Gone by Nightfall

by Dee Garretson

  “We came up with a good way to keep them occupied,” Miles said. “They brought a kitten over from the next-door stable cat’s litter to be a ‘friend’ for Bobik, but we let them bring it inside for a while and told them they could play in the attic. They’ll be busy for hours. The twins are convinced it’s a girl and there is going to be a continuous supply of kittens and they asked a lot of questions about how the kittens got born. Poor Dmitri.”

  I turned to Dmitri. “They asked you?” I felt my face get very red.

  “Um, they did.” Dmitri’s face was a bit red too. “I explained it in a very scientific way. I don’t think they understood a word I said.”

  “Done!” Hap called. “And if I do say so myself, it’s perfect.”

  He was right. I couldn’t tell a single difference. “It is perfect. All right, first thing tomorrow, we go get all the papers and stamps we need; then we’ll go to the train station and wait for a train going in the right direction.” It sounded easy as I said it, but I suspected it was not going to be easy at all.

  The rest of the evening was a whirlwind of packing and eating and preparing food to take with us. I was amazed I managed to convince both the twins and Stepan that Papa was just going on a short visit to Estonia before he met up with us. It was better if we all pretended that. The twins cried when I told them they couldn’t take the new kitten, and they cried again when we took the kitten out to the carriage house and made it a bed.

  “But she will be cold,” Sophie said.

  “We’ve made her a nice bed. She lived outside at the neighbor’s house, didn’t she?” I knew the more time the twins spent with the kitten, the more attached they’d get, and the harder they’d cry when we left. It was an adorable little thing, gray and white with a sweet little face. They named it Musya, and it had the cutest meow ever.

  By the time everything was ready, I fell into bed. I was glad I was so tired. I knew what tomorrow meant. I’d have to say goodbye to Dmitri. It had been in the back of my mind ever since I’d made the decision to go. There was no other choice. I was strong enough to let him go. I had to be. And I’d be able to remember the time we had together. I’d never think of Russia again without thinking of Dmitri.

  I had hoped to leave the house before Maria and her comrades arrived, but they were there very early. She was aggrieved that we weren’t going to be living in the attic, and especially aggrieved that Osip wasn’t there to help move things. She tried to order Dmitri and Hap around, but they ignored her.

  At one point I thought I had lost the twins, only to have Hap tell me they’d gone to say goodbye to Musya. We had so much luggage, Hap went to hire a cart. I was about to send Nika to find Sophie when Sophie came downstairs carrying a basket full of dolls. I looked at the pile of luggage we already had and shook my head.

  “We can’t take anything else, Sophie, and you don’t even play with dolls.”

  “I do now,” Sophie said, hugging the basket to her. Her lower lip trembled. I heard Hap shout that the cart was here.

  “All right, but you take one and Nika take one. We don’t need the basket.”

  “We do!” Sophie said. “It’s their bed and they’ll be sad if we leave any behind.”

  Hap came through the door. “Let’s go,” he said. “I had to pay that fellow a lot of money.”

  “Please, Lottie!” Nika begged.

  “All right, bring the basket and let’s go.” At least they weren’t begging to take the kitten along.

  I thought I’d cry again when I shut the door behind us for the last time, but I was too keyed up about trying to get all the documents we needed. I knew I’d have time later to be sad.

  I didn’t look back as we drove away, afraid I’d break down if I did. Cities don’t disappear, I told myself. It will still be here when we come back.

  It was chaos at the embassy, as Dmitri had predicted. The person behind the desk was not the same as on my earlier visit. This time it was a much younger man who seemed completely frazzled. When I told him what we wanted, he blanched. “I don’t know how to do that,” he said. “I haven’t had a case where there was a change in the head of the family. Where’s your father?” He looked between me and Hap and Miles. “I can certainly see you three at least have the same father.” Pointing at Stepan, he started to say something, but Miles held his hand up.

