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THE WHEELS GO CLATTER-CLATTER
This summer Daddy had to go away on business for two days. On the day he was to leave he said, "I think I'll take Dennis along."
I looked at Mommy quickly, but she didn't say anything.
Then Daddy said, "Go on, tie him to your apron strings. Let him follow you around on a leash."
Then Mommy's eyes got as green as gooseberries and she said, "Do whatever you want to. You can take him to the North Pole for all I care." And she stamped out.
That evening Daddy and I boarded a train and set off on our trip. There were a lot of people in the car: men, women, old ladies, some big boys and a small girl. It was lots of fun. People were talking and laughing. We opened some cans of food and had tea in glasses that were set in glass-holders, and also had huge chunks of salami. Then a young man took his accordion down from the top berth and played and sang a sad song about a boy who fell into the grass by his horse's hooves and closed his brown eyes, and his red blood flowed onto the green grass.
I went over to the window and stood looking out at the tiny lights flashing by in the darkness and kept thinking about the young soldier in the song and telling myself that if I'd gone off on that mission with him he might not have been killed. Then Daddy came up to me and we were silent together for a while.
"Don't be so sad," he said. "We'll be back the day after tomorrow and you'll be able to tell Mommy all about the interesting things you've seen." He made up our berth, then called me over and said, "D'you want to lie next to the wall?"
"No. You lie there. I want to be on the outside."
"Why?"
I whispered, "'Cause I had two glasses of tea and maybe I'll have to get up at night. Understand?"
Everybody laughed. Daddy pressed over to the wall. He was lying on his side. I was lying on my side too, but I was on the outside. The wheels were clattering away.
I woke up in the middle of the night because I was hanging halfway over the edge of the berth. Daddy must've turned around and squeezed me out. I wanted to settle back more comfortably, but suddenly felt I was wide awake. I sat up and started looking around. It was getting light. I could see arms and legs all about me. Some of the feet had socks on them and some were just bare. One was a very small foot and belonged to the little girl.
The train was moving very slowly now. Green branches were passing close to the windows. I thought we were moving through a tunnel in the woods. I wanted to see more of it and went down to the end of the car. The door was wide open. I gripped the handrail, sat down and hung my feet over the side.
It was cold sitting there, because all I had on was my shorts and the iron floor was icy. But after a while it got warmer. I tucked my hands into my armpits and sat there. There was a soft breeze blowing. The train was still moving very slowly. The wheels were clicking. I made up a song:
The train is speeding down the tracks, The wheels go clatter-clatter!
I looked off to the right and saw the end of our train. It was curved like a tail. Then I looked off to the left and saw the locomotive. It was crawling along like a beetle. I guessed we were on a curve.
A man was walking along a narrow path beside the tracks. He'd looked very tiny from far away, but since the train was moving faster than he was, he kept getting bigger. He had on a blue shirt, dark pants and heavy boots. I could see by the way he moved his boots that he was tired. He was carrying something. When the train caught up with him he suddenly turned off the path and began running alongside us. His boots scrunched on the gravel and made the pebbles fly. Soon I was right beside him. He held out a wooden sieve covered with a towel and kept on running along beside me. His face was red and sweaty. Then he shouted,"Hang on to the sieve, sonny!" and slipped it onto my lap.
I clutched it. The man grabbed hold of the handrails, got a foot on the step, pulled himself up and sat down beside me. He wiped his face on his sleeve and said,
"I just made it."
"Here's your sieve," I said. , But he didn't take it.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Dennis."
"My boy's name is Sasha."
"What grade is he in?"
"Second."
"You should say 'the second'."
He chuckled, but sounded angry, and pulled the towel off the basket. There were silvery leaves under the towel. The smell of the sieve made my mouth water. The man began picking the leaves off carefully, one at a time. The sieve was full of raspberries. Although they were very red, they seemed to have been brushed with silver. They were perfect. None were squashed. My eyes popped,
"They're touched with the early morning cold," the man said.
"Go on, help yourself."
I picked up a berry and put it in my mouth. And then another, squashing it against the roof of my mouth with my tongue. I went on eating them, one at a time. Could anything have been more delicious? The man kept watching me as if I were sick or something, or as if he was very sorry for me.
"Don't pick at them like that. Scoop up a handful." And he turned away so's I wouldn't be shy, probably.
But I wasn't shy. I'm never shy when I'm with nice people. Anyway, I started scooping the berries up by the handful. I decided that I'd eat them all, even if I burst. Nothing had ever tasted as good in my life, and I'd never been so happy. Then I remembered the man had a boy named Sasha and said, "Did Sasha have any berries?"
"Sure, he did. There were berries, and he had them."
"Why'd you say there were berries? Didn't he have any today?"
The man pulled off his boot and shook out a tiny pebble, "It nearly killed me, and such a little thing." He was silent for a while and then said, "And a little thing can make your soul bleed, too. Sasha's living in town now, my boy. He's gone and left me."
I was very surprised. That was really something. Why, he was only in the second grade and he'd gone and run away from home!
"Did he run away by himself or with a friend?"
"He went off with his mother. She decided she needed more education. She's got relatives there, and friends. It's a nice how-d'you-do. Sasha's in town, and I'm here. What a situation."
"Don't worry. He'll learn to be a locomotive driver and then he'll come back. Wait and see."
"It's too long to wait."
"Where does he live?"
"Kursk."
"You should say 'in Kursk'."
He chuckled again. It was a hoarse chuckle and sounded like he had a cold. Then he bent towards me and said, "All right, Professor. I'll get some more education, too. The war kept me out of school. When I was your age we cooked tree bark for food." He was thinking about something. Then he looked up and pointed towards the woods. "In this very forest, sonny. Krasnaya Village'll come into sight as soon as the woods end. These two hands helped to put it back on the map after the war. That's where I get off."
"I'll just have one more handful and then you tie it up again," I said.
He pressed the sieve into my lap and said, "That's not what I meant. You keep it." He put his hand on my bare shoulder and I could feel how heavy and strong it was, how dry and warm, and rough. He pulled me against his blue shirt and held me tight for a few seconds. He was warm and he smelled of bread and tobacco. I could hear him breathing slowly, but loudly. Then he said, "Goodbye, sonny. Be a good boy." He stroked my head and then suddenly jumped off the moving train.
A few moments later he was way behind us, but I could still hear the gravel crunching under his heavy boots. He was getting smaller and smaller. Then he climbed the slope quickly, that kind man in the blue shirt.
The train began speeding up, making the wind stronger and colder, I picked up the sieve of raspberries and carried it back into the car to Daddy. The frost on the berries was melting away. They were not as silvery as before but still, the smell was like a blossoming orchard.
Daddy was sound asleep. He'd spread out his arms and legs. There was no room for me. There was no one I could show the berries to. There was no one I could tell about the man in the blue shirt or his son Sasha. All the passengers were sound asleep.
When I set the basket on the floor I saw that the raspberry juice had stained my stomach, hands and legs red. I decided to go and wash the sticky juice off, but suddenly felt very drowsy.
There was a large suitcase standing on end in the corner. We'd used it as an extra table the evening before. I leaned over on it. The wheels began clattering louder than ever. I felt warm all over as I listened to them, and the song I'd made up floated around in my head:
The train is speeding
down
the
tracks!
The wheels go
clatter-
clatter!