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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 26 2016, 03:17 AM (235 Views) | |
| Nentsia | Mar 26 2016, 03:17 AM Post #1 |
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Ya Basta!
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![]() Chelyabinsk Regional Scientific Universal Library, Chelyabinsk - U.S.S.R. Southern Urals, 1957 Maksim Popuchikov stared at the letters on the page of his book. His armpits felt sweaty. His hearing was sharp and alert; in the silent library hall he could hear every smothered cough, every sigh, every pencil hitting the paper and every chair being carefully moved. No matter how small the sound was, it echoed a dozen times in the large wooden hall, and although too soft to hear it, a distracted student could hear it for sure. Maksim wanted to look up from his book, and take a walk with his eyes, but he forced himself not to look up. In his back he felt the burning eyes of a Vladimir Lenin buste, staring judgingly at him. But after minutes, or maybe even just seconds, of staring at the letters on the pages, Maksim could not hold back the urge to look up. He stared around the room, but his eyes rested at a girl who was sitting at a desk in the front of the library. She seemed very busy, very concentrated. She came to work here every thursday. Maksim had never dared to ask her name, but sometimes they had eye-contact and they would smile to each other. The entire morning he had been trying to find the courage to ask her name. But he had no idea of how to approach her and when. Maksim kept staring at the girl's back, her slim neck, and her dark hair that she had tied into a lose knot. When he realized he had been staring at her for quite a while he quickly looked down again and continued to read his book, Ottepel' by Ilya Ehrenburg. It was a book that had been published three years ago in the widely read literary journal Novy Mir, and attracted a lot of responses from the readers. It had also been published in the West, under the title The Thaw, and so Maksim became curious and decided to give it a try. Usually, Maksim was studying in the library - he wanted to become a scientist, the best scientist of the Soviet Union! But when he had time, he would also come here to read other books and novels. At 12 o'clock some people started to put their pencils and books away, and stood up to grab a lunch or take a break and a walk in the park, just outside the library building. The sun was shining outside, and the temperature was lovely; 16 degrees celsius. Maksim's stomach felt desperate for some food as well, so he decided to get up as well and look for something to eat somewhere. He looked in the direction of the girl, hoping to see if she was also taking a break. His heart raised immediately when he saw she was getting up as well. Now or never, his brain said to him. But Maksim panicked just by the thought of it. He had not yet thought of a good strategy to approach her. If he was going to do it, he would've had no other option but walk straight up to her and say hi. Maksim quickly packed his stuff and put them in his bag, while constantly checking to make sure the girl hadn't already left the room. He grabbed his coat and then slowly, and seemingly relaxed, walked in the direction of the girl who was almost done packing her stuff. Maksim stood closely behind her, he was going to say something to her, but his mind went blank. What should he say? Right here, in the middle of the quiet library? He decided to hold in and wait until they had passed through the door. That proved to be a briliant decision, for the girl opened the door first, and upon noticing someone was behind her she looked over her shoulder, smiled and kept the door open for Maksim. This was Maksim's chance. He smiled, and said hi. ''Hey! Are you going to lunch?'', he quickly asked. The girl was a bit surprised and then nodded. ''Would you mind to lunch together? I am Maksim...'' The girl smiled. ''I am Anya'', she replied. Anya and Maksim went to the restaurant of the library together where they got some soup and Kotlety, Russian meatballs. ''What are you studying? I noticed you come here quite often'', asked Maksim, while he was cutting his meatballs after they had just settled down at a table. Anya had a bit a shy smile. ''Oh, I am studying physics. I hope I am accepted to study in Moscow next year... but you know'', she blushed at stared down at her soup, as if she was embarrassed by her own ambitions. ''That's wonderful!'' exclaimed Maksim. ''I also study at the Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute! I'm from the Chemistry faculty.'' Maksim said. Anya smiled. ''I took some Chemistry courses last year. I want to specialize in atomic and nuclear physics. My teachers tell me that in the future our country requires many nuclear physicists.'' ''Nuclear physics? That sounds really exotic! I understand you want to study in Moscow, there they have the best nuclear physicists.'' After lunch, Maksim and Anya took a brief walk through the park outside. It was a lovely noon, in the final days before autumn. Chelyabinsk was city that was both old and relatively new. Located deep inside the Soviet territory, where - as Nikolai Gogol would say - no German, Finn or other people had ever come, and the Russian people speak their simple mind. Chelyabinsk had once been founded as a border town. During the Great Patriotic War, Comrade Stalin had ordered to move the Soviet industry all the way to the east, safely beyond the Urals - far out of Hitler's reach. Chelyabinsk became Tankograd, the city that produced the glorious Soviet tanks that defeated the Nazi armies at Kursk and drove the invader all the way back to Berlin. In Chelyabinsk, the War had been won. The workers of Chelyabinsk built more tanks, more rifles, more ammunition, and more motors than the Nazi's could destroy. The unbreakable spirit of the people in the Urals brought the bourgeois-fascist enemy down. Maksim's mother had been one of those working in the Chelyabinsk factories. His father was one of the soldiers