Between Shades of Gray 200-300

Jonas recovers from his scurvy. Christmas arrived a couple weeks later. The time of the season boosted everybody's spirits. Food rations were saved for a Christmas Eve meal in the bald man's shack. Before everyone left the shack, guards burst in to escort people to the office to try to sign the papers. The guards worked them hard on Christmas Day, then that night Lina was forced to draw the commander's portrait. The commander was looking through the file for Lina's family. After the commander left, Lina took the file to see what is inside. She had Andrius read it to her. It said that her father was in a prison and that's all he could read. Lina's birthday came up. They threw her a surprise party and gave her more paper and drawing utensils. Andrius gave her a book. Spring came around. Andrius told Lina that the NKVD were relocating people and that her family was on the list. Andrius and his mother weren't though. They were sent away the next day. They took a truck ride to a train station, where they would ride in cars for a week before making a stop for food and a shower. They went a couple more miles before stopping at the bank of the Angara River. They were to be on barges in the river for the rest of their trip. They made several stops for supplies and made their final stop in Trofimovsk, which is at the very top of the Arctic Circle, near the North Pole. Everyone huddled together in the barren wasteland they were left at. The NKVD made half of the people finish building a bakery and barracks for the NKVD and the other half made shacks for themselves. The day after they finished building, an American ship floated by. Before it reached the camp though, the NKVD shoved everyone into the shacks so they wouldn't be seen by the Americans. A snowstorm came through a couple days later. Once the storm broke, they had to get back to work fishing and collecting firewood for the NKVD. Lina and the bald man went to go get firewood. The bald man explained that Lina's family was deported for helping the cousin's escape. Lina's mother had known this but kept it a secret for Lina and Jonas. One night, Lina caught her Mother talking to Kretzky. She went to see what they were talking about, and he told them that their father was shot in prison.