For the Greater Good

by Amy L. Hull amilyn at comcast dot net

Written for st_aurafina in the Yuletide 2009 Challenge

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Ramius has been five years in the United States.

For Vasily's sake, he has visited Montana. For Natalia's sake, he has found joy despite himself. For both their sakes, he has not found a fat American wife.

On a color television, from a La-Z-Boy recliner, he watches a free press report as Berlin reclaims itself as a city, as Moscow does not retaliate.

Lithuania is first to declare independence from the Soviets and he wonders if this would have happened without them.

When he visits Vilnius, no longer an exile, he leaves one of Vasily's buttons on his wife's grave.

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