Life And Fate

'As for what you say about the Kalmyks,' said Darensky, 'I couldn't agree more. I've just been in the Kalmyk steppe myself. I can tell you – I've had enough of driving through all these Shebeners and Kicheners.'

What made him say that? He had spent a long time in the steppes and never once felt the least antipathy toward the Kalmyks. On the contrary, he had felt a genuine interest in their customs and way of life.

It was as if the commissar was endowed with some magnetic power. Darensky felt a need to agree with everything he said. Novikov looked at him with a mocking smile; he knew Getmanov's power only too well.

'I know you've suffered injustice in your time,' said Getmanov to Darensky unexpectedly. 'But don't you go nursing a grudge against us Bolsheviks. What we want is the good of the people.'

Darensky, who had always thought that military commissars did nothing but spread confusion, said: 'But of course. How could I fail to understand that?'

'Certainly there have been times when we've gone too far,' Getmanov continued. 'But the people will pardon us. They will! We're good fellows. And we mean well. Isn't that so?'

Novikov gave the two men a friendly look and said: 'Don't you think we've got a fine commissar?'

'You have indeed,' said Darensky.

'That's right,' said Getmanov. They all three began to laugh.

As though reading the thoughts of the two officers, Getmanov looked at his watch and said: 'Well, I'm going to go and lie down. I should be able to get a decent night's sleep for once. We're like gypsies – always on the road. It's ten days since I've taken off my boots. Where's the chief of staff? Is he asleep?'

'Asleep!' said Novikov. 'He's already taking a look at our new quarters. We'll be off again in the morning.'

Novikov and Darensky were left on their own.

'You know,' said Darensky, 'there's one thing I've never quite managed to understand… Not long ago I was in the sands near the Caspian. I felt very depressed. I felt it was the end of everything. And then what? I find we've achieved this. What power! What does anything else matter beside this?'

'As for me,' said Novikov, 'I'm really beginning to understand what we Russians can do. We're a fierce breed. We're real wolves.'

'What power!' repeated Darensky. 'And the important thing is this: under the leadership of the Bolsheviks we Russians are the vanguard of humanity. Everything else is just an insignificant detail.'

'I'll tell you what,' said Novikov. 'Would you like me to ask again to have you transferred here? You could be the deputy chief of staff. We'd be fighting shoulder to shoulder again. How about it?'

'Thank you,' said Darensky. 'Who would I be deputy to?'

'General Nyeudobnov. That's as it should be – a lieutenant-colonel as deputy to a general.'

'Nyeudobnov? The one who was abroad just before the war? In Italy?'

'That's right. He's no Suvorov, but it's possible to work with him.'

Darensky didn't say anything. Novikov looked at him. 'Well?'

Darensky put his hand up to his mouth and pulled up his upper lip.

'See these crowns?' he said. 'That's Nyeudobnov's work. He knocked out two teeth of mine when he was interrogating me in 1937.'

They looked at each other, didn't say anything, and looked at each other again.

'A very competent man,' said Darensky. 'Certainly.'

'Of course,' said Novikov with an ironic smile. 'After all, he's not one of those Kalmyks. He's a Russian!'

'And now let's have a real drink,' he bellowed. 'Let's drink like Russians!'

Darensky had never drunk so much in his life. Nevertheless, but for the two empty bottles on the table, no one would have guessed quite how much the two men had accounted for. They were now addressing each other as 'ty'.

As he refilled the glasses for the hundredth time, Novikov said: 'Come on! Don't hold back now!'

For once, Darensky didn't hold back.

They talked about the first days of the war and the retreat, about Blucher and Tukhachevsky, about Zhukov. Darensky spoke about his interrogation.

Novikov told Darensky how he'd delayed for a few minutes at the very beginning of the offensive. He didn't tell him how very mistaken he'd been concerning his brigade commanders. Their talk turned to the Germans. Novikov said how he'd thought the summer of 1941 would have hardened him for ever. But, as soon as he'd seen the first columns of prisoners, he'd given orders to improve their rations and to have anyone wounded or frostbitten taken to the rear by truck.

'Just now your commissar and I were abusing the Kalmyks,' said Darensky. 'And we were quite right. But it's a pity your Nyeudobnov isn't here. I'd like to have a few words with him. Yes, I certainly would.'

'And were there no collaborators among the Russians in Kursk and Orel?' asked Novikov. 'What about General Vlasov? He's hardly a Kalmyk. As for my Basangov – he's a fine soldier. And Nyeudobnov's a Chekist. He's not a soldier at all. My commissar told me that. But we Russians are going to conquer. Yes, I'll get to Berlin myself. The Germans will never be able to stop us now.'

'I know about Nyeudobnov and Yezhov and all that,' said Darensky. 'But there's only one Russia now – Soviet Russia. And even if they knock out every one of my teeth, that won't change my love for Russia. I'll love Russia till my dying day. But I won't be deputy to a prostitute like that. No, comrade, you must be joking!'

Novikov poured out some more vodka. 'Come on! Don't hold back!'

Then he said: 'But who knows what else will happen? One day I'll be in disgrace myself.'

Changing the subject again, he said:

'A horrible thing happened the other day. A driver had his head blown off but he still had his foot on the accelerator. The tank drove on. Forward! Forward!'

'Your commissar and I were abusing the Kalmyks,' said Darensky. 'But there's one old Kalmyk I just can't get out of my head. How old's that Nyeudobnov? How about driving to your new quarters and paying him a visit?'

'I've been granted a great happiness.' said Novikov in a thick, drawling voice. 'The greatest of all happinesses.'

He took a photograph out of his pocket and passed it to Darensky. Darensky looked at it for a long time. 'Yes, she's a real beauty.'

'Beauty?' said Novikov. 'Who cares about beauty? No one could love a woman like I do just for her beauty.'

Vershkov appeared in the doorway. He looked at Novikov questioningly.

'Get the hell out of here!' said Novikov very slowly.

'Why treat him like that?' said Darensky. 'He just wanted to know if you needed him for anything.'

'All right, all right… But I can be a swine too. And I don't need you to tell me how to behave. And why are you calling me "ty" anyway? You're just a lieutenant-colonel.'

'So it's like that, is it?'

'Don't you know how to take a joke?' said Novikov, thinking to himself that it was a good thing Zhenya hadn't yet seen him drunk.

'I don't know how to take stupid jokes,' said Darensky.

They went on wrangling for a long time. They only made peace when Novikov suggested driving to their new quarters and giving Nyeudobnov a good whipping. Needless to say, they didn't drive anywhere at all but just went on drinking.

30

Alexandra Vladimirovna received three letters all on the same day: one from each of her two daughters and one from her granddaughter Vera. She guessed by the handwriting who these letters were from, and sensed immediately that they contained bad news. Many years of experience had taught her that children don't write to their mothers just to share their joys.

Each letter contained an invitation to come and stay: with Lyudmila in Moscow, with Zhenya in Kuibyshev, with Vera in Leninsk. This made Alexandra Vladimirovna still more certain that the three women were in trouble.