War Photographer's Notebook

Fishing ground No. 33, after a whole week of busy work by Wei Ran and others, this long-abandoned prison finally cleared all the weeds, and caught a few by the way, although they are still fat, but because of the wrong season, they are not delicious. rabbit.

In addition, with the cooperation of everyone, all the doors, windows, tables and chairs on the bright side have been polished and derusted and repainted.

Of course, thanks to this week's hard work, these peers have also become pretty good friends.

By the way, everyone also belatedly discovered that the same age with such an outdated name as "Ninel" is actually quite an all-rounder.

From repairing motorcycle saws and doors, windows and roofs, to chatting with Olga about the history of European music development, or chatting with Olena about the influence of medieval aesthetic concepts on sculpture.

He can even chat with Jima about the characterization skills in acting, and even talk with Maya about the field of abnormal psychology, some Latin terms that no one else has heard of.

Even Thorne, with whom he could find an hour or two to chat about legislation concerning animal protection.

And the premise of all this is - as long as you are willing to take the initiative to chat with him and start a topic, then he is definitely the best chat partner.

On the contrary, if you don't take the initiative to chat with him, then he can even keep silent all day.But the more this is the case, the more Wei Ran dare not have too in-depth communication with him.The few chats between the two of them were basically confined to the cooking of various Chinese cuisines by Wei Ran. This is also what he can be sure of so far. It is one of the rare areas that Ninel has not dabbled in.

Or to put it another way, this person of the same age has no pursuit of food at all. He can eat Huaxia dishes made by Wei Ran, and he can also eat Hasa meat dishes made by Thorn and Maya brothers and sisters. Che's "Roaring Rabbit Six", he ate it with relish without any waste.

"Boom--!"

At the same time, when everyone was standing still, the first few people who came over had already used the crowbars in their hands to pry open a few corners of the small square that had been cleared of weeds not long ago. Adjacent floor tiles.

"Looking forward to attending your wedding, and besides, I will quit smoking."

"Boom--!"

Contrary to their expectations, the paper bag contained nothing special, just some seeds that could not be identified as flowers or grass.

"Our parents are similar"

Ninel pointed to the floor tiles that had just been rearranged not far away, "I guess he was probably among those who were just buried, maybe it was the one next to my mother."

Olga rolled her eyes helplessly, followed closely but didn't know which muscle was wrong, she covered her mouth and started laughing foolishly.

"Why three?" Thorn, who was also sowing seeds, asked puzzledly, "Aren't there seven of us?"

"Boom--!"

Maya rolled her eyes and said, "Thorn's parents and I are herdsmen. Now, including my brother, they are all helping wild animals. How about you?"

Almost at the same time when the last floor tile was restored to its original state, a low and long bell rang out from an inconspicuous sentry tower at the corner of the prison, and those standing on the edge of the cemetery also rang out from their pockets. He took out something and sprinkled it on the graveyard.

Olga said with a little satisfaction, "I didn't even reprimand. I can proudly say that almost every time we get into trouble, our father will make trouble with us. Then our mother will hold the ears to apologize to others .”

But soon, he was surprised to find that the first person to get off the boat in the second batch was actually Mr. Nicholas!
The old guy was wearing a formal uniform of the Soviet KGB lieutenant colonel at this time, and behind him, including Darya and others, as well as some people Wei Ran knew or didn't know, each held a not-so-big man. The urn comes off the boat.

Wei Ran glanced at Niniel without a trace, and carefully sprinkled the few remaining seeds around the few floor tiles while saying, "They are always busy with work, and they have been driving before I wake up every day. They left on the bus, and they won't come back until I go to bed at night."

Naturally, there was no one to help him answer this small question at this time, and his attention was also placed on those positions that were originally covered by the granite floor tiles.

Ji Ma patted the remaining grass seeds on his hands on his pants, "I have trusted you, Maya and Victor unconditionally since a long time ago."

"My father used to be a miner in Inta, and my mother was a cook in the canteen of the mine. Of course, they told me this," Jima joked. "I'm thinking now, maybe they In fact, he has been lying to me."

Naturally, with such a young man who is diligent in doing things, can have a topic at any time, and is not picky at all when eating, perhaps the most satisfying thing is Olga, who is quite swaying.

Ninel also threw out the last bit of grass seed, "I was sent to the Suvorov Junior Military Academy at a very young age. It was a very long experience. Then when I was about to graduate, I was injured in a fight. Fired, my mother had died by then."

