At dusk, the cabins on the edge of Golonid Island also fell into darkness.
For the blind girl Sasha, lighting fixtures are obviously the most insignificant things in her life.
This girl, who had long been accustomed to darkness and had never seen light, after a not-so-pleasant dinner, held on to the handrail of the stairs leading to the attic with one hand and hugged little Neva who was already sleeping on her shoulder with the other.
She groped her way up to her room in the attic, and by the way, she locked the wooden door leading to the attic.
At the entrance of the stairs, the dog also named Neva stretched his body and blocked the way to the upper floor. His dark eyes also looked at the two pilots standing side by side at the door of the room with vigilance.
It was as if they were all looking up at the sky that was reddened by dusk and blackened by gunpowder smoke, and the fireballs that exploded after collisions between anti-aircraft guns and aircraft.
"That's Juncker 88"
Felix said hoarsely, "That is a very beautiful bomber. It is very easy to drive and very flexible to control. It is far more comfortable than the training aircraft we have flown. Especially its brakes are very impressive."
, it is simply a pleasure to land in it.”
"Have you ever driven?" Ninel asked in a low voice, almost like a whisper.
"Drove"
Felic responded in a low voice, and then explained in a panic, "It's in Poland. I just recently went with the Eighth Battalion of the Romanian Servant Army..."
"It doesn't matter"
Ninel shook his head, squinted his eyes and looked at the fading sunset, the seemingly endless planes in the sky, and the smoke clouds exploded by the dense anti-aircraft guns, and comforted him in a murmur, "It's okay, I don't blame you.
the meaning of."
Siluke
"Nineel... I'm sorry."
Felix said with a trembling tone, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have participated in this war. I was worried when I flew the plane into Poland. I..."
"This is a situation we have anticipated, isn't it?"
Ninel forced a smile to interrupt what Felix was about to say, "The best situation we expected was for everyone to drive an A35 postal plane and be a postman. But from the day the war started,
I'm ready to meet you in the air."
"Let the friendship from the sky continue on the ground" Felix murmured to himself.
"Let the hatred from the ground be dealt with in the sky," Niner, holding a German cigarette in his hand, also muttered, but the expression on his face was particularly complicated at this time.
"It's not as easy as we thought at the time," Felix sighed. "The war is far more cruel than we thought."
"You are just a soldier, your only choice is to obey orders." Niniel's tone became more and more erratic.
"What about you?" Felix, who was also looking at the aerial battlefield, asked.
"I?"
Niner smiled miserably, "I, noble gentleman, I am just a Stalingrader, an ordinary person who must defend his hometown."
"My wife was taken away," Felix said abruptly.
"Why?" Ninel reacted immediately after asking, "Because she is a Jew?"
Felix nodded with difficulty, "She and our children were all taken away by those damn chain dogs more than a year ago. I have never seen them since then."
"them..."
"I have no idea"
Felix shook his head helplessly and confused, and the expression on his face became more and more ferocious as he spoke, "I don't know, I don't know where they were sent, I don't know if they are still alive, let alone where they should go.
Where can I find them? Even...I...I don't dare to publicly express my longing for them or hide a photo of them. I...I am a coward who drives a fighter jet to invade a friend's house.
coward!"
"It would be better if there was no such war"
Ninel sighed, but didn't say anything. He just stared silently at the planes in the sky, watching them being shot down, watching them explode in the sky, or pull up the thick clouds dyed red by the sunset.
Smoke and moths flew towards the cities on the surface like moths flying into the flames.
Inside the room, after clearing the dining table, Wei Ran silently took out the Rolleiflex camera from the metal book. Using the door frame as the photo frame and the air battle under the sunset as the background, he quietly took a picture of the two melancholy and contradictory friendships against the light.
Silhouette.
Outside the room, the battle between the enemy and ourselves under the setting sun continued for a long time. The sound of cannons from far or near almost never stopped, and the explosions from the other side were also particularly clear and dense.
Inside the attic window facing the direction of the Volga River, Sasha was gently rocking the birch hammock where the baby Neva was lying, while worriedly singing the song Katyusha, which brought infinite courage and fighting spirit to the Soviets.
At the same time, her big, dull eyes were always looking at the distant Volgograd on the other side, trying to find even a shred of news about her sister Lana amidst the rumbling sounds of artillery and explosions.
