Gates of «Moments» Part Two

In this «neofeudal pyramid» of the socialist state, party officials had more privileges than ordinary citizens, and this likened them to the «noble grandees» of past centuries, with whom their communist grandfathers fought so fiercely. There were pioneer camps for children of high-ranking party workers. For example, «Artek», located in Crimea on the Black Sea coast, in an amazingly beautiful place. Getting there was possible only by special order of ruling figures – party leaders. But Mark’s parents belonged to the Soviet intelligentsia and had no special privileges. Therefore, the place where Mark found himself that summer was a pioneer camp for the children of ordinary workers, mostly workers of an agricultural machinery plant, that is, proletarians.

After Lara’s betrayal, Mark decided to descend from heaven to earth. His first desire was to get rid of excess weight – to lose weight and become slim. Children often teased him as a fatty. The standard of an adult man for proletarians is a muscular athlete with a hammer in his hands, and the standard of a teenager is a skinny, hungry, and poor boy. Mark didn’t fit this image and looked like a foreigner among the children of proletarians. His plumpness, grooming, slightly swarthy skin, and intellectual features of the face irritated them, and sometimes even aroused hatred.

To lose weight, Mark chose an original way that could only come to a child’s mind. In the pioneer camp, friends liked to play table tennis for food: the loser gave away their portion during dinner or lunch. Mark deliberately played tennis with stronger players, guys older than himself, and often lost, remaining hungry. Sometimes he lost not only lunch but also dinner and came to the dining room at a non-lunchtime to ask for a piece of bread, as there was nothing else to eat at this time. As a result, he quickly lost excess weight and confidently moved towards his goal.

But his decision to transfer to the first squad, where there were older guys, turned out to be not the most successful. He was hoping for communication with more interesting and intellectually developed comrades. He dreamed of participating in their sports games. However, his desire was ambitious and absurd.

The first squad consisted of teenagers fourteen to sixteen years old, with pimples – «hottentots» – already appearing on their faces, and their view of the world became greedy, aggressive. Except for a few modest and good guys, most of the teenagers were evil and unfriendly towards Mark. They constantly fought and treated each other little better than wild animals. Authority for them was strength and rudeness. Many had known each other for a long time, as their parents mostly worked at the plant and, apparently, communicated. Mark was a foreigner among them in every respect. However, he was not taken into the football team not for this reason: he simply played football poorly, although he loved this sport and dreamed of playing in their team. He sometimes imagined himself in a beautiful blue football uniform and light blue socks.

Each squad had pioneer leaders aged twenty years. If the squad was male, it would be a guy, and if female – a girl.

Every morning, the bugler woke the entire camp by playing a fanfare with a red flag attached. Then everyone lined up for a roll call, that is, distributed by squads on the parade ground. It all looked like in the army. The leaders of each squad reported to the chief pioneer leader of the camp that squad number so-and-so was lined up for roll call. And this also resembled the army. Then the camp director spoke, giving various orders. After that, to the performance of the state anthem on the bayan, a red flag was hoisted on a tall pole as a symbol, and the squads of young pioneers dispersed to their pavilions to the beat of a drum.

All activities in the camp, including entertainment and sports, had a militarized character. It created the impression that someone might attack the fairy-tale country of the communists, as if enemies surrounded it on all sides.

In addition to table tennis, Mark loved billiards. Once he joined a group of guys playing «knockout», that is, the defeated one leaves the game, and the winner plays the next game with a new opponent. Born under the sign of Sagittarius, known for its accuracy and excitement, Mark played billiards well.

Suddenly, Valery Sergeyevich, the pioneer leader of the first squad, came in. He looked pale and angry. The guys parted and cleared the table for him. For a while, he gloomily walked around the table alone and pocketed balls.

– How are you feeling, Valery Sergeyevich? – Vera from the second girls’ squad asked him sympathetically. – Maybe bring you some water to drink?

Valery Sergeyevich silently and lazily walked around the billiard table, looking for a convenient angle to pocket the ball. He had just returned from the hospital after an appendicitis operation, so he was in a bad mood. All the children reverently watched how skillfully he pocketed the balls. They felt sorry for him: after all, he had undergone such a serious operation. And Valery Sergeyevich felt like a hero somewhere in front of the surrounding children.

He soon got bored playing by himself, and he announced:

– Tomorrow, in our camp, they are showing the movie «Son of the Regiment», be ready. And tell the others.

– What’s the movie about? – asked a boy named Andrey with a non-Russian accent. He was Greek, so the guys often made fun of him.

– About how in the forest, in a shell crater, Soviet artillery scouts found a ragged, hungry peasant boy Vanya Solntsev and took him with them to the artillery regiment, – Valery Sergeyevich explained and immediately left.

