Songs From Siberia

Jimmy Part I: Back In The USSR

Chapter Inspiration: Back In The USSR, The Beatles

May/2003

"You will recall that the last time you were in America was during the collapse of the Soviet Union, yes?"

The Soldier didn't respond. He couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken English to him, he could barely recall the last time he was in America.

He eyed the woman addressing him. She was new to him but obviously not new at her job. He'd seen her watching him when he was training, and she had given him a cocksure smile when he'd looked at her.

She was a spindly woman, who obviously paid a lot of attention to her appearance and always looked like she had somewhere else to be.

Everyone throughout this base seemed to speak exclusively in French, and up until this moment she had been no exception. It wasn't the fact that she spoke English to him that unnerved him, however. His handlers generally did that when they wanted him to hear something of particular importance. It was her manner and tone that made The Soldier wary.

She seemed completely at ease.

She walked through the base as though she was walking through a garden, and she spoke to him as though she was speaking to a friend. The Soldier felt instinctively that there was an unimaginable danger behind her friendly front.

"So I have good news and bad news." she continued. "The good news is that you won't going back to America. The bad news is that you are going back to Russia- and this time you're going to have to work for your keep."

They didn't put him to sleep for transportation, which struck The Soldier as strange, but he knew better than to comment on it.

As it turned out, they didn't have to put him to sleep. The Soldier felt himself begin to drift soon after they'd secured his restraints. As the pilot announced the hours till landing, The Soldier welcomed the dream that he knew awaited him.

The dream never changed.

He was standing on a long street, houses on both sides. The fronts of houses on his left, and the backs of houses on his left. The street was mostly empty except for a motorbike, that right at the end.

As he came nearer to the house the bike was parked outside of, a little girl would appear on the stairs leading up to the front door.

She was a skinny girl, with pale blonde hair, tied in blue ribbons. How old she was varied with every dream. Sometimes she was 5, sometimes she was 10. She was never any older than 12.

When he approached the foot of the stairs, the little girl would always look up. She had a delicate face, but her big blue eyes were wild and full of spirit.

The little blonde girl would beam up at him; smiling out of familiarly more than recognition. She'd open her mouth as though she was speaking, but no sound would come out.

Then she'd put down the string and wooden object she usually had, and bounce off the step.

She'd go up a few steps before turning, and holding out her hand, for him to take...

-

"<I am sorry to interrupt your practice time, Natalia. But I thought you ought to know that your new partner arrives today.>"

"<My... My new partner, Madame?>"

Natalia never knew what to expect whenever she was beckoned into Madame B's office. The general bet was either death or torture. She would never would have guessed this.