of new files are made and new guards arrive. Lina continues to draw “accurate portrayal[s]” (229) of the things and people around her that “would certainly be considered anti-Soviet” (229). She also begins to meet Andrius in the ration line every day. She is learning Russian by reading the book he gave her, and he tells her one day that she must learn, for herself, what the word “krasivaya” (229) means.

On the “first warm day of spring” (230), Andrius meets Lina in the ration line and tells her that the NKVD are moving people and that she and her family are “on the list” (230), but that he and his mother are not. Lina goes to their shack to tell her mother and Jonas, who believe it’s possible that they are going home, or someplace better. Lina remembers overhearing her parents talk about whether Sweden or Germany would be “better” for “them” and that when she asked who was going to Germany, her parents did not say, exactly—only a “colleague of [her] father’s” (232). Later, the whole group meets in the bald man’s shack to discuss the list and the impending move. Not everyone is on the list, including Miss Grybas, who vows to sign the paper if she is left behind so that she will be allowed to teach and can continue to mail letters on behalf of everyone else.

Later that night, Andrius comes to their shack. He and Lina take a walk and he tells her that she is likely going to another camp. He also tells her that he figured out that her father has been charged with being an “accessory” (236), probably because “he tried to help people who were in danger” (236). She says she is afraid, and he tells her not to be, not to “give them anything, […] not even [her] fear” (237), and implores her to be careful and to keep herself safe. When their walk takes them back to Lina’s shack, she gives him all the drawings she has done so far and asks him to keep them safe. He says he will and that she should keep drawing to let “the world” (237) know what is being done to them. They kiss, and Andrius promises to come by in the morning to talk with Jonas. He leaves carrying her drawings, and she watches him walk away in the darkness.

The next morning, the NKVD come to get them before sunrise, and Ulyushka hurriedly gives Elena some beets and potatoes she has saved up. The two women embrace briefly before Ulyushka stomps out. It has been 10 months since they were taken from their home in Kaunaus. The Vilkas are on the list again, as are the grouchy woman and her two daughters, the bald man, the gray-haired man who winds his watch, and Mrs. Rimas. The little girl with the dolly and her mother are also being moved. Miss Grybas is not, and implores them not to forget her; she is convinced they are going to America without her. Andrius is also there to say goodbye to all of them. After saying goodbye to Elena and Jonas, Andrius tells Lina that he’ll see her—that she should “picture” (240) him bringing her drawings to her. Lina cries for the first time in months, and then they are called onto the truck. She puts her hands in her pockets and realizes that Andrius has slipped the stone into one of them. She stands up to look out and let him know she found it, but he is already gone.