Page 69 of Cilka's Journey

“But…”

“Gleb Vitalyevich is gone. He was transferred a few weeks ago. The administrators finally looked at his mortality figures and decided, in the interests of productivity, it would be best that he move on.” She smiles.

“Where to?” Cilka asks.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. I’m just glad he’s no longer here. So that means you can come back to my ward. If you want to, that is?”

“I do enjoy working with Petre Davitovich and helping the babies into the world.”

Yelena nods her head, thinking she has her answer.

“However, I would like to come back and work with you and the other doctors, where I can make more of a difference, if that’s all right.”

Yelena wraps her arms around her. Cilka responds stiffly, moving one hand to Yelena’s back, then pulls away.

“Of course it’s all right,” Yelena says. “It’s what I want; you domake a difference. Petre Davitovich is going to be very angry with me for stealing you away though.”

“He’s a good doctor. Will you tell him how much I appreciate what he has done for me, what he has taught me?”

“I will. Now go back to your hut and I don’t want to see you for two days,” she says, taking a pen and paper from her pocket to write a note. “Get some rest. What you have done here over the past few months, you must be exhausted.”

“I am. Thank you.”

Cilka looks out at the daylight, thinking of the coming short summer. “Yelena Georgiyevna?”

“Yes?”

“You know Josie had a little girl.”

“Yes, I heard, and I hear both mother and baby are doing well.”

“I’d love to see little Natia. Is it safe for me to visit her, given where I’ve been working?”

“I wouldn’t go near her for another two weeks; that is the incubation period of typhoid—maybe even three weeks to be safe.”

“I can wait another three weeks, but not a day more.”

CHAPTER 16

“It’s like you never left. Welcome back,” Raisa greets Cilka on her return to the general ward.

“About time you showed up,” Lyuba calls out from the other end of the ward. “Get your coat off and help us out.”

“Have you two not done anything to clean this place up since I left? I swear that dirty towel was lying there more than a year ago,” Cilka throws back at them.

“Has it been that long?” Raisa says.

“Long enough,” Cilka says.

Screams from the patient Lyuba is caring for divert their attention.

“Is everything all right?” Cilka asks.

“Come on, we’ve got plenty for you to do,” Raisa says. “There was an explosion in one of the mine tunnels yesterday; quite a few men died, and we have several who are badly injured. Some have been in surgery and we have two who had to have limbs amputated.”

“Just tell me where you want me.”

“Go and help Lyuba. That poor chap was badly burned andshe’s trying to change his dressings; we’ve given him something for the pain but it’s barely touching him.”