Everything Begins In Childhood

* * *

My idle bliss was interrupted by Yura’s cry:

“Look, it got stuck there!”

I had lapsed so deeply into daydreaming that I hadn’t noticed Yura enter the yard. He stood on his stoop near the cherry tree, his nose almost touching its trunk, scrutinizing something. Yura was always detecting or examining something. His eyes knew no rest. They were always in search of something interesting, and not only things that engaged children’s attention. No, my cousin’s aspirations were much broader. He craved adventures that were sometimes not safe for him, or those around him.

“Hurry! Are you asleep, Redhead?”

No, of course, I wasn’t asleep. I was simply – at least externally – Yura’s complete opposite. Nothing was ever “burning” for me. I didn’t like to hurry. But it was impossible to linger now. Yura was jumping up and down near the cherry tree. He wore shorts and a white T-shirt, the light color of which emphasized the militant expression on his tanned face. “What has he detected there? What will we need to destroy?” I tried to guess as I was running up to him.

A huge Maybug stood motionless on the trunk of the cherry tree, exactly where Yura’s head was. Those insects, whose backs were covered with a shiny green shield that revealed black wings when they opened it, like the two parts of a door, often visited our yard, particularly at the end of spring. They would speed in over the top of our fence, buzzing like bombers, flying around the yard along unpredictable curves as if they wanted to inspect it closely, and then disappear in the thick foliage.

It was one of those Maybugs that was sitting in front of us on the cherry tree trunk. It was neither asleep nor taking a rest. It didn’t even pretend to be dead, which is what beetles usually did when they sensed danger. The poor thing had got stuck in the clear yellowish sap that was seeping from the tree trunk. It must have either bumped into the trunk or sat on it without noticing the danger. It was a very careless Maybug. If only it had known what lay ahead for it.

The Maybug gave a start, its green shield opened, its wings began to flap: the prisoner made an attempt to escape. In vain! The natural glue was very strong.

“Hurry!” Yura yelled, his eyes sparkling. “Hurry! Bring twine. No, wait, I’ll get it myself. Watch the Maybug!”

He ran away, and I covered the Maybug with my palm, just in case. Yura was right. Maybugs gave us a lot of fun.

My cousin came running back with a spool of black thread and a small knife. Holding it by the back, we tied the thread tightly around one of its hind legs. God forbid the thread should come untied, so we tied a double knot. That wasn’t easy to do. The Maybug sensed that something bad was going on, that it was being tinkered with, and not exactly for a noble purpose, so it resisted, pulling on its hairy legs as much as the sap allowed.

“All right… Now scoop it out,” Yura gave me the knife. At that moment, I realized that I would never be a surgeon. As I tried to dig its front legs out, it ended up getting its antenna-like whiskers stuck in the sap. The Maybug was so tired that it couldn’t resist any longer.

“It’ll suffocate!” Yura suddenly panicked. He snatched the knife from my hand and performed the surgery himself. The Maybug was liberated, losing only one leg.

“Hurry!” Yura shouted as he ran to the apricot tree. The space there was more open, more appropriate to form the runaway of our airport, so to speak. The Maybug was to become an airplane, and airplanes, as everyone knows, take off from airports.

We set the Maybug carefully on the asphalt that covered the ground. At first, it stood still, and we couldn’t do anything about it for it would not move an inch until it was sure it was safe.

Yura and I stood nearby, completely still. I was holding the spool, after winding off enough thread so that the Maybug wouldn’t feel the tension as it flew or crawled. At last, it began to crawl somewhat slowly and hesitantly. Perhaps, it felt that one leg was missing.

We were terribly impatient.

“C’mon, bug! Stop that nonsense!” I repeated, shaking the thread slightly to remind the Maybug that, after all, it had to work. At last, it understood what it was expected to do, opened its shield, spread its wings and took off… slowly, with great effort, but it took off.

“Wind off! Wind off!” Yura yelled, concerned and agitated.

Our airplane gained speed, trying to fly as far as possible, but we couldn’t let it fly to the part of the yard where the thread would become tangled in branches. That meant that unwinding too much thread from the spool would be dangerous. We needed to guide the Maybug like a kite. The thread was long enough, but it was strained, and now the Maybug was flying in circles, a bit higher with each one. Mesmerized, we stared at it. We were blissfully happy as, looking up, we turned around in the center of the yard, the spool in our hands. Perhaps, guiding the flight of the Maybug wasn’t such a great feat, but we felt like mighty, all-powerful rulers.

