"Everything's burning..." "Tell me, Major," "What were you thinking about, then, before the landing?" "I don't remember." "I bet you were afraid." "Nobody wants to die." "Not even that dog Hitler." "But what can you do?" "Either you get them or he gets you." "Who the hell knows, thought Lopatin afterwards." "Why do I remember this and not that?" "After that landing there were Don and Stalingrad," "I was wounded twice..." "But what I remember now is the fog spread over the winter sea, the morning before we returned to mainland, what that soldier said to me about Hitler," "Pasha Rubtsov in his cap looking like a German POW." "Why does it come back to me now?" "Maybe because a year has passed and you're still alive, but he isn't?" "Because you're taking his things to his wife in Tashkent, and not the other way around?" "Why?" "Hey, Lopatin, what if the war lasts another year, soldiers may get leaves..." "I'm thinking more about the next day, Pasha..." "I have to type up an article about the landing." "...your bag's burned through  it fell in the fire and got burnt up..." "Sergeant!" "Sergeant!" "The kid didn't make it." "Hurry up!" "Medic!" "Sergeant!" "Pardon me, Major." "Help you with the boot?" " No, thanks." "TWENTY DAYS WITHOUT WAR" "written by KONSTANIN SIMONOV directed by ALEKSEI GERMAN" "starring" "Yurii Nikulin Liudmila Gurchenko" "I take mine this way, he's there," "I go this way, he goes that way," "I try here, he's there again," "I go low, he goes through and turns back." "I go even lower, he truns again," "I'm like that, he goes past and makes a turn..." "I'm like this, he's like that," "I see a clearing and go for it, he goes too low and BAM!" "right into the pine trees." "Familiar places?" "No, I'm looking at the lights." "Haven't seen them in a while." "I spent a week in a village." "Not much light there, all kerosene." "I kept looking at the lights in the windows." "It really gets you." "You catch our advance at Stalingrad?" "I caught a bit." "What you got going in Tashkent?" "Business or leave?" "Business and leave." "Twenty days, that's all." "You're trash, always were!" "Some business..." "Hocus-pocus!" "Where're you going?" "This way!" "You like jokes, Major?" "When they're funny." "No more tea..." "you're on your own." "In the summer I get a letter," "Forgive me, Yura, I done wrong." "I send a telegram:" "what sort of wrong?" "I feel something's bad." "Turns out, the schoolteacher came back, lost three fingers." "She was renting from his mother, and, you know..." "Three fingers didn't get in the way." "I run to the pay office, sign a petition, annul the certificate," "I can't sleep, can't eat," "I'm just imagining them, you know... making love..." "amongst themselves." "Well, nothing doing." "I throw myself under fire." "but it's like I'm charmed or something." "I started going savage, four months like that." "It's just gnawing at my heart," "I want to tear it up and toss it away." "After four months the comissar calls me up, says, you're going to receive the new planes, a week's official leave, can go see your wife." "I say, no more wife." "He says, Yeah, I read your stupid petition, the certificate's annulled, she's got it..." "I'm thinking, let them choke on that certificate..." "Ok, I say, I'm going." "I get to the district council there, an officer meets me, says how do you do nothing but dust, no coal at all..." "Says, I got a telegram from your superior it's 22km to your place, why don't you spend the night with us." "A nice kid." "Come spend the night, says," "I'll get you a horse in the morning, you'll be on your way." "We get there, his wife setting the table, we sit down, drinking, not talking." "He says, I know the whole story..." "I say, that's fine..." "I didn't get what he was talking about." "I'm like a deaf-mute." "He's a good drinker, me too." "So, we're drinking..." "He says, I have a favor to ask you." "But you give me your word that you'll do it." "I say, sure, I'm just not following..." "He says, you do what you have to, but I don't want to see no corpses." "And he knocks on the table." "Well, I got nowhere to go." "At night I'm sleeping, thinking, he didn't knock for nothing..." "I can't run