Purge

seemed to be saying good-bye to Aliide. The yard light came on and the front door opened. All three of them came outside. Aliide remained standing on the steps. The men lit cigarettes, and Pasha looked at the woods as Lavrenti strode toward the flower beds. Zara backed up into the shadows.

“You have some fine woods, ma’am.”

“Isn’t it nice? The Estonian forest. My forest.” Bang.

Pasha’s body collapsed at the foot of the steps. Another bang.

Lavrenti was lying on the ground.

Aliide had shot them both in the head.

Zara closed her eyes, then opened them. Aliide was examining the men’s pockets, taking out their guns and their wallets and a little bundle.

Zara could tell that it was a roll of dollar bills.

Lavrenti’s boots still shone. A soldier’s boots.

It was only when Zara heard the crash of glass and wood that she remembered she’d brought an object with her from the little room. She’d been squeezing the trunk of the birch too hard-shards of glass and pieces of black-painted wood fell out of her pocket. It wasn’t a mirror, although she had thought it was when she saw it in the little room. It was a picture frame. She couldn’t see it clearly in the moonlight, but among the cracks in the glass was a photo of a young man in an army uniform. She could just barely make out the writing on the back: Hans Pekk, August 6, 1929.

She had slipped the frame into the notebook that she’d found. She carefully brushed away the bits of glass-on the corner of the notebook was the same name: Hans Pekk.

August 15, 1950

Free Estonia!

I wonder if that’s what Martin is still doing here in the countryside. Why is he here, if he’s on such good terms with the party? Shouldn’t he be some kind of honcho in Tallinn by now? That’s the impression I got from Liide, anyway-that all of those people are in powerful positions now. Doesn’t Liide wonder about it at all? Or are they going to Tallinn and she doesn’t want to tell me? I’ll try asking her again about Martin’s brother-but she always acts strange when I start talking about Martin. She gets all aggravated, acts as if I were accusing her of some evil deed.

Salt herring makes me thirsty. I wish I had some of Ingel’s beer. I can’t tell day from night in here. I miss the sunrise over the fields. I listen to the birds hopping around on the roof and I miss my girls. I don’t know if I have a single friend left alive.

Hans Pekk, son of Eerik, Estonian peasant

1992

Laanemaa, Estonia

Aliide Packs Up Her Recipe Book and Gets Ready for Bed

The taillights receded into the distance. The girl had been in such a hurry that it had been easy to get her into the taxi, although she kept muttering something. Aliide had reminded her that someone might come looking for Pasha and Lavrenti at any moment-the need to hurry was as urgent as ever. It would be best if she made it to the harbor before anyone started wondering where the men had disappeared to.

If the girl made it home, she would tell Ingel that the land she lost long ago was waiting for her. Ingel and Linda could get Estonian citizenship. They could even get a pension and, once they had a passport, the land. Ingel was coming back, and Aliide couldn’t do anything to stop her anymore. And why wouldn’t the girl survive? They’d found her passport in Pasha’s pocket, and the roll of dollars would pay for a lot more than a taxi to Tallinn-like an expedited visa so she wouldn’t have to find a truck to hide in when she got to the harbor. The girl’s eyes had been wide, like a skittish horse, but she would be all right. The taxi driver had got such a thick wad of bills that he wouldn’t ask her any questions about her trip.

Since she was a descendent of Ingel and Linda, she could get an Estonian passport, too. She wouldn’t ever have to go back to Russia. Should Aliide have told her that? Maybe. Maybe she would figure it out for herself.

Aliide went into the back room and got a paper and pen. She was going to write Ingel a letter. Tell her she could get all the papers she needed to come back at the notary, that she and Linda could move in at any time. She told her the cellar was full of jam and preserves, made according to their old recipes. It turned out she had become quite good at it, even if Ingel had never believed in her cooking skills. She’d even become a braggart about it.

She could see Pasha and Lavrenti’s boots through the doorway.

Were the boys already on their way here-the ones who sang the songs? Did they already know that Aliide was alone now?

Aino’s boys could get her some gasoline. She would give them all the liquor in the cabinet and anything else they wanted in the house. Let them take it all.

She put her notebook of recipes in the envelope with the letter.

She would send the letter tomorrow, then get the gasoline and douse the house with it. After that, she would have to tear up the floorboards in the little room-it would be hard, but she could do it. Then she would lie down beside Hans. In her own house, beside her own Hans. She might get it done before the boys came, or did they plan to do tonight whatever it was they planned to do?

PART FIVE

August 25, 1950

Free Estonia!

When I was in the woods, I met a man there. It was Liide’s husband’s brother-Martin’s brother. He was all mixed up. A Communist. I strangled him.

He'd said he had been in New York with Hans Poogelmann. They organized the Communists there and published the New World newspaper. They were those kind of men. It was a little bit difficult to make sense of his stories; his head whipped around so much that he just stammered, and sometimes he just stopped talking completely, with the spit flying. At first I thought he was some kind of wild animal scrambling past my dugout. Of course he didn’t know about my dugout. His foot went through my trip wire-that’s how I knew something was there. I didn’t go after him right away. I waited until night came and then went to see if there were any tracks. He’d been eating blueberries from nearby-not the way an animal eats at all. That’s how I knew it must have been a person. But he was able to keep so quiet that I didn’t see anything until he had me by the legs. He was an animal-he had those animal eyes-but not much strength, and I quickly pinned him, sat on his chest, and asked him who he was. He howled at first, and I had to hold his mouth shut, but then he calmed down. I had a little bit of rope with me, and I tied his hands just to be safe. He didn’t have any weapons-that was the first