Trafika Europe 3 - Latvian Sojourn

It all happened so fast. Independence was declared, people sang, drove to the city with their tractors and combines, to face their enemy. Nadezhda Mihailovna felt ashamed that her native tongue was the enemy’s tongue. She also headed for the city. There she bought cigarettes and Balsam liquor and took them to the men standing guard by the campfires lit in the Doma Square to save the newly reinstated Latvian parliament, the crucial radio house, Doma Cathedral and other important buildings. She stayed in the city for three days and three nights, not closing her eyes once. Together with all the others, she froze, sipped hot soup and waited. She, like the others, lit candles in memory of those who were shot. It happened so fast. The canning factory was closed down and they all lost their jobs. The house, where Nadezhda Mihailova had the room and the kitchen was given back to its legitimate owner. The land, where her garden was, another proprietor reclaimed. Nadezhda Mihailovna was grateful for having obtained a narrow larder in a semi-abandoned house that, at least for the moment, did not belong to anyone. Some others like her also moved into this building. Having like a mouse into a mouse hole dragged her collected belongings into her larder, she sat on the floor and cried the first night. When dawn came, she went into the woods.

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