Roll Over Play Dead

by Dan Milton

  Alexei continued, “Knowing our village would be overrun, the Village Council of Elders decided to evacuate the village and go to a refugee center to wait out the war. The Council of Elders also was determined to preserve what little wealth the village had so they gathered together all the gold jewelry in the village. They also got the golden candlestick holders from the Church, as well as the two very ancient and sacred Icons. The plan was to convert the gold and one of the Icons into something that would retain its value after the war was over no matter how long it took. The majority of the Council favored a conversion to diamonds. So that is why I am here.”

  Alexei continued, “Therefore, I have a lot of gold items and one ancient Icon, which I would like to trade for diamonds. I will retain the other Icon, which our Village holds very sacred. I don’t know what the gold and the Icon are worth, or the equivalent value in diamonds, but Vasiliy said I could trust you.”

  Oleg said, “Let me weigh the gold and get one of my associates to estimate the value of the Icon. Then we can negotiate a trade. In the meantime, let me show you what diamonds I have.” After spreading out a black felt pad on the table, he placed several diamonds on it. “These are gem quality, flawless, finest white, one carat, round brilliant cut stones. Some of these stones have come through the De Beers organization in South Africa and some from our partners in Antwerp. These are what I would recommend.”

  Oleg’s associate returned with the estimated value of the Icon and the weight of the gold. Oleg said, “Your Village’s gold was either 14 or 18 carat resulting in a total weight of 129 ounces. At the current price of gold, that comes to 23,155 Rubles. The estimate for the Icon was 6,625 Rubles. The total of both comes to 29,780 Rubles. For that amount of Rubles, I can offer you 12 of my best one carat stones. I am valuing the diamonds at wholesale. Will that satisfy you?”

  Alexei said, “Thank you for your generous offer. It is acceptable.” Alexei placed the diamonds and the sacred Icon into his knapsack, noticing how much lighter it was as they departed the exchange saying their goodbyes.

  On leaving the main section of Molotov, they walked down a narrow road leading to the docks. Vasiliy said, “Alexei, I think someone has been following us since we left the exchange. Don’t look around!”

  Just then, a lone man with a gun in hand stepped out in front of them and demanded the pack and their money. Vasiliy gave up his money while Alexei gave him the pack. The gunman said, “Do not try to follow me. If you do, I will shoot you.”

  Vasiliy and Alexei, thankful to be alive, but still in shock, had yet to move. Alexei said, “What am I to do? I have lost everything. My village will not survive, and I will receive all the blame.”

  Vasiliy said, “Don’t worry. Fate has a way of stepping in.”

  They continued on to the docks with Alexei looking very crestfallen.

  As they climbed the gangplank to board the boat, another of Vasiliy’s crewmen joined them with knapsack and money in hand. He said to Alexei, “Vasiliy asked me to follow you two to the exchange and back in case anything should happen. I was in the shadows as the gunman robbed you. When he left, I followed him around the corner. He now has a large lump on his forehead. I threw the gun in the river and made my way back to the boat.”

  Vasiliy said, “Alexei, sorry you had to experience this—we are in very hard times, and there is much trouble in the big cities.”

  When they were back on the boat, Vasiliy took Alexei into the engine room where there was a workbench used for minor repairs. He said, “Alexei, let me have the Icon and the diamonds.” While Alexei unloaded the knapsack off his shoulder, Vasiliy said, “I am going to drill a hole in the bottom of the Icon just large enough to hold all the diamonds. I will then plug the hole so that it will be virtually undetectable. Using the Icon should be a much safer way to transport the gems. Let me have your village parish register. I will wrap the Icon and the register in oilskin so they will be waterproof for the rest of your journey.”

  Alexei said, “Thanks. Let me have another piece of oilcloth so I can keep my journal dry as well.”

  “Grab some food from the galley and pack your knapsack. We must leave shortly for Mary Magdalene Church.”

