Squaring the Circle by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9785717201063
Publisher: GLAS New Russian Writing

* Pelmeni are small pockets of dough that are filled with ground meat, pinched shut, and then boiled, much like ravioli.

* Normal body temperature is 36.6° Celsius.

ALEXANDER GRITSENKO

from the “Dreams” cycle

Translated by Lisa Hayden Espenschade

IN THE TUNNEL

It happens often: a morning Metro train somewhere in the middle of a black tunnel between stations suddenly stops for no reason. The car falls abruptly silent. You can hear music playing through some student’s headphones at the other end. Then someone gets irritated. “Good Lord!” the person says. “People are going to be late for work...” But their dissatisfaction sounds meek, modest, hushed.

The train will sit for a couple of minutes and then move along.

Why did it stop in the middle of the tunnel? What was it waiting for?

To let children by. Children were crossing the tracks.

The underground children generally walk around at night. A little in the morning, very rarely in the evening, and never in the afternoon.

They don’t know themselves where they’re going. They look like a group of kindergarten or elementary school children crossing a street. Except that it’s not a kindergarten or Phys. Ed. teacher leading them but a fuzzy teddy bear with a torn-off paw.

Only the Metro drivers see all this. But the children’s shadows on the tunnel walls are sometimes visible if you ride at the front of the first Metro car. Take a look if you want. When I found out about this, I started to take a closer look and saw them a few times.

That’s why all the Metro drivers drink. After a shift, it’s a full glass right away. It helps you loosen up, you sit for a bit, have a smoke, knock back another hundred grams...

And the children walk around. At night, generally, but sometimes in the morning. Where are they going? It’s as if the children are asleep: they have blissful smiles on their faces. Not idiotic but, well, only a baby can smile like that.

Sometimes they stop on the tracks and look at the train. The driver looks back and can’t avert his gaze. They look at each other: The children smile, the driver cries. Then the teddy bear turns, frowns at the driver, and makes a sign to the children. Let’s move along, he says, there’s no need to stand here. The bear seems to know, what he’s doing, why and where he’s leading the children.

When an overcrowded Metro train suddenly stops in the middle of a dark tunnel during morning rush hour, don’t be scared, don’t swear, and don’t think about being late for work. Cry a little. Not for the children: they’re happy. Not for the teddy bear: he’s leading happy children. Not for the driver: he cries for himself.

Cry for yourself. Feel sorry for yourself.

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