away." "So, I get to the village." "My kid runs out to meet me." "Where's your sister, I tell him." "In the hospital, he says, she's sick." "He says, is your gun loaded, dad?" "I say, hold up there boy." "Where's mama?" "At work, he says, she'll be back late." "I come in..." "She was working at a lumber mill..." "You understand, this big man is doing 2+2, while a woman's stacking lumber." "I go into the teacher's house and sit down at the table." "The mother, she's this tiny woman, you see..." "Just a minute, just a minute, and runs off screaming." "Help!" "help!" "there's a murderer with a gun at my house." "My kid was friends with his, he runs over and says," "My daddy's back, he's got a big gun, he'll kill your daddy." "The teacher locks up the school and runs off to the council." "I'm still sitting." "People start milling about the house, looking into the windows here and there," "I was mad." "Lord save us!" "I was scared of myself." "Late in the evening, it was long after sunset, she comes back." "Comes in - says, how do you do." "Chirp, chirp, the cricket's chirping, and it's just crushing my head," "I don't say a word." "She says, don't you recognize me?" "I'm like paralized, can't open my mouth." "I just can't get my jaw to open." "She sits down, we had some food, put the kid to bed, all in silence." "Finally, she couldn't take it anymore." "She says, Yura, since you sent me that letter," "I didn't have no relations with him no more." "Ask anybody." "She's crying." "I love you, she says," "I still can't say anything." "The lamp is burning." "In the morning I went to see my daughter at the hospital, came back, she's still crying, then she says," "Yura, sweetheart, forgive me, for christ's sake, and crying." "That sweetheart, it really got to me." "I grabbed the table." "Silence, I say!" "I'm clutching the table just to keep in check." "I started saying all kinds of things." "Calling her a whore, cursing!" "I'll kill you, murder you!" "I held back, though." "She fell silent, and that was it." "And since then I had no relations with her." "I clenched my teeth at night, that's how." "Sure I looked at other women, but they belong to someone else." "I'm no saint that I don't look." "But it's the truth, I didn't touch her no more." "Sure, the last night..." "I couldn't take it." "I went for it, thought she'd push me away." "No, she just lay there, real quiet like, not making a sound." "She just says, you forgive me?" "I say, no, no I don't." "I got up early, didn't even say good-bye to my kid." "Left there, and that's it." "Major, Major, do you hear me?" "Sure I do." "I have to ask you something." "Just promise me you'll do it." "Just like in your story?" "Can you write her a letter?" "So she knows what it's like." "In your name?" "Right, like as though I wrote it." "I'll copy it in my hand afterwards." "You don't even know yourself what you want." "No, I don't." "Sure, I should forgive her." "She didn't live with that clown no more." "People told me." "But it's hard for me." "How can I write a letter for you?" "What if you don't like what I say?" "I'll like it." "I read your stuff and I like it." "I have a notepad here and a pencil." "I have my own." "No, please take mine." "It wasn't just for the children." "It was for her sake too that I came." "So that she feel what she'd done to me." "What's her name, anyway?" "Valentina Stroganova." "Valia." "I won't bother you." "I'll just sit here." "...beneath great weeping willows the poor gunner laid himself down..." "You're thinking I'm not capable of it, Major..." "I'm not thinking anything." "We all do stupid things, isn't that right, Major?" "Right." "...bread-bearing fields will sing him sinless dreams." "The sultry sun, not the fiery candle, beams down upon his motionless face."" "Right." "I get down into the clearing, and that's the end of him." "Excuse me, please." "The lighter is Austrian, but it works well." "Vasia!" "Lopatin!" "Hello, Vasilii!" "– How are you!" " What you got there - gold?" " Give that here." "Take the suitcase." "How's your mother?" "Mother died a month ago." "Heart disease." "You'll be sleeping in her bed." "The local climate didn't suit her." "Long journey?" "The devil