The Stalin Epigram by Robert Littell

Author:Robert Littell [Littell, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780715642696
Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd

TEN

Zinaida Zaitseva-Antonova

Monday, the 20th of May 1934

THE LAST THING I expected was a reward, but the Organs are known to treat collaborators generously, which is understood to be one of their ways of encouraging collaboration. So I can’t say it came as a surprise when the Chekist buttonholed me in my dressing room after rehearsal one night and announced, We are eager to show our gratitude for your loyalty to Stalin and the Revolution. It isn’t every day that someone delivers evidence of treason written out in the traitor’s own hand. Several propositions rolled off the Chekist’s tongue. An external passport and authorization to travel to Paris or Rome? Better roles in bigger theaters? A monthlong all-expenses-paid vacation at one of those plush Black Sea hotels frequented by the nomenklatura? I favored the visitor with one of what Mandelstam called my shamefaced glances. I was only doing my duty as a Soviet citizen, I demurred shyly. I ask for nothing. The Chekist, an older gentleman whose lips barely moved when he spoke, smiled as if we shared a secret. Several gold teeth in his lower jaw glistened with saliva. Surely there is some service the state can offer you to make your life easier, he insisted. His tone managed to convey that my continuing to refuse could be misconstrued; could be taken to mean I had second thoughts about having collaborated in the first place. I honestly felt I had no choice but to accept. Which is why I averted my eyes in embarrassment and admitted, in the husky tone actors use on stage when they want to convey reluctance, Perhaps there is one small thing. And I raised the delicate question of my risking the loss of my twenty-two square meters in the communal apartment off the Arbat and my Moscow residence permit if I divorced my husband. He pulled a small pad from his pocket and made a note to himself. Proceed with the divorce, he instructed me. Leave the matter of the apartment and the residence permit in our hands. He rose to leave. I saw him to the door and held out my hand. How can I thank you? I asked. Curiously, he didn’t shake it. There is no need to thank us, he replied. It is a point of pride with the Organs to take good care of the people who work for us. His words caught me by surprise. A retort spilled from my mouth before I knew what I was saying. I wasn’t aware that I worked for you. He smiled indulgently, the way one would at a child who has uttered something vulgar, and said, We don’t believe in one-night stands.

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