The end came unexpectedly. The poor Maybug, tired of fighting the strained thread that burdened it, came tumbling down. That was it… We thought that our airplane had crashed as we ran up to it, but the Maybug was alive. It simply needed a break.

Certainly, we could have kept it for future flights, but we were magnanimous and felt sorry for the invalid. That was enough. It had worked and fulfilled its duty. We would let it fly away… if it could.

“Shall we let it go? Let’s toss it up into the apricot tree.” Yura cut off the thread at the Maybug’s leg, jumped and tossed it up into the thick branches. After making an arc, the Maybug came tumbling down. We cried “ah,” but just before it reached the ground, it suddenly spread its wings and flew upward, buzzing. Another moment and the Maybug had disappeared in the sunlight that was breaking through the rich greenery of the tree.

Yura and I stood there looking up. We weren’t sorry that we had set the Maybug free; we were a bit sad for a different reason. We didn’t say anything to each other, but it was clear that we both felt the same. Our feet stood on the asphalt of the yard, but our souls soared up high over the roof of the house, over the cherry trees laden with ripe cherries, glowing among the leaves, the sweet cherry tree near the trestle-bed, with its juicy yellow cherries, over the pigeon house with its hungry baby pigeons, their mouths wide open, over the apricot tree, over the whole yard, over the entire neighborhood.

Ah, how great it would be to fly like our Maybug, with no thread attached, and without the adults even noticing. Height in itself is beautiful, but we could also have so many nice adventures up there.

“Well, let’s go,” Yura sighed. “Let’s go. I’ll show you something.”

What a pity we couldn’t fly, but the two of us did enjoy ourselves in the yard.

Chapter 27. The Best Place in the City of Tashkent

“Valery, get up, bachim.”

Oh, my. I had been dozing so nicely. It was still very early, but I had been waking up, then dozing off again since dawn.

I was sleeping on the convertible couch in the living room. When it was unfolded, the couch almost reached the TV set that was across from it. That’s why the room was crammed. Only a narrow passage was left. Grandpa, who got up at the crack of dawn, would make his trip from the bedroom to the kitchen along that passage. He would bump against the couch during each of his trips, and every collision was accompanied by a short yet loud exclamation, “Ekh!” Judging by the intonation, it meant, “He’s lying right in the middle of the path! People here are late for work, by the way…”

However, despite that insignificant inconvenience, I preferred sleeping alone in the living room rather than in the company of my snoring Grandpa.

“Get up, bachim! Pour water on my head,” Grandpa woke me up, shaking me by the shoulder.

The aroma of choyi kaimoki wafted out of the kitchen. Grandma, who was busy at the stove, gave me a kettle of warm water.

Grandpa undressed down to his waist, baring his torso, which always amazed me. His chest, shoulders, stomach, arms and even his back were covered in very thick, dark hair. Grandpa’s head, with its beard, was bare, shiny and hairless – a striking contrast to his torso.

Grandpa wasn’t bald. He had only a small bald spot, about ten centimeters across, on the top of his head. You would only notice it if you looked very closely. I think he managed to avoid going bald by shaving his head all the time. Grandpa deprived his hair of enjoying the light of day but at the same time rescued it from falling out.

As soon as Grandpa bent over the sink, the kitchen became lighter. At least, that was how it appeared to me. The shining, almost polished surface of Grandpa’s head reflected any light clearly. The shape of his head was either a good reflector of light or the barber shaved it too thoroughly, or perhaps it shined thanks to his daily washing. Every day! Just think! There wasn’t a speck of dust on it!

I actually had suspected that his special soap did the trick. Grandpa ordered special soap with varnish added to it. That was why his head was shiny. But I used that soap too. So where was the result? No matter how much I soaped my hands, they never became shiny. No, it wasn’t the soap but some special quality of his head.

In any event, I was proud of Grandpa’s head. Sometimes, when I was asked whose grandson I was, if when I answered they couldn’t figure out who Yoskhaim Yuabov was, I had to resist the temptation to say “The one with the shiny head.” They would definitely have remembered that. Tap-tap-tap – it was Grandpa patting the back of his head, as if to say, “Pour it here.”

