Between Shades of Gray

Lina sleeps next to her mother’s body, trying to muffle her sobs. She feels hollow with grief, but realizes how much she wants to live; then feels guilty for wanting to live even though her parents are dead. The next day after work, Jonas and the man who winds his watch make a coffin, while Lina and Mrs. Rimas prepare Elena’s body. Lina finds fresh clothes in her mother’s suitcase for herself and Kostas—packed in preparation for their return to Lithuania—and Lina begins to cry again, realizing that her mother never stopped believing she would be able to go home. They dress Elena in the silk dress she meant for her return, and Lina finds the deed to their house and Joana’s address in Germany in the lining of Elena’s coat. That night Lina steals ice picks and shovels from the NKVD, and she and Jonas begin digging a grave on a little hill overlooking the sea. In the early morning, Mrs. Rimas and the man who winds his watch come to help them, along with the bald man and Janina. When they have dug a shallow grave, they carry Elena’s coffin up the hill, and people Lina doesn’t know join the procession. They walk past the NKVD barracks and Lina sees Kretzsky watching them.