Thorne smacked his lips when he said this, "But that idiot Biran took advantage of everyone's inattention, and put the grapefruit seeds that everyone left over to plant in the flowerpots into the juicer."

In the patient waiting of almost everyone, Yakov, who was already insane, finally regained his composure, allowing Leva to push his wheelchair with one hand, followed the rest of the people out of the prison, and re-boarded the wheelchair not long ago. The civilianized patrol boat that just sent them here.

Before the words were finished, the old guy boarded the dilapidated fishing boat again, started the engine and ran away without a trace.

“What an incredible experience”

"My parents run a travel agency"

Ninel looked at a certain floor tile, "Then I smuggled to Canada, and from Canada to the United States. Now, I am an American, with a stable job, my own house and a car."

"I have a girlfriend, her name is Jenny, she is from Las Vegas, she is 22 years old, she is blond, she is a standard white left woman, but the point is, she does not smoke."

"you"

In the blink of an eye, Ninel solemnly created a girlfriend for himself that everyone knew did not exist.

"What do your parents do?" Olena asked while sprinkling grass seeds, and finally added, jokingly, "Friends I can trust unconditionally?"

Olena rolled her eyes, stood next to Wei Ran and said, "My sister and I had a good time when we were young, although our father is a bit too responsible now. But when we were young, he almost satisfied us. wish."

"There"

"I can't talk about this topic"

Wei Ran was the first to answer, "When I was a child, he was the driver of the township bus, and my mother was the conductor. If it was earlier, I could only make a phone call"

Thorne carefully sowed the grass seeds and joked in a helpless tone, "I remember very clearly that one year my father got a very big grapefruit from nowhere, and it was a fruit that we had never eaten before. .”

While they waited patiently, almost when the sun completely jumped out of the lake, a 1400 patrol boat with black painting, without any horns, weapons or flags, also stopped steadily amidst the roar of the engine. On the pier of Fishing Field Prison No. 33.

At this moment, the roar of the engine came from outside the prison, and at the same time, Gorman's call came from the walkie-talkie.

Although it is against the rising sun, fortunately they have cleared the weeds around the gravel road from the prison to the pier a few days ago, and the distance is not too far, so Wei Ran can clearly see it even without a telescope. See, the one driving that boat is precisely the father of the sisters Olga and Olena, the medical soldier Ivan back then.

"She's an ordinary farmer"

Almost subconsciously, Wei Ran also raised the binoculars again, and then he clearly saw that those rectangular granite floor tiles with a side length of less than one meter that were originally facing downwards were engraved with a sufficiently eye-catching The letter "К", and, a four-digit number starting with "-0".

Watching Gorman also leave the prison and helping cover the repainted iron gate from the outside, Wei Ran and the others opened the paper bags in their hands.

Time flies to the morning of July 7th. Wei Ran and the others, who originally thought they could leave after finishing the cleanup, were led by Gorman who came by boat, before the first ray of sunshine shrouded the area at dawn. Before the half-new deserted prison, they packed up their respective tents, luggage bags and the few supplies left, and under the arrangement of the former, they got into the several sentries on both sides of the prison gate in twos and twos Tower, and got a non-branded walkie-talkie, a balaclava with only eyes exposed, and a pair of plastic sunglasses that were obviously fake.

Gorman said, and distributed a bulging paper bag to everyone, including Wei Ran and Jima.

"Although I haven't had any contact with Mr. Ivan, I learned about him from Victor a few days ago."

"Sprinkle these around here, I will drive the boat over, and I will use the walkie-talkie to call you on board later."

Olena muttered enviously, and then jokingly, she helped her sister and asked, "So, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Finally, thank you all for standing guard here for a while"

I'm even more certain that the weeds that grow from these seeds, if they do bloom, are pretty inconspicuous and ugly. "

After a while, Gorman also walked over, took out a syringe and gave Yakov an injection.

Until he was sure that there was nothing in it that shouldn't exist, he sat on a chair that had been abandoned for an unknown amount of time, put on the black mask in the first ray of sun that just jumped out of the horizon, and then He put on the pair of sunglasses whose workmanship was not even as good as a toy.