And Mark decided to wait not for the hungry and ragged Vanya Solntsev but for the moment when the real sun went down over the horizon to swim secretly in the pool when it became dark and no one would see him. He was joined by the Greek boy Andrey. When the sun set, they both swam, laughed, and splashed in the cool water, enjoying the view of the starry night sky above their heads. The warm air gently enveloped their bodies, creating a feeling of freedom and carefreeness. They told each other about their interests. Andrey entertained Mark with stories from ancient Greek mythology, and Mark shared funny incidents from his life and his creative plans in music. At that moment, they felt not only friends but also part of something greater – eternity, where there are no borders and barriers. They got out of the water and, sitting on the edge of the pool, began to contemplate the night sky, dreaming of adventures that awaited them ahead.

Well, the adventures didn’t take long to wait. Their happy laughter and splashing water, mixing with the wind, reached the ears of the red-haired Svetlana, the leader of the girls’ squad. In a gazebo hidden in the night silence, she was hugging the projectionist, who sometimes showed movies in the camp.

When Mark and Andrey returned to the pavilion and went to bed, no one noticed them. But in the morning, after the general line-up on the parade ground, the pioneer leader of the first squad, Valery Sergeyevich, lined up all the guys and announced:

– The first squad is deprived of watching the movie «Son of the Regiment» today. Everyone is punished!

A murmur of disapproval ran through the line, voices were heard: «Valery Sergeyevich, what for?»

– Two from your squad were swimming in the pool after lights out, – he said, peering into the faces as if trying to identify the offenders.

– Who are these Judases? – voices were heard from the crowd.

Mark’s heart went cold, and his knees went numb.

– Were there many Judases? – Andrey asked him in a whisper; he seemed not to quite understand what was happening.

– They probably think that since all Jews are Judases, that’s why they call them Judases, – Mark suggested.

But Andrey, a bit more versed in the biblical story, since his parents were religious people, asked:

– But Jesus was also a Jew, so he’s Judas too?

While the children unsuccessfully tried to figure out the New Testament, the red-haired Svetlana entered the pavilion with a sly smile on her face; she looked carefully, with some sweet pleasure, now at Andrey, now at Mark.

– So is it them? – Valery Sergeyevich asked her.

Svetlana nodded with satisfaction and left.

– Because of these two discipline violators, everyone will be punished, – Valery Sergeyevich said strictly, pronouncing the last words as a verdict, understanding what would follow.

An air of inevitability hung in the air. Valery Sergeyevich immediately left, clearly not to interfere with the reprisal of the guilty. As soon as he left the pavilion, someone punched Mark hard in the nose, and his nose bled. Meanwhile, Kolka, the oldest, was beating Andrey with his large fists. Mark didn’t wipe the blood off his face so that any of the avengers who wanted to beat him would see that he, like the first Judas, had already been punished.

And indeed, when Kolka searched for Mark with his eyes, he asked: «Where’s this Armenian bitch?» – and, seeing him bloody, calmed down. «You’ve already been given, you bastard», he said with satisfaction.

Andrey’s parents came to visit the next day. Seeing him bruised, they immediately took him from the camp with a big scandal. The camp director summoned Valery Sergeyevich and gave him a serious scolding. Mark didn’t like to complain, so he said nothing to anyone.

But Mark didn’t dwell on the negative moments of life in the camp. He was attracted to Russian girls, especially simple ones. Apparently, he had read enough Russian folk tales. He no longer thought about Lara but began to notice Vera from the girls’ squad. He showed interest in her, but she treated him with contempt because he was slightly swarthy, either Jewish or Armenian, and still chubby.

Every morning the children washed and brushed their teeth on the bank of an aryk – a narrow but deep canal near the camp. One morning, Mark bent down to scoop water into his hands and felt a kick in the back. The push sent him into the water. He swam well and quickly climbed ashore. Several guys stood by the aryk and showed by their appearance that they didn’t know who pushed him. He thought someone was joking at his expense for fun and bent down for water again. Again followed a push in the back, and Mark ended up in the water again. Climbing ashore, he asked indignantly: «Who’s doing this?» But everyone insisted: «It’s not me, it’s not me». Mark was used to their rude behavior, but this seemed too harsh even for him. He approached the water for the third time to rinse his toothbrush and again flew into the aryk from a push. All those standing on the shore shrugged – they didn’t know who was doing it.

A lanky guy in glasses with a square face – brother of the very Vera who Mark liked – extended a hand to him as if to help him climb out of the water. And when he pulled Mark out, he pushed him back into the water. This already looked like some kind of sophisticated reprisal, a lynching.

– Why?! – Mark exclaimed offendedly.

– For my sister! What did you say about her yesterday, you bastard?! – said the lanky guy with a furious expression on his face. It’s hard to describe the hatred with which he looked at Mark. Such hatred doesn’t arise instantly but has roots going back to the distant past.

– When? – Mark was surprised.

– During the dead hour, – he said angrily. That’s what they called the children’s daytime rest in pioneer camps.

Mark began to remember what happened yesterday during the day’s nap. Yes, he said something, referring to his sister, but didn’t mention her name. He remembered something like: «And my chick is having fun now». He was just practicing slang he picked up from older guys.