Fall of Giants

He grinned. “Okay, how about this?” He kissed her again, and this time he let the tip of his tongue caress the inside of her lips.

After a minute she said: “That’s okay, too,” and she giggled.

“In that case… ” This time he put his tongue all the way inside her mouth. She responded eagerly-she always did. Her tongue and his met, then she put her hand behind his head and stroked his neck. He heard someone say: “Disgusting.” He wondered whether people walking by could see his erection.

Smiling at Marga, he said: “We’re shocking the townspeople.” He glanced up to see whether anyone was watching, and met the eyes of his wife, Olga.

She was staring at him in shock, her mouth forming a silent O.

Beside her stood her father, in a suit with a vest and a straw boater. He was carrying Daisy. Lev’s daughter had a white bonnet to shade her face from the sun. The nurse, Polina, was behind them.

Olga said: “Lev! What… Who is she?”

Lev felt he might have talked himself out of even this situation if Vyalov had not been there.

He got up. “Olga… I don’t know what to say.”

Vyalov said harshly: “Don’t say a damn thing.”

Olga began to cry.

Vyalov handed Daisy to the nurse. “Take my granddaughter to the car right away.”

“Yes, Mr. Vyalov.”

Vyalov grasped Olga’s arm and moved her away. “Go with Polina, honey.”

Olga put her hand over her eyes to hide her tears and followed the nurse.

“You piece of shit,” Vyalov said to Lev.

Lev clenched his fists. If Vyalov struck him he would fight back. Vyalov was built like a bull, but he was twenty years older. Lev was taller, and had learned to fight in the slums of Petrograd. He was not going to take a beating.

Vyalov read his mind. “I’m not going to fight you,” he said. “It’s beyond that.”

Lev wanted to say: So what are you going to do? He kept his mouth clamped shut.

Vyalov looked at Marga. “I should have hit you harder,” he said.

Marga picked up her bag, opened it, put her hand inside, and left it there. “If you move one inch toward me, so help me God, I’ll shoot you in the gut, you pig-faced Russian peasant,” she said.

Lev could not help admiring her nerve. Few people had the balls to threaten Josef Vyalov.

Vyalov’s face darkened in anger, but he turned away from Marga and spoke to Lev. “You know what you’re going to do?”

What the hell was coming now?

Lev said nothing.

Vyalov said: “You’re going in the goddamn army.”

Lev went cold. “You don’t mean it.”

“When was the last time you heard me say something I didn’t mean?”

“I’m not going in the army. How can you make me?”

“Either you’ll volunteer, or you’ll get conscripted.”

Marga burst out: “You can’t do that!”

“Yes, he can,” Lev said in desolation. “He can fix anything in this town.”

“And you know what?” said Vyalov. “You might be my son-in-law, but I hope to God you get killed.”

{VI}

Chuck and Doris Dixon gave an afternoon party in their garden at the end of June. Gus went with his parents. All the men wore suits, but the women dressed in summer outfits and extravagant hats, and the crowd looked colorful. There were sandwiches and beer, lemonade and cake. A clown gave out candy and a schoolteacher in shorts organized the children to run jokey races: a sack race, an egg-and-spoon race, a three-legged race.

Doris wanted to talk to Gus about the war, again. “There are rumors of mutiny in the French army,” she said.

Gus knew that the truth was worse than the rumors: there had been mutinies in fifty-four French divisions, and twenty thousand men had deserted. “I assume that’s why they’ve switched their tactics from offense to defense,” he said neutrally.

“Apparently the French officers treat their men badly.” Doris relished bad news about the war because it gave support to her opposition. “And the Nivelle Offensive has been a disaster.”

“The arrival of American troops will buck them up.” The first Americans had boarded ships to sail to France.

“But so far we have sent only a token force. I hope that means we’re going to play only a small part in the fighting.”

“No, it does not mean that. We have to recruit, train, and arm at least a million men. We can’t do that instantly. But next year we will send them in their hundreds of thousands.”

Doris looked over Gus’s shoulder and said: “Goodness, here comes one of our new recruits.”

Gus turned and saw the Vyalov family: Josef and Lena with Olga, Lev, and a little girl. Lev was wearing an army uniform. He looked dashing, but his handsome face was sulky.

Gus was embarrassed but his father, wearing his public persona as senator, shook hands cordially with Josef and said something that made him laugh. Mother spoke graciously to Lena and cooed over the baby. Gus realized his parents had anticipated this meeting and decided to act as if they had forgotten that he and Olga had once been engaged.

He caught Olga’s eye and nodded politely. She blushed.

Lev was as brash as ever. “So, Gus, is the president pleased with you for settling the strike?”

The others heard this question and went quiet, listening to hear Gus’s answer.