The Story of Us by Lana Kortchik

Author:Lana Kortchik
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008314835
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11 – The Impossible Choices

December 1941

Lisa slipped into the room as Natasha was getting dressed. Natasha turned away. She didn’t want her sister to notice her tears. But Lisa looked through Natasha as if she wasn’t in the room. ‘Going somewhere?’ she demanded.

Talking, such a simple act, so why did it require all her strength, the strength she didn’t have? ‘Yes, we’re going to distribute Yuri’s leaflets. Why don’t you come? We can use all the help we can get.’

Lisa looked at Natasha like she had just invited her to dig a trench in the Taras Shevchenko Park. ‘Are you crazy? It’s too dangerous.’

‘I know it is. But it’s worth it. It’s a chance to help our people fight the Nazis.’

Lisa shook her head as if helping her people fight the Nazis was the last thing she wanted to do. Natasha didn’t say another word. She was in no mood for arguments.

Yuri had told Natasha the market was the best place to distribute the leaflets. It was busy, and people were distracted. Therefore, it was to the market that Natasha and Nikolai headed, moving as fast as they could to keep themselves warm. Although the stores were closed, they still retained the old signs: meat, cheese, sausages, fish. Was there really a life when these items were not only readily available but taken for granted? Was there a life when Natasha could walk to the store and queue up for white, beautiful bread that didn’t crumble under her fingers and didn’t taste like cement? As she walked through eerie streets, passing ghost-like Soviets and self-satisfied Nazis, Natasha couldn’t imagine that life.

She put one foot in front of the other silently and methodically. If only she focused on the task at hand, if only she thought of nothing but helping Yuri, she would have no space for other thoughts and other feelings. If only.

Natasha didn’t know where to turn. On one side, there was Mark, the man she loved more than anything in the world. And on the other, her family, who were her world. She’d never spent a day without her parents and siblings before, how could she board a truck bound for Hungary and leave them behind? How could she turn her back on them? She had only known Mark for two months, but she’d been with her family for a lifetime.

But turning her back on Mark and continuing as if she’d never met him was equally impossible. She could hardly remember the person she’d been before she’d met him. Could she go on with her life and not see his smiling face and not feel his beating heart? She didn’t think so.

Natasha slipped on the ice and waved her arms to regain her balance. Nikolai caught her mid-fall and said, pointing across the road, ‘Look, pigeons! They’re back.’

‘Indeed they are. Can you believe it?’ Such a small thing, and yet, it was enough to make her look up from the frozen ground and smile. It was a victory, however small.

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