"He turned to look at her at last, and it was a struggle to not avert her eyes. He hadn’t..."

He turned to look at her at last, and it was a struggle to not avert her eyes. He hadn’t looked so frightened since he was small enough to sit in her lap. What could she say to him? She thought about the man-made famines, the kolkhoz, the gulag, all the secrets and lies…and then she thought of her brother lifting her off her feet in a celebratory bear hug on the day Sputnik launched, the times she’d find him with the Communist Manifesto open on his knees and moving his mouth along to the words that meant the most to him, how alive he seemed when he talked about the future, the glorious future…

“Parts of it were wrong,” she said, slowly and carefully. “But not all. Not all of it was wrong.”

“Then why did it fail? Why did I fail?”

There was no answer to that question, or maybe it was that there were too many answers. Either way, it was too soon to put it all into words, so she just grabbed his hand and squeezed it silently.

“M-maybe I didn’t try hard enough. Maybe I…I…” Tears suddenly welled up in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks half a second later.

“Brother…” Ukraine whispered helplessly as he tried to wipe them away with his hands.