It was now three o’clock. Four hours had passed and Kulik guessed it would probably take that many more before he got his money. He kept thinking about Marusia, about how stunning she was, and how changed she seemed. “She was so different today, and so different toward me. What’s come over her?”
A long time later a voice erupted from a megaphone near the bank doors. “Attention people! Attention! There’s no more money left in the bank! Come back tomorrow!”
There was some grumbling, but for the most part the queue started to break up as silently as it had formed. Within minutes there was not a soul left in sight.
It was a quarter to five. Kulik, walking down Karalyna Street, remembered that the Oblispolkom closed at five, so Marusia should be getting ready to leave for the day. He knew that to get home, she had to go down Karalyna; he slackened his pace, looking over his shoulder to see if she was coming. And sure enough, there she was, crossing over to the other side, walking briskly, a small brown purse under her arm. He turned and started toward her.
“Ivan, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me,” he answered, pleased to see her in a friendly mood.
“Did you get your money?”
“Unfortunately, no, I have to go back tomorrow.”
She smiled. “So, you’re still going to be here tomorrow? Zena and I were talking about you the other day. She thinks you’re a rather decent fellow. I think she might even like you.”
Kulik laughed, embarrassed. He felt a twinge of guilt: he couldn’t deny that he had strong feelings for both women. At Luninetska Street, Marusia said cheerfully, “You must come to the house and say hello to my parents. Father will be delighted to see you. He’s so terribly fond of you.”
Opening the front door, she called out, “Father! I’ve brought a visitor with me. You’ll be pleased.”
As they entered the living room, Valentyn pulled himself up off the sofa, and came toward Kulik with open arms. “Young man, how nice that you’ve come for a visit! A pleasure, always a pleasure to see you. And you, Marusia, are you done with work already? Excellent. There’s nothing I want more than to see the two of you together.”
“Oh, Father, stop it,” Marusia said crossly; a touch of pink came to her cheeks.
While Valentyn and his daughter exchanged words, Kulik walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. All at once a dreadful chill took hold of him. “What have I done?” he murmured. “What have I done? It was a mistake my coming here today. I’m putting my life on the line.”
Marusia heard him. “Putting your life on the line? What on earth are you talking about? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Sobakin. He lives in the house next door. He’s always watching.”
Valentyn did not hesitate to jump in. “Yes, in the house next door. He’s settled there, in rooms on the top floor. He’s like a poisonous snake and he wants my daughter. He even got her to …”
“Father! Please! Stay out of it!”
Father and daughter went at each other again and Kulik regretted having stirred things up. He noticed the old man had shaved off his beard. Efrosinia had finally got her way. He tried to change the subject. “By the way, have you heard from Lonia?”
Valentyn shook his head grimly. “Lonia. Lonia. In his letters he promises to come home for the summer. So many letters arrive, one after the other, but no Lonia.”
“Where’s your wife?”
“Efrosinia’s at the train station. She’s there almost every day. She’s convinced herself that Lonia is coming home, and when he does she’ll be there to greet him with open arms, like when he was a little boy. Every day at five-forty-five the train arrives from Lvov, but never with our Lonia. Efrosinia just waits for the next train. But it’s always the same, no Lonia. My wife’s no longer able to perceive reality in the normal way and it frightens me. Yes, I believe she’s losing her mind.”
He lowered his voice and the words trembled on his lips. “Lonia won’t come today, or tomorrow or the day after. He’s not coming home at all. Ever.”
“Father, stop talking like that! You’re frightening me. Why don’t you go and get Mother? It’s late and she should have been back a long time ago. I hope she hasn’t had any trouble. Go and bring her home, please.”
Valentyn remained unmoving, staring at the floor. Finally he said, “I suppose you’re right. I suppose I should go and get her. She probably nodded off on one of the benches.”
