Part 8, p. 139 - 161 Summary

The Past - Marina makes her way through near-blizzard conditions back to the apartment she used to share with Viktor and Nadezhda. Narration describes how Nadezhda, fretting over the fact that that day was Misha's birthday, remembered that she had hidden a bar of chocolate in the linen closet at the apartment, and how Marina, desperate for something to give the now-failing Viktor, resolved to get it. When she arrives at the apartment, she is met by Vera, the caretaker, who gives her some hot tea and tells her that while some of the building's tenants remain, most left after the building was bombed. She also shows Marina a censored letter from Dmitri that arrived for her some months ago. At first angry that Vera hadn't passed it on before now, Marina thanks her and then makes her way...