After Anatevka by Alexandra Silber

Author:Alexandra Silber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books

In Nerchinsk, Anatoly was tucking the rest of the flask away. “Never in my life have I met a Russian who didn’t drink,” he said.

“Oh, I did.” Perchik chuckled. “But no longer.”

“I drink all day.” Anatoly laughed his easy laugh and offered Perchik the flask. Perchik opened it, downed a dram, and sighed as Anatoly spoke again.

“Russia is cold,” Anatoly said with an almost comedic look that swiftly turned very grave.

Perchik looked out across the flatland beyond the river. “Yes.”

Before long, the men were sitting in a silent reverie together. No one was better at peaceful silence than Anatoly. It occurred to Perchik that he did not know how long his friend had resided in Nerchinsk.

“Have you been long in these works?” he asked.

“Five years and three months,” Anatoly responded, quietly removing his ushanka hat. He rested his head upon a hand burrowed deep into the nest of his hair, as if the hand controlled the unruly thoughts within the brain contained there, before reaching for the flask again. Perchik did not need to ask the reason. It was easy to forget in day-to-day dealings that the prisoners of Nerchinsk were, more often than not, violent criminals. Eventually, Perchik became blind to the crimes of his closest friends. At a certain point the crimes no longer defined them—the person would emerge from below, as with a foreign accent that eventually melts into the wholeness of who the person is.

Perchik nodded. “And for how long are you sentenced?”

“For life.”

This was the way it was.

Soon after, they went to work again and did not stop until nightfall, without another word about it.

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