Page 36 of Cilka's Journey
This doctor often agrees with whatever Cilka says. She carefully grants days to the sick and infirm that she never could in her old life. Though in all of these places, it is always one person for another. One person’s comfort, one person’s food. Nothing is fair.
“It is the first day of a new year. Perhaps in the spirit of this”—she glances at the file in her hands—“Georgii Yaroslavovich would benefit from an extra day with us. Shall I amend his file to say discharge in two days?”
“Amend.” The doctor walks away.
Cilka glances up at the poster on the wall above the bed. A smiling worker in a sunny field.Liberation through honest toil.
She amends the file.
“Thank you, Cilka Klein, thank you, thank you. You are an angel sent from heaven.”
Cilka winks at him. This time her smile is genuine, “It’s all right, Georgii Yaroslavovich, you know I’ll take care of you.”
As she walks back to the desk to drop off Georgii’s file and collect another, Yelena is waiting, having watched the game play out.
“Cilka, I have some good news for you.”
The smile returns to Cilka’s face. She’s almost too scared to ask what. She waits.
“I’ve spoken to the head of the hospital and convinced him you now qualify to be called a nurse.”
“Really? That’s wonderful, thank you so much,” Cilka says. But she feels numb. Her position makes a marginal difference to her hut-mates’ lives, but still she wishes she could do more. Behind Yelena, outside the frosted window, there is howling darkness. “I don’t know what else to say.”
“You don’t have to thank me. You did the hard work—you’ve earned the right to be recognized for it.”
There is a churning deep down inside her. Something like shame. Would Yelena feel differently if she knew everything about Cilka’s past?
“I won’t let you down,” Cilka says.
“I know you won’t. And, Cilka, one more thing.” She hands a note to Cilka. “Give this to Antonina Karpovna tonight. It is my request for Josie to start work here tomorrow as a clerical assistant. She will learn some of your old duties to free you up for nursing.”
Taking the note with a shaking hand, Cilka turns away to compose herself.Finally.She has been agitating for this to happen for as long as she has been in the hospital. She stuffs the note in the pocket of her hospital apron. With a nod of thanks she picks up another file and walks briskly, with purpose, to another patient.
For the first time in a long while Cilka arrives back at her hut before the others. She paces the small room, her nose still aching from the cold of the walk, waiting for Josie, for Antonina, to share her news. It is, not the news that she is to be called a nurse that excites her so; it is that Josie will no longer be working outdoors but in the comfort and warmth of the hospital. She knows it comes from a selfish place—she wants to be closer, physically, to Josie. So she can watch over her.
The women enter the hut in a state of fear and panic. Cilka’s first thought is of Hannah, what she knows—or thinks she knows. Has she told the women and are they going to attack her? But then she realizes it is something else entirely. One of the women is sobbing and groaning at the same time. She is being supported by two others, each holding her up by one arm as the woman doubles over in pain. The others are in a fluster, issuing instructions on what to do with no one listening, no one taking control.
Cilka grabs Elena, pulling her from the pack. She sees now thatthe groaning woman is Natalya, her blond hair stuck with sweat and soot to her forehead.
“What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
Antonina has followed them in. As they place Natalya on her bed they step away and let the brigadier see her.
“How far gone?” Antonina asks.
Natalya shakes her head in pain and fear. “I don’t know.” Her scarf is still bundled around her neck. Her gloved hands clutch at it.
“Weeks or months?”
“Months, five or six, I don’t know! Help me, please help me.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Cilka asks Elena again.
“She’s bleeding and she is pregnant. We think she is having the baby.”
Antonina looks up and sees Cilka standing back.
“Come here,” she says. “You work in the hospital—take charge. The rest of you, get ready to go to dinner.”
