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Who had set him up here and at what price? Everything here had to be paid for. And suddenly I was afraid of Shestakov, the only one of us who was working in the field in which he’d been trained. Could he be taking me along as food? No, of course not But why was he lying? He knew all that as well as I did. Even Shestakov wouldn’t make it, not to mention me. There were three roads to the sea from here – all of them five hundred kilometers long, no less. ‘You’ll be all right in the woods,’ said Shestakov.
#Condense milk skin#
I rolled up my pants and showed the breaks in the skin from scurvy. Made with just two ingredients, fresh whole milk and. I tried, but lacked the strength to remember who had said those words and when. Sweet and deliciously creamy, CARNATION Sweetened Condensed Milk is made from all natural ingredients. “Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.”‘ Shestakov pronounced the sentence with an air of pomp. ‘And when we get to the sea? What then? Swim?’ He recited all this as indifferently as he did quickly. ‘I’ll make up a group of workers, take you and we’ll go to Black Springs. ‘I have a map,’ Shestakov said sluggishly. It was the last thing I wanted to think of. ‘That’s not what I’m talking about,’ said Shestakov and swept his index finger along the line of the horizon. Small stones fell at our feet, rustling like unobtrusive gray birds. Under us the ground shook from dull explosions they were preparing the ground for the night shift. At least one person from our cell didn’t wear foot rags. I stared at Shestakov’s feet with sincere admiration, even delight. His pant legs were rolled up, revealing checkered socks. My legs immediately became heavy, but Shestakov kept swinging his new regulation-issue boots that smelled slightly of fish grease. We walked behind the barracks and sat down on the lip of the old mine. ‘Have a smoke,’ Shestakov said and he handed me a scrap of newspaper, sprinkled some tobacco on it, and lit a match, a real match.
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The lucky man barely said hallo to his Moscow acquaintances. He was an engineer-geologist, and he was taken into the prospecting group – in the office. I’d known Shestakov on the ‘mainland’, in Butyrki Prison where we were cellmates. I was staring at the bread when Shestakov called to me.
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I stood there, not knowing when I would find the strength within myself to return to the barracks. Our heads swam from the sweet heavy aroma of fresh bread that tickled the nostrils. There was no reason for us politicals to be there, but we couldn’t take our eyes off the loaves of bread that were brown as chocolate.
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The latter were classified as ‘friends of the people’. Purchases could be made only by petty criminals and thieves who were repeated offenders. Inside there was only an empty scorched sensation, and we were indifferent to everything, making plans no further than the next day.Įven now I wanted to go back to the barracks and lie down on the bunk, but instead I was standing at the doors of the commissary. It had to be an external and not an internal force. In a word, we envied only Shestakov.Įxternal circumstances alone were capable of jolting us out of apathy and distracting us from slowly approaching death. Office work, a job in the hospital or the stables – wherever there was none of the long physical labor glorified as heroic and noble in signs above all the camp gates. We lacked the strength to experience emotions, to seek easier work, to walk, to ask, to beg … We envied only our acquaintances, the ones who had been lucky enough to get. After opening, keep the milk refrigerated in an air tight container and use within several days.Envy, like all our feelings, had been dulled and weakened by hunger. Prior to opening, condensed milk can be stored for 5 to 7 months at room temperature. Most recipes with "condensed milk" as an ingredient are generally referring to the sweetened condensed milk. The difference between the two is that evaporated milk is heat treated for sterilization. However, unsweetened condensed milk typically cannot be used in recipes that require evaporated milk. Unsweetened condensed milk, also processed to remove the water, has no sugar added and is similar to or often considered the same as evaporated milk. Sweetened condensed is whole milk that is heated to evaporate 60% of the water and then has sugar added, resulting in sweet and sticky milk. There are two varieties of condensed milk: sweetened and unsweetened. A type of whole milk, most often used as a cooking ingredient, that has been thickened through the elimination of about 60 percent of the water content, producing a concentrated flavor.
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