Between Shades of Gray

They travel in the truck until late afternoon when they arrive at a train station—Biysk—where Lina realizes that Kretzsky has traveled with them. They are loaded onto train cars, longer than the livestock cars they traveled in previously, with lamps hanging from the ceiling. At the bald man’s suggestion, they crowd the door to prevent more groups from being loaded, so they have more space than last time. Lina talks with the little girl, Janina, whose dolly was “killed” by the NKVD guards, who threw the doll in the air and shot it. Janina tells her that she couldn’t stop crying when they shot her doll, whose name was Liale, and so they “clobbered” (247) her on the forehead. She shows Lina the scar and asks Lina about her own scar, which was the result of being hit by a can of sardines. Then Janina tells her the secret that her mother told her: “the NKVD are going to hell” (248). She also tells Lina that Liale is “up in heaven” (248) but that she still talks to her and Liale tells her “things” (248). Janina says that she saw Lina’s boyfriend put something in her pocket, so Lina shows her the stone. Janina wants Lina to give her the stone, but Lina says she’ll keep it, as it was a gift.