TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena Veisaitė & Aurimas Švedas

off for the women; they were mostly Polish, and would sit in the windows chatting up passers-by. Walking past that house, I received a thorough “education” in matters of sexual relations. After the Gestapo inspection of the nursery, there was a period of “relative” calm. I continued to live at Pranas’s home, but it eventually became clear that I would have to move out. Pranas had a fiancé named Janė who lived in the town of Šiauliai, and she was not terribly happy that some young woman was living in her future husband’s home. There was no “subtext” in my relations with Pranas, but rumours began to circulate in Šiauliai. After all, I was already fifteen at the time . . . But the main factor that made it necessary to move out was a seemingly meaningless event. One evening, the usual bohemian crowd had gathered at Pranas’ home. Someone had brought a rather poor-quality album of Van Gogh reproductions, and everyone was eager to take a look. I liked Van Gogh very much and had seen some of his paintings in Paris, so I forgot myself and said, in front of everyone, “Van Gogh is my favourite artist!” Naturally, this caused great surprise: how could a girl from the country be familiar with Van Gogh? I am sure that none of Pranas’s friends would have betrayed me. But they all enjoyed a drink, and a person under the influence often blurts out things that they would not normally say. It therefore became unsafe for me to continue living in that welcoming home. I had to

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