LARA VAPNYAR
THERE ARE JEWS
IN my HOUSE
0
n the night when Raya was supposed
Jews." Her hands were getting cold; she shook the
to leave with the peasant, she
water off the doormat and carried it back to the
appeared at Galina's door at about 3
hall. "Raya may be dead in a few days," she
a.m. She stood in the doorway in her boots caked
thought. Both Raya and Leeza. Galina sat down,
with country mud, soaked with sweat under her
making the chair screech. Tanya shifted in her
winter coat and shivering. She said that they had
sleep, and Galina rose to pull up her blanket.
come to the road crossing as had been agreed and
They will be dead unless they come here. Galina's
had waited there until two, but the peasant didn't
heart was pounding, but her mind suddenly
come. Galina tried hard to hide her initial happy
became very clear. Everybody they knew thought
reaction on seeing Raya again. She could barely
that Raya was going to leave with the peasant. Just
Lara Vapnyar
listen to Raya's words; "I saw Russian troops.
a few families remained on their street since the
emigrated from
They were running. Running!" They were jump-.
evacuation, and there was very little chance that
ing over the fences, she said; most of them didn't
Russia to the
somebody had seen Raya returning tonight. If
even have their guns or rifles. They were trying to
Raya and Leeza stayed in Galina's back room and
United States
tear their uniforms off as they ran. "This is the
never left her apartment, nobody would ever see
end," Raya said. "We're going to die." There was
them. Tanya was very smart for her age; Galina
a weird, agitated expression on her face. She seemed
knew that she wouldn't talk. The people who
Her stories have
to be waiting for something. Her eyelids were
used to drop by Galina's place before the war—
appeared in
twitching, and she was rubbing them with the back
mostly Sergey's friends—were all gone. Nobody
of her hand. "Calm down. This is not the end,"
could inform on them to the Germans. And if the
Galina said. They stood in silence for a few minutes.
Germans decided to look for Jews in houses, they
and Open City.
There were dabs of mud on Galina's spotless
would hardly make it to Galina's remote part of
There are Jews in
doormat after Raya left. Galina picked it up and
the town. There still was danger, of course. Great
went to the sink to wash it.
danger. But the thought of the danger didn't
in 1994.
The New Yorker
My House, her
"The Germans will be in town soon, very
first collection of
soon," Galina thought as thin streams of brown
stories, will be out
in December.
10
dampen Galina's ardor; on the contrary, it made
her all the more enthusiastic.
water ran into the sink off the dormat. "They may
Galina didn't remember ever being as excited
even come today. If you believe the refugees, it
as she was, running to Raya's place. They had to
will be a matter of days before they'll round up the
make it to her place before dawn. "Grab your
NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CULTURE