War Photographer's Notebook

On the night of meeting again with Comrade Matvey, the animal breeder, the ration Lydia brought back was still only black bread.

For dinner on this day, apart from a plate of jelly for each of the children, there was only one mouse and half a dried fish in the soup pot, plus a small piece of pike that was boiled into puree as thick as a thumb. , and a glass of honey water before going to bed as usual.

In the blink of an eye, it was about three o'clock in the morning of the next day. Wei Ran woke up Lydia and Kona, and then woke up Alexander and Alyosha who were sleeping next to them.Lydia also woke up a little girl who was the same age as Alexander among the older children.

In the faint red light emitted by the stove, a group of six people went upstairs silently, and waited for the little girl who followed to help cover the wooden boards at the entrance of the basement before Wei Ran lit the candles on the shelves.

"Olga, I remember your name is Olga, right?"

Wei Ran asked in a low voice to the little girl standing at the entrance of the basement while wearing a pilot fur cap on her head.

"Yes" the little girl nodded immediately.

"take this"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he took out a bar of chocolates from his pocket and handed it to the other party, "After the brothers and sisters wake up, share a piece of chocolate with each of them. In addition"

Wei Ran pointed to the baby bottle on the shelf next to him, "I've poured honey in it in advance, and you have to take care of feeding Galina with honey water, remember to boil the water first."

"Don't worry, Victor!"

The little girl named Olga said confidently, "I know how to take care of sister Galina, and I will also make other brothers and sisters drink broth and eat meat as usual. There is also a stove, and I will also Keep it burning."

"We are very relieved to entrust these to you"

Ke Na, who had already wrapped a scarf around herself, hugged the skinny and poor girl, "The most important thing is that you are not allowed to take your younger brothers and sisters out, and you don't need to go anywhere today. After we set off, we will lock the door, and we will be in the Just listen to the radio in the basement."

"I know"

Oujia nodded, "Don't worry, Sister Kona, my brothers and sisters and I won't let you worry, we promise not to go anywhere, just in the basement, and before you come back, no matter who comes, I won't Open the door."

"If anyone tries to break in and grab our stuff, shoot them!"

As Kona said, she took out the small TK pistol left by Mrs. Via from her bosom, helped to load the bullets and put them on the shelf, "I loaded the bullets, when you need to shoot, pick it up Just aim and pull the trigger, but don't play with it, if it goes off, we don't have doctors and medicine to save you or anyone else."

"I won't mess around"

Oujia glanced at the pistol on the shelf that only she could reach on tiptoe, and added, "I won't let my younger brothers and sisters touch it."

"Ivan and Sasha will help you"

Alexander, who was already dressed, said beside him, "I've already talked to the two of them, and they will help you."

"Now that squad leader Alexander has made arrangements, let's go."

As Lydia spoke, she had already put a thick blanket over her shoulders. As for the "squad leader" she was talking about, it was naturally Alexander's position in the class before the school closed.

Hearing this, Wei Ran and the others quickly put on their gloves, then blew out the candles, and the little girl named Oujia immediately covered the entrance and exit of the basement with a thick sponge mat and lay down on it.

Seeing this, Alexander and his good friend Alyosha immediately opened the locked door, and Wei Ran and Ke Na immediately dragged the sledge and left the concrete house.

When Lydia, who was at the end, closed the door, Olga immediately got up and locked the door from the inside, locked an iron lock, and hung the key around her neck.

Stuffing the cold copper key into the neckline, Olga shivered subconsciously and immediately lifted the sponge cushion covering the entrance to the basement, and opened the wooden cover.

"Are they gone?" In the basement shrouded in the dim light of the fire, a little boy who was changing his voice asked in a low voice.

"Let's go." Olga immediately responded, "Ivan, Sasha, you go to bed first, I'll watch the fire."

"I am a little scared"

In the basement, Olga's classmate, even the girl at the same table, Sasha said worriedly, "I'm worried about them"

"They'll be fine"

Ivan, a young man from the same class, wearing a pair of glasses with only one lens left and no temples, all tied by ropes, said in a low voice with clenched fists, "They must be worried about us too."

"Will they come back alive?"

In the dim basement, a little boy named Andre asked abruptly, before the older children led by Alexander joined the big family, this little guy was a veritable king of children.