knows." "About 7 days, I guess." "That's pretty fast." "Your wife came by today, her husband... was transfered here." "As a theater director." " I know." "Here's a letter for you." "And an address." "The address is separate." "Don't lose it." "As you like." "Petia!" "Petia, Petia!" "Mother!" "Ma, I'm alive..." " I'm looking for Rubtsova." " That's me." " I'm Lopatin." " Nice to meet you." "The boys got the things together and sent me." "These were left over at the newspaper office." "Who's there?" "What do you want?" "A camera, etc." "There's food in the bag, cans, etc." "There's also money:" "4,550 rubles." "Edy, stop it, you hear me?" "There's no place to sleep here." "We're packed like sardines." "This is a friend of Pasha." "He brought belongings." "Any sugar?" "What the devil do you want!" "What do you need sugar for!" "Calm your child." "Listen to me." "Why did you come?" "What for?" "Why don't you go?" "What'd you come for?" "Get out of here." "Please leave." "Why do you stand there?" "What'd you come for?" "Please go, would you." "And take the cans with you!" "Lord, how will I live?" "Will you leave or not?" "Please calm the child." "She cries when her mother cries." "Will you have some tea with us?" "Sure, thanks." "Forgive me..." "forgive me..." "Excuse me, how do I get to Beshegach?" "Sorry..." "Not this way, turn right!" "Go straight!" "So I should go back?" "Thanks." " Is this No. 13?" " Right." " Hello." " Who are you looking for?" " Ksenia Segeevna." " Come in, I'll get her." " Do glasses bother you in battle?" " Sometimes." " And what do you do?" " Take them off." " Pardon." "Get to bed." " Mama..." "Vadik, to bed now." " Well, hello." " Hello." "I smudged you." "You lost weight." "Not looking so good." " Probably the haircut." " Right, that's it." "Don't worry, not mine." "I hate to say it, but I am awfully happy with him." "It happens." " Vedeneev." " Lopatin." "Take off your coat." " How was the journey?" " Very good." " This way." "Listen:" "I'm not a plaintiff, you're not defendants." "We'll sit, stand and drink..." "if you have any." "The locksmith won't come for less than half a loaf." "They have children too." "So, I killed him." "You understand me?" "As a soldier, you can..." "I'm not a soldier, to be precise." "My duties sometimes take me into battle." "But it's not the same thing." " Nonsense." "You shot at Germans." "You killed them." "Sure, once or twice at the beginning." "This year I fired a machine gun... once." "I doubt I killed anyone." "I wasn't the only one shooting, and they're far away." "I have bad eyesight." "My husband is a chief military medic." "He says it's safe." "That's a lie, right?" "Sometimes it is." "No, drinks only hardens me." "Hand me some rice, it softens me up." "Lida here plays a sniper." "I'm the director." "We need to understand..." "Not so much... what it feels like to kill a man." "Is it delight, satisfaction, rapture?" "Satisfaction?" "Sure." "Delight or rapture don't go well with war, really." "But the poet said, "The intoxication of battle..."" "What do we make of that?" "How should I know?" "Nobody knows." "The same that we make of any poetry." " To your health!" " Thank you." "I remember going to your plays when I was a kid." " You mean Macbeth?" " Not just Macbeth." "One moment." "What about the will to die." "The will to die is good for suicide." "In war you need a will to do under the peril of death." "But the will to live remains." " Do you want a splash of hot tea?" " Sure." " Lida, some tea?" " No." "So, what are the right words?" "You know all the wrong ones." " Lida!" "I want to understand." "What words?" "I see you don't like prose." "So hear this:" "It's hard for me to reach you, but death is just 4 steps away." "Those are the right words." "As I see it." "Don't be angry." "Your eyes look angry." "She's foolish, and I'm old." "I know how people suffer and die." "How they learn of others' deaths." "But I don't know how they kill." "I have to know, see?" "First we invite him over, then we make him work." "Some of our kids followed a unit, now they're enlightening everyone." "And Zinaida with her usual tactfulness..." "Nonsense, I listen to them because it is the sound