  On arrival at Mary Magdalene Church, Vasiliy knocked on the front door. Alexei took in the overwhelming sight of such a beautiful structure. As a priest answered the door, Vasiliy asked for Father Kirill. The priest said, “Welcome. Come in. I will get him for you.” Father Kirill, though in his 70’s, was still a big man—impressive in height and weight. He dwarfed Vasiliy in a bear hug.

  Father Kirill said, “Vasiliy, you old sea dog, how are you? And how are your wife and family?”

  Vasiliy heartily responded, “They are all okay. With the war raging, I have been gone most of the time—so much cargo to move. They miss me, and I also miss them.”

  Father Kirill said, “We pray that the war will be over soon. You must be Alexei. I am pleased to meet you. Vasiliy and I have been close friends for many years. I married Vasiliy to his lovely wife and baptized their three children.”

  Vasiliy said with a sigh, “Father, I can’t stay. I must get back to the boat. We have a lot of munitions to load and must sail tonight. Thanks for helping Alexei. It means so much to his Village and to me.”

  Father Kirill said, “Alexei, let me walk Vasiliy to the door so we can say our goodbyes and then I will show you where you can rest until time for the evening meal.”

  Vasiliy departed as he said, “Alexei you have been a real help to us on the boat. I wish you the best of luck on the rest of your journey.” Alexei smiled and waved goodbye.

  At the evening meal, Father Kirill told Alexei, “My son, Nikolay, has worked for the Trans-Siberian Railway for the last 18 years in the traction department on locomotive equipment. He will be coming through Molotov the day after tomorrow. The train will stop for a few hours to load supplies. He will be with the train all the way to Vladivostok, your final destination. He knows about you and what you are trying to do. He will provide a place for you to stay in one of the boxcars. They will be stopping to unload and load armaments and other materials at most of the major cities. Several hundred kilometers before you reach Vladivostok, you will see that portion of the railway that I had a part in building. I spent six years working on it before I joined the seminary.”

  Father Kirill looked at Alexei very seriously and said, “Be very careful. Because of the war, there are many who are taking advantage of the current conditions. Crime is happening everywhere. The black market is flourishing. People are hungry and will do anything to get food.”

  A Lion for a Companion

  It was late in the afternoon with the wind howling and rain expected. Father Kirill and Alexei left for the freight yard near the main Trans-Siberian Railway station in Molotov.

  The Trans-Siberian Railway, finished in 1897, connects European Russia with Vladivostok, Russia’s Pacific Ocean port. At a length of 9,259 km, the railway was built from 1891 to 1916 under the direction of government ministers appointed by Tsar Alexander III and his son Tsar Nicholas II.

  During the Second World War, the Trans-Siberian Railway was the critical leg of the US to Russia ‘lend-lease’ supply line named the Pacific Route. Supplies and people moved continuously between Vladivostok and Eastern Russia.

  Father Kirill and Alexei arrived, dripping wet from a drenching downpour, at the station in search of Nikolay. They found him making his final check on the steam engine before departure. Water was being topped, and the coal tender loaded. Father Kirill pounced on Nikolay with one of his famous bear hugs and said, “So happy to see you. Your mother and I have been so worried about your safety. Let me introduce Alexei.”

  Nikolay made the introductions and then asked Ilya, one of the crewmen, to take Alexei back to a boxcar—his home for the next couple of weeks. On the way back, Ilya said, “A trip that usually takes 8-9 days, will take two weeks because of the additional loading and unloading time.”

  Father Kiril
l shouted his goodbye to Alexei and wished him God speed as Alexei and Ilya walked toward the back of the train. Ilya explained, “Having you on the train is against Railway rules so you will need to keep a low profile. There are military people on the train. We are outfitted with anti-aircraft batteries and gunners to man them. They are on flat-bed cars at the front of the train and near the caboose at the back of the train. There hasn’t been much German Luftwaffe activity recently, but we have to be ready. The boxcar you are in will help keep you out of sight. I will bring one of the train uniforms that you can wear to help you go unnoticed.”

