Fall of Giants

The prisoner was staring back at him, and as Grigori came close he saw that it was, indeed, his brother. He did look different, and it was not just the general air of sleek prosperity. It was the way he stood, the expression on his face, and most of all the look in his eyes. He had lost his boyish cockiness and acquired an air of caution. He had, in fact, grown up.

As they came within touching distance, Grigori thought of all the ways Lev had let him down, and a host of recriminations sprang to his lips; but he uttered none of them, and instead opened his arms and hugged Lev. They kissed cheeks, slapped each other on the back, and hugged again, and Grigori found that he was weeping.

After a while he led Lev onto the train and took him to the carriage he used as his office. Grigori told his aide to bring tea. They sat in two faded armchairs. “You’re in the army?” Grigori said incredulously.

“They have conscription in America,” Lev said.

That made sense. Lev would never have joined voluntarily. “And you’re an officer!”

“So are you,” said Lev.

Grigori shook his head. “We’ve abolished ranks in the Red Army. I’m a military commissar.”

“But there are still some men who order tea and others who bring it,” Lev said as the aide came in with cups. “Wouldn’t Ma be proud?”

“Fit to bust. But why did you never write to me? I thought you were dead!”

“Aw, hell, I’m sorry,” said Lev. “I felt so bad about taking your ticket that I wanted to write and say I can pay for your passage. I kept putting off the letter until I had more money.”

It was a feeble excuse, but characteristic of Lev. He would not go to a party unless he had a fancy jacket to put on, and he refused to enter a bar if he did not have the money to buy a round of drinks.

Grigori recalled another betrayal. “You didn’t tell me Katerina was pregnant when you left.”

“Pregnant! I didn’t know.”

“Yes, you did. You told her not to tell me.”

“Oh. I guess I forgot.” Lev looked foolish, caught in a lie, but it did not take him long to recover and come up with his own counteraccusation. “That ship you sent me on didn’t even go to New York! It put us all ashore at a dump called Cardiff. I had to work for months to save up for another ticket.”

Grigori even felt guilty for a moment, then recalled how Lev had begged for the ticket. “Maybe I shouldn’t have helped you escape from the police,” he said crisply.

“I suppose you did your best for me,” Lev said reluctantly. Then he gave the warm smile that always caused Grigori to forgive him. “As you always have,” he added. “Ever since Ma died.”

Grigori felt a lump in his throat. “All the same,” he said, concentrating to make his voice steady, “we ought to punish the Vyalov family for cheating us.”

“I got my revenge,” Lev said. “There’s a Josef Vyalov in Buffalo. I fucked his daughter and made her pregnant, and he had to let me marry her.”

“My God! You’re part of the Vyalov family now?”

“He regretted it, which is why he arranged for me to be conscripted. He’s hoping I’ll be killed in battle.”

“Hell, do you still go wherever your dick leads you?”

Lev shrugged. “I guess.”

Grigori had some revelations of his own, and he was nervous about making them. He began by saying carefully: “Katerina had a baby boy, your son. She called him Vladimir.”

Lev looked pleased. “Is that so? I’ve got a son!”

Grigori did not have the courage to say that Vladimir knew nothing of Lev, and called Grigori “Daddy.” Instead he said: “I’ve taken good care of him.”

“I knew you would.”

Grigori felt a familiar stab of indignation at how Lev assumed that others would pick up the responsibilities he dropped. “Lev,” he said, “I married Katerina.” He waited for the outraged reaction.

But Lev remained calm. “I knew you’d do that, too.”

Grigori was astonished. “What?”

Lev nodded. “You were crazy for her, and she needed a solid dependable type to raise the child. It was in the cards.”

“I went through agonies!” Grigori said. Had all that been for nothing? “I was tortured by the thought that I was being disloyal to you.”

“Hell, no. I left her in the lurch. Good luck to you both.”

Grigori was maddened by how casual Lev was about the whole thing. “Did you worry about us at all?” he asked pointedly.

“You know me, Grishka.”

Of course Lev had not worried about them. “You hardly thought about us.”

“Sure I thought about you. Don’t be so holy. You wanted her; you held off for a while, maybe for years; but in the end you fucked her.”

It was the crude truth. Lev had an annoying way of bringing everyone else down to his level. “You’re right,” Grigori said. “Anyway, we have another child now, a daughter, Anna. She’s a year and a half old.”

“Two adults and two children. It doesn’t matter. I’ve got enough.”

“What are you talking about?”