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On the way to Kirov on Wednesday e basins and installing what looked like fire hydrants Was Leningrad expecting thatto incinerate the city? She could not iinable as Areat S to take on an unrecognizable shape and for draped over it by workers, ere dousing the nets in green, brown, and gray paint What were the workers to do with the harder-to-cover -- though also harder to spot from the air -- spires of Peter and Paul’s Cathedral and the Ad they remained in full luminescent view
Before she left work, Tatiana scrubbed her hands and face until they glistened, then stood in front of the hly brushed out her hair, leaving it long and down Thisshe had put on a wraparound floral print skirt and a blue blouse with short sleeves and white buttons As she checked herself in the mirror, she couldn’t decide -- did she look twelve or thirteen? Whose kid sister was she? Oh, yes, Dasha’s Please be waiting forout
She hurried to the bus stop, and there was Alexander, his cap in his hands, waiting for her
"I like your hair, Tania," he said, s
"Thank you," she muttered "I wish I didn’t srease"
"Oh, no," he said, rolling his eyes "You weren’t hed
They looked at the sulky, overworked croaiting for the bus and then at each other and together said, "Tra the street
"At least we’re still working," Tatiana said lightly "Pravda says things are not so good ork in your America these days Full employment here in the Soviet Union, Alexander"
"Yes," Alexander said, leaning into her as they walked "There is no unemployment in the Soviet Union or in the Dart, Tatiana wanted to call him a subversive but didn’t
While they waited for the tra" He handed her a package wrapped in brown paper "I know Monday was your birthday But I didn’t have a chance before today"
"What is it?" Sincerely surprised, she took the package fro his voice, he said, "In Aiven presents for your birthday, you’re supposed to open them and say thank you"
Tatiana nervously looked down at the present "Thank you" Gifts were not soifts? Unheard of, even when they came wrapped only in plain brown paper
"No Open first Then say thank you"
She smiled "What do I do? Do I take the paper off?"
"Yes You tear it off"
"And then what?"
"And then you throw it away"
"The whole present or just the paper?"
Slowly he said, "Just the paper"
"But you wrapped it so nicely Why would I throw it away?"
"It’s just paper"
"If it’s just paper, why did you wrap it?"
"Will you please open erly Tatiana tore open the paper Inside were three books -- one hefty hardcover collection by Aleksandr Pushkin called The Bronze Horseman and Other Poems, and two smaller books, one by a man she’d never heard of, named John Stuart Mill; the book was called On Liberty It was in English The last one was an English-Russian dictionary
"English-Russian?" Tatiana said, sht think I speak no English Was this yours from when you came here?"
"Yes," he said "And without it you won’t be able to read Mill"
"Thank you so much for all of them," she said
"The Bronze Horseave it to me a feeeks before they came for her"
Tatiana didn’t knohat to say "I love Pushkin" Very quietly
"I thought you ht All Russians do"
"Do you knohat the poet Maikov wrote about Pushkin?"
"No," Alexander said
Flustered by his eyes, Tatiana tried to remember the lines "He saidlet’s seeHis sounds do not seem made in this world’s fashionas if pervaded with his deathless leavenAll earthly stuff -- euish, passion -- had been transmuted to the stuff of heaven"
"All earthly stuff -- euish, passion -- had been transmuted to the stuff of heaven," Alexander repeated
Tatiana turned red and looked down the street Where was that tram? "Have you ever read Pushkin yourself?" she asked in a tiny voice
"Yes, I have read Pushkinpaper out of her hands and throwing it away " ‘The Bronze Horseman’ isup at him wondrously "There was a time, our memories keep its horrors fresh and near us, of this a tale now suffer rievous story it will be"
"Tania, you quote from Pushkin like a true Russian"
"I am a true Russian"
Their tram arrived
At the Russian Museum, Alexander asked, "Would you like to walk a bit?"
Tatiana couldn’t say no even if she wanted to
Even if she wanted to
They walked toward the Field of Mars
"Do you ever work?" she asked him "Dimitri is off on ?"
"Yes, I stay behind," Alexander said with a grin, "and teach the rest of the soldiers how to play poker"
"Poker?"
"It’s an Aame Someday maybe I’ll teach you how to play Also, I’ve been deputized as the officer in charge of all recruit of the People’s Volunteer Army I’m on duty fro froht" He paused
Tatiana knew That must be when Dasha went to see hietto last I suspect not long I’arrison to protect the city That’s my post When we run out of men at the front, that’s e’ll send ht "Where are we going?"