  “Whenever we stop, I make my rounds checking all the cars. That’s when I’ll bring you some food and water. No need for you to get off the boxcar until we arrive in Vladivostok. When we stop for loading and unloading, keep the double doors on the boxcar closed. You may open them slightly when the train is moving. If questioned, just say you are part of the railway’s loading gang. There is some straw in the boxcar that you can use to make yourself comfortable. We use the straw for packing whenever we load delicate equipment. I have a bucket and a lantern for your use. Light the lamp only when the door is tightly closed. Best to empty the bucket first thing each morning, but only while we are moving.”

  “Thank you Ilya. I will keep down and out of the way.”

  Alexei climbed into the boxcar and walked to the bales of straw piled in the back of the car. He moved them around and stacked them up to form a small livable compartment out of sight from the double doors. He spread some straw on the floor to make a comfortable bed. He left a couple of bales against the back wall to provide seating for the long journey. He found a place to hide his pack in case anyone should come in while he was asleep.

  That evening, a little hungry, Alexei got his knapsack, reached inside and tore off a hunk of the black bread he had stashed. He placed the hunk of bread on the corner of the straw bale closest to him. He walked behind the stack and put the knapsack in its hiding place. He came back and sat down on the adjacent straw bale. He nonchalantly reached for the piece of bread. There was nothing there! Wait a minute, he thought: I just laid it down. He checked to see if it had fallen to the floor, but no luck. Am I dreaming or did I put the hunk of bread back in my knapsack after I tore it off?

  He retrieved his knapsack, looked inside, but could not find the piece he had previously torn off. He got another hunk, placed it on the corner of the straw bale and put the pack back. As he walked back to sit down, he noticed that the second piece of bread had disappeared. Now I know I am losing my mind. I can’t have misplaced two pieces of bread.

  Still hungry, he again retrieved his pack. This time he broke off a hunk and held onto it while he put his pack away. As he turned and started to walk back to his seat on the straw bale, he stopped abruptly—a startled expression on his face. There, in his seat and staring up at him, were two big brown eyes sporting a rather mischievous grin.

  On Alexei’s bale, panting slightly, and looking totally pleased with himself sat a small, wiry, and rather ugly mutt. Alexei said, “So you are the thief that stole my dinner. Who are you and where did you come from?”

  With the stub of his tail wagging furiously, the mutt continued to sit there undaunted. Alexei said, “How about you get off my bale and find one of your own?”

  With no movement coming forth, Alexei reluctantly sat down on the other bale to eat his hunk of bread. Just before he finished the last bite, he heard a somewhat quiet low-pitched bark. Alexei said, “Okay. Come here. You can have the last bit.”

  With that, the mutt came over, jumped into Alexei’s lap, licked his nose and took the piece of offered food. Alexei said, “I suppose you don’t have a name. What if I call you Lev? That name suits you. It will do nicely. By the way, Lev means Lion. With all those scars on your back, it looks as though lions attacked you. You will have to share whatever I eat and whatever water I get from Ilya.”

  Later in the evening, when the train stopped to take on coal and water, Ilya checked on Alexei when making his rounds. Ilya said, “I see he found you. That dog belonged to a crewman who was killed about six months ago in a loading accident. The dog has been hanging around ever since his master died. At an earlier stop, I put him in your boxcar. Thought you might need some company, and maybe the dog could also use a companion. He still misses his master. I am pleased the two of you are getting along. He does tend to be a little mischievous though.”

  Alexei said, “I am not sure we got off on the right foot. He kept stealing my food—until I caught him. We now have an understanding! I named him Lev.”

  Not quite believing what he heard, Ilya asked, “The Lion?”

  “Yes, the Lion! How did he get the scars on his back?”

  “He had a run-in with a pack of dogs at one of the stops a year ago. He just managed to get away. He was in real bad shape, but we nursed him back to health—a definite survivor. He seems to be fine now. Next stop I will bring some extra food and water.”

  After Ilya had left to finish his rounds, Alexei and Lev settled down for the night as the clack-clack sound of the boxcar’s wheels lulled Lev to sleep.