of war." "Go on, Vadik..." "That's ours room." "I'm so glad your essays are being made into movies." "Me too." "Do you need anything?" "Nina doesn't write me at all." "It's understandable, kids like writing to the front." "She will understand in time." " You have something to tell me?" " Yes." "Your telegram about the divorce got delayed." "And we had to get the apartment..." "You signed for me." "Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that." "But Evgenii thinks you should do it yourself." "He's right." "Give me the paper." "Here." "It's all there." "Here are the keys to the Moscow apartment." "I don't need them." "What date should I write?" " If you mind..." " What date, Ksenia?" "I don't care." "The 11th." "Here." "Oh god..." "It's your own..." "your own fault!" "It's all your fault!" " Get a hold of yourself." " I will not!" "All you cared about was your writing." "People laughed at you..." "You hated my friends!" "I was getting old!" "I've lost my taste for such scenes..." "I'm going." "I'm going too." "The gates are locked and you won't find the back way." "Say good-bye for me, ok?" " I'll come by tomorrow." " Ok." "Good-bye." " Mister, what time is it?" " 9:30." "Ksenia showed me some photos of you, but I didn't recognize you on the train." "I think it's the haircut..." " Why were you crying?" "My father is dying." "I was coming from the hospital." "He was wounded and paralyzed." "He's in one piece, but... it's hopeless." "I saw you standing there with all your patches and thought, why did he survive and my father..." "Why is this man perfectly fine?" "Happy, decorated, probably coming home to his family." "Turns out it's you and there's nothing waiting for you." "Pardon, what did you say?" "I said, you're not totally happy either." "Why, things are perfectly fine for me." "Fine..." "I think many women here may think so, looking at you." "That's my tram." "He's sending the certificate to you, so she can't do anything..." "I pictured you with dark hair and a mustache." "This is our set of the basement." "Was your Stalingrad woman beautiful?" "Our consultant." " Pleasure to meet you." "I think she was." "That basement was more like a boiler room." "With pipes." "And no lamps." "And no cots." "We ate and slept on crates." " I see." " Otherwise it looks similar." "Bring crates." "Get rid of the cots." "No, no, I won't part with my crates." "I'm responsible for them." "Move the barrel." "Vasilii, please take care of this." "I think I'll go." "I shouldn't have asked you to work on New Year's Eve." "Hello." "Hello." "I've been waiting for you." "Me?" "At your service." "Let me walk you back." "Sure." "What for?" "See, I'm working here as a seamstress..." "I see..." "Can I carry...?" "It's just a dress..." "and a half." "Why half?" "It's not finished." "Did I say something wrong the other night?" "This is the old part of town." "They thought of paving it before the war..." "But the sewage system will happen anyway." " Your boy is 5?" " 6, is he small?" "Want to know about the husband?" "Ran off before the war." "Only this belt left." "My father ran off too, probably hereditary." " You have plenty of time." " I'm not bitter, just curious." "And you have plenty of time too?" "Doubt it." "My daughter's about to get married." " So what?" " Nothing." "Bastard." "What's that there?" "Better now." "Can I ask you to wait around for a bit?" "I just have to drop this off." " No problem." "Hold this..." "So you won't run off." "Be right back." "You're a slob, not a soldier, and I'll teach you a lesson." "Fix it." "Get that truck out of the way." "Ho, ho, ho, I come from far off lands..." " They didn't take it?" " No this is a reward." "Now we're rich and almost free." "Cold?" "No, we're in the south here." "Bread..." " Why almost?" "I still have to drop off some money." "I borrowed for my trip." "It's close by." " Feet cold?" " I have two pairs of socks." "Don't you wear foot wraps?" "I figured you don't know how to wrap them." " May I take your arm?" " Of course." "Does fear make you want to smoke?" "The two are not related." "I smoke when I want to..." "and have tobacco." "And I fear when it's frightening." "What was the scariest