Han Ong

You should stay at her place.

I'll talk to her.

You can help her through the winter.

I'll come in December.

God willing, you'll survive until then.

Muratov assigned Nikolai Mikhailovich two tasks in Moscow.

The first was to go to Muratov's house sometime, without calling ahead or providing any warning, and give his wife and his mother-in-law a letter from him, but not tell them where he was.

The second was to meet with Muratov's friend Ilya and say a single word, forward.

Ilya would know what it meant.

Before returning to the country in December, he should meet with Ilya again, take the money that Ilya would bring and give half of it to Muratov's family, the other half he should bring back to Muratov.

He did not know how much money there would be.

Maybe there would be a lot, maybe not very much, maybe nothing at all.

Muratov moved in with Nura, a stooped-over old lady with a crooked little face, gnarled fingers, and giant, hideous wrists that she held in front of her chest when she walked.

It seemed as if she were always carrying a cup or a pot, her wrists never unbent, and she used her hands as though they were too large claws.

in exchange for letting muratov live with her she asked not for money but for vodka the old woman turned out to have a passion for drinking and was a merry hooligan she woke up early in the morning crawled out of her cot with a loud creak crossed herself in the holy place in the corner where there was a large blackened ikon and then tossed back her first thimbleful

at noon she had her second in the middle of the day she would eat kasha or potatoes later three thimblefuls would serve as a replacement for all other necessary fats proteins and carbohydrates

Nora went through a bottle a week, a ration she had established years earlier.

In the morning she was barely there, but by evening she was full of life and even did some housework, all the while muttering gibberish under her breath.

several years before the village had got radio and electricity nura ignored the electricity she never turned on the light going to bed when it got dark and getting up when the sun rose but she took a liking to the radio

When Muratov finally learned how to decipher the old woman's stream of babble, he discovered that it was a merciless running commentary on the radio programs she listened to in the morning.