She had talked to Svetka about all this one day in winter. The latter, spinning her hula hoop furiously, said to her: "The main thing, Olya, you know, is not to let yourself go. You haven't got there yet. Do you remember Chekhov's story, 'The Eel'…? There it is, already caught by the gills but it gives a flick of its tail and, presto! it heads for the open sea… Now, listen carefully to my advice: get them to invite your father. He's a Hero, after all. Get him to put on ah his medals and take him along to your future parents-in-law. So it'll be a bit like a family gathering already… Well, what's embarrassing about that? The only embarrassing thing in the whole world is trying to put your pants on over your head. Go for it! I know them, these little diplomats… they're as slippery as eels. Don't believe it's happened till you've got the stamp on your passport."
She stopped spinning and the hula hoop slipped lazily to her feet. Picking up the tape measure she measured her waist.
"Oh, for heaven's sake! I just can't work off all those goodies from the New Year! That's right, laugh. Go ahead and make fun of a poor, sick old woman. I find you a fiance and you don't even thank me! Once you're married you "won't know me anymore. You'll be driving around in a limousine with your little spouse. But I don't care. By then my Vovka will have become a general in Afghanistan. We'll be just as good as you… Right, I must get spinning again, otherwise the capitalists won't love me anymore."
In the morning Olya went off to work and Ivan spent the whole day strolling about Moscow. He felt like an impressive retired officer ambling with a measured tread along the springtime streets. The passersby eyed his Gold Star and people gave up their seats to him on the subway. Sitting on a bench in the park he would have liked to get into conversation with someone and quite by chance mention his daughter. Here's how it had happened. The two of them had been simple workers and their daughter was such a highflier that now she was working with foreign diplomats.
He would have liked to tell how they had bought his suit, talk about her future parents-in-law, about the leather wallet she had given him. Within its fragrant folds he had found a hundred-ruble note. "That's for your meals, Dad," Olya had explained. "I don't have time to cook lunch for you…"
One day walking past the Bolshoi Theater, he had overhead a conversation between two women who had a provincial look about them.
"No chance, I've asked. Because of Victory Day they're only selling tickets to veterans. And foreigners, of course, who pay in currency."
"Maybe you need to grease the administrator's palm," said the other one.
"Oh sure. Then he'll sell us some! You bet. I guess he's desperate for our crumpled old rubles!"
Near the Bolshoi box office, across the square from the Kremlin, Ivan saw an enormous buzzing crowd, seething angrily. It began in the tunnel leading from the subway, stretched up the staircase and spilled out into the open toward the glass doors of the box office.
"It's always like this," grumbled one woman. "You come to Moscow once in a lifetime, and what happens? All the tickets go to the veterans!"
"What do you mean – the veterans?" someone else cut in. "Everything's put on one side, to be sold at three times the price."
"That's all poppycock. What they're after is foreign currency. There's no oil left, so they're selling culture!" shouted a third from the heart of the throng.
Unbuttoning his raincoat so his Star could be seen, Ivan threaded his way toward the box office. "I'll give Olya a surprise," he thought happily. "I'll come home and say in an offhand way: Why don't we go to the theater this evening? To the Bolshoi, perhaps?' She'll be amazed. 'But how? We'll never get any tickets.' And then, with a wave of my wand, 'Never get any?' says I. 'Look, here they are.' "
Outside the crowd was pressing against a metal barrier, beside which stood three militiamen. Seeing the Hero's Gold Star, they opened the barrier a little and let Ivan through toward the box office. There, in front of the doors that were still shut, a few dozen veterans had gathered. Ivan studied the rows of decorations on the lapels of their jackets and even noticed a couple of Gold Stars on one of them. Several of them looked as if they had been waiting for a long while and, to pass the time, they were telling one another about their war experiences. The sky had been overcast since the morning and now damp snow was falling, brought on by an icy wind. People shivered, turned up their coat collars. Near the door stood a disabled man in a worn overcoat, all hunched up, supported on his single leg.
"Hey there, old guard!" called out Ivan. "What are we waiting here for? Aren't there any more tickets?"
"We're waiting to be called," came the reply. "At midday they'll count us again and let us in."
And indeed at noon precisely the door opened and a sleepy woman with a discontented air announced: "There are a hundred and fifty tickets on sale. The rule is two tickets per person, which means one for the veteran and one for a member of his family. Those who've got numbered tickets form a line. The others, go to the back."
Large snowflakes were falling and a bitter wind was blowing. Not far away, emerging from the gates of the Kremlin, came a cavalcade of official cars, as long and gleaming as pianos. And there stood the crowd, thrust back by the barriers and the militiamen, a crowd awaiting a miracle and eyeing the veterans with fierce jealousy, as they formed into line.
"Thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three…" mumbled the drowsy woman in haughty tones.
And the old men, giving a start, bustled up and hastily took their places in the column.
"Is this what we spilled our blood for?" called out a mocking voice in front of Ivan.
Looking more closely Ivan saw the face of a man of the people crinkled up in a smile. It was the disabled man who stood several places in front of him. The face struck him as familiar.
Ivan ended up as number sixty-two. He received two tickets for The Stone Guest. Emerging from the crowd, he went into the tunnel and headed for the subway. Passing a dark corner near some broken-down vending machines, he once more noticed the disabled veteran. Confronting him were two smartly dressed young men passing remarks at him while interrupting each other. Ivan stopped and pricked up his ears. Grasping the old man by the lapel, one of them barked at him sneeringly: "Listen, Pops, don't try to get smart with us. We don't want the prices to go sky high, do we? You always sell them for five rubles. Why are you screwing us around? Take ten and fuck off and buy a bottle. You're never going to find a anyone who'll give you fifteen, you old crook. They're not even in the orchestra."
"Well, in that case, I'm not selling them. You can take it or leave it," replied the veteran.
He swung around on his crutches and tried to move away. But one of them pushed him toward the vending machines and seized his collar.
"Now listen to me, you goddamned Hero of Borodino. I'm going to smash your goddamned crutches for you. You'll have to crawl home."
Ivan went up to them and asked in conciliatory tones: "Now then, what's going on? Why are you young fellows badgering this old soldier?"
One of the fellows, rolling his chewing gum around in his mouth took a step toward Ivan.