Even his patting sound was unique, just like his belly scratching. I can’t say that Grandpa’s head was shallow. No, it was lucid and wise; he was brainy. But that joyful lively sound reminded me of the clear resounding thump of a ripe watermelon being tapped.

Grandpa was soaping his head thoroughly, the large bar of soap sliding over it like a skater around a skating rink. It would now and then slip out of his hands and fall into the sink with a clang, as if protesting, “All right, that’s enough!” I agreed. I was tired of standing next to Grandpa and listening to his commands, “Pour… more… right here… now wait.”

Grandma Lisa, who was busy at the stove, was glad deep down that her responsibility had been temporarily handed over to her grandson – that was me – but she watched closely to see if I served Grandpa diligently. To let me know that I was being monitored and to let Grandpa know of her unceasing care, Grandma would guide me now and then, “ValeRRy, you’re pouring past his head. You won’t have enough water… Don’t hurry, he’s still soaping.”

Finally, I poured water over Grandpa’s head for the last time. Then he would get busy on his ears. His index fingers entered the ears like moles digging borrows. I sometimes feared that those two diggers might meet in the middle of his head. What would happen then? But, fortunately, Grandpa would busy himself with one ear at a time.

After reaching a certain point, Grandpa’s finger would begin to shake in his ear like a vibrator. The finger, the ear and Grandpa’s beard would all shake very fast, just like Jack during his morning scratching. It was hilarious.

After washing and breakfast were over, I was free! I had the whole day ahead of me!

* * *

It was July. By noon, the terrible heat forced all the residents of the yard to hide in corners and cracks where the sultry sun couldn’t reach them, where the meager remains of morning coolness still lingered. No wonder, it got up to 104° F in the shade. The dry climate gave some relief – heat was easier to tolerate when the air was dry.

The heat gave Yura and me some advantages: who among the adults would want to keep an eye on children in that heat? Overcome with heat, they would all take a rest. While our Grandma and Valya, Yura’s mother, were hiding in the back of their houses, my cousin and I discussed our options.

“Let’s go to Anhor Swimming Pool. We can take a swim,” Yura was enticing me.

“We should let the adults know.”

“Oh, no, they’ll never allow us to go there alone.”

Yura was quite right, and I knew it just as well as he. But I was ten, and he wasn’t yet eight. It was nothing for him, but I got cold feet. If my deeds were reported to Father, the punishment could be terrible: immediate return to Chirchik, for the rest of my vacation.

But even so, my avid desire to go for a swim won out over my good sense. I made up my mind.

“Let’s go!”

“All right. You go first,” Yura ordered, “and I’ll distract Jack.”

We ran to the gate, casting glances at the windows and doors. Grandma’s tulle curtain didn’t stir, thank God. It was a good thing Grandma didn’t have an extra pair of eyes, and the ones she had were shut. Grandma must have been sniffling in her bed. Everything was also calm at Yura’s. Jack remained the only danger.

Jack acted as a guard. Besides, he was a devoted friend of Yura and me, and he couldn’t keep silent as he saw us leaving. It was clear that Jack would raise a fuss, shake his chain and bark. How could we explain to him that he was interfering in other people’s business, that he would be better off staying in his kennel lapping water?

Our countdown began when Yura approached Jack. I had fractions of a second to sneak over to the gate. Yura patted Jack as the dog wagged his tail, flattened his ears and licked Yura’s hand. But at that moment, our old wooden gate squeaked treacherously, and Jack squinted.

“Jack, my friend,” Yura said in a phony tender voice. “C’mon, Redhead, hurry up! Jack, good boy, don’t bark.”

Ah, that damned gate! I failed to hold it, and the gate slammed loudly, but I managed to sneak through. What about Yura? I squatted and looked through the crack. Yura was still petting Jack, as he kept up his heartfelt conversation.

“You’re a good dog, my shaggy dog. Forgive me for throwing stones at you. Do you want me to give you sausage?”

Jack took those words very well. Wagging his tail, he began sniffing Yura’s pockets. Unfortunately, they were empty. But Yura raised his fist and began waving it around to signify “You’re looking in the wrong place.” Jack stretched his neck, ready to jump and snatch the treat.