"Why did you wake up?" Olga asked subconsciously, "Did we wake you up?"

"I woke up when Victor woke up Cora, and the corner of his clothes scratched my nose." Andre paused, and continued to ask, "What if... what if they can't come back ?”

"If they don't come back, I'll go to Aunt Tasha."

Ivan said seriously, "Before I met Victor, Aunt Tasha was always helping us. I promise she will help us find Victor, Lydia, Kona, Alexander, and Alyosha. back."

"Okay, Andre, go to sleep, it's still a long time before dawn."

Olga sat on the steps leading to the first floor and said, "Ivan, Sasha, go to sleep too."

Soon, the warm basement fell into silence again, only the little girl sitting on the steps was left softly humming a courageous Katyusha.

Outside the warm basement, on the sledge dragged by Wei Ran are not only saws, axes, tin buckets and other tools, as well as the red copper water storage tank found in the room of the mother and child who committed suicide yesterday, but also sitting almost covered with blankets. Alexander completely blindfolded.Sitting on the sledge pulled by two girls is Alyosha.

Fortunately, although the bitter wind is mixed with beautiful large flakes of snow, the continuous pushing back makes the work of pulling the sledge extraordinarily easy.

"Victor, what are you doing with that jar?" Lydia approached Wei Ran and asked curiously.

"See if we can encounter another crashed plane." Wei Ran explained, "If you can get back some aviation fuel, it will be more cost-effective than getting back the same weight of wood."

"Maybe it was in the plane we encountered last time!" Ke Na followed and said loudly.

"I think so too." Wei Ran generously gave affirmative approval, "Hurry up! If you run out of strength, tell me in time!"

The chatter that had just started stopped here, and the two sledges, driven by the strong wind and falling snow, gradually drew closer to the battlefield in the southern suburbs of the city.

Along the way, they passed through the basement where they used to live, crossed the frozen Neva River, and once again saw the dead German pilot still hanging on the wooden beam and swaying back and forth with the strong wind.

I haven't seen it for a few days, and there seems to be an extra sign on the neck of the corpse. Unfortunately, because the sky was too dark and they were in a hurry, they didn't see clearly what was written on the sign.

While Ke Na whispered to Lydia and the two and a half older children about how she secretly followed Wei Ran and was discovered, Wei Ran also stuffed a piece of chocolate into each of their mouths.

After a short rest, the two sledge trucks increased their speed a lot after Alexander and Alyosha insisted on getting out of the car to help, and arrived at the crossroad where the gate of the zoo was very smoothly.

From a long distance, they saw a person waiting for them at the intersection. However, when they got closer, they found that not only was this person not the Matvey they were familiar with, but his face was wrapped in gauze!

Before Wei Ran realized that something was wrong, the man asked, "Are you Comrade Victor, the childcare worker?"

"I'm me, I'm Viktor the nurseryman." Wei Ran asked subconsciously, "Where's Comrade Matvey the breeder?"

"Come with me," said the man with gauze on his face, and looked at Ke Na and the others, "How about you wait here for a while?"

Seeing the two children and the two girls looking at him, Wei Ran nodded, "Wait here for a while."

After speaking, he followed the limping man to the opposite side of the intersection.

It wasn't until the wind, snow and darkness made the girls and children on the opposite side of the road blurred that the man with gauze on his face said sadly, "Comrade Victor, I'm Matvey's colleague. In the afternoon, German shells hit the zoo enclosures, and he died protecting the animals."

Wiping the corners of his eyes with his palm, the man said in a crying voice, "Before he died, he asked me to apologize to you and the children on his behalf, saying that he couldn't do anything. He couldn't perform for you."

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran was about to say something when the man standing across from him choked up and said, "He asked me to find his dog Joseph, and then gave Joseph to the girl named Ke Na, Joseph can help You found the body of the horse.

But I searched all night and couldn't find Joseph, I don't know where it went, or even if it was buried in the ruins and didn't survive.Sorry, Victor, another colleague and I were planning to go with Matvey to collect the corpses of the military horses, but Comrade Matvey died, another comrade also had an arm broken, and Joseph couldn’t be found, we I am afraid."

"I know I know."

Wei Ran took a deep breath, and quite flusteredly took out the cigarette case he had given to Matvey from his pocket, but was returned by Matvey, and took out the last cigarette left from it. It was quite difficult to ignite it, and after taking a couple of swallows, he handed it to the other party.

