"Selene—but some day—"
"Some day nothing! A woman like gramaw can't do much more than go down-town once a year, and then you talk about taking her to Russia! You can't get in there, I—tell you—no way you try to fix it after—the way gramaw—had—to leave. Even before the war Ray Letsky's father couldn't get back on business. There's nothing for her there, even after she gets there. In thirty years, do you think you can find those graves? Do you know the size of Siberia? No! But I got to pay—I got to pay for gramaw's nonsense. But I won't. I won't go to Lester if I can't go right. I—."
"Baby, don't cry so—for God's sake, don't cry so!"
"I wish I was dead!"
"'Sh-h-h! You'll wake gramaw."
"I do!"
"O God, help me to do the right thing!"
"If gramaw could understand, she'd be the first one to tell you the right thing. Anybody would."
"No! No! That little bank-book and its entries are her life—her life."
"She don't need to know, mama. I'm not asking that. That's the way they always do with old people to keep them satisfied. Just humor 'em. Ain't I the one with life before me—ain't I, mama?"