As he took his hat and cane and made for the door, Kulik also got ready to leave, but Marusia was quick to take his arm. Looking a little piqued, she said, “Ivan, please don’t go. Stay and wait for Mother. As a matter of fact, just the other day she was asking about you, and she even said that the two of you had some kind of business to settle. It’s true, she never really liked you very much, but now somehow she’s warmed up to you. Isn’t that the truth, Father?”
“Yes, yes.” Valentyn looked at her vaguely. “I suppose it’s true if you say so, but to be honest, I don’t know anything about it. Well, in any case, it’s a good thing she’s asked for you, because then I’ll still get to see you when I come back.”
Descending the porch stairs, Valentyn pulled his pipe out of his pocket and lit it. He looked up at the sky and muttered, “Oh Lord, please don’t let her be in one of her moods.”
CHAPTER 28
Marusia and Kulik sat in the living room in awkward silence for a moment. Then she moved closer to him, her arm touched his. Her face was a little flushed. She smiled and said with a tremor in her voice, “At last we find ourselves alone and without witnesses.”
Looking uncertainly into her green eyes, his heart melted like hot wax. He knew she wanted something from him, and he wasn’t sure he could help her. She broke into sobs. “Ivan, I need your help. Please, don’t refuse me.”
Kulik wanted to hold her in his arms and comfort her, but he said hesitantly, “I don’t know that I can be of any use to you. What do you want me to do?”
She rushed out of the room, to return a few minutes later holding a small wooden box. Her voice breaking, she said, “Lonia, my brother Lonia … Oh, I don’t know what to make of anything anymore. Here, take a look at these letters. The box is full of them. Each and every one of them is signed ‘your loving brother’. But I don’t believe he wrote them. Something’s happened to him, something terrible, I can feel it with all my heart. Mother can’t bring herself to accept the truth, she’s made herself believe they’re from him, but I know they’re not. This isn’t even his handwriting.”
Kulik took the box from her and examined the letters. Some were written in pencil and hard to read, others were in bold blue ink. Most were two to three weeks old, with an address from a street in Lvov. Their style was the same—mechanical, detached, even strained. They didn’t read like letters from a young man to his loving family.
Marusia looked fearfully at Kulik. “What’s your impression of them?”
Looking through them again, he said at last, “Well, I’m not really sure. In most of the letters he says he’s fine and he’s spending most of his time studying. In this last one here, he promises to come home to Pinsk for the summer holidays. The second half of June is not that far off. Why don’t you just wait and see what happens?”
The girl flew at him in a frenzy. “I asked for your impression, not your interpretation!”
Kulik put the letters back in the box. “In all honesty, Marusia, I don’t know what to say about all this. The only thing that is clear to me is that someone has been tampering with these letters.”
She shrank back. “Oh, my God! It was Sobakin! I should have known. The entire time he’s been promising to bring Lonia home what he’s really been doing is stringing me along. I know it now! He doesn’t care if my brother lives or dies.”
“What do you want me to do? Do you want me to go to Lvov?”
Marusia’s face brightened and she clutched his arm. “Would you, please? I have no one else to turn to.”
When he me
t her desperate gaze, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. “You know I’d like to help you, but you have to realize this is a very difficult matter…. Well, I suppose I could go … but I definitely couldn’t go before the summer holidays because that would raise suspicion at the school. I wouldn’t only lose my position—I’d most likely be arrested by the NKVD and thrown into …”
Suddenly his throat ran dry and he could not go on. What was he saying? He was embroiling himself in a situation where he could easily be picked up by the secret police and convicted on some trumped-up charge. And her relationship with Sobakin certainly wouldn’t help his case. He decided at that moment that it would be best for him to leave the Bohdanovich house immediately, and not involve himself any further in their affairs.
With all these thoughts rushing at him at once, he looked up and met Marusia’s eyes, welling with tears. He felt he had to make her feel better. He said thoughtfully, “There’s one other possibility, but you must promise to keep it secret. Agreed? I have a friend who lives in Lvov. He’s a colleague of mine from my university days. I’ll write him today and ask him to make some inquiries. I’m sure he won’t refuse.”
