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“They won’t let your son on that train,” the young nurse says “Not one so sick ”

“If we stay it will be iet more tickets,” I say “We’ll die here ”

The nurse says nothing to this Lies are a waste of time

“We could start helping Leo now, couldn’t we?” I say “Maybe he’ll be better by tomorrow ”

The nurse cannot hide her pity for me “Of course Maybe he’ll be better ”

And he is

Better

After a night when Anya and I lay curled on the floor by Leo’s dirty cot, I wake feeling bruised and cold But when I get to my knees and look down at Leo, he is awake For the first ti time, his blue eyes are clear “Hi, Maht through my heart “Where are we? Where’s Papa?”

I waken Anya, pull her up beside ht here, baby We are on our way to your papa He will be waiting for us in Vologda ”

I a as I look down at my son, my baby Maybe it is the tears that blur h to know better, but coone with the sound of his voice I don’t see how blue his skin is, how the boils have burst on his chest and are seeping yellow; I don’t hear the thickness of his cough I just see Leo My lion My baby with the bluest eyes and the purest laugh

So when the nurse coet on the train, I am confused

“He’s getting better,” I say, looking down at him

The silence stretches out between us, broken only by Leo’s coughing and the distant rat-a-ta-tat of gunfire She looks pointedly at Anya

For the first tiray her chapped lips are, the angry boils on her throat Her hair is falling out in clumps

How did I miss all that?