thing?" "The scariest... at the start of the war..." "Then at Kerch..." "Stalingrad too." "Hard to explain." "You feel it in the back of your neck." "Do people come to the shows?" "Sure." "Big lines too." "You can imagine domestic life here." "Theater is all bright lights, like there's no war." "Why in the back of your neck?" "Everyone has his own geography of fear." "My everpresent fear is just back there." "A sudden fear is in the stomach." "Like I'm hugry." "What's so funny?" "Just funny." "Hot here in this dump." "I don't mind." "The sun came out." "That's good." "They don't have normal New Year's parties here." "What did you do last year?" "I slept through it." "Pay attention now." "You see the turn there?" "Where the tracks make a cul-de-sac, that's my house there at that stop." "You have four more stops." " That right?" " Right." "There by that sign." "This is the only fence in town." "You're very funny in glasses." "How does one sleep through the New Year?" "It was a crazy day." "Germans were bombing, a ship caught fire." "We had to put it out." "They didn't wake us till four." "We had a drink of course." "Then we talked about Tashkent the rest of the night." "My friend had a wife here too." "Careful, fellas!" " It's nothing." " No?" "This is where you're staying?" "Maybe I can walk you home now?" "Damn, broke my heel." " Vasilii Nikitich..." " NIkolaich." " Sorry..." "I have a very important question for you..." "You see an associate of my husband passed through here..." "They were on an equestrian team before the war..." "He said my husband went behind the enemy lines, and he sent me his watch for some reason..." "Yes, his watch..." " So what?" "He knew it would be tough..." "But he hasn't written for four months!" "I'm beginning to think..." " Don't think." "Just wait." " Really?" "Four months is nothing." "These missions last a long time." "Yes, Vadik also thinks so..." "I told her a thousand times, but she doesn't get it!" "Horses don't need fuel..." "She's stupid!" "I get it!" "But the watch..." "doesn't he need it?" "So what?" "I sent mine to my daughter too." "It happens all the time." " Really?" " Really." "I totally agree with you." "I just had to hear it from you." " Thank you very much." " My pleasure." "Good-bye." "I brought her to you." "You've seen it all." "So, can I walk you home?" "No, thanks." "I'm going straight to the theater." " Happy New Year!" " You too!" " Vadik, how can you talk to your mother like that!" "That's you." "See the resemblence?" " What time is it, Major?" " 12:30" "Back in Russia the sergeant brought dinner in a thermos, they're all chomping down concentrate, no need to pay!" "I left for the front on the 2nd day." "Army paper - The Western Front." "When our train got shelled in Minsk" "I crawled out from under pieces of torn bodies." "I vomited until I had nothing left in me." "Pardon me." "Kill the light." "I didn't say anything to anyone." "But the command office sent for me." "Vasilii Nikolaevich..." "it's for you." "From the command office." " I'll be a minute." " Go on, go on." "I'll have a drink to victory in '43." "All my life I wrote about war." "Wore a uniform." "Did god knows what." " Permit me to speak." " Go on." "Let's go over there." " Thanks." "A real favor." " Don't mention it." "So your leave fell through." "May I go?" " Go on." "To hell with the leave." "I don't know anything about movies anyway." "I think it's going to start in the Caucases." " Where to?" " Out for a walk." "I don't want to hear it." "Off to bed." "...weather you cannot trust the sea." "And why not, my dear?" "In a long-past life recall, o treacherous fiend, how I trusted in you." "This is the only wooden fence next to tram tracks in town, Major." " I'll get out here." " Wait for you?" "Don't bother." "I'd wait, but I'll get in trouble." "Vasilii Nikolaevich, what's your sense?" "My sense is that it's fake." "Fake?" "She didn't set the tank on fire." "She just didn't leave that basment." "And we all knew that we cannot leave either." "You think we can take your sketch word for word, and make a film?" "Not word for word." "But your additions are unfortunate." "Burn a tank!" "An anti-tank weapon is heavy, it's made