  “Both our father and our mother are dead,” Miles said. “We’re orphans. Look, all you have to do is fill out a new passport paper and leave off our mother’s name. Then you can get back to helping other people.” At that point Nika was leaning on the desk staring intently at the man. I knew she had noticed his nose because it was very thin, but the man didn’t know that that was the reason she was staring at him. I’m sure he found it a bit unnerving to be stared down by her.

  The man sighed. “I suppose since you are all here it will be all right. When I take it back for the consul to sign, he’ll come talk to you if there is a problem.” He counted heads and then pointed at Dmitri. “Who’s he?”

  “He’s a friend.” I put my arm around Stepan’s shoulders. “The rest of us are the Masons.”

  I felt Stepan tense up as if the man was somehow going to know I was lying, but instead he pulled a blank passport paper out of the drawer. “Who is the eldest?” he asked.

  “I am,” I said.

  “No, who is the eldest male?” he asked, giving an exasperated sigh. “I need a name for the person who is the head of the family.”

  “My mother was allowed to be the head of the family when we came to Russia,” I said. “And she wasn’t a man.”

  “She was a married, or rather divorced, woman. In that situation she would be the head of a family.” He looked down at the original form. “Which one of you is Miles?”

  “I am,” Miles said. “Can you hurry? We have places to go.”

  I wished Miles hadn’t said that. The man put down his pen. “You do, do you? I’m so sorry to inconvenience you.”

  “It’s just that we are trying to catch a train,” I said.

  The man crossed his arms. I was afraid he was going to find a reason to change his mind.

  “You have a nice nose,” Nika blurted out. “I’ve never seen one like that.”

  A look of bewilderment crossed the man’s face and then he smiled. “What did you say, little girl?”

  “I said you have a nice nose. A lot of people have ugly noses. My sister Lottie went skating with a boy who had a very ugly nose. I didn’t like him, but I think I like you.”

  A baby began to cry in the line behind us. “What’s the problem?” a man called.

  “Nothing, sir,” the man said, uncrossing his arms and picking up his pen again. I held my breath while we waited for him to get the consul to sign it, but when he came back, he just handed it to Miles. “Have a good journey,” he said, smiling again at Nika.

  The man at the exit-visa office was not the same one who had stamped Papa’s papers, but this one didn’t look up at us either. He gave us the stamps we needed.

  We climbed back in the cart and Hap shouted, “Yahoo!” drawing stares from everyone.

  “Better not call attention to yourself,” Dmitri warned. He’d been very quiet all morning. He took my hand and held it all the way to the station. I didn’t want to think about the next few hours.

  When we got there, the booking hall and the platforms were packed with people camped out surrounded by their luggage. I thought we had a lot, but other people had brought trunks painted with flowers that must have been used as blanket chests, old suitcases tied up with ropes, rolled-up mattresses, even samovars and a gramophone.

  Hap surveyed the crowd. “Let’s get all the luggage close to the train, and then we can get the tickets.” He led the way, weaving in and around groups.

  I was relieved the twins seemed intimidated by the crowds and stayed close without me needing to constantly check on them.

  Miles and I went to buy the tickets. I knew we’d have to show the passport pa
per with the exit visa to get them and I was worried there would be a problem, but once again, the man just glanced at it and then slid the tickets across to Miles. Miles put the paper and the tickets in his pocket. I thought about telling him not to lose them, but then I realized he’d know not to lose them. He didn’t need me nagging him.

  Once everyone was in one place, all we had to do was wait. Dmitri and I moved a few feet away, though there was no illusion of privacy. I was very aware that everyone else was staring at us.

  “I wish … I wish…,” I murmured, vowing to myself that I would not cry again.

  “I know,” he said, and then kissed me for all too short a time.

  The train whistle blew. “Oh, lovebirds!” Hap called out. “We need to go.”

  Dmitri started to say something. I put my fingers up to his lips. “Don’t,” I said. “It will only make it harder.”

  It was a rush to find a place on the train, and I was afraid the twins would be trampled, but between Dmitri and Hap we got them aboard safely and found a corner at the front of one third-class car. I dreaded the thought that we’d have to change trains in Moscow and move the luggage again. Dmitri gave me one more kiss, and when the whistle blew, he got off the train.

