A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka

Author:Brigid Pasulka [Pasulka, Brigid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

On the way home, Irena stares out the window, her jaw set like stone. It's almost dark by the time we reach the city. The streets and the trams are packed with people traveling to and from Rakowicki Cemetery, and as we drive over the bridge by Jubilat, we see the thousands of flickering candles floating down the river. I leave Irena on the bus and get off at the Square of the Invalids. Magda and Kinga have already set up the chairs and are sitting at the bar, Magda with her cigarette, Stash and Kinga drinking beers.

"And where have you been?" Magda asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Where did you and mama sneak off to this morning?"

"She wanted me to go somewhere with her."

"Secret, secret. Where?"

"To Malina."

"What for?"

"To visit your father's grave."

"Boże." Kinga brings her hand to her chest, her fingertips just touching her sternum. On someone with a larger chest, it might appear vulgar, but on Kinga, it's a sincere gesture, like a child making a pledge.

"Why would she go there?" Magda asks. "She can barely take a tram to the other side of town, and all of a sudden, she takes a twohour bus to Malina? She's never gone before. Why would she go and open up that chapter again? And why would she take you? You didn't even know him."

Stash looks up at me too, impatient for the answer.

"I don't know," I say. But it's a lie. I didn't know this morning, but now I know exactly why. She wasn't answering to the faint knock of nostalgia or reopening a chapter. Today was for closing something off. Koniec. Finish. And just like the people suffering on the retrospectives and the grandmothers and grandfathers at the tram stops who talk about the war as if it ended only a few weeks ago, Irena needed a witness.

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