Under the window, I don’t know when, Ninel also sat down against the log wall and sang the Katyusha with a hoarse voice that seemed to have soothing magic power.
After a long time, little Neva lay in a small hammock and fell asleep. The Katyusha also stopped one after another, leaving only the competition in the night sky, which continued under the command of the searchlight.
The explosions, flames, and smoke on the other side still did not stop. Only Felix was left, standing at the door and looking helplessly at the fleeting firelights in the night sky.
That night, Wei Ran was the only one sleeping on the only big bed on the first floor of the wooden house, while Felix and Niniel sat on the doorstep from beginning to end, chatting in low voices, or not talking at all.
.
Time flies and the next morning arrives, four people, including Wei Ran, sit around the dining table again. This breakfast is no different from last night’s dinner, except that there is less fish and more for everyone.
Just a boiled potato.
"Sasha, I'll give this to you."
After breakfast, Felix took the only gold ring from his hand and put it on the hand of the blind girl Sasha, "Sell it, maybe you can live a better life in exchange for some money."
"Is this a ring?" Sasha touched the metal ring in his hand, "I can't have it, this must belong to you and your wife..."
"I don't think I have any use for it anymore."
Felix took a deep breath before Sasha finished speaking, picked up the TT33 pistol placed on the window sill and pushed it to Nineel, who was sitting opposite. He said in a calm tone, "Nineel, let's find a place to talk alone.
Let’s talk.”
Hearing this, Ninel took a deep breath, stretched out his trembling hand and pressed it on the patinated pistol, nodded feebly, and responded with a difficult "Okay".
"How about waiting a moment?"
Wei Ran stood up as he spoke, walked to the head of the bed, opened up the straw-filled pillow, and took out a Rolleiflex double-lens reflex camera under the cover of his body, "Before that, let me take a picture for you.
How about a photo, to... commemorate your friendship?"
Niner and Felix looked at each other, with a look of relief on their faces. They didn't ask about the origin of the camera at all, and just nodded in unison.
"Sasha, can we borrow your brother-in-law's clothes?" As Ninel spoke, he also took off his wedding ring and silently placed it on the table in front of Sasha.
“Yes, of course”
Sasha immediately said, "His clothes are in the wooden box under the bed. My sister has never been willing to throw them away, but you can only borrow them for taking pictures. Those clothes are the only ones my brother-in-law left for my sister.
It’s a relic.”
"We're just taking a photo"
While Ninel was speaking, he had already walked to the bedside, bent down and pulled out a wooden box from under the bed, which contained several sets of clean and neatly folded coarse cloth clothes.
"Originally there was a set of my brother-in-law's Red Army uniform in there," Sasha said proudly, "but it was worn by my sister to fight in the city."
"I believe that she will definitely come back wearing that uniform and bringing news of victory." Ninel said while holding on to a smile.
"She will definitely come back!" Sasha clenched her fists with great confidence, and her big, dull eyes seemed to have a strange brilliance.
Niniel, Felix and Wei Ran looked at each other, finally sighed silently, and put on the coarse cloth clothes that were a little too big for him.
"I'll forget it"
Felix looked at the suit of clothes on the bed, and symbolically tightened the parachute cloth wrapped around it, "That's it, I'll just leave it like this, that's fine."
"so be it"
At this time, Nineel didn't seem to want that clean coarse cloth to be worn on his good friend.
Under the command of Wei Ran, the pilot Nineel, who put on civilian clothes, and the German pilot Felix, who was only wrapped in a white parachute, supported each other, walked to the door with difficulty, and sat down facing the rising sun.
, leaning his back against the log wall.
"Smoke a cigarette"
Niner opened the silver cigarette case that he had collected from Felix yesterday, took out the remaining three cigarettes, distributed them to Wei Ran and Felix, and then took out a lighter.
Help the two of them do it one by one.
"Nineel, I'm going back soon. I want to know, what kind of plane do you want to fly in the future?" Felix leaned his back covered with burns against the rough log wall, smoking a cigarette and looking comfortable.
asked Shuang relaxedly.
"Postal machine, the fastest postal machine!"
