Ch 6 Under the Pushkin Statue
Wang Yao put his finger by his mouth as to let them be quiet and Ivan blinked his eyes understandingly. The two people then ducked behind a Pushkin* bronze statue—they chose this incredible look-out spot almost out of a scout's very instinct. From here, the dusk cloud rained down from the end of sky like a flaming water fall, lining Toris and Natasha with golden coronets, whilst Ivan and Wang Yao were neatly hidden under the statue's gigantic shadow.
"But I must tell you today, Natashenka. I like you…since my very first sight of you…"
"I like you, too." answered Natasha in her cold and reserved voice, like a cloud of moving cold air of November that caught your forehead beneath the ushanka* off guard. "My brother told me that in our unit, he likes Wang the most, then, you. People that brother likes, I like them too."
Wang Yao almost laughed out loud. Was it because of Natasha's childish yet amusing words, or because of the complacency from his important place in his friend's heart? He didn't really know. But in a flash, he thought he saw the corner of Ivan's mouth slightly raised in a mischievous manner.
"Natashenka, please listen to me. There are many ways of liking…not only the likings between comrades, but also between people who are closer…" Toris explained desperately in his Lithuanian-accent Russian, "Like between Romeo and Juliet*, Insaroff and Elena*, Arthur and Jemma*…"
What a Romeo! Wang Yao didn't know if he should laugh or feel sorry for the fellow. Then he heard Natasha talking, "If I were Juliet, then my Romeo shall be such a person, simply speaking, just like my brother."
It was so! Wang Yao suddenly felt a slight bitterness inside. He had always known that Ivan was more appealing to girls than himself or Toris. Their courage or looks were no less than Ivan's, but speaking of personality, this cavalry rider was obviously full of splendor. In comparison, a person like him was "reticent" and "composed" if one calls it nicely; or, bluntly speaking, boring and ordinary.
He saw Toris grabbed Natasha's hands. In the dusk of alternating dark-gold and lavender colors, the Lithuanian young man's two long arms were shaking from uncontrollable emotions.
"Natasha! No matter what you think, but if I was Romeo, then my Juliet, I could only wish that she was…"
He swallowed the rest of the sentence. If it was an ordinary person hiding behind the statue, he would only see a pair of young lovers holding hands and exchanging sweet gazes. But the eyes of a scout, accustomed to dark light, told Wang Yao that, at the moment, Natasha's small hands locked those fingers like pliers.
Ivan burst out a low pitch of giggling but was covered by a painful cry from Toris. Wang Yao couldn't imagine a seemingly slender girl like her would have such a strong grip, especially the person she gripped was an experienced soldier. When he started to wonder if his friend's fingers already snapped and broken, Natasha finally released him. Toris kept rubbing his two hands back and forth in his palms.
"Comrade Lorinaitis," her cold voice seemed to contain a hint of sneering. "Don't fight with people for me in the future. You see, I'm strong enough to handle anyone who doesn't behave themselves."
She picked up the lower hem of her army coat, bent her knees and bowed, as if she was on the stage at a curtain fall; then, turned around graciously as all the beautiful girls fully aware of their charms, with her head up high, walking back towards the gate of their military post.
Toris stood alone under the dim glow of the setting sun, murmured with full affection and gloom, towards Natasha's proud figure. "Natashenka…I knew it. But I have told you everything…"
Wang Yao's eyes followed Toris as he walked away. A strong feeling of empathy suddenly rendered him breathless and he promptly stepped out of the giant shadow. Ivan followed.
"Our girl Natashenka was so spoiled." Ivan gloated, "She was the youngest. We always give in to her when it comes to, well, everything."
"Ivan, talk some sense into Natasha." Wang Yao raised his head, looking at him. "You know Toris is a great guy. He can certainly match your sister."
"Love can't be forced." Ivan said in a jokingly but firm voice. "Let her give Toris a hard time. If he wants her heart, then he has to put in some effort."
This pair of siblings really loved teasing! Wang Yao sighed. He once heard that this cavalry soldier had a nickname called Ivan the Devil. "Those German devils don't expect to survive if they meet me"—was how he laughed and explained where it came from. Seeing that triumphing expression on his face as if he just witnessed a successful prank, Wang Yao had to admit that the Devil was still a devil in his spare time.