for two people..." "It's a movie." "We can't have a movie without a heroic act." "My aim is to make a film, and it is a noble aim." "But it's a lie." "Did the woman die?" "Why didn't you write that?" "And everyone is dressed like it's a runway." "We didn't wear helmets 24 hrs a day." "And nobody wears gas masks anymore." "But there are regulations, Major, or are they gone too?" "Gas masks are still prescribed by regulations." "Comrade, were you at the front?" "What difference does it make?" "Here it makes all the difference." "I saw action back in the civil war." "Now I serve where the country needs me." "And I did ask to be transfered." "And when I get there I will serve from start to finish, not here and there, gathering materials for another sketch." "Any soldier posing for a photograph is clean and polished." "This is a movie." "Still, a consultant should have first-hand knowledge." "Pardon." "Comrades, the lights are on." "Get rid of the gas masks and helmets." "Are we gonna film today or not!" "The shutter sticks sometimes!" "Lord, what trouble..." "Let's give it a go." "Get the tractor, right away!" "It won't budge, Major!" "Get ready!" "Camera!" "Action!" "Why did you refuse to evacuate?" "Is it so hard to understand?" "This is our house!" "Our daddy is buried here." "Where should we go?" "If we're meant to die, we'll die all together." "When you chase the Germans out we won't need to leave." "Isn't that right?" "That's right." "But what if a bomb falls?" "We're used to it, Comrade Major." "I can be useful too, I know how to fire a gun." "Comrade Major, Ivanova is correct." "She has fought in two battles and damaged an enemy vehicle." "I was walking alone when I saw these children." "I couldn't leave them behind." "So I took the kids along with me and walked all the way to Stalingrad." "Weren't you waiting for our troops?" "I dreamed of seeing our boys." "That would be our victory." "I couldn't bear the German anymore." "It was getting frightening." "Did you believe our men would come?" "Of course." "The whole time." "When the planes flew by I always thought those planes are low, our boys must be near." "If the planes are low, our troops are near by." "When they're far, the planes get higher up." "Did you see them?" "Of course." " And?" " First we were afraid." "Then we barricaded ourselves in that basement and sat there quietly." "No, when you saw our men, what was it like?" "Then we were really happy." "We laughed and hugged them." "Where'd you get that?" "Dug up in the garden, basically stole it." "Fearlessly they charged the enemy, and a bloody battle was fought." "Suddenly the young soldier lay down his head - his heart had been pierced." "Better now?" "He fell at the legs of his steed and closed his bright eyes." "Your product is very special." "It destroys all fascists." "To make our product for the front you work like you are at the front." "We know that first you fired up your machines and only then put a roof over your head." "We remember comrades who were ill but worked to the very end." " Do you have any medals?" "Yes." "Then please take off your coat." "Here you go." "We know all about your labor." "We woud have liked to write about your heroism to your fathers, brothers and sons at the front." "But in war we can only do one thing:" "send your product to the front and maybe they will know who made it." "These are our heroes!" "They beat the production schedule." "I would like to introduce Major Lopatin." "He was at Stalingrad!" "Comrades!" "Comrades..." "Comrades, what are thinking about back in Stalingrad?" "About you." "Who are they working for?" "For you." "What are you thinking about?" "Who are you laboring for here in Tashkent?" "For them." "I have seen your production in Stalingrad." "It doesn't just kill fascists, it... these boys here, who work overtime," "they had saved somebody's life over there." "Maybe their own fathers' lives." "Day and night your production batters the Germans at Stalingrad." "Batters them." "Batters!" "And it will finish them off!" "Be sure of that!" "Thank you, comrades for your production." "Death to German occupiers!" "Victory will be ours!" "They thought it would be theirs." "But it