Ninel, who has never voluntarily said anything these days, has picked up a lot of seeds from a paper bag and sprinkled them around while talking, and at the same time kept saying, "I have been doing this since I can remember. The thing is, what they grow are all kinds of weeds that can be seen everywhere. Few of these seeds can bloom.

Until the patrol boat went away, Gorman who stayed behind also used the walkie-talkie to call Wei Ran and others down.

"Indeed it is"

"I'm starting to feel disgusted by the word fresh"

Every time the bell rang through the prison that had been deserted for a long time, those people also took out something from their pockets and sprinkled it all over the cemetery.

Wei Ran took a pityful look at the upright old man Nicholas standing in the center of the officialdom, and looked at the granite floor tiles laid in that square with pity.

Ninel didn't wait for Olga to finish, he casually pointed to a mossy floor tile, and said in a flat tone, "My mother is buried there, she committed suicide on the second day of my 18th birthday, yes Uncle Gorman took me to bury her there. Just like what you just saw."

"Boom--!"

"Borer Than Your Childhood"

Of course, there were people Wei Ran didn't know who followed closely, and even among these people, there was actually an active soldier wearing the rank of major, just like what Ji Ma said back then!But without exception, each of these people held what seemed to be a crowbar in their hands!
When Wei Ran saw the soldier, Wei Ran put down the binoculars as quickly as possible and put it into the metal book, then stood up straight like a tin soldier, with the mask on his face Cheap sunglasses, continue to look at the people who got off the boat.

Soon, as the gangplank was placed on the side of the boat and the pier, several old guys who looked to be about the same age as Ivan jumped off the deck first.

Wei Ran intentionally or unintentionally moved closer to the freshly placed floor tiles, "So why don't we talk about how everyone lived when we were young?"

With the ringing of the sixth bell, the middle-aged man who lost his legs and sat on the wheel and indulged in his own world, the former deputy shooter Yakov, also uttered a desperate roar and struggled violently , trying to get out of the wheelchair.

He didn't know how many of those floor tiles were empty, how many of them had already played their original role, just as he didn't know how many of those people standing behind Nicholas with their heads bowed would need to bury themselves in such a place in the future. In an unnamed cemetery.

Ninel even took a small step back as he spoke, "So I have a girlfriend."

"But what?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously, and at the same time sprinkled a lot of grass seeds mixed with a little soil.

Jima touched his butt subconsciously, grinned and said, "Did you notice that old guy just now? He lived in our village at the time. Every time I got into trouble, that old guy promised to use the freshest Birch sap pumping my fresh ass. And my mom and dad, just watching, ready to hand out new birch twigs."

But soon, he was held down by the shoulder by the one-armed veteran Leva, by Ivan, by Karp, and by Darya.

"K?"

"What do you mean 'so I have a girlfriend'!" Olga asked with clenched fists, almost gnashing her teeth.

A moment later, Darya held the urn in her arms and placed it in a grave, then took the conspicuous red cloth handed over by the person behind and gently covered the urn, carefully He flattened it flat and straightened the dead corners, revealing a faintly inconspicuous bright yellow.

Behind these people are some middle-aged men and women.They were all wearing black formal attire, and each held a black umbrella in their hands, but among the few of them who didn't have an umbrella, they all held a neatly folded umbrella in their hands, standing in the black Extra striking red!
When passing by the gate of the prison, these people all subconsciously glanced at the sentry towers on both sides of the gate, and then, led by the first few people who disembarked, they lined up in a loose team and walked silently to the edge of the prison. A small square covered with granite tiles.

"You poor old guy, how many people do you want to bury with your own hands?"

Maya said with a slight smile, "Different from you, we are a big family. Including Thorn, I have four older brothers and two older sisters. But Mom and Dad dote on us very much, and they are fair enough, and have never paralyzed anyone. one person."

There was no ceremony, no speech or music, not even the slightest pause. Those cold and heavy granite floor tiles simply covered up the regrets that those people had been chasing for half their lives.

"I have no memory of my dad"

"What happened next?" Olga covered her mouth and asked subconsciously.

Ninel smiled, and continued to sow the seeds while saying, "My mother told me, and Uncle Gorman also said that those who can come here to sow seeds together may have nothing to do with the people buried here. Blood relationship, but they must all be worthy of unconditional trust."

"Then we juiced the remaining clove of grapefruit, mixed it with soda and poured everyone a glass."

"Then I worked for Uncle Gorman for almost four years, saved enough money, and learned English."

