The Winter Horses(26)

Kalinka frowned. “What is on the menu?”

“Horse meat,” said Max. “It’ll be the Przewalski’s horses they slaughtered. I imagine they’ll take a peculiarly sadistic delight in watching me try to eat it.”

“I couldn’t ever eat horse meat,” said Kalinka, pulling a face. “Not if I live to be a hundred. I don’t see how anyone who’s lived and worked with horses could eat them. At least, that’s the way I feel about it.”

“Don’t think I’m looking forward to it, because I’m not, but what could I do?” Max shook his head. “Under the circumstances, I couldn’t very well refuse the captain’s invitation. I was trying to get rid of him at the time, remember?”

Kalinka shrugged. “You might have got rid of him just as easily by turning down his invitation, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. He says we’re friends. And all I can say is that if he’s a friend, then I’d hate to have an enemy. But, for the sake of the animals at Askaniya-Nova, I’ve always gone along with that idea, so as not to irritate him unnecessarily.”

“Yes, I can see that’s worked out well for them,” said Kalinka. “Especially the horses.”

Max shrugged unhappily. “It seemed the best thing to do at the time,” he said. “But you could be right. After all is said and done, I haven’t managed to achieve very much here, have I?” He smiled sadly and threw another log on the fire. “One way or other, I seem to have failed.”

“I’m sorry,” said Kalinka. “Dear Max, that was extremely rude of me. And you’re wrong. You’ve achieved a great deal. Thanks to you risking your life, there are two Przewalski’s horses still alive. Not to mention me.”

“The horses are important, it’s true,” he said. “But I reckon you’re what’s important now. Keeping you alive is my priority.”

Kalinka came over to the old man and hugged him fondly. “Do you forgive me? For being so unkind?”

“Of course, I forgive you, child.”

Then she kissed his silver-bearded cheek, which made him grin. He touched his cheek with surprise and, for a moment, could not speak.

“It’s been so long since anyone kissed me,” he said, “I’d forgotten what it feels like.”

Kalinka was so reminded of her own grandfather that she kissed him again.

“Here,” he said, rubbing his cheek, “stop that, or I shan’t be able to stop grinning and Captain Grenzmann shall think I’ve gone mad, or worse, start suspecting that I’m up to something. I’ve spent so long scowling at the Germans, they’ll certainly think it very odd if I start to smile now.”

“And you’re right, of course,” declared Kalinka. “You must go. Without question, staying on the right side of that SS captain is the best thing to do. If he thinks he’s your friend, that’s surely for the good; I should hate to imagine what he might be like if he decided you were his enemy. Although I must say I have a pretty shrewd idea.”

“Yes, and so have I.”

“It sounds as if you speak pretty good German. They taught us some German in school for a while. When our two countries were allies, that is. But I never liked the language very much.”

“So there is something you’re not very good at.”

“No, I said I didn’t like it. As a matter of fact, I learned to speak it quite well. That’s another reason why I managed to escape from the botanical gardens. Later on, when I was running away, I managed to convince an SS guard that I was German and that he had made a mistake.”

“There’s been a mistake, all right,” said Max. “This whole war was a dreadful mistake. Many’s the morning I wake and think it was all just a terrible dream. That I will walk outside and they’ll be gone. If you could wish Germans gone, I’d have done it.”

“One morning, you’ll wake up and they will be gone. Didn’t you say that they’re losing the war?”

“Not quickly enough for my liking. The captain talks about fighting his way back to the German lines. But I just hope they don’t decide to make a last stand here.” He shook his head. “Well, I must get on. Like I said, I should have a bath. I’ll come back tomorrow morning and bring you some more food. Then I’m going to search every kilometer of this reserve and see if I can’t find some more of these horses. Maybe bring them back here for safety.”

Max got up to leave and so did Taras.

“Stay here with Kalinka, Taras,” said Max. “See that no harm comes to her.”