Fall of Giants

She blew out smoke. “We had a shoe shop-high quality at reasonable prices for the middle class. My husband is a good businessman and we lived well.” Her tone was bitter. “But no one in this town, apart from the nobility, has bought new shoes for two years.”

“Couldn’t you do something else?”

“Yes.” Her eyes flashed anger. “We didn’t just sit back and helplessly accept our fate. My husband found he could provide good boots for soldiers at half the price the army was paying. All the small factories that used to supply the shop were desperate for orders. He went to the War Industries Committee.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ve been away for a while, haven’t you, Sergeant? Nowadays, everything that works here is run by independent committees: the government is too incompetent to do anything. The War Industries Committee supplies the army-or it did, while Polivanov was war minister.”

“What went wrong?”

“We got the order, my husband put all his savings into paying the bootmakers, and then the tsar fired Polivanov.”

“Why?”

“Polivanov allowed workers’ elected representatives on the committee, so the tsaritsa thought he must be a revolutionist. Anyway, the order was canceled-and we went bankrupt.”

Grigori shook his head in disgust. “And I thought it was just the commanders at the front who were mad.”

“We tried other things. My husband was willing to do any job, waiter or streetcar driver or road mender, but no one was hiring, and then with the worry and lack of food he fell ill.”

“So now you do this.”

“I’m not very good at it. But some men are kind, like you. Others… ” She shuddered and looked away.

Grigori finished his cigarette and got to his feet. “Good-bye. I won’t ask your name.”

She got up. “Because of you, my family is still alive.” There was a catch in her voice. “And I don’t need to go on the street again until tomorrow.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his lips lightly. “Thank you, Sergeant.”

Grigori went out.

It was getting colder. He hurried through the streets to the Narva district. As he got farther away from the shopkeeper’s wife his libido returned, and he thought with regret of her soft body.

It occurred to him that like him, Katerina had physical needs. Two years was a long time to go without romance, for a young woman-she was still only twenty-three. She had little reason to be faithful to either Lev or Grigori. A woman with a baby was enough to scare off many men, but on the other hand she was very alluring, or she had been two years ago. She might not be alone this evening. How dreadful that would be.

He made his way to his old home by the railway line. Was it his imagination, or did the street appear shabbier than it had two years ago? In the interim nothing seemed to have been painted, repaired, or even cleaned. He noticed a queue outside the bakery on the corner, even though the shop was closed.

He still had his key. He entered the house.

He felt fearful as he went up the stairs. He did not want to find her with a man. Now he wished he had sent word in advance, so that she could have arranged to be alone.

He knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

The sound of her voice nearly brought tears to his eyes. “A visitor,” he said gruffly, and he opened the door.

She was standing by the fireplace holding a pan. She dropped the pan, spilling milk, and her hands went to her mouth. She let out a small scream.

“It’s only me,” said Grigori.

On the floor beside her sat a little boy with a tin spoon in his hand. He appeared to have just stopped banging on an empty can. He stared at Grigori for a startled moment, then began to cry.

Katerina picked him up. “Don’t cry, Volodya,” she said, rocking him. “No need to be afraid.” He quieted. Katerina said: “This is your daddy.”

Grigori was not sure he wanted Vladimir to think he was his father, but this was not the moment to argue. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He put his arms around them, kissed the child, then kissed Katerina’s forehead.

He stood back and looked at them. She was no longer the fresh-faced kid he had rescued from the unwelcome attentions of Police Captain Pinsky. She was thinner and had a tired, strained look.

Strangely, the child did not look much like Lev. There was no sign of Lev’s good looks, nor his winning smile. If anything, Vladimir had the intense blue-eyed gaze that Grigori saw when he looked in a mirror.

Grigori smiled. “He’s beautiful.”

Katerina said: “What happened to your ear?”

Grigori touched what remained of his right ear. “I lost most of it at the battle of Tannenberg.”

“And your tooth?”

“I displeased an officer. But he’s dead now, so I got the better of him in the end.”

“You’re not so handsome.”

She had never said he was handsome before. “They’re minor wounds. I’m lucky to be alive.”