  “Look ahead, look ahead,” I whispered to myself.

  “Miles and I are going to try to find a better spot in a different car,” Hap said.

  I didn’t stop them, though I was sure every other car was just as packed as this one.

  Stepan pulled out one of his Dymkovo toys from his pocket and then another, lining them up on one of the food baskets. The twins sat down next to each other, whispering. The few words I caught were the baby language again. I wasn’t paying too much attention to them. I struggled to pick out Dmitri in the crowd, expecting to see him walking away from the train.

  Nika started to sing. “Come on, Sophie, sing too,” she said after a couple of lines. Sophie joined in. I had no idea why they were singing, but as long as they were happy, they could sing as much as they wanted.

  I peered out the window, thinking I would see Dmitri walking away, but instead he stood right by the car, looking up at me.

  I got up. “Stay right here, you three. Don’t move! Promise.” Stepan didn’t answer but Sophie nodded her head.

  I jumped back off the train and threw my arms around Dmitri. “I wanted a few more minutes.” He hugged me so tight I could hardly breathe, but I didn’t care.

  He murmured my name and then the train whistle blew again. I broke away from him and ran back to the train, not daring to look back. I knew we were leaving too many things unsaid.

  When I got back to our spot, it was empty. I stared at it as if the younger children had somehow turned invisible.

  Hap came through the door at the end of the car. “Lottie, there you are. Help us move all this. We found a better place two cars in front of us. Miles and Stepan are saving it for us.”

  “Where are the twins?” I said.

  “I thought they were with you.”

  “They were. I told them to stay right here. I got off to … to say goodbye to Dmitri.” I glanced all around the car. I didn’t see them anywhere. “Nika! Sophie!” I called out, trying not to panic.

  “They can’t have gone far,” Hap said.

  I moved down the aisle. “Did anyone see my sisters? Two little girls. Twins.”

  An old woman who was trying to knit looked up. “The little girls with the pretty hair? Their kitten jumped out of its basket and ran down the aisle. We all tried to catch it but it was a quick little thing. It got out the door at the other end of the car. They went to get it.”

  I shook my head. “My sisters don’t have a kitten.”

  “The little blond twins. Yes, they had a cat. It was dressed up in doll clothes. Cute little thing.”

  I wanted to scream. Instead I pounded my fist on the side of the car and then got back off the train. Hap followed me. I should have known. They hadn’t cried when they left the kitten.

  “They can’t have gone far,” the woman called.

  Dmitri was still there. Somehow he understood my babbling. “We’ll find them,” he said. “Better split up.”

  We fanned out in the crowd. I’d have thought the twins would be easy to spot with their blond hair and the two together, but there were little blond children all over the station.

  “Charlotte! Hap! I’ve got them,” Dmitri yelled. “I’ve got them! Get to the train and I’ll hand them up to you.”

  I heard the whistle again. I knew Dmitri couldn’t bring both of them, so when I saw him, I pushed my way through the crowd to meet them. Dmitri picked up Nika and I got Sophie, who was clutching the kitten. We ran as best we could, though we couldn’t go very fast. I saw Hap jump up onto the step as the train began to pull away.

  “Hurry!” Hap called. I stumbled, nearly falling down. Dmitri turned back.

  The train picked up speed. We weren’t going to make it. Hap made a motion like he was going to jump off.

  “No!” I yelled. “We’ll take a later train and meet you in Moscow! Stay with Miles and Stepan.”

  I set Sophie down. Dmitri let go of Nika. We watched the train pull away. Both twins began to cry.

  “We had to bring her!” Sophie said. “She’s too little to catch mice by herself.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to speak. Miles had the passport with the exit visa and the tickets. We had nothing. We were stuck. The twins kept babbling and crying but I ignored them.

  Dmitri put his arm around me. “We’ll think of something,” he murmured.

