“I don’t need anything.”
“I know, it’s just that your doctor told me you’ve got some kind of pain and I thought I could find something like a painkiller for you.”
“I don’t need anything.”
“As you wish. I am just trying to be helpful, being kind of close to you.”
“I don’t need anything.”
Paata stood up, smiled and the investigator called the guard. When they were taking him out of the room, the investigator was still talking to him, but Paata wasn’t listening anymore, instead he concentrated on his pain.
It had bothered him since dinner yesterday, if what they fed him could be called dinner. But Paata was thinking about something else. He was wondering how the investigator could have known about his aches if Paata hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. Once in the cell, he decided to ask to see a physician. As expected, he had no painkillers, especially for this particular pain…
When they told Gega he was being taken for questioning again, he looked so delighted that the guard was genuinely surprised. He strode down the passage so hurriedly that the guard even reprimanded him several times, but Gega only thought of the wall where Tina’s answer was waiting for him at the interrogation room. When they ordered him to stand at that wall, his heartbeat quickened just like back on their first date.
Next to the two English words he had written several days ago, there were small, but legible, letters beginning the exact verse from The Knight In The Panther’s Skin that Tina had once read aloud to Gega: “Here I sit in prison.” Gega, right then, quickly inscribed the continuation “so tall…”
At the interrogation, he didn’t listen at all to the investigator, who had been replaced again, and was quite elderly this time. He found himself thinking of the night when they were at the seaside house and Tina had taken The Knight in The Panther’s Skin from a bookshelf.
They were lying very close to the window, where they could look out at the sea, and that night the moon was so big and bright they didn’t even need to light a candle to read. It had been Tina’s idea:
“I’ll open The Knight in The Panther’s Skin with my eyes closed, and read out whatever passage I happen to see. Then you’ll do the same, put your finger on one of the pages and read.”
Now, in the interrogation room, Gega clearly remembered that Tina had come upon exactly this line the very first time she opened the book: “Here I sit in prison so tall…”
The investigator, meanwhile, wondered why this prisoner charged with the gravest crime, and facing the death penalty, had such a happy face. He was totally unaware it was the happiest day for Gega because he was finally convinced that Tina was alive. She was well, and most importantly she wasn’t alone. There were the two of them: Tina and their unborn baby. Gega didn’t know exactly which cell his wife and their unborn child were in, but the main thing for him was that they were alive. During questioning, he only thought about when it would end, hoping he would have enough time to write a few more words on that walclass="underline" our baby or hello to the little one or take care of the baby…
Gega thought about Tina stroking her belly, how her beautiful fingers touched where a new human was already growing…
Meanwhile, the investigator welcomed the prisoner’s unusually good mood, as he couldn’t have asked for a better moment to tell Gega the news.
“At the trial, you have to confirm that the airplane hijacking was arranged by the monk.”
“Why?”
“Because he was the real organizer of the hijacking.”
“I’ve already told the investigation that it is absurd. It is impossible for a person to lead something which he categorically opposes.”
“The investigation knows everything and it’s already proven with solid evidence that he was the organizer. The monk himself also says he directed everything.”
“Then what do you want from me?”
“It’s necessary for one of you to confirm the same at the hearing.”
“Why me? I didn’t know him at all.”
“That doesn’t matter to us. The main thing is for one of you to confirm that it was precisely the monk who was the organizer and it’s easiest for you to do it.”
“Why me?”
“Because your wife is expecting a baby and, according to the Soviet law, a pregnant woman cannot be imprisoned.”
“You’ve never observed the law, so why start now?”
“We’ve always observed the law and will observe it now too.”
“So you will free my wife?”
“We do not free terrorists!”
“I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?”
“I think I’ve told you clearly, so you should understand that the fate of your future child depends on what testimony you intend to give at the hearing…”
“If I don’t say what you want me to, what happens?”
“Nothing son. It’s up to you what you choose to say. I only advise you, like I’d do for my own son, that you should confirm the monk was the organizer and…”
“What if I don’t confirm it?”
“As I’ve already said nothing is going to happen. It’ll still be proven that the monk was the leader of your criminal gang, but your testimony would be of additional help to us.”
“What if I can’t help you?”
“Then we can’t help you either and I think you must understand, as it is, that a pregnant woman needs special care in prison.”
“Yes, but they are fine, right?”
“So far they are, but you know what prison conditions are like. Things can happen any minute that might…”
“That my wife may lose the baby?”
“I haven’t said that, but you should know that no one will release a terrorist and a plane hijacker, even a pregnant woman.”
“But the child has not done anything wrong, right? It isn’t even born yet.”
“That’s what I’m telling you. Their fate depends on you.”
“If my wife and child are going to be alright, I’ll say anything the investigation and the court needs.”
“That’s because you are smart. Why should so many people sacrifice their lives for that scum of a monk?”
The pleased investigator continued, but Gega wasn’t listening anymore. His mind was solely with the wall where he had to write two more words. He actually managed three: mind the baby…
Back in his cell, he thought about the investigator’s words and how he would give the exact testimony demanded of him so it would save the baby. The main thing for him now was to hope the baby was born before the trial. Then, Gega could tell the truth, say everything. He could not confirm what they demanded of him since it was a lie: the monk was completely innocent and had not even been on the plane. This was why Gega would tell the truth. But he would do this only after his baby was born, with loud screams in one of the prison cells. It would be born like all babies are born, when their lungs fill with air for the first time.
Little did Gega know that those preparing to sentence him were far more cold-blooded than he could have ever imagined. No one could have imagined what lengths the authorities would go to, even in such a ruthless country…
The Verdict
The first unofficial verdict was passed before the trial and executed at night, only after the authorities finally became convinced that Gega would not publicly give the testimony that suited their interests.
For them, the problem of Tina’s pregnancy was more important than Gega’s testimony, since trying a pregnant woman could cause broad public compassion and pity towards the hijackers and the Soviet authorities really could not permit that. The Central Committee also considered that if the baby was born before the trial, it would cause additional problems for the government, so they quickly made the decision and carried it out that very night.