"I don't smoke"

The man with the gauze on his face waved his hands and said apologetically, "Victor, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'll make your trip for nothing, us."

"It's okay, it's okay"

Wei Ran stuffed the cigarette into his mouth again and took a sharp sip from the boss. After trying to calm down his emotions, he asked as calmly as possible, "Where is Comrade Matvey buried?"

"in the zoo"

The man raised his finger and pointed to the opposite side, "We have a small cemetery, animals and employees who died in the war, we will be buried there, after the war is over"

"After the war is over, we will go to see Comrade Matvey." Wei Ran said very formally, "We still owe him 16 rubles for his performance."

"You're going to bring the kids, a lot of the past to pay for the show."

The wounded man also said very formally, "After he came back from performing for you for the first time, he mentioned that 16 children owed him performance fees, and said that a childcare worker promised him to wait until the war was over. After that, I will take all the children to pay the performance fee."

"He also promised to wait for us at the zoo"

Wei Ran sighed secretly, took a sip of his cigarette and said, "You are also injured, you must have been waiting for us here for a long time, go back and rest."

"You guys." The man hesitated to speak and glanced at the blurred figures behind Wei Ran.

"It's rare for us to come here once." Wei Ran said with a normal expression, "So we plan to walk around here to see if we can find any supplies to take back."

"Okay," the man said apologetically, "If you are tired and need a rest, come to the zoo."

"If we need a break, we'll go to the zoo."

Wei Ran happily agreed, then extinguished the cigarette, took the initiative to help the other party back to the other side of the road, and watched the other party walk into the zoo.

"Victor" Lydia and Kona obviously realized something was wrong, and they all looked at Wei Ran worriedly.

"fine"

Wei Ran smiled, and said with a normal expression, "Matvey has something to do at the moment, maybe he can't take us there"

"Is he dead too?" Ke Na asked in a crying voice, and Alexander and Alyosha behind her also shivered subconsciously.

Glancing at Lydia, who also clearly guessed the truth, Wei Ran finally responded with a slight nod.

"Let's keep going to the front line"

Lydia suggested unexpectedly, "Even without the help of Comrade Matvey, we can at least find the plane you just talked about and find a way to get some fuel back. Even if we can't find the plane, at least we can find it." firewood.

If you remember where the horse corpses were found when you came last time, maybe we can pick up some bones and go back. "

"right"

Ke Na wiped the corners of her eyes, "Let's go on to the front line. We still need firewood. If we can't bring the firewood back today, we have to burn the coal we saved tonight. Those coals won't last long at all."

"We're just going to get some firewood"

Lydia suggested again, "As long as we can find trees, we can find firewood, which we can do without the help of Matvey and his dog Joseph."

"Victor"

"Let's go, let's go find firewood." Wei Ran said, he had already picked up the rope tied to the sledge, and was the first to go out of the city.

Seeing this, Kona and Lydia looked at each other, and immediately beckoned Alexander and Alyosha to follow.

Following the route they took last time, a group of five people and two sledges left the city under the cover of night and snow, and managed to find the German fighter jet that crashed the last time they came here before dawn.

However, in just a few days, the only remaining wing of this fighter jet has been violently hacked open the oil pipeline. It is obvious that the fuel inside has been taken away by other people who patronize here , Even the dead body of the pilot did not know where it went.

"I'm going to find another wing." Wei Ran said, walking towards the direction where the broken wing that he buried with snow was at the beginning.

"Do you know where that wing is?" Kera asked after catching up.

"of course I know"

Wei Ran responded as a matter of course, and while taking out four pieces of chocolate and handing them to the other party, he raised his finger and pointed to the birch forest not far away, "I can go by myself, you hurry up and collect firewood, wait a moment I'll go find you."

"it is good!"

When Ke Na wanted to say something, Lydia had already agreed, and took the sledge to the birch forest, and Alexander and Alyosha also took the saw and ax from Wei Ran's sledge in a sensible way. tools such as rope.Seeing this, Ke Na quickly chased after her.

Temporarily divided into two teams, Wei Ran dragged the sledge alone to find the location, and when he pulled away the thick snow with his hands, he immediately saw the wing buried inside.