"But this is not fair to Toris." Wang Yao sighed, "Except friends from the army, he's almost completely alone…" The two foreigners once exchanged the stories of their pasts. Toris became an orphan when he was only ten years old. Fortunately, friends of his deceased parents—a Polish family—adopted him. The family had a young boy around his age, Felix, whose whimsical and optimistic spirit had always warmed little Toris' heart. In August 1939, Felix and his family went back to Poland to visit their relatives; a month later, Germany invaded Warsaw…Toris who stayed in Lithuania by himself entered Moscow University in the following year. Whenever his classmates tried to comfort him that they could probably see each other at the end of the war, Toris replied in his tender and mournful voice, "Felix's families are all Jewish."
Ivan's somber voice cut into Wang Yao's deep thought.
"Don't you also have no one to turn to in Moscow?"
"But I haven't fallen in love with someone in Moscow." Wang Yao lowered his long eyelashes. Those dark pupils were like a pair of deep lake water, hidden behind tree shadows. "Toris loved and he feels the misery. I just wish that my friend could have happiness in this difficult time…"
"You're always like this, Yao!" Ivan spoke fervently, "You always think for others! But a man must depend on himself, no matter outward to the battlefield or inward to his own feelings…Your friends and families are thousands of miles away; and us, near at hand but…"
Wang Yao patted his hand sympathetically and felt his hands were seized by the tall man in a tight grip. No more words needed, he knew where Ivan's mind was at! He knew that the Braginsky family lived in Bereza village where it was under German occupation over a month now. Except his little sister Natasha and his big sister Tonya who worked as a nurse in Moscow military hospital, everybody including his parents were trapped in his hometown and their safety unknown.
"When the cavalries were scouting into their deep rear, how I wished they sent me to Bereza!" Ivan took a deep breath, almost as if to escape an invisible claw clenching on his neck, and his left hand grabbed his own collar. "Just to know if my papa and mama were still alive…"
Wang Yao placed his other hand on top of Ivan's left hand and gently pulled it away from the collar. He didn't think this gesture contain any intimate meaning, but was simply unable to bear the sight of Ivan's tight grip—a gesture out of kindness like he always did to his fellow soldiers.
"Don't be." He said it solemnly, "Don't you always smile?"
Ivan quickly wiped his eyes and a smile once again appeared on the corner of his mouth. He hugged Wang Yao tightly and, like to a comrade and a brother, placed a solid kiss on his cheek. Wang Yao didn't have any reaction of uneasiness—people like them, away from their family, were each other's family in these difficult years.
"My friend! When I saw you for the first time, I had wanted to make you a portrait…When the time frees up, would you please allow me to?"
"Yes. Now, you should go." Wang Yao lowered his voice, "Any time later and you will be punished."
The thick darkness stood above Moscow. This beautiful city was deprived of its usual light blazing night scene. Every window was covered with heavy curtain. The German army was located only tens of kilometers away west of the suburb and the jets marked with iron cross would trace with any small amount of light and raid the city. Moscow was under black-out…
"When I studied in the academy before the war, I could never see enough of Moscow." Ivan released Wang Yao from his embrace, but didn't immediately head to leave. "Sometimes at night, I lied in bed and would wonder if it was all a dream or was it real? Then I pulled up the curtain and saw outside the brilliant golden lights everywhere. I told myself it was all real. But, now…"
"One day, Moscow will light up again to celebrate peace and victory. You really need to go now…"
In the darkness, they didn't try to recognize each other's faces again, but only gripped each others' hands as to ensure their presence. The bronze statue of Pushkin erected behind them majestically; the wise eyes of the poet looked beyond the turbulent darkness of November's night, onto the brightly-lit spring faraway.
*Pushkin: Alexander Pushkin, one of the greatest Russian poets
*Ushanka: A Russian fur hat with earflap
*Romeo and Juliet: Lovers in William Shakespeare's play
*Insaroff and Elena: Lovers in the novel "On the Eve" by Ivan Turgenev
*Arthur and Jemma: Lovers in the novel "Gadfly" by Ethel Lilian Voynich