Her face took on a look of almost stunning gratitude. She said softly, “You’re a decent man, Ivan. I was so wrong about you. You’re different from what I thought.”
She had become completely transfigured by her love for her brother. “You’re different, too,” he said. “You’ve changed in so many ways. You’re actually even friendly to me …” He broke off and then added, “Yet, at the same time you’re still …”
“I’m still … what? Why don’t you finish?”
“Well, you’re still trying to be something you’re not. Why do you deny who you really are, especially with everything going on around you? You can’t block it from your mind forever. You’re a strange one, Marusia, and I can’t quite figure you out. In spite of all that’s happening, you still insist on speaking Russian. And your Russian isn’t as good as you think it is and it’s filled with all kinds of Ukrainian intonations. The only one you’re fooling is yourself.”
Marusia was about to give him an angry answer, but controlled herself to keep the peace between them.
They fell silent, and as the sun set, the room darkened. Marusia got up to switch on a small lamp by the sofa. She looked at Kulik and said with great effort, “Ivan, I meant to ask you, have you seen Seryoza lately? How’s he doing? Is he all right? He hasn’t come around for the longest time.”
Not knowing what to say, Kulik blurted, “He’s fine. He was quite sick for a while, but now he’s better.”
“Sick?” Marusia looked incredulously at him. “What do you mean, sick? Seryoza’s never been sick a day in his life. What was wrong with him?”
“I think he had the flu.”
“The flu? Why are you lying to me? And I thought you were actually starting to be straight with me. I was even coming to trust you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, don’t pretend with me. Seryoza was never sick with the flu, and you very well know it. No, he was taken to the Zovty Prison and beaten! I know that just as well as you. Some people told me. Why can’t you trust me, why can’t you be open with me?”
Getting up from the sofa, Kulik said calmly, “For our own sakes, Marusia, I think it’s best we drop the subject right now. Things will only get too personal and we’ll end up quarrelling and saying things we might regret. No? You really want me to go ahead? All right then, I’ll tell you. I have to be very careful with what I say to you because your thoughts aren’t always clear, you’re impressionable and confused, and you close your eyes to the truth.” Then he added, “You’re very charming, and I believe you’re struggling to find your way out, but I’m not sure you ever will. So I think you can understand why I can’t trust you, at least not yet.”
She listened to Kulik with close attention. Her small delicate features tightened. Was she truly as inane as he said she was? Was she actually preventing herself from thinking things through?
She settled herself on the sofa, and, patting the seat with her hand, said almost cheerfully, “Ivan, come here and sit next to me. That’s better. Am I causing your blood to tingle? Oh, you, you …” she ran the tips of her fingers along the contours of his face. “What a forehead you have. You don’t even have the slightest crease. Such a fine, strong chin and your features are so heavy and bold. And that gleam in your eye! So devious! What were you like as a child? You must have given your parents a hard time.”
Kulik smiled. “I was a handful, I have to admit. I climbed the highest trees and destroyed crows’ nests.”
“Did you get into fights?”
“All the time. I fought everybody and anybody, big or small. There wasn’t a day I didn’t have a black eye or a bloody nose. The neighbors all agreed I would either grow up to be a criminal or a great man. But as you can see, I’ve become neither. I’m simply a Soviet civil servant of the lowest rank.”
“Were you ever in love?”
“I don’t know—love is so fleeting. And besides, love today has taken on a whole new meaning, it’s become burdensome and painful. It’s lost its appeal. Is there a point to falling in love, to getting married, when they can knock on your door at any time, even on your wedding day? … But let’s not talk about depressing things. Better to think of something pleasant and enjoy the moment.”
Marusia who had turned towards him, felt she had not had a good look at him before. His straight black hair was combed back neatly, his handsome face was clean-shaven. There was something definitely appealing about him, something she had not really noticed until now. Kulik could feel his pulse throb, and impulsively, he leaned toward her, put his arms around her and kissed her on the mouth. She responded.
