Myshevsky. Everything is very simple. Once this very apartment used to belong to my grandfather. He died during a period of personality cult at the Stalin’s prison. And do you know, how he got there?
Olga. No, I don’t.
Myshevsky. Oh, this is a very interesting story! My grandfather was a private doctor. He received patients at his home. He treated them in this very apartment, in one of the rooms. One day, a quiet and modest man visited him complaining of terrible pains in his liver. My grandfather had cured him. But in gratitude, he had issued a warrant for his arrest. It turned out that the grandfather's new patient, whom he’d saved life, served at the People’s Commissariate of Internal Affairs.
Olga. Did your grandfather say something that wasn’t politically correct?
Myshevsky. My grandfather understood quite well what kind of time he was living in. He was silent and careful. But there was his apartment… It spoke for itself, being too eloquent.
Olga. Really?
Myshevsky. Shortly after my grandfather had been sent to the camps, new tenants moved in his empty apartment. So, who do you think they were? I can see it in your eyes, that you’ve already guessed. Yes, it was his recent patient with his family. Do you think it’s a coincidence?
Olga. I don’t think so.
Myshevsky. Now you understand it, don't you? That employee of the mighty political department liked his apartment. He arrested its owner and quickly made up a case for high treason. It was espionage or conspiracy, I don't know for sure… It was described by the standard code, article fifty-eight, part four. That article suggested twenty-five years without the right to correspond. It actually meant a death sentence. And the apartment became free. Come on, move in legally!
Olga. But your grandfather had a family, didn’t he?
Myshevsky. Yes, he had got a son and a wife. They were given an hour to get out of the apartment. After all, it belonged to the "people’s enemy"! But before that, they were forced to publicly renounce the husband and father. They had a right not to do it, though. And in that case they would also go to camps. But they renounced. The betrayal of Judas is nothing compared to this betrayal. But that was the only way they managed to survive.
Olga. How scary!
Myshevsky. Are you really scared, girl? Or are these just empty meaningless words?
Olga. Don’t be so cruel! I really feel sorry for your grandfather… and his wife and a son…and you too.
