Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(8)

"Yes," Brenda said. "There will be fireworks. Fourth of July is in two days. They're not going to be like in the days before the war, but there will be some. But don't you go worrying about fireworks. You've been in America less than a week and you're asking about fireworks? You've got a child to protect against an infectious disease. Have you been outside for a walk today? You know the doctor told you you've got to take walks in the fresh air, and keep your mouth covered in case you cough on your baby, and not lift him because that will tire you out--have you been outside? And what about breakfast?" Brenda always talked too fast, Tatiana thought, almost deliberately so that Tatiana wouldn't understand.

Even Brenda couldn't ruin breakfast--eggs and ham and tomatoes and milky coffee (dehydrated milk or no). Tatiana ate and drank sitting on her bed. She had to admit that the sheets, the softness of the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

mattress and the pillows, and the thick woolen blanket were comforts like bread--crucial.

"Can I have my son now? I need to feed him." Her breasts were full.

Brenda slammed the window shut. "Don't open the window anymore," she said. "Your child will catch cold."

"Summer air will make him catch cold?"

"Yes,moist , wet summer air will."

"But you just said me to go outside for walk--"

"Outside air is outside air, inside air is inside air," Brenda said.

"He has not caught my TB," Tatiana said, coughing loudly for effect. "Bring me my baby, please."

After Brenda brought the baby and Tatiana fed him, she went to open the window again and then perched herself up on the window sill, cradling the infant in her arms. "Look, Anthony," whispered Tatiana in her native Russian. "Do you see? Do you see the water? It is pretty, right? And across the harbor there is a big city with people and streets, and parks. Anthony, as soon as I am better, we will take one of those loud ferry boats and walk on the streets of New York. Would you like that?" Stroking her infant son's face, Tatiana stared across the water.

"Your father would," she whispered.

CHAPTER THREE

Morozovo, 1943

MATTHEW SAYERS APPEARED BYAlexander's bed at around one in the morning and stated the obvious. "You're still here." He paused. "Maybe they won't take you."

Dr. Sayers was an American and an eternal optimist.

Alexander shook his head. "Did you put myHero of the Soviet Union medal in her backpack?" was all he said.

The doctor nodded.

"Hidden, as I told you?"

"As hidden as I could."

Now it was Alexander's turn to nod.

Sayers brought from his pocket a syringe, a vial, and a small medicine bottle. "You'll need this." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"I need tobacco more. Have you got any of that?"

Sayers took out a box full of cigarettes. "Already rolled."

"They'll do."

Sayers showed Alexander a small vial of colorless liquid. "I'm giving you ten grains of morphine solution. Don't take it all at once."

"Why would I take it at all? I've been off it for weeks."

"You might need it, who knows? Take a quarter of a grain. Half a grain at most. Ten grains is enough to kill two grown men. Have you ever seen this administered?"

"Yes," said Alexander, Tania springing up in his mind, syringe in her hands.

"Good. Since you can't start an IV, in the stomach is best. Here are some sulfa drugs, to make sure infection does not recur. A small container of carbolic acid; use it to sterilize your wound if all the other drugs are gone. And a roll of bandages. You'll need to change the dressing daily."

"Thank you, Doctor."

They fell silent.

"Do you have your grenades?"

Alexander nodded. "One in my bag, one in my boot."

"Weapon?"

He patted his holster.

"They'll take it from you."

"They'll have to. I'm not surrendering it."

Dr. Sayers shook Alexander's hand.

"You remember what I told you?" Alexander asked. "Whatever happens to me, you'll take this"--he took off his officer cap, handing it to the doctor--"and you will write me a death certificate and you will tell her that you saw me dead on the lake and then pushed me into an ice hole, and that's why there is no body. Clear?"

Sayers nodded. "I'll do what I have to," he said. "I don't want to do it."

"I know."

They were grim.

"Major...what if I do find you dead on the ice?" Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"You will write me a death certificate and you will bury me in Lake Ladoga. Make a sign of the cross on me before you push me in." He shuddered slightly. "Don't forget to give her my cap."

"That guy, Dimitri Chernenko, is always around my truck," Sayers said.

"Yes. He won't let you leave without him. Guaranteed. You must take him."

"I don't want to take him."

"You want to save her, don't you? If he doesn't come, she has no chance. So stop thinking about the things you can't change. Just watch out for him. Trust him with nothing."