SERGEI DOVLATOV
177
The zek was in 11andcuffs.
We walked out onto the porch. The winter sun blinded me.
The dawn had come up quickly. As always.
On the gently sloping hill before us, cabins stood out black.
The smoke above their roofs lifted straight up.
I said to Gurin, "Well, let's go."
He was a man of medium height, well-built. Under his hat
there was probably a bald spot. His soiled quilted jacket was shiny in
the sun .
I decided not to wait for a ride with a log-carrier but to walk to
the railroad crossing right away.
If
a truck or tractor going our way
happened to come along, fine.
If
not, we could make it on foot in
three hours.
I didn't know that the road had been closed off near Koina.
Later I learned that two zeks had stolen a car the night before. By
daylight, military police had set up roadblocks at every crossing, so
Gurin and I had to walk all the way back to the zone on foot. We
only stopped once, to eat. I gave Gurin bread and the lard - no great
sacrifice, since the lard had frozen and the bread was in crumbs.
Silent till then, the zek kept repeating, "What a feed-pure
calorie bacillas! Chief, we can enjoy ourselves from the bottom of
our souls!"
The handcuffs hampered him. He asked,
"If
you could take off
my cuffs - or are you afraid I'll run off on you?"
All right, I thought. In daylight it's not dangerous. Where's he
going to run to, in the snow?
I took off the handcuffs, fastened them to my belt. Gurin im–
mediately asked permission to go relieve himself. I said, "Go do it
there."
Then he crouched behind some bushes, and I held the black
Vorkuta rifle by its foresight.
.
About ten minutes went by. My hand even got tired. Sud–
denly, behind my back, a foot crunched in the snow . At that mo–
ment , a hoarse voice called out, "Let's go, Chief."
I jumped up. Before me stood Gurin, smiling. Evidently, he
had hung his hat on the bush. "Don't shoot, fellow-countryman."
It
would have been silly to bawl him out.
Gurin had acted straight with me. He had shown me that he
didn't want to run away. Or maybe he wanted to, but didn't choose to.
We took the forest path and reached the zone without incident.
On the way there, I asked, "So what kind of production will this be?"