driving the tanks. He participated in the glorious Battle of Kursk, and was awarded a medal for the ''Capture of Berlin'' by the Communist Party. Shortly after the War he died, but the State looked after Maksim and his mother. Since then Chelyabinsk had become one of the most important industrial cities of the Soviet Union, connecting the great cities of Siberia such as Omsk and Novosibirsk with the great cities in the West: Moscow, Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kharkov and Kiev. After the walk in the park, Anya and Maksim went back to study in the library, but they agreed on leaving together by the end of the noon. Maksim felt great. Anya was lovely, smart, and sweet. He couldn't wait to be with her again, so he couldn't focus on his book at all anymore. He constantly had to look up and look at Anya, and sometimes she looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. After hours of mixed feelings of torment and extreme happiness, it was finally time for Maksim to pack his bag and walk up to Anya again. She had begun packing her stuff as well. Maksim walked towards her and quickly grabbed her coat to hold it up for her. The coat perfectly matched her pale skin and dark red hair. ''Spasiba, Maksim Sergeyevich'', she whispered with a smile. ''Ne za shto... Anya Vasilyevna'', Maksim replied. Together they walked out of the library towards the nearest bus station for the trolley bus. It was there that Maksim had amassed the courage to ask Anya if she was available to go out on saturday. From the look of her face, Maksim could tell that she was going to say no. ''I'm sorry, saturday is really not a good day... Is sunday okay?'' Maksim did not hesitate a second. ''Sunday is fine. Great! Come to the park at around 8.'' Anya nodded, blushed and smiled. At that moment her bus arrived, and she hurried to get on board. Before the doors behind her closed she turned around with a smile and briefly waved at Maksim. He waved back, and kept staring after the bus. When the bus was out of sight, he clenched his fist for a second as if he had just won an important game. Yes! That sunday would certainly become a historic day in the lives of Maksim and Anya. It would change their life forever, for worse, and for better. Anya arrived exactly on time at the park where they had agreed to meet. She was dressed in a nice, dark dress. She had done something special with her red hair, and her lips were fiery red. She was beautiful. She was the most beautiful Russian devushka Maksim had ever seen. He had brought flowers for her, but also food and drinks. They were going to grill and eat Shashlyk in the park under sunset. And of course drink Armenian wine. The park of Chelyabinsk was truly like a paradise during this season. Surrounded by hills, with beautiful lakes, and trees that had all kinds of different colours, it was one of the most beautiful environments in the Russian Urals. Maksim first uncorked the wine, and poured the glasses with it. Armenian wines were the best in the world. They invented wine! But the Georgians claimed the same honour. It was well known in the Soviet Union that Comrade Stalin, that Georgian from Gori, preferred his Georgian wines to Russian Vodka - and he could drink more than anyone else could! Anya and Maksim together grilled the meat, they laughed a lot, and enjoyed the environment. Later in the evening around 11 o'clock, things had gone dark and it was getting colder. Maksim and Anya therefore decided it was time to go home again. But before they left, Anya noticed something strange. ''Look!'' she said, and she pointed to the sky. In the distance, the sky had turned bright red. ''What is that?'' she said in disbelief. Maksim had no answer, nor was Anya expecting one. She was the physicist after all. What made it stranger was that the bright red sky was slowly turning to pink. ''It looks like some polar light or something'', Maksim said. Anya slapped his shoulder playfully. ''There is no polar light in the Urals... but it does look like it...'' Anya replied, while still looking at the night sky that was now turning light blue. ''This isn't normal'', she suddenly said with a more serious voice. ''Something unnatural is up there''. Maksim looked at the changing colours in the sky. He could see that it was unnatural. And that made it unnerving. It seemed so large, so big, and it was right above city and perhaps the entire region. Could it be dangerous? ''Time to bring you home'', Maksim concluded. Anya nodded. ''I had fun today. It was a lovely evening, and you are a great cook,'' Anya said. ''You only say that to make me feel better. I burned two skewers.'' Anya then smiled. As they went home, they could still see the red, purple and blue colors in the sky. It was visible from all over the city. But it wasn't directly above the city. It was in the distance. In the following days, the ''aurora'' was the talk of the city. Everyone had seen it, and nobody knew what it was. Even the local newspapers were reporting on it, and they concluded it was polar light. ''Mikhail Lomonosov was the first Russian scientist to ever study this phenomenon. Now it can also be observed in the Southern Urals'', the papers proudly announced. But Anya and Maksim knew they were wrong. From that moment on, strange things started to happen in the region. |
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a.k.a Don Durito Politically incorrect history student JOURNALIST: ''May the best team win...'' NEREO ROCCO: ''I hope not.'' Kick everything that moves, if it is the ball, even better. - Nereo Rocco, the God of Catenaccio In Italy, we have never heard of fair play. - Gianni Brera He who plays for himself plays for the opposition. He who plays for the team, plays for himself. - Helenio 'Il Mago' Herrera It would be incredibly boring if the best team always won. - Gianni Brera Estudiantes go out to destroy, to dirty, to irritate, to deny the show, to use all the illegal subterfuges in football… If it is good to win, it must be good. - Osvaldo Ardizzone | |
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7:02 PM Jul 11