"I had a miserable childhood, very, very miserable."

Olga and Olena said in unison, and then added a tacit understanding, "A fisherman who shakes his fist at others at every turn."

Sprinkling a handful of grass seeds again, Ninel said in a flat tone, "No one rang the bell when she was buried, and there were not so many people watching the ceremony. But..."

"That's the bitterest thing I've ever drank since I grew up." Maya frowned and grinned, "I forgot to mention that Biran is my youngest brother."

"Forget about you, a Chinese person"

Gorman said as he walked outside the prison, "I'll take you back by boat at noon. Okay, now keep quiet and don't make any noise. If you're tired, you can find a place to sit in the sentry tower. When the next person arrives, remember to put on the mask."

"This is." Halfway through Ji Ma's words, Wei Ran stopped him with his eyes and closed his mouth wisely.

"Boom--!"

"When I was a kid, every spring my mom would bring me here to scatter a bag of grass seeds."

Except for Ninel, who concentrated on sowing the seeds, everyone subconsciously swallowed saliva that seemed to have a bitter taste.

That poor woman who almost forgot everything before she died, also has an inconspicuous K on her tombstone, and she also put something in the grave she prepared for herself decades ago.

Wei Ran turned the focus wheel to try to see more clearly, while muttering to himself, "Is it 'K' from KGB, or K from Bell Tower (Колокольня)? Or both?"

"It's really boring." Wei Ran clapped his hands and looked at Niniel, "What about you?"

"It seems that I have three more friends worthy of unconditional trust." Jima said, and also vigorously beat out a large handful of finely divided seeds.

In the end, the old man Nicholas, who seemed to be a little older, gently hugged Yakov who was crying bitterly, held his head in his arms, looked up at the sky dyed red by the morning glow, and let the poor boy in his arms The members of the death knell let out a series of mournful and desperate roars.

"Same as my mother." Jima sighed in empathy.

"Where's your mother?" asked Olga. "What does she do?"

Niniel's tone was still flat and slow, "We raise a lot of chickens and ducks, as well as goats and dogs. We also have a large vegetable field and grow a lot of vegetables. Every year when the harvest comes, she will make a lot of canned food. Those canned food Like the potatoes in the cellar that never seem to run out."

The second guard tower on the left hand side of the gate, Wei Ran, who was standing guard alone here, hesitated for a while, stuffed the walkie-talkie into the luggage bag and zipped it up, and then inspected the guard tower roughly.

"I rarely saw my parents when I was a child"

"Looks like we should leave." Before he could finish his sentence, Ninel had already stepped towards the outside of the prison.

"Don't be too confident, you're just a cover, and so am I," Wei Ran muttered secretly, and at the same time looked at the granite floor tiles that had just been covered with pity.

It was a small hole about half a meter in length, and there seemed to be something in each small hole.Almost subconsciously, he thought of Karenina who was buried by himself and Nicholas on the banks of the Tula River.

At this time, Wei Ran had already raised his binoculars, so he could clearly see that among the people who came down first, there were Gorman and those who went fishing with him when they went to old Ivan's house. The two old sailors I knew.

Maya also said helplessly, "Later, everyone, including mom and dad, got two petals of almost equal size."

"That grapefruit has 19 petals in total, which is a difficult arithmetic problem for a family with seven children."

"And no matter what trouble we got into, we didn't get beaten."

It's a pity that even the two rabbit heads thrown into the rubbish dump by Jima can see that Ninel maintains just the right amount of enthusiasm and the same just right sense of distance for everyone, regardless of gender.

"gollum"

"It sounds boring." Jima grinned, "It's better to be beaten like me."

"Our dad was a fisherman"

"Boom--!"

"Let's go too"

Thorn took a last look at the surrounding buildings, beckoned his sister Maya and brother-in-law Jima to follow Niner.

"Victor, are you going to stay? Then let's go first?"

Before Olena could finish her sentence, she was already dragging her older sister Olga, trotting to catch up with Niner who was walking in the front.

"Can you rest assured now?"

While talking, Wei Ran put his hands into his trouser pockets, took out the portable wine jug from the metal book, and gently poured the little wine left in it on the granite floor tiles sprinkled with grass seeds, while muttering to himself He whispered softly, "They had a good life when they were young, and they are doing very well now. I believe that they will also have a good life in the future. So... goodbye, my friends."