Niner also leaned his back against the log wall, took a puff of his cigarette, and said loudly in a more determined tone, "But if there is a war in my country, I will fly a fighter jet, even if it flies at the slowest speed.
The fighter with the worst firepower!”
After a short pause, a cheerful smile appeared on Nineel's face, and he asked loudly, "What about you? My noble friend Felix? What kind of plane do you want to fly after you return to China?"
"Postal machine! The fastest postal machine! I want to be the fastest postman! A faster postman than you!"
Tears overflowed from the corners of Felix's eyes, and he said loudly in a very firm tone, "But if there is a war in my country, I will fly a fighter jet, even the slowest flying fighter with the worst firepower!"
"I hope we will never meet in the air!" Nineel showed a big smile on his face, and at the same time stretched out his hand towards Felix.
"I hope we are forever friends in the sky!"
Felix also had a big smile on his face and reached out to hold the former's hand firmly. At the same time, Wei Ran allowed Wei Ran to use the film to freeze this fleeting moment.
"My friend, you still have..." Nineel choked up in the middle of his words without any warning, and asked with difficulty, "Do you still have... any last wishes?"
"Nineel"
Felix patted the former's shoulder hard, stood up with difficulty while holding on to the wall, and walked towards the edge of the forest in the distance and said with a smile, "Before I returned to China, you said that you would send me a gift when I came next time.
I have a set of matryoshka dolls made by you.
My friend, I'm sorry that we met again in heaven. I'm sorry that I didn't bring the gift that a friend should bring. If you can forgive me for my rudeness as a poor boy pretending to be an aristocrat, give me a set after the war.
Matryoshka doll. I want a red one, as red as Goethe’s lantern.”
Niner rubbed his face vigorously, tremblingly picked up the TT33 pistol at hand, and picked up a piece of white umbrella cloth that was just washed yesterday. He refused Wei Ran's help and limped to catch up with Yue Yue.
Far Felix.
Behind the two of them, Wei Ran once again pressed the extremely heavy shutter. Once again, their backs were imprinted on the film.
"Felix is a German, right?" Sasha, holding the shotgun in one hand, groped his way to the door and asked tremblingly as Wei Ran sighed feebly.
"You know?" Wei Ran asked ambiguously.
"Comrade Victor, I'm just blind, not stupid."
While Sasha was speaking, he had already taken out a shotgun bullet from his apron pocket and stuffed it into the chamber. Then Katcha closed the gun chamber with a sound, "My parents were killed by bombs dropped by the Germans."
of.
My two brothers, and my sister's first child, they were all killed by bombs dropped by the Germans."
Sasha, who had already raised his gun, said in a trembling voice, "My brother-in-law, he died in Kiev last year. It was a good thing the Germans did! There were also many people in the village, including my sister, who all went to the other side.
They participated in the battle in the city, and I haven't heard from them for almost three months. No one knows whether they are dead or still alive."
"Bang!" The clear sound of gunfire interrupted Sasha's desire to continue speaking.
"Sasha"
Wei Ran stretched out his hand and gently pressed down Sasha's already leveled shotgun. Looking at Felix who fell on his back not far away, and Nineel who dropped his gun and knelt on the ground, he said in a tired tone, "Just now
, the German pilot Felix von Goethe is dead. Comrade Niner, a fighter pilot of the 439th Regiment of the 102nd Air Defense Fighter Aviation Division of the Soviet Red Army, personally shot and killed the German fighter pilot Felix von Goethe."
Taking a deep breath with great difficulty, Wei Ran said again, "Nineel, personally... personally killed... his good friend... Felix."
Hearing this, Sasha slowly relaxed the muzzle of the draw, and slowly sat down on the floor at the door, holding the shotgun in his arms, shedding tears and crying, but trying not to make any sound.
"Sasha, can you lend me that oil drum stove?"
Ninel, with red eyes, limped back, "I...I need a coffin."
"take it"
Sasha wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes in a panic, stood up with the shotgun in his hand and said, "There is also an oil drum in the storage room. That oil drum is better. It is used by my sister to smoke fish. It can be sealed.
Very strict.”
"Thank you, Sasha, thank you."
As Ninel spoke, he emptied the bullet from the chamber of the TT33 pistol in his hand and reloaded it into the magazine, then stuffed it into Sasha's hand, "I'll give you this gun. It's better than yours."