“Who do you want to tell on us to? Grandma? She only gives you bare bones. If you don’t bark, I’ll give you sausage when I come back,” Yura finished his pompous lying and rushed to the gate. On his way there, he waved his hand as if throwing something to Jack. That simpleton believed him and began looking for it near his kennel. Yura rushed outside. Before we could run a few steps down the lane, we heard Jack’s loud barking. He had come to his senses and realized he’d been cheated.

We exchanged glances: what was going on in the yard? Ah, it didn’t matter. The sooner we got far away from here the better.

* * *

Here we were on Herman Lopatin Street. The wide, shady street with water babbling merrily in ariks on both sides had recently been rebuilt and renamed, in 1969. It was named Shelkovichnaya (Mulberry) before, and everyone knew why. Now, it bore the name of some revolutionary who hardly anyone had ever heard of. But everyone quickly got used to its new name. At the corner of the street, where our Korotky Lane ran into it, a new four-story building made of pre-fabs with balconies stood out. It was no common building. The locals called it tsekovsky (Centcom). Only officials of the Central Committee of the Party could reside there and, perhaps, a few who were members of the government. There was a grocery store on the right side of the building for the convenience of those honored people.

So, Herman Lopatin Street, formerly Shelkovichnaya Street, was greatly admired by our “bosses.” A bit further along, on the left-hand side was the dacha of the President of the Republic himself, Comrade Rashidov. The locals knew when the “big boss” was in his residence. When a line of long black ZILs came rustling by, it would mean that Rashidov had arrived, either by himself or to entertain guests.

But we, after going around the Centcom building, walked in a different direction. First, we crossed a shady grove of fruit trees. You could see a cylindrical stone tower in the grove. They said it was part of a partially destroyed nineteenth-century military fort. Then the path, winding among adobes and gardens, led us to the clay fence I knew so well: Firefly Kindergarten.

“Remember when Emma and I used to go there?” I asked Yura. Then I suddenly realized that he couldn’t possibly remember that. I had been a little kid, and he was still in diapers.

However, my cousin knew how to get to the swimming pool, and he also knew the neighborhood quite well.

After we passed by the kindergarten, we reached a more open space, the embankment of the Anhor.

The Anhor was the short wide canal that flowed through our part of Tashkent. It was one of the smaller canals flowing out of the big city canal, the Bozsu. The Anhor, in turn, split downstream into two smaller canals that flowed beyond Tashkent.

All of these many arteries of the city existed thanks to mountain rivers flowing from the spurs of the Tian Shan. That’s why their water was ice cold, even in summer. It’s difficult to imagine how the city would have survived without them. For almost half the year the city is in the grip of summer heat that burns the soil, the vegetation, and the leaves on the trees. It’s water, and water alone, that rescues the city. Thanks to the water, Tashkent is very green and beautiful. It’s dotted with parks, small and large. Almost all the streets are treelined. The planting of trees and sowing of lawns accompany the construction of practically every building. The city’s residents, no matter what part of the city they live in, cultivate any small plot of land they have at their disposal.

* * *

Yura and I were walking along the shady green embankment of the Anhor. Mighty oaks, tall poplars, cherry, apple and apricot trees, weeping willows with their branches hanging almost in the Anhor’s waters – all that green beauty that alternated with the golden flashes of the sun’s rays was reflected on the smooth surface of the canal.

The Anhor’s embankment had been reconstructed recently, after the earthquake. That was when the trees, playgrounds, tennis courts, cafes, and the swimming pool, where we were heading now, had appeared.

The rectangular cement blocks grew so hot during the day that we could feel the heat through the soles of our sandals.

“Let’s walk barefoot. Let’s see who can stand it the longest.” Yura took off his sandals.

He always came up with different ideas. It was easy for him since he spent days running barefoot around Grandpa’s yard, but I had the soft feet of a city boy who wasn’t used to walking around without shoes. Yet I couldn’t admit I was a weakling.