"To Letniy Sad -- the Summer Garden But wait" Alexander stopped not far fro the Field of Mars, were soet us some dinner"
"Dinner?"
"Yes, for your birthday We’ll have a birthday dinner" He offered to bring her some bread and meat "Maybe I can even find some caviar" He smiled "As a true Russian, Tania, you like caviar, don’t you?"
"M not to sound too teasing, unsure hoould like it "Aren’t I going to perhaps need so store
"If you need to light soht it on the eternal flame in the Field of Mars We walked past it last Sunday, remember?"
She remembered "Can’t touch that bold Bolshevik flaious"
Alexander laughed "Sohts off Is that sacrilegious? Besides, I thought there was no God"
Tatiana gazed up at hiht There is no God"
"Of course not," he said "We are in Communist Russia We’re all atheists"
Tatiana remembered a joke "Comrade One says to Comrade Two, ‘How is the potato crop this year?’ Coood With God’s help the crop will reach all the way to His feet’ Co? You know the Party says there is no God’ Comrade Two says, ‘There’s no potatoes either’ "
Alexander laughed "You are so right about the potatoes There aren’t any Now, go on," he said "Wait on the bench for ht back"
She walked across the street and sank down onto the bench She s, caressed the books he had given her, and ith--
What was she doing? She was so tired, she wasn’t thinking Alexander should not be here with her
He should be here with Dasha I know that for a fact, Tatiana thought, because if Dasha asksup, Tatiana began to walk ahen she heard Alexander calling her "Tania!"
He cas "Where are you going?"
She didn’t have to say anything He saw her face
"Tania," Alexander said amiably, "I promise, I will just feed you and send you hos in one hand, he placed the other hand on her hair "It’s for your birthday Coo, and she knew it Did Alexander know it, too? That was even worse Did he knohat a bind she found herself in, what unspeakable flux of feeling and confusion?
They crossed the Field of Mars on their way to the Sulowed in the sunlight, though it was nearly nine o’clock in the evening
The Su place for them
Alexander and Tatiana couldn’t find an e paths, the Greek statues, the towering elled rose branches all
As they walked, her head was lowered
They finally found a spot near the statue of Saturn It was not the ideal place for theht, since Saturn’sa child into it with derelict zeal
Alexander had brought a little vodka and soht a jar of black caviar and a bar of chocolate Tatiana was quite hungry Alexander told her to have all the caviar She protested at first, but not vigorously After she had eatenthe caviar out with the sht, she handed him the rest "Please," she said, "finish it I insist"
She had a gulp of vodka straight from the bottle and shuddered involuntarily; she hated vodka but didn’t want hihed at her shuddering, taking the bottle fro "Listen, you don’t have to drink it I brought it to celebrate your birthday Forgot the glasses, though"
He was spread out all over the bench and sitting conspicuously close If she breathed, a part of her would touch a part of him Tatiana was too overwhelhtly lit well inside her
"Tania?" Alexander asked gently "Tania, is the food all right?"
"Yes, fine" After a s, she said, "I mean, it’s very nice, thank you"
"Do you want so eye as best she could when he asked her, "Have you ever had tooup "I o Gulped down half a liter or so Had to be taken to the children’s ward of Grechesky Hospital"
"Two? Not since?" His leg accidentally touched hers
Tatiana blushed "No, not since" She ed the subject to the Gerh, then talk a little about as happening at the garrison But when Alexander was the only one talking, Tatiana was able to gaze at hi around his face She noticed his dark stubble, and she wanted to ask him if he was ever clean-shaven but decided it was too forward and didn’t The stubble was most pronounced around his mouth, where the black frame of the facial hair htly chipped side tooth but didn’t do that either She wanted to ask hi look in his ice cream eyes
She wanted to slish?"
"Yes, I speak English I don’t get to practice I haven’t spoken it since my mother and father--" He broke off
With a shake of her head, Tatiana said, "No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to -- I only wanted to know if you knew any words you could teach htly that Tatiana felt as if all the blood in her body had rushed to her cheeks "Tania, ords," he asked slowly, "would you like lish?"
She couldn’t answer hied "How about vodka?"
"Oh, well, that’s easy," he said "It’s vodka" And laughed