The Lullaby of Polish Girls: A Novel

Author:Dagmara Dominczyk [Dominczyk, Dagmara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary, Coming of Age, Cultural Heritage, Fiction
ISBN: 9780679645993
Google: knb7gir5ggwC
Amazon: B00ALBR2UO
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Published: 2013-06-04T04:00:00+00:00

Anna

Wrocław, Poland

The morning of Anna and Kowalski’s romantic getaway to Wrocław, Anna finds herself at it again, standing in the kitchen, spying on Lolek through the lace curtains.

Every morning, Lolek stands outside his klatka, staring straight ahead, in the same teal blue sweat suit he has worn for days in a row. Every morning since Anna arrived in Poland two weeks ago, she has peeked through the curtains and watched him. Sometimes he’d still be outside when she left Babcia’s apartment. She’d sail past him with her heart thumping, fearing that if she actually looked at him, she’d see the image of his naked torso and his sagging man tits, pressing onto her own breasts.

Three years have passed since that night in the tent with Lolek, and Anna hasn’t been back to Poland in all that time. For three years she found excuses not to come back. She had to save money now that she was in college, and thanks to her father’s depression, Anna’s mother needed her more than ever. She didn’t want to believe that the real reason she wasn’t going back to Poland was fear.

When Lolek joked that night at the Sielpia campgrounds that he was finally going to have his way with her, Anna rolled her eyes and fended him off with playful swats. “You’re wasted, buddy,” she pronounced. “Out of my tent!” When he started kissing her, she let him for a few seconds, because why not; he was her oafish best friend. But when she tried to stop him, he grabbed her face with so much force that he drew blood. She didn’t even remember what he felt like inside her. She recalled only that the whole thing hurt and that it was over quickly.

Afterward, Lolek kept murmuring, “My Ania,” until he finally passed out and Anna wanted so badly to escape but felt paralyzed. In the morning, just as Anna was about to sneak out of the tent, Lolek rolled over and said, “Oh fuck, I feel like shit. Will you see if anyone’s got some aspirin?” Anna had looked past him, past his stained sweatpants, and crawled out. She spent the day in a daze, wondering if she should press charges or if the whole thing had been a figment of her imagination. The rest of the summer, Lolek acted a bit sheepish but definitely not like he’d commited a crime. And so Anna never told anyone; truthfully, she didn’t know what to say.

Anna started senior year of high school with a heavy heart. One night at a party a boy named Malachy Sullivan approached her. He was a senior too and they shared a few AP classes. They talked about Gabriel García Márquez, and then Malachy kissed her. It was a gentle kiss. They fell in love but broke up after graduation, and in the fall Anna went off to study theater in Pittsburgh.

A month before freshman year at Carnegie Mellon was over, Anna received a letter from Kamila. Where have you gone, Aniusia? I miss you terribly.

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