will be ours." "The assembly is over." "Back to work, comrades!" "There's no time to waste!" "I've had enough of this!" " Hello." " Hello." "Do you mind that I dropped by?" "I'm off tomorrow..." "that's about it." "I thought you still had a few days left." "That was yesterday." "Lydia Nikolaevna, Romanova has a hole in her shoe." "She has to dance the walz in the second act..." "Liuba, could you take over for me today?" " Nice boys." " Heroes!" "They're off to the front tomorrow." "Mama, I dreamt of the crow again." " It went away now." " Who's that?" "Shh, go to sleep." " Ma, could you take him?" " I have an extra pillow." "Go to sleep." "I love you." "There you are." "You don't have to do my laundry." "I just soaked it, then I thought it may not dry in time." "You wouldn't understand." "Raining again." "You know what I was thinking about the whole time?" "Remember the woman who saw me off that time?" "Sure." "With a funny hat." "Zoika, my father's wife." "I hated her my whole life." "She got a cleaning job at a hospital and had my father moved there." "She's looking after him." "I asked her if we could help?" "She cursed me out." ""I didn't share him when he was healthy..."" "I got upset, started to cry." "Now I see I was a fool." "How could I be so blind." "Put your arms around me." "You have strong arms." "Shh, the floor is creaking." "You're crazy." "One second..." "one second." "I probably can't see you off." "You're taking the Ashkhabad train?" "Right, about 1." "I wonder what the weather's like there..." "Will you go back to Moscow after, or some other place?" "I don't know." "Wherever they send me." "Of course." "It's very humid." "You'll get your feet wet, do you have spare socks?" "It's nothing." "I'll get some." "You could get sick." "I don't get sick." "Very rarely." "I had something very important to tell you." "Ok, let's say good-bye." "I'm coming, coming!" "Ok, off you go." "Go on, go on." "I dreamt of mother last night, she was feeding us dumplings." "It bodes well for you." "I caught a bullet in the civil war and shrapnel in this one." "Men, the train is about to move." "End all farewells!" "To your cars!" "When you get to Moscow you'll see my letter." "I'll try to set you up with a publisher..." "I'll try to..." "Would you like some food, Major?" " From the 214th?" " Yes, Major." "But you can't go farther by car." "They'll fire at you." "The car's going back." "Colonel Efimov asked me to take you to him." "We were here earlier, but now about a kilometer off." " So you're alive?" " Alive." "I was in a hospital for a spell." " Take your bag?" " It's ok." "I got a letter from a neighbor:" "German burned up your house." "Otherwise all ok." "So you're back with us?" " Permit me to speak." " Go ahead." "I'm assigned to 214th." "Is this the right way?" "The sergeant here knows the way." " May I come along?" " Sure." "I like your epaulets, lieutenant." "Address me properly." " A new assignment?" " Yessir, first day." "I'm still trying to catch up with my men." "It's pretty rowdy here." "So where are you coming from?" "I'm here two days." "In Tashkent before that." "I had a 20 day leave, but it was cut short." "Lucky, Taskent is nice these days." "If it's three shots and then quiet, then everything will turn out well." "For her too." "1... 2..." "The lieutenant got hit." "Are you hurt?" "Does it hurt?" "I can't hear." "Can't hear!" "Get your hands down!" "Try to blow it through!" "Clamp your nose and blow!" "The water is earthy here." "Drink, don't worry." "I thought that was it." "That's just the beginning." "That's not the end, lieutenant!" "You'll live a hundred years..." "Ok, let's get going." "Nobody will believe it's shrapnel." "They'll think I got a moth hole." "I couldn't believe it either." "I'll marry a widow after the war." "God's truth I will." "I saw an American magazine," "I don't know how women agree to pose like that." "A widow with a house." "I'll just join in." "If I get out alive." "So much for your 20 days without war." "Now you have to face the truth." "Many things will happen to you and to others." "Though we're plodding forward we're only in Kuban, and Berlin is a long way off." "A long, long way." "THE END"