The International by Christopher Vale

Author:Christopher Vale [Vale, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-03T23:00:00+00:00

***

Moscow, U.S.S.R.

1945

The smoke was thick at the train station as Brygida stepped from the car onto the platform. She wore a grayish blue dress with matching hat, and white gloves. The clothes had been procured for her in Berlin. She did not know where they came from, but she had received orders to return to Moscow and Polkovnik Utkin had insisted she dress as a lady. In fact, he had accompanied her back, eager to see his own family since the war was over.

A band was playing songs from the revolution as Utkin joined Brygida on the platform. He offered his arm and she happily accepted it, as he led her away from the crowd of other passengers. “Do you need a place to stay?” he asked her as they walked.

“No,” she smiled warmly. “I’m told it has all been arranged.”

“Good to hear,” Utkin replied. “I have a car waiting for me. May I drop you somewhere?”

“I expected to be met by…” she began, but then heard a voice call out.

“Brygida!”

She turned and saw Mikhail Petrov smiling at her over the heads of the other passengers crowding the platform.

“Mikhail!” she called back.

“I’ll see you later, then,” the polkovnik said with a smile and a wink.

Brygida nodded and then lifted herself up on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you for everything,” she smiled.

“My pleasure, comrade,” he replied. “You were the greatest soldier I’ve ever seen. If you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

Utkin then leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I have some pull you know, and the politics of Communist Russia can be pretty dangerous.”

“Thank, you,” she replied. “I will certainly remember that.”

Utkin tipped his hat to her and then walked away in search of his car and driver. Brygida turned to see two children racing toward her. She fell down to her knees and scooped Alena and Alexi up into her arms as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Comrade Mikhail says that you are going to be our mother now,” Alena shouted excitedly.

Brygida looked up to see the handsome young officer shrug. “I put in a good word for you.”

Brygida stood and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she said.

Mikhail returned the hug. “Children need a mother,” he said. Then he let his hand slip below her waist. “And a father,” he whispered into her ear as he hand moved to her buttocks.

Brygida, pushed away, but not too coldly. She knew she had to walk a tightrope here in Moscow. “Well thank you very much, comrade,” she smiled.

Mikhail looked at the ground, wishing his advance had not been rebuffed, but still confident. “There is an apartment ready for you,” he smiled. “Why don’t you go and freshen up and then we can all go out to eat.”

“That sounds wonderful,” she said.

The apartment had only one bedroom, a small den and tiny kitchen, but it was private. Which was more than most people in Moscow could boast. “The luxuries of being a war hero,” Mikhail explained.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.