After knocking off the ice shell on the top, he immediately found a tin bucket from the sledge truck, fixed it with snow on the side of the disconnected oil pipeline, and then ran to the other side of the wing to slowly lift it up.

However, when he waited for a while and returned to the other end, he found that no oil had flowed into the barrel at all. Looking carefully, the oil pipeline was obviously frozen.

Mumbling and cursing, Wei Ran took out the wire cutters in the metal book and cut the pipe directly. When he smelled the fuel, he immediately dragged the sledge to the other side of the wing, and used the sledge to cut it off. Pad up.

When he returned to the pipeline again, gurgles of fuel had already flowed into the tin barrel.

When the tin barrel was full of fuel, Wei Ran, who had already prepared, immediately put the oil barrel that he had taken out of the metal book in advance, then picked up the tin barrel, and poured the fuel into it. In that pot-bellied water tank on the sledge.

This reciprocating cycle barely filled the water storage tank with a capacity of [-] to [-] liters and the oil barrel taken out of the metal book, and the fuel in the wing was basically emptied.

Carefully plugged the mouth of the copper water storage tank with a piece of rag, then covered the lid and put a sock on it as a fixation, then dragged the sledge to the white birch not far away. Forest.

By the time he found Lydia and the others following the marks of the sledge, their sledge truck had already been loaded with logs about 1.5 meters in length, no bigger than the thickness of a calf.

Then look at the two girls who are still squatting under the tree and pulling the saw back and forth, and the two half-grown children who are also using the saw to divide the felled birch tree into sections. help.

"Have you found the fuel?" Ke Na stopped her work and asked out of breath.

"I found it." Wei Ran pointed to the water storage tank on the sledge with the saw he just picked up, "It's full of many."

Stimulated by the good news, everyone couldn't help speeding up their movements.

Just before the sky was about to light up, the two sledge trucks were already filled with logs, and they were covered and tied up with the blankets and ropes they brought.

"Kona, take Alexander and Alyosha back with the fuel first." Lydia said before everyone could speak.

"We came together, we will go back together." Ke Na immediately responded, and the two half-grown boys also nodded in agreement.

"Go back quickly"

Lydia glanced at Wei Ran, and continued, "I'm not at ease only those little guys are at home, and after dawn, if the snow stops and the German planes come, we might have to wait until night gone back.

So Cora, you and Alexander and Alyosha have the hardest work.You must return to the city before dawn, and it is best to return home before noon, and take the children to guard these precious fuels. "

"What about you?" Kona asked subconsciously.

"I keep chopping wood"

Lydia has clearly planned the work schedule, "Victor went to find horse meat, and after dawn, we will hide in the forest, use logs to make a sledge, and then go back after dark."

"Go back after dark?!" Ke Na subconsciously wanted to refute.

"Do you want to go back after dawn?" Lydia pointed to the top of her head, "We have no objection, but the German plane definitely disagrees."

“Don't waste your time”

Wei Ran, who had been silent just now, said, "If you go back earlier, you can rest earlier. In the evening, we will go back after dark. You can also come to pick us up after dark. We will be there How about the bridgehead confluence of the Neva?"

Ke Na shook her teeth when she heard the words, and finally picked up the rope tied to the sledge and carried it on her shoulders, "Then we will meet at the Neva River at night!"

"Wait a minute, take these chocolates and eat them on the road. Don't save them. The sooner you go back, the safer you will be. I don't want those precious fuel and firewood to be snatched away by others."

As Wei Ran said, he had already put his hand into his pocket, first took out a plate of chocolates and stuffed it into the opponent's pocket, and then whispered into Ke Na's ear, "Those glass tanks with fuel oil on the first floor, There is a jar containing honey, before you come to pick us up at night, remember to let the children drink honey water first."

Hearing this, Ke Na nodded, "I'll see you at night, you two must go back alive."

"Let's go!" Wei Ran helped the other party put on the Budyonny hat on his head while speaking.

Under the watchful eyes of Wei Ran and Lydia, Ke Na struggled to drag the sledge loaded with fuel and firewood towards the direction of the city.

Behind her, Alexander and Alyosha also joined forces to drag another sledge that was almost as heavy, and followed Ke Na with three steps and three turns.

Until the two sledges were completely covered by the wind and snow, Lydia was inexplicably relieved, and turned to Wei Ran and asked, "Can you make sledges?"