Stalin's Haystack (standard:other, 1445 words)
Author: Professor	Added: Nov 14 2001	Views/Reads: 3026/2070	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The child shrieked and released his biting mouth from Yuri’s calf. It took one blow from his rifle butt to crack the child’s head like a turtle shell. In his pant’s pocket, Yuri felt the child’s picket-pocket hands tremble, then go limp. Yuri’s own hands,

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The barracks filled with dark laughter. The next day, Viktor sent for
Yuri at a Moscow Orphanage. He requested the boy's presence on his 
up-coming tour of duty in the Ukraine. The Kremlin encouraged 
adolescents to help the Red Army in herding stubborn peasants onto the 
collective farms in Ukraine. Yuri joined Viktor in Kiev, curious about 
his new friend. 

"You are a leader Yuri and we need young people like you down here,"
Viktor explained. The truth was buried on the Volga. 

"What is out there?" 

Viktor then realized that Yuri had not seen any of the villages or
collective farms. He had only seen the endless mud roads of starving 
people. To Yuri, the famine was a complete puzzle. 

"When I first came to Ukraine I was stationed with the big tractors near
Poltava. I did not  see anything different. I told people back home 
'There is no famine, everyone here is fat and lazy.' Then we were told 
that some peasants were hiding grain in local villages. We were armed. 
The first village we went to was called Likaev. 

Viktor paused as Leo sighed deeply in his sleep. Yuri squirmed closer to
Viktor. 

"It was in Likaev I first saw the open mouths. Mothers begged us to take
their starving babies. Big black flies buzzed around. I saw whole 
families shot. I shot them too. We burned their belongings. Old photos 
and books mostly. Two families were healthy. The local politician and 
the town's butcher." 

Yuri was wide awake now. Viktor began to whisper. 

"Nobody dared harm the butcher because he secretly fed the soldiers.
Rations were slim and a piece of pork was hard to refuse." 

Laying on his side, Yuri's bloody hand was placed on his chin in stoic
fashion. He looked at Leo before he spoke. 

"Did you eat there?" 

"Once. But generally, only the higher-ranking soldiers did. The rest
stood outside, like dogs, hoping to get some scraps." Viktor stopped 
again, laying silent as he listened for Leo's breathing. 

"One day I saw the butcher walking back to the killing house. I wanted
to ask him for some meat. When I got to the door, he screamed for me to 
leave. He grabbed a knife and came at me. He was crazy." 

"What did you do?" Asked Yuri impatiently. "Did you kill him? Tell me!"
Leo groaned and rolled over. 

"Shhh," Viktor cautioned. 

"I shot the butcher and he was dead." 

Viktor paused, and closed his eyes as if he might go to sleep. Yuri's
own pale blue eyes were fixed on Viktor's mouth. He hoped the soldier 
would continue. 

"I thought of burning down the killing house," whispered Viktor, "But I
wanted some meat first. We were all so hungry." 

Viktor's voice was breaking. He grabbed Yuri by the front of the shirt
and looked him in the eyes. Viktor's  own eyes opened and filled with 
tears. 

"Listen to me, Yuri," he whispered. "That killing house..." 

Viktor stopped. Leo was awake know and aiming his pistol at Viktor. 

"Just what did you see there Viktor? Tell the boy!" ordered Leo. Viktor
was shaking. 

"Bodies ... human bodies hanging on hooks," screamed Viktor. One shot
was fired. 

"Run Yuri!" groaned Viktor. 

Yuri ran out from under the truck and hid behind the haystack. He heard
another shot and watched as Leo rolled Viktor's body out of their 
hiding spot and into the moonlight. 

"Come back Yuri," coughed Leo. "They'll get you out there." 

Yuri put his hands over his ears. He wept uncontrollably as Leo fired
into the haystack. 

"I'll tell them where you are Yuri," shouted Leo. "They'll eat you
dead." 

Yuri could not erase the vision of the killing house. He burrowed into
the haystack. He heard more shots. He looked out saw people swarming 
Leo. They were the same starving peasants that had stormed the truck 
last night. 

"He's in the haystack. Get him!" screamed Leo. 

Yuri watched as their long white arms pulled Leo to the ground. Leo
shrieked. Yuri closed his eyes and did not hear another sound. 

It was morning. The sun warmed the haystack and the sensation meant Yuri
was alive. He wiped the moist hay from his eyes and looked out towards 
the truck. There were no signs of Leo's body. Yuri stretched his arms 
and legs and crawled to the truck. Small mounds of grain littered the 
ground. Beside the truck, Viktor's body was trampled and covered in 
grain. Yuri wanted to bury him there, but he knew the tractors would 
come soon to plow the land. Instead, he lifted the muddy carcass into 
the payload. After taking the keys from Viktor's pocket, Yuri started 
the truck and drove it out of its mucky captivity. The warm sun and the 
piles of grain had dried up the dirt road. 

After passing several miles, Yuri stopped the truck. He reached into his
pocket and pulled out the shiny compass his father had given him. His 
hands trembling, Yuri watched the compass arrow spinning around, never 
stopping on any direction. 

He threw the compass into the field in frustration. Maybe it would work
for someone else, he thought. As for himself, Yuri knew he only wanted 
to distance himself from the fields, the peasants, and the haystack. 


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