—— An Unexpected Meeting ——101him Andrey Alexandrovich like the colonel and I did not know
his surname. He was not wearing a distinctive military uniform,
which would have saved me by giving away his rank. The host
himself came to my rescue, seeing what kind of situation I was in:
‘Zhdanov – Andrey Alexandrovich if you like,’ he introduced
himself. ‘Now, let’s get to know each other, Comrade Nikolaev,’
and again he extended his hand towards me. ‘Nice to meet you!’
he repeated once again. He sat me down in a plush armchair and
sat opposite.
For a minute we just sat there, closely studying each other in
silence. He was apparently giving me the chance to come to myself
and not hurrying me with what he had to say.
Before me sat a thickset man of short stature, aged about forty
five, who had seemingly lost quite a bit of weight. He was clad in a
khaki trench coat with an Order of Lenin on the breast. He had a
straight nose, a small black moustache and hair of the same colour.
There were bags under his eyes from extreme exhaustion and lack
of sleep. His eyes were large, intelligent, serious and at the same
time kindly and appealing.
Andrey Alexandrovich smiled, and I clearly recalled his face,
which I had frequently seen in portraits, and felt timid: ‘How did
I fail to recognise him at once? That’s him, the very same Comrade
Zhdanov, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party’s
Central Committee, Secretary of the Central Committee and First
Secretary of the Leningrad Party regional and urban committees,
and a member of the frontline council!’
Zhdanov smiled without a word as he beheld my embarrassment.
‘Well, do you feel a bit more at home now, Comrade Nikolaev?’
he said at last. ‘I’m sure you feel much more at ease on the front line!
Never mind. Don’t feel embarrassed. I’ve heard a lot about you and
what you’ve done and now an opportunity has come up for us to
talk a little in real earnest, as it were. Well, tell me about yourself:
how’s your health, how’s your treatment going, how’s the war going,
how are the Germans behaving on the front line? You can see how
many questions I’ve got for you. Now try to answer them.’