Originally published in Realms of Fantasy, June 1999.

• Honorable mention, The Year's Best Science Fiction: 17th Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois

Faina Kankrin is one of the few women in Stalinist Georgia with a steady job. Every day she visits classrooms throughout the land, helping schoolchildren understand the true benevolence of their Great Leader. But Faina knew Stalin when they were both younger, and there's only so long she can keep telling the same old lies.