Grey Is The Colour Of Hope (1)

 'So we passed the time reading, or by training mice. There was no way of getting rid of them, so we decided to amuse ourselves. On the one occasion during those two and half months when the prison authorities let us make purchases from the kiosk, we shared the candies and rusks we bought (there was nothing else in the kiosk) with our long-tailed friends; they needed a change from prison-issue bread, too. Fortunately there were no rats in the punishment barracks, because there simply was not enough food for them. Their hunting ground was around the kitchens in the main zone. 

Sharing a cell with Tanya was easy. In conditions where some minor quirk of character could strain relations there were never any problems with Tanya. I have lost count of the days we spent in the punishment cells. Nowadays [now I am well away from being imprisoned] I often find myself look at some new face and wondering: what would it be like to share prison soup with you? Or carry out the slop bucket? Or conduct a hunger strike? How would you behave with the KGB? And, as a rule, the answer comes fairly quickly. This is not a deliberate exercise: it is the result of having had to assess people in extreme situations. Is it fair to look at people that way? Who knows..... '

From page 286 of 'Grey Is The Colour of Hope' a memoir of her time in prison by former KGB/political prisoner, 1982-86, and Ukrainian poet Irina Ratushinskaya (1953-2017).

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