25. REBIRTH OF STALIN´S DAGGER
I like magic! One early morning I was dreaming. That is I believed I was dreaming. I heard some early morning birds chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed there was a small box there. A real box. It seemed to be empty. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box and discovered some crumpled papers. Something was written on the papers, and I started reading chapter 25.
It was April in Moscow. I don’t remember what day, but the year was 1956. I was sitting on a stone bench looking out on the Moscow River. From time to time I took a swig from a bottle of vodka hidden in a brown paper bag between my legs. Freezing cold it was.
At first I didn’t notice him, the man who sat down next to me. As my Russian was very poor I only nodded when seeing him. To my surprise he greeted me in impeccable English. I handed him my bottle, and he gulped down two mouthfuls.
Then he began talking.
Before the bottle was empty he had told me his life story. When he disappeared I realized he had forgotten something. A small oblong package was lying on the cold stone bench. I wanted to call for the man, but he was gone. I never saw him again.
I untied the string. And behold! There it was. The dagger the stranger had talked about. Josef Stalin’s dagger! According to the man it had belonged to Djengis Khan in former times. There were seven red rubies on each side of the silver handle.
Seven immaculate red rubies. How beautiful! The view absorbed me, and I did not see the fog drifting down the Moscow River until there was nothing to see. Freezing cold it was.
When the foggy mist disappeared, I was in another place- The dagger had disappeared. It was warm, but not hot. Summer of 1961. My girlfriend to be was changing to her swimming suit. The small lake near by was a mirror to the blue sky dotted by two or three white clouds. Carefully, step by step, we walked onto a dilapidated wooden pier that was half rotten. The lake was full of yellow waterlilies, and a few bigger white ones. Where did the scissors come from? Anyway, I cut her the most beautiful white flower out of the fabric of time. The moment was for keeps, and I knew this was not to last. “Augenblick verweile doch. Du bist so schön.”
Autumn arrived with crispy air, and musky smell of rotting leaves. Then winter. The lake was frozen. The magic moments disappeared. Covered by snow.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter passed. Winter of 2026 arrived.
End of chapter 25. To be continued in chapter 26.