I felt an unbearable burning sensation as soon as my soles touched the red-hot cement blocks. Yura’s soles must have felt hot too, but we walked side by side without saying a word, winking and looking at each other. Each of us thought, “If you can tolerate it, I can too.” However, without realizing it, we began walking faster and faster. Then I began to hop, trying not to touch the blocks with my feet any longer than necessary. I saw a look of suffering on Yura’s face. His eyes were about to pop out of their sockets, and his mouth was wide open… But I didn’t think it was funny. I knew that I must not look any better.

We took off… and dashed forward like two sprinters. Our feet were on fire, and the hot wind also felt fiery.

“A-a-ah!!!” I yelled non-stop as I ran with all my might, leaving Yura behind.

“Re-e-dhead, you’re such a louse!” I could hear Yura’s piercing cry.

When Yura loses, he needs to let out his feelings.

At last we had made it. There was Gagarin Park and the swimming pool in front of us. Hurry, hurry down the steps! And running at top speed, we jumped into the water. Its blissful coolness enveloped my body. My soul also felt blissful. What a miracle water could be! With my eyes half-closed, in this state of bliss, I heard Yura snort slightly beside me. He was also in a state of bliss.

After we rested, we began swimming, splashing and having a good time, not missing out on any of the pleasures that could be enjoyed in a swimming pool. We raced one another through the water; we dived, trying either to grab each other by the legs or to saddle our opponent, staying above the water while not allowing him to come to the surface.

I had just grabbed Yura’s leg when I heard his blood-curdling wail, “Ouch!” and felt that he was being pulled out of the water. I came to the surface, but, since the sun was shining right in my eyes, I could only see a dark silhouette holding Yura tightly by the ear. The next minute my ear was also grabbed so hard that I followed the hand holding it and leaped out of the pool.

Yura and I stood at its edge. Water was streaming down our bodies. Our wet shorts hugged our legs. And Valya, Yura’s mother, kept hold of our ears and shook them energetically, repeating the same question:

“Have you been taught to ask permission? Have you been taught? Have you been taught?”

Chapter 28. Kupik

“Valery, let’s go take out the garbage!”

That’s how my grandpa was. I was sitting on the trestle bed near the duval (fence). I wasn’t bothering anyone. So why was he bothering me? I was on vacation. Perhaps, all grandmothers and grandfathers think that vacations exist for their benefit, at least the ones who have houses with fruit and vegetable gardens. Though I wasn’t angry at Grandpa, I understood him. Grandpa had never had school vacations or rest. His whole life had always been work, with the exception of Saturdays and during the night’s sleep, naturally. That was all he needed. After all, how long could one be idle? I wasn’t even playing. I was just sitting there.

I understood Grandpa and loved him. I had noticed long before that he could win people over, and not just us, his favorite grandsons, but many other people, even those who didn’t know him very well. And he did it without any special effort, under any circumstances.

Let’s say he met someone on the street or in a store or at a bus stop, and the person didn’t even look at him, didn’t recognize him. He would still go up to that person and smile, his face beaming – his beard, naturally, participating – and strike up a conversation:

“Shumo nagzed? Whose grandchild are you?”

Just like that, without any prelude. And when the person answered, Grandpa would almost always figure out who his great-grandfather and great-grandmother were. Besides, it sometimes turned out that they were Grandpa’s relatives several times removed. Grandpa knew almost all of the Jews in Tashkent. He had an amazing memory.

I’m very sorry now that I heard so little from Grandpa Yoskhaim about his family, his childhood, his life in general. I only know that his grandpa who, as a thirteen-year-old lad, crossed the border from Iran to Turkmenistan on camelback to become the first of the Yuabov family on this side of the border.

I also know that Grandpa Yoskhaim had three brothers and a sister, that one of the brothers had died, and two other brothers lived not far from us. One of them was a mathematician, and he taught at the university. But Grandpa, for some reason, didn’t get an education and chose the modest occupation of a cobbler.

Why did the destinies of the children in his family develop so differently? I can’t even begin to guess. To be precise, I thought, though I wasn’t at all sure, that Grandpa, unlike his brother the mathematician, had been very religious since childhood. Had he been so absorbed in religion that it prevented him from developing any interest in science?

The garbage pails, eight of them, were placed right by the gate. Those rusted, battered, sometimes holey, garbage receptacles were covered with boards to keep small animals out. But garbage, after a few days in the Tashkent heat, emitted such an aroma that…