Chapter 2 #4
Vlad shook his head. “No, no one, but she can’t be worse off than here, even alone. At least no one will be shooting at her or dropping bombs. I just wanted her out of here.” He hesitated, thinking of Yana. “We lost a friend at the bus station yesterday.”
“I’m sorry. This is insane. You were right to send her away, and there are refugee organizations assisting people across the border. They’ll help her when she gets there.”
“That’s what I told her,” Vlad said, clearly worried.
“My wife’s brother lives in Warsaw, they’re going there. What about you, Vlad? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to join the volunteers. I just turned eighteen.”
“That’s where I’m headed too,” Symon said, and put an arm around his shoulders, although Vlad had bigger shoulders and was taller than Symon.
“How about we get a drink somewhere, and have dinner if we can find a place that’s still serving, and then we volunteer together, after dinner?
” Symon suggested. They both needed cheering up.
“Tonight?” Vlad smiled at him.
“Do you have other plans?” Symon teased him.
“I was going to go there now. The school has closed, and everyone has moved to the shelters. They’re afraid they might bomb the ballet school, and they told us we should all move out. I have nowhere else to stay.”
“We can stay at my apartment, but we might as well sign up after a decent meal. It may be our last one for a while. I hear they think it’s going to get pretty bad.
There’s no telling where they’re going to bomb.
They want to scare the hell out of us so we surrender quickly.
Not if I’m on duty,” Symon said. “Dinner?” Vlad nodded, and they reached Symon’s car.
They had walked about a mile from the station, and the road was lined with cars.
There was a long snake of cars, moving slowly, heading for the border, nearly five hundred miles away.
“Sounds good to me. And a vodka.” Vlad didn’t feel so alone. He was happy he had run into Symon. They both needed a friend, to bear their fears and the sorrow of watching their loved ones leaving.
They drove to a little restaurant Symon knew, where he and Yulya had dinner occasionally with the children.
They made home-cooked meals. The place was in disarray and there were only a few customers brave enough to venture out between air raids.
The owner told them it was their last night.
He was joining the army the next day, his sons had already enlisted, and his wife had gone to the country to stay with her sister.
He was closing the restaurant. The owner poured them each a glass of vodka himself, and joined them with a glass.
They toasted their homeland, their president, and then victory.
“We’re enlisting tonight,” Symon told him.
“Is this your son?” the owner asked him, glancing at Vlad.
“No, a friend. We’re going to sign up with the civilian volunteers after dinner.” They had a cup of coffee to counteract the vodka, and the owner refused to let them pay for their meals.
“You’re patriots, brave men,” he said, and locked up when they left.
He took the paintings off the walls, and began packing the glasses so they didn’t get broken if the neighboring houses were bombed.
Symon drove the short distance to his apartment and put the car in the garage.
Vlad went with him and they walked into the apartment.
Vlad looked around while Symon packed a small backpack and put photographs of Yulya and his children in it.
Vlad had a bag too, with everything he was taking with him when he enlisted in the volunteer army.
He had abandoned everything else he owned at the dormitory of the ballet school.
“You have a nice apartment,” he said as he looked around.
“Thank you. I hope it stays that way, and the building doesn’t get bombed.
They seem to be shooting at anything they want to, not just military targets,” Symon said.
“My wife keeps a nice home for us,” he said, looking around too.
There were still flowers in a vase. He didn’t know when he’d be back.
He closed the shades and curtains, and he double-locked the doors when they left.
It was a short walk to an enlisting station, and he and Vlad chatted as they headed to it.
There was a comfortable camaraderie between them.
There were two men in camouflage uniforms, sitting at a makeshift table at the volunteer shack, bundled up against the cold.
“Father and son?” one of them asked.
“No, just friends.”
“There’s a shelter a block from here. Wait there, and a truck will pick you up after midnight.
You can fill the paperwork out there, and bring it with you.
” The man smiled at the two new recruits.
“You start training in the morning. Welcome to the People’s Army.
We need you. Your country needs you.” The four men looked seriously at each other.
Vlad and Symon took the forms to fill out and walked to the shelter.
It was already nearly midnight. They had a strong, determined gait, and Vlad moved like a dancer, with a powerful, well-trained body.
He would be stronger than many of the men volunteering.
He was in perfect condition, and had endurance due to his age and the rigorous training at the ballet school.
Symon was a little out of shape from all the hours he spent in a classroom, but he was as determined as all the other men to serve his country.
“Do you know anything about guns?” Symon asked him as they got to the shelter.
“Not a thing,” Vlad answered with a boyish grin. “I’ve been dancing since I was three. But I want to learn. What about you?”
“Absolutely nothing. But I’ll throw rocks if I have to.
They’re not going to come here and destroy our homeland and kill our kids.
I’ll fight them with my bare hands if need be,” Symon said, and the two men shook hands and hurried down the makeshift stairs to the shelter with their enlistment papers to fill out.
Their life as soldiers defending their homeland had just begun, and they were each grateful to have a friend.
Both were hoping that their women were close to the Polish border by then, or already there.
There were half a dozen men sitting in a cluster in the shelter, also waiting for the volunteer army truck.
They introduced themselves all around and shook hands.
It was a good feeling knowing that they were doing the right thing.
No one was going to take their home from them.
They were proud to be soldiers, and a little while later, two young women joined them.
They were going to fight for their homeland too.
The country would be safe in their hands.