WeWriWa—Introductions

Welcome back to Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, weekly Sunday hops where writers share 8–10 sentences from a book or WIP. I’m currently sharing from Chapter 52, “Lyuba’s Golden Jubilee,” of my WIP, A Dream Deferred: Lyuba and Ivan at University. It’s December 1949, and newly-11-year-old Sonyechka has been knocked over and had her hand skated over at Rockefeller Rink.

This week’s snippet comes a bit after last week’s, when her future husband Adrian pulled her up and asked if she feels dizzy, light-headed, or nauseous. Sonyechka said only her hand hurts, and her cousin Isidora went to get her older sister Irina and some gauze.

This has been slightly tweaked to fit ten lines. Klarisa and Iliana are the little sisters of Canadian Army medic Yuriy, whom some of you might remember from previous snippets.

“I’m Poliksena, but everyone calls me Polya,” the strange girl says, “and this is my twin brother Adrian.” She pronounces it with long As. “What’s your name?”

“Sofya, Sonya for short.” Sonyechka dares not tell these sophisticated teenagers her true nickname. She is called Sonya every so often, and knows she’ll have to graduate to the more mature nickname full-time in a few years, since no one takes a teenager or adult with a babyish nickname seriously.

“Were you born in this country?” Iliana asks.

Klarisa looks at her warningly but gently. “That’s not a polite question, Yana. Some things we never ask anyone, particularly not when we’ve just met.”