Page 71 of Pioneer Summer

“It’s all very unpleasant and hurtful, but, Yura, it’s not Volodya’s fault either. There’s nothing else he can do ...”

“Wh-what?” fumbled Yurka.

“I know everything. He told me. I get it.”

He told her? Was that even possible? Would Volodya really go and reveal something like that to Irina? Yurka felt frantic.

“Is this ... What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“About Masha, of course. About how Volodya assigned her your competition piece. I know how much music means to you, I remember how much you suffered for it. But, Yura, that’s no excuse for doing something so stupid! And it gives you no right to drag other people into your own personal problems!”

Yurka let out a breath. Ira thought Yurka was acting out because of Masha and the music. She didn’t know the real reason!

“I’m sorry, Ir. Really, I’m sorry.” Now he was being sincere, and way more direct. “I really wasn’t thinking of the consequences. I ... I’m an idiot!”

She took her hand off his shoulder.

“You’re no idiot, Yur. Not at all. You just need to grow up a little.”

Yurka nodded again, not knowing what to say to that. Sometimes he didn’t understand Ira. She supported him so often, and protected him, and was affectionate with him, even though his behavior was sometimes pretty darn awful.

He made up his mind to ask her something he’d long been wondering. “Ir ...”

She’d already turned away to leave but looked back at him over her shoulder, eyebrows raised.

“Why is your relationship with Zhenya a secret? What’s the big deal?” Ira forced a smile. “Do you really not know? I thought the whole camp was talking about it.”

“No. I don’t listen to gossip.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you. You’ll find out anyway. Zhenya’s married. I mean, he’s going to get a divorce, but it takes time ... Don’t tell anyone, okay? I don’t want rumors to spread. It’s fine if people know that about him, but if people start talking about me, saying I’m wrecking someone’s family ... It’s just something that happens in life, but it could end up making me look pretty bad. We’re in a Pioneer camp, with kids, where we’re all promoting family-oriented values, but what kind of example am I setting?”

Yurka was stunned by Ira’s candid admission but decided to mull this information over sometime later.

Ira sighed and concluded, “Okay, get back to rehearsal now. The call to dinner will be sounding soon. Promise me you’ll shape up.”

“I will.”

As she walked away, she added, “And apologize to Volodya.”

Yurka returned to the movie theater determined to talk to Volodya immediately and to apologize first thing. But when he saw how the artistic director was darting around the stage, shaking the script at people, when he heard Volodya’s voice trembling with tension and exhaustion, Yurka realized that this was not the time. He remembered what Ira had just told him a few minutes ago and decided to act like a grown-up.

The sound of the bugle calling them to dinner caught the whole drama club by surprise. Volodya and the actors scattered to find their troops and get in line for the mess hall, but not before agreeing that everyone whose actinghad displeased Olga Leonidovna would come back to the theater after dinner to rehearse some more.

As they were leaving the theater, Yurka poked Volodya in the ribs and smiled, letting him know he was there and interested in talking. Volodya also smiled, but it was forced and awkward.

That smile completely took the wind out of Yurka’s sails. Volodya had almost kissed him! Why did he seem so awkward toward him now? Maybe he didn’t want to after all? Maybe he’d just done it out of pity? But do people really kiss people out of pity? Well—almostkiss them? He had to mull all this over, digest it, wrap his mind around it ...

On his way to the mess hall, Yurka realized he had absolutely no appetite, even though he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. That fake smile was making everything even more muddled. There were so many questions buzzing around in Yurka’s head, so many thoughts, suspicions, and doubts, that he felt completely exhausted. And the last thing he wanted now was to be stuck in a mess hall in the middle of a raucous crowd of people and see Volodya nearby—again—but not be able to work up the courage to go talk to him, and just be left asking himself even more questions.

Yurka grabbed a quick bite and then returned to the empty movie theater. At first he was going to sit down at the piano once more and try playing something, but then he saw a notebook on a seat in the front row of the audience. He immediately recognized the bent cover with writing all over it: Volodya’s notebook. Had he forgotten it as he was rushing out to dinner?

Yurka picked up the notebook and started leafing through it. He saw a bunch of notes penciled in the margins. They were mostly technical: “Ulya overacting,” “stage decor: forest,” “costume for grandma?” and so forth. It was interesting for Yurka to look through these notes, even though he already knew most of them, since Volodya went through them with everyone at rehearsal. He read the script almost all the way to the end and got to the scene with the German. Above it he saw a note of just one word: “Yurochka.” His heart skipped a beat and he couldn’t breathe for a second. Volodya had written his name here when he decided to give him the role, buthowhe’d written it! Could it actually be that Volodya privately thought of him that affectionately? Yurochka ... He never called Yurka that out loud!

While the rest of the camp was finishing dinner, Yurka studied his lines. There weren’t many, but they were hard. The evil Gestapo officer Krause was a negative character, but that was hard to reconcile with the tender penciled note above his lines.

Still, Yurka was determined to surprise Volodya, so he settled in to rehearse. He paced around the stage, reading his lines to the empty auditorium and imagining that he was sitting at a table, interrogating Zina, sitting across from him ... Yurka thought he wasn’t doing half bad. But then that step creaked and the actors came piling back in.

It wasn’t a small group: joining Yurka were all three Pukes, Nastya, and Sashka. Olezhka also joined the outsiders, even though everyone had been happy with his acting. Masha had also really wanted to come, but Ira Petrovna had dragged her back to the cabin to rehearse the accompaniment for the Troop One dance number for the concert celebrating Camp Barn Swallow Day. Masha resisted but had to go. Yurka was glad he’d spend the evening without her dismal piano plunking.

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