THE LEVERS
415
Laughter discharged the tension and returned them to their
normal state.
"And what are we afraid of, fellows?" Piotr Kuz'mich suddenly
said, musingly and a bit sadly, "Why, we're already afraid of our–
selves
!"
But Tsipyshev did not smile this time either. It was as though
he did not notice that Konoplev and Piotr Kuz'mich also had burst
into laughter but looked only at Sergei Shchukin--sternly, like an
elder.
"You're young still to laugh about this.
If
you'd lived as long
as
we have...."
But Shchukin was beyond quieting down. Besides, both Konop–
lev and Piotr Kuz'mich were obviously on his side. They winked
lively at him and kept on laughing.
"That's the way it is. That's how we're afraid," said Konoplev.
Behind the stove Marfa was silent.
Two young fellows of Komsomol age tore into the office.
"Why are you here?" Tsipyshev turned bodily to them.
"We want to listen to the radio."
"You can't. We're about to have a Party meeting."
"Where should we go then? There are a lot of us outside."
"Wherever you want."
Having said this, Tsipyshev looked alfOund at his friends, as
though he wanted to find out whether they approved his action.
Piotr Kuz'mich did not approve.
"I'll tell you what, my fine fellows," he said, addressing the
boys. "We'll whiz through our Party meeting here, we'll have a talk,
and then you can take over command."
Finally, the teacher herself came- Akulina Semenovna, young,
short, looking almost like a little girl. She . wearily untied and re–
moved her gray wool kerchief from her head and stuck herself away
in
the corner under the wooden shelf with the radio. With her ar–
rival Tsipyshev also became more lively. But this liveliness took the
form of starting to talk to the teacher with exaggerated sternness,
like a superior.
"How come, Akulina Semenovna, that you make everyone wait?"
Akulina Semenovna looked guiltily at Tsipyshev, at Piotr
Kuz'mich, then at the pot filled with cigarette butts, at the lamp and
lowered her eyes.
