CHAPTER 1
When Lena, Sacha Alkaev's mother came home after a day's work, she found her mother in the living room sitting on the couch and moaning, “I don’t know what happened to him. He was here and now he’s gone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sacha!” replied the elderly woman.
“Sasha? Where is he? Oh my God, Babushka!”
“I fell asleep and when I woke up, he was gone”
“Oh no! We have to find him before he ends up on someone's dinner plate.”
Babushka means grandmother in Russian. It was her daily job to take care of her four-year-old grandson while her daughter Lena worked. In this case as she slept, the boy took the opportunity to slip out of the small apartment; thinking he might explore the world.
Late in the evening, the sun of white summer nights casts long shadows over the cityscape, resembling a painting by de Chirico. The summer days are long, unlike the winter days when the sun never seems to rise. Only for a few hours does the sun go below the horizon, and yet there is neither daylight nor darkness, only a glowing shadowless twilight. It's as if the day never ends. It's also easy, depending on a person's circumstances, to get confused about when the real day begins. Peter The Great claimed a long time ago that Russia is a country where things that don't just happen do happen.
“My God. My God. Where can he be?” Babushka wrung her hands. She put a kerchief around her head and slipped on her drab brown woolen coat. Hurrying out the door, behind Lena, the women rushed out of the building onto the Leningrad Street. “I’ll go this way. You go that way,” Lena commanded.
The streets still showed signs of devastation from the recent war It would take years to repair all the damage. Historic landmarks were looted and destroyed in the 872-day Siege of Leningrad. When it was over, national treasures, like priceless Russian art collections were taken to Nazi Germany.
According to those who managed to survive, “Everyone died”, not only from the bombings but afterwards from starvation. The siege of Leningrad is known as the most destructive siege in world history with millions of Russians dead, more victims on both sides of this battle than the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Moscow and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some historians called it an act of genocide.
After the Germans were driven out of the city, those who wandered the pulverized neighborhoods found themselves desperate to find any means to survive. They suffered from extreme starvation, and reports of cannibalism began to circulate. Once the rodents, the birds, wild animals, and pets were had, hungry gangs roamed the streets looking anything else to eat. Unaccompanied children were easy targets. Once the Germans had been driven out of Russia and control was reasserted, at least 250 Leningrad citizens were found guilty of cannibalism; and the fear of it remained for years afterwards. By now, the city was rebuilding and order being reinstated. As Stalin administered his brutal policies to maintain order, it was proudly spoken by many - Russia is for Russians.
According to all official accounts, the Soviet recovery was successful, even as almost everyone was relieved when Stalin died. The newest generation of Russians would certainly have a better experience than the last.
As a child, Sacha Alkaev appeared as a small black-haired boy with dimples, large expressive eyes and an inquisitive nature. He had always worn his hair long, even after he became an adult. Everyone who knew him, talked about his vivid imagination, always thinking that surely he would become some kind of artist.
And later when he was a student, those opinions became validated. His ambition was visible. Almost everyday, Sacha would wear the same paint spattered clothing to school.
On this frightful day, still traumatized from prior experience, the grandmother ran down the streets moaning, “Oh God! Oh God! God save us. I saw him playing by the door, and then the next time I looked, he was gone.” Babushka's voice began to tremble. “He's been missing for over two hours.”
But then there he was. Lena saw him a few streets away, running and crying. she called to him. He stopped running. She ran to him and picked him up, while scolding. “My God, where have you been?”
It was Sacha's first time alone on his own and it scared him. Between sobs he tried to explain that he just wanted to look around, not get lost. “I didn't know where I was. There was an old woman following me, so I ran.”
“You silly boy. Don't you know that terrible things can happen to a boy who is alone on the streets?”
“Mama, I was lost.”
“You don't have to cry now. You're safe.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“It wasn't that long ago when children used to disappear.” She tightly held his hand as she quickly hurried him back to the small apartment.
“Why did they disappear?
“Because people had no food.”
“But what d
