some tea. “Where did you come here from?”
“Sakhalin.”
“Don’t tell me fairy tales.” She offered him sugar.
“Before that, I lived in Moscow.” Even though Leonid was burning to see Galina as soon as possible, no matter where he had to go to do so, courtesy required him to satisfy the woman’s curiosity about the distant capital.
“We’re not barbarians here, either,” was her reply after Leonid had described the theaters, movie houses, and nightspots of Moscow. “Our surroundings may be harsh, but we have culture.” She showed him a monthly magazine, in which some dates were marked. “In April, the ballet is coming to Yakutsk, and our own symphony orchestra will perform the music.”
“Yes, it’s a big country,” he replied, rather inconsequentially.
“And we’re the biggest region in the biggest country on earth.”
By this point, Leonid had completely thawed out; his cheeks and nose were burning, and he felt twinges in his fingertips. The neighbor lady explained to him where the hospital was but forbade him to set out for it on foot. She hung a red flag out of her window, and after that, they simply waited until a vehicle drove up to the building.
“That’s the way we do it here when somebody wants to go somewhere.” She accompanied Leonid to the door. “Say hello to Galina for me. And tell her I have some mail for her.” The woman picked up a stack, and Leonid’s letter was on top.
He walked outside and climbed into the car. The driver dropped him off near the hospital, and sooner than he expected, Leonid laid eyes on Galina. “I have to go away,” was the first thing Doctor Korff said. She was so bundled up that he recognized her only by her voice.
“For how long?” His disappointment made him angry.
“Three days.”
“Are you going far?”
“Six hundred miles.” As she spoke, Galina checked the equipment that was being loaded into crates of some synthetic material. “Keep the ambulance warm,” she ordered. “The instruments mustn’t be allowed to freeze.”
“Six hundred,” Leonid stammered. “You’re going to drive six hundred miles in an ambulance?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re flying. The pilot knows the route, and the weather’s supposed to remain good.”
“Galina …” She was bustling here and there, but Leonid stepped in her way. “I have only four days’ leave. Can’t you wait until tomorrow?”
“If the woman isn’t operated on today, she dies,” Galina said, cutting him off. “There’s room in the ambulance. Come on, you can ride with me to the airport.”
More taken by surprise than persuaded, he agreed. They hurried to the entrance hall; the ambulance was waiting outside, its blue light turning and flashing.
Now that their brief reunion was about to come to such an austere end, the two of them sat unspeaking in their seats as the vehicle took them back to the place where Leonid had arrived only a few hours before. At last, Galina said in an accusatory tone, “You might have written.”
“My letter’s lying unopened in your neighbor’s apartment.” He told her of his visit to the apartment building on Cosmonauts Street. Then he asked, “Aren’t there any doctors in the place you’re flying to?”
She took off her hat. The look in her eyes struck him like a blow. “Have you looked at the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on a map? There’s nothing here. And this gigantic nothing is virtually uninhabited. It’s less expensive to fly doctors to where they’re needed than to station them in such extremely remote places.”
The ambulance rolled into a sharp curve. The crates were tied down tightly, but Galina and Leonid were flung into a corner of the seat. She didn’t seem to register their brief touch. Then Leonid spotted the turboprop aircraft, which was being towed with rotating propellers to the inspection building.
“That’s one of our planes!” Leonid cried in surprise.
“Of course.” She buttoned her coat all the way up. “Do you think physicians have private jets at their disposal? We almost always fly in military aircraft.” She knocked on the interior window. “Get the crates inside the plane, fast!” While the turboprop and the ambulance were being brought as close together as possible, Leonid became aware of a huge machine that was also being rolled up to the airplane. Long hoses disappeared into the hatch, which a compressor was keeping warm.
“Galina!” Leonid jumped out of the ambulance after her. “I was looking forward so much to being with you!” The noise of three different engines made every word nearly inaudible. “I don’t know … when we’ll