That was all he said, but Vlad felt that he understood. He was about to reluctantly suggest that they’d better get moving again, although he couldn’t help thinking that it was plain ridiculous to have absolutely no idea about where they were going to.
Anton’s head swung away from the music, just as there was a clicking sound from only a couple of feet away, followed by a voice that whispered as loud as it dared, ‘Identify yourselves!’
Vlad, in his confusion, could not think of a single word to say. Was he to give his name, but who would know him here? Or was he to give a military number? But none of them had been given any number, or maybe they had and he had just forgotten it.
Feeling utterly panicked, Vlad wanted to hug Leo when his friend stated quite calmly and proudly, ‘We’re new recruits, just arrived a few hours ago.’
Yes, thought Vlad, that’s the answer. Of course it is.
Anton, on the other hand, was shocked at Leo’s decision to immediately cooperate with the voice. ‘It could be Germans,’ he said, louder than he’d intended.
‘Huh!’ a second voice pouted. ‘Aren’t your mamas lucky that we’re not. You’d all be lying dead on the ground otherwise. What do you fools think you’re doing, standing around like this?’
To the boys’ amazement, yet another voice joined in, at their expense, ‘They must think that they’ve time to do a bit of sight-seeing. You know, tourists first, soldiers second?’
‘Okay, okay. That’s enough!’ The first voice sounded impatient. ‘Where are you boys headed?’
Embarrassed for the three of them, Vlad answered truthfully, ‘Er… we don’t actually know.’ Before the shadows could start making fun of them again, he quickly added, ‘We’ve just crossed the Volga, under fire, and when we reached here we were still under fire so we hid in the first place we came across, to wait until things quietened down.’
No one laughed, the two jokers obviously obeying their boss, who appeared to welcome the recruits’ lack of direction. ‘Right then, you can come with us. Isn’t it lucky we bumped into you? You’re exactly what I need.’
Anton brightened up considerably, glad to be part of something again, whatever it was, and muttered to his friends, ‘Thank goodness for that!’
Vlad felt Leo’s reluctance to leave the music behind but reckoned he had to agree with Anton. Following these strangers up a street was so much better than nothing at all, which was all they’d done so far.
One of their new companions commented, ‘That bloody piano gives me the creeps.’
His comrade called him a fool. ‘You and your ghost stories!’
Vlad wanted to ask the men what they meant but felt it would be over-stepping the mark when they had only just met.
The second man groaned, ‘Seriously, Viktor, why – no, I mean, how on earth could anyone be playing a piano in a place like this?’
‘No! You mean, at a time like this,’ scolded their boss, who seemed a most particular man. ‘This city is famous for her orchestras.’
There was a grudging silence for a few steps, until Leo stated quietly, ‘There is no evil without good.’ It was a well-known Russian proverb. Who knows if he realised that his five assorted companions agreed with him wholeheartedly for not one of them said a single word.
TANYA HAS A SECRET
Peter and Yuri were lying side by side in the basement. Mrs Karmanova was snoring a few feet away from them. Tanya wasn’t home yet. The two candles were lit, throwing shadowy waves across the wall. Yuri wondered what time it was; it felt late and there was an unpleasant chill in the air.
There had been a tug of war with the blankets, Yuri having to drag them back over himself every time Peter moved, which was frequently. Once again, Peter changed position and Yuri was left without cover. Raising himself up on his elbow so that he could peer down at the small figure, he addressed him in a stern whisper, ‘Peter…!’
‘Shush, he’s asleep.’
‘Tanya!’ Yuri exclaimed out loud, and then reddened with shame when he saw the expression of annoyance on her face. Fortunately, neither Peter nor her mother stirred.
It would have been far worse if he had woken Mrs Karmanova. These days she never stopped whining to her daughter about every little thing. She was worse than Peter, when she got going, ‘Tanya, I’m so hungry’, ‘Tanya, why is the bread so hard?’ and ‘Tanya, do you not love your mother anymore, you never smile at me.’ It was like the mother had become the child. Yuri had caught Tanya rolling her eyes more than once, when she came home from the factory, tired out, to her mother who immediately wanted to be entertained or minded. Some days Tanya managed to find a little vodka for her mother. This helped her relax and usually sent her happily off to sleep, allowing her daughter some time to herself.
As young and innocent as he was, it had occurred to Yuri that Tanya was looking if not exactly unhappy, then maybe a little impatient. At least, tonight, he had a present for her. He got up from where he was lying, careful not to knock Peter awake. ‘I brought you bread that was only baked today. We got it from some women who are living underground.’
Tanya took it from him, broke it in half, pushed a bit into her mouth and chewed where she stood.
He waited in vain for her to ask about the women. The annoyed expression was still there, so he searched around for something to say. He would have preferred a cheerful topic, but the bread was the only good thing that had happened. Still, he was desperate to talk to her, so he went for the other big event, ‘When Peter and I were with the women three German soldiers arrived. They had smelt the bread, just like us.’
‘Oh,’ was all she said.
He couldn’t understand her lack of interest. They were in a city being invaded and destroyed by Germans, yet none of them, as far as he knew, had actually met one – and certainly not three in one go. ‘Well, yes,’ he said huffily, thinking, maybe she thinks I’m making up stuff to show off. Feeling a little insulted, he continued, ‘They swapped horse meat for bread. One of them could speak Russian.’ He stopped to consider if he should mention the awful story they had heard. Normally he wouldn’t have considered repeating it, but her silence provoked him. ‘Yeah, he told us that they weren’t Nazis; they were only German soldiers. Isabella, one of the women, told me there was a difference.’
Still, Tanya said nothing.
So, he jumped to the heart of the story, suddenly blurting out, ‘They killed a load of babies and children. Well, they didn’t actually do it, not those three, but they didn’t stop it from happening.’
There, she was looking at him now. Panicked at possibly upsetting her, he rushed on, ‘They just wanted the war to end so they can go home. They said there were lots of German soldiers who felt the same.’
Her eyes filled with tears. He was ashamed at what he had done, but assumed she was crying for the dead babies, and, because of that, was unprepared for her saying, ‘Yes, Yuri. You see, they’re not all bad. They’re just doing a job for someone else, same as us.’
Having no idea what to say to this, he nodded his head ever so slightly.
She made an attempt at a smile, but that was all. Her face was pale, with dark shadows like bruises beneath her eyes.
‘Are you feeling alright?’ he ventured, unsure of what he was allowed to ask.
Ignoring his question, she stared straight at him and asked one of her own, ‘Can I trust you, Yuri? I mean, really trust you?’