  “Yes,” I said, though I wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter Twenty

  AS I STARED down the tracks, I heard a voice. “Dmitri! Dmitri Antonovich!”

  I looked around to see a young man with a wispy beard and wire-framed glasses trying to get to us while he called out Dmitri’s name.

  When he finally made it through the crowds, he put his hand on Dmitri’s shoulder. “I’m glad I saw you. I thought you were going to leave a week ago.”

  “Some things came up,” Dmitri said. “Charlotte, this is a friend of mine from the university, Evgeni Kurnetsov. Evgeni, this is Charlotte Mason. And these are her sisters, Nika and Sophie.” The twins had fallen silent after realizing exactly how much trouble they’d put us in. It was a good choice because I was still so angry I didn’t want to speak to them.

  “You must be the girl with all the brothers,” Evgeni said. “I’ve heard all about you.”

  “You have?” At any other time I would have loved to know what Dmitri had told his friends about me. Dmitri looked uncomfortable for some reason, as if he hadn’t wanted to introduce me to his friend.

  “What are you doing here?” Dmitri asked.

  “An old friend of my parents is coming to stay with her daughter, and her daughter is ill, so they recruited me to meet her and help her navigate the crowds. What time is your train?” he asked Dmitri. “I am so glad you managed to get an exit visa. They came looking for you again today. For some reason you are high on their list.”

  “What? They? Who came looking for you?” I asked Dmitri.

  “The Red Militia,” Evgeni said. “I heard they were after your stepfather, too, Charlotte. We tried to convince them that Count Lieven had died in Paris and they couldn’t arrest a dead man in a different country, but somehow they learned there was a new Count Lieven. So how did you get an exit visa?” he asked Dmitri.

  Dmitri didn’t respond for a few moments. “I don’t have one,” he said finally. “I was here to see Charlotte and her family off, but we ran into some problems. I’ll get one later.”

  I was still taking in what Evgeni had said. Why hadn’t I realized that since Dmitri was now a count, he’d be on an arrest list just like Papa? They were looking for him too and he hadn’t said anything.

  “Oh, I think I see the woman,” Evgeni said. “Nice to meet you, Charlotte. Dmitri, if you need help, come see me. I don’t know what I can do, but I’ll try to
think of something.” He disappeared into the crowd.

  “You stayed for me and now you can’t get out?” I said, feeling like I was going to throw up. I wrapped my arms around myself so I could stay upright. “How could you?”

  “I didn’t plan it,” Dmitri replied. “I didn’t know they were going to go against the nobility like they did.”

  “What were you going to do once we left on the train?” I asked the question calmly but I wanted to scream instead. If they found him, they’d beat him just like the police had beaten Samuel, and then he’d be in prison, and then … and then …

  “I haven’t made a plan yet, but I will,” Dmitri said. “Let’s concentrate on getting you some new papers. I think you can go back and explain to someone at the embassy what happened. There’s no reason for them not to give you replacement documents.”

  Sophie was tugging on my sleeve. “Why can’t Dmitri leave? Why doesn’t he come with us?”

  “He is going to come with us,” I said. “I’m not leaving this city without him.” I turned to face him. “If you think I’m going to go and leave you to the mercy of these men, you don’t know me at all.”

  “Charlotte, there is nothing you can do,” he said.

  “Oh yes, there is. I mean it. We are not leaving the city without you. We’ve fooled the people at the embassy before. We’ll do it again. You can leave here using Miles’s name when we get that document.”

  Dmitri sighed. “If the same man is there when we go in, he’s going to remember Miles, and Miles and I look nothing alike. Charlotte, I know you want to help, but that idea won’t work. If they discover what we’re trying to do, none of you will get out. You have to go without me.”

  “It will work,” I insisted. “We’ll put a hat and a scarf on you and say you’re sick and you’ve lost your voice. I’ll do the talking.”

  “You do look kind of like Miles,” Sophie said. “You’re taller, but if you acted sick and sat on a bench, nobody would know. Miles has to sit down a lot.”