Then suddenly she tensed and pushed him away. Her demeanor changed completely and she gasped. “What are you trying to do to me? You men are all alike, all of you! Leave me alone!”
No sooner had she pulled herself away, when there came a tapping on the window. It lasted only a few seconds. Rushing to the window, she pulled the curtains slightly apart, peered outside, and whispered nervously, “Ivan, I think there’s someone out there.”
The two stood in silence and listened. When they looked out again, they saw only the branch of an elderberry bush brushing up against the lower pane.
“I’ll go outside and take a better look.” Kulik started for the door, but Marusia grasped his arm.
“No, don’t go. It was probably nothing.”
It occurred to her that it was around this time that Sobakin left for the Zovty Prison. She quickly concluded that her worst nightmare had come true: it was Sobakin at the window! Looking frantically at Kulik, she could feel her heart begin to pound faster and faster. Taking his hand in hers and squeezing it tightly, looking deep into his eyes, she knew she could never forgive herself if anything were to happen to him.
CHAPTER 29
It was well past nine o’clock when outside the Bohdanovich house there were a series of ear-piercing screams, followed by shouts. Marusia instantly recognized the voices of her mother and father. Turning on the lights, she ran outside to find her parents stumbling about in the darkness.
“I’ll catch that damn thief if it’s the last thing I do,” Efrosinia was yelling. “I’ll break his legs in two, I swear!”
Seeing her daughter, she called out, “Marusia, did you hear anything from the house? There was someone prowling around out here, trying to get in through one of the windows. Oh, if only I got a better look at him.” Then catching sight of Kulik by the door, “And you, what a fine product of a man you are! You should have gone outside right away, grabbed him by the collar, and called the police. The police would have known exactly what to do with the likes of him!”
Efrosinia rushed into the house to see if anything was missing. She held up her long black frock so she wouldn’t trip on it. When everything appeared in order, she went into the living room and plo
pped herself down on the sofa. Brushing a few loose strands of gray hair from her face, she drew a deep breath. Then she fixed her gaze upon Kulik, standing by the doorway.
Kulik winced. He knew that he was not exactly her favorite person, and it was just a matter of time before she would start berating him. But for some reason she ignored him. Her face worked and from her mouth came a series of strange, broken sounds; she seemed to be trying to say her son’s name. Weeping, she repeated these sounds several times.
A tremendous feeling of grief and sadness overcame Kulik. The old woman had such a huge burden to bear, as she sat there on the sofa alone and powerless, a mere bundle. But she started to recover herself. A smile came to her lips. And indeed, when she spoke, to Kulik’s surprise she did so quite easily, even matter-of-factly. For some reason she began to recount the events of her day. She looked straight at him, and seemed to be addressing him directly, but she didn’t seem to see him.
“I went to the train station today and waited for the train from Lvov. I expected Lonia to be on the five-thirty-five, but he wasn’t. I waited three hours for the next train. Hundreds of people got off, carrying all kinds of bundles and parcels. They were all bumping into each other and squeezing through the gates. I searched for Lonia, but again he was nowhere to be seen. Then my old man showed up and tried to get me to go home. But I made up my mind to stay on and wait for the express train to arrive in an hour and a half because I was sure Lonia would be on board. Valentyn said he would stay and wait with me, but that was only because he didn’t want a scene. Then the train came and there was no Lonia. I wanted to wait for the next one, coming in at dawn. I was ready to spend the night on one of the benches. Then my old man came up with a very good point. ‘What if Lonia decides to come by truck? There are a lot of trucks on the road these days traveling back and forth carrying supplies. He might easily hitch a ride with one of them.’ So I finally agreed to come home. But, as you can see, I didn’t find my Lonia waiting for me here. No, all I found was a thief trying to break in through the living room window—and you.”
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