A shotgun is more convenient to use, will you use it?"
"Really...can you really give it to me?" Sasha tightened her grip on the pistol handed to her, "I know how to use it, my sister taught me."
"Send it to you"
Ninel waved his hand tiredly, and after realizing that Sasha couldn't see it at all, he simply limped straight to the storage room next to the wooden house.
Rejecting Wei Ran's help, Ninel moved the dusty 200-liter iron bucket out of the storage room alone, then fetched a bucket of water by himself, and used a brush to carefully clean away the accumulated oil smoke.
"Let me do it myself"
Niner ignored the blood coming from the wound on his thigh, took the shovel that Wei Ran found, and pushed the clean iron bucket alone, walking towards Felix in the distance, silently standing in an open space next to him.
Digging a grave for a friend.
"Did...did I do something wrong?" Sasha, who was clutching the TT33 pistol, asked uneasily after hearing Wei Ran's footsteps.
"you are right"
Wei Ran, who had just taken another photo of Nineel, sighed, pointed at Sasha, who was holding a gun but with tears in his eyes, and pressed the shutter again, "The person who started this war is at fault.
Without this war, they would be very good friends. But because of this war, Nineel must kill Felix."
"Why..."
"Maybe it's because they are all soldiers and qualified soldiers..." Wei Ran murmured to himself.
"Why is there a war..." Sasha rubbed the TT33 pistol in her hand blankly, trying to think clearly about this issue that was far beyond her time to think about.
"Yeah..." Wei Ran looked at the pilot busy alone in the distance, "Why is there a war... It would be fine if there was no war."
"Victor, will this war continue?" Sasha asked, somewhat at a loss, "Even if it means killing his own friends?"
"The war will continue as long as it lasts, even if it means killing one's own friends." Wei Ran took a deep breath and answered the question with difficulty.
Sasha clenched her fists subconsciously, "We will definitely win this war, right?"
"right!"
Wei Ran responded to this question with an extremely positive tone, "We will definitely defeat those magic suction threads in the end, and we will definitely find out the bastards who started the war!"
"I wonder if my sister was still alive at that time..."
Sasha sighed, fumbled to remove the bullets from the shotgun, then fumbled back to the room, stepped on the creaking wooden stairs, and silently returned to her room in the attic.
A moment later, from the small window in the attic, the gentle yet strong Katyusha came out again.
I don’t know how long it took, but Nineel, who was not far away, wrapped his good friend Felix tightly in a white parachute cloth, carefully put him into the iron bucket, closed the lid, and moved in little by little.
into the dug grave.
As shovel after shovel of soil covered it again, there was also a short grave that no one cared about in this forest that no one paid attention to.
As Wei Ran looked on, Ninel took out the paratrooper gravity knife that belonged to Felix from his pocket, and carved an epitaph that was extremely familiar to Wei Ran on the birch tree next to the small grave: Here
Buried is an opponent worthy of respect and an enemy that must be shot down.
"Aren't you friends?" Wei Ran couldn't help but ask.
"yes"
Ninel struggled to put on a sad smile, picked up the shovel again, and limped towards the direction of the wooden house and replied, "But friendship is enough only in the heart. Before the war is over, he first
He is the enemy of the Soviet Union, he is the enemy of Stalingrad, and then he is my friend."
"I also have a friend." Wei Ran, who was following behind him, couldn't help but look towards the other side of the river, "She's in the city."
"She? Your girlfriend?" Nineel looked back at Wei Ran.
"No"
Wei Ran shook his head sadly and regretfully, "She is a hero, a hero that no one knows. I...I don't even know her name, but she saved my life, with...with her s life."
Ninel was stunned, stopped for a moment and patted Wei Ran on the shoulder, "I know, I know her name, does everyone know her name?"
"You know?" Wei Ran looked at the other party in surprise, "Everyone knows?"
"Of course I know!"
Niner's tone seemed to be filled with endless motivation and confidence in an instant, and he said with extraordinary certainty and matter-of-factly, "Her name is the fearless Stalingrader!"
"The fearless Stalingraders?"
Wei Ran wiped the corners of his eyes and nodded with relief, "Yes! Her name is the fearless Stalingrader!"