  Worried about his father, Alexei grabbed his journal and began to write. Father, I miss you so. I pray you are safe. I am afraid I will lose you as I did mama. I miss not being at home. I have a new friend with me on the journey. He is a small dog with a big bark. I named him Lev. He is a survivor, like me, and recently lost his master.

  Father, remember the time I fell into the village well as I was helping Tasha haul out a pail of water. The bucket had become tangled in the rope, and I leaned over a little too far and fell. It was good that I held on to the rope. It broke my fall just as I splashed into the water, and my leg slammed into a protruding rock on the side of the well. I remember how I hung onto the rope even with the pain in my leg until Tasha ran and got you and some other men from the Village to help.

  I remember how you tied a rope around your waist and, while several of the strongest men hung onto the rope, you climbed down to rescue me. You took the line off yourself and tied it under my arms so they could pull me up. It was the sound of your soothing voice that helped so much.

  You treaded water for such a long time while they lifted me out. They then sent the rope down for you. I remember you staying with me while we waited for the doctor to come and set my broken leg. I remember how disappointed you were when the leg did not mend correctly and caused me to limp. It hasn’t stopped me yet. I have gotten around fine walking hundreds of kilometers after leaving our Village. Father, please come back to me.

  With the last few words in his journal nothing more than a scrawl, Alexei fell asleep beside Lev.

  Next morning as it was just becoming light, the train pulled slowly onto a siding in the train yard near the Novosibirsk railway station.

  Novosibirsk, the ‘Capital of Siberia’, is on the banks of the Ob River in the southeastern part of Siberia—3300 km from Moscow.

  As he had done each morning, Alexei slid open the double door just enough to empty the bucket and brush out, with his foot, the straw on which Lev had relieved himself. Alexei made sure all of his stuff was back in the little straw compartment. He cautioned Lev to be quiet while they stopped.

  Lev found a nice spot to curl up while Alexei rested against a bale. He wondered how Tasha and Father Alexander were doing. Tasha so much enjoyed helping Father Alexander.

  After another 24 hours and almost 2,000 km, the train stopped in Irkutsk, at the southern extremity of Lake Baikal. It is the largest city in Siberia. Irkutsk was a significant unloading point.

  About an hour after stopping, Alexei heard a deep-throated, but menaced growl from Lev. His hackles were up along the length of his back. Alexei felt the tension and was immediately on alert. The hair on his arms was also standing up. Listening carefully, Alexei heard the double door being pushed open. He thought: I forgot and left the door open. How could I have forgotten? It can’t be Ilya or someone else from the crew; they know we are her
e and would have called out my name.

  Alexei continued in a quiet voice, “Lev, stay! I will take a look and see what is going on.”

  As Alexei peered around the corner of the straw stack, he saw a hand on the bottom of the door sliding it open. He whispered: What should I do? Glancing down, he noticed that Lev was not there. A few seconds later he heard a bloodcurdling scream and the hand pushing the door open showed some deep teeth marks and large drops of blood. The hand dropped away as a young man fell back in pain onto the side of the roadbed. Holding his injured hand, he was last seen running away in the footsteps of his buddies who fled from the scene the second he screamed. Lev bounded over to Alexei, getting much praise for his heroic actions. The bond between Alexei and Lev had just been cemented—never to be broken.

  The group of young hoodlums, most about Alexei’s age, huddled together just outside the train yard. The one with the injured hand was mad. He wanted to get even with that crazy dog that bit him. He said, “There is straw in the boxcar. Let’s set it on fire. That will teach the mutt.”

  The group made their way back to the boxcar. The door was still slightly open. They gathered a handful of dried weeds that were on the side of the tracks, lit a match and set the bundle on fire. The one with the injured hand threw the lit bundle into the car and closed the double door. One of the other hoodlums jammed a piece of wood into the door latch. Another of the hoodlums yelled out, “Run, someone is coming.”

  The straw was very dry, so the fire spread rapidly in the car as the smoke became overpowering. One of the train crewmen, seeing the smoke, ran to the car. He grabbed a rock and smashed the piece of wood jamming the door latch. He opened the double door to see massive flames inside. He yelled out, “Alexei, Alexei, where are you?”