The Complete Works of Isaac Babel Reprint Edition by Isaac Babel, Nathalie Babel, Peter Constantine (107 page)

113. Briansky Station in Moscow. A crowd of porters and people who have come to meet the train. In the background, a grid with a board showing the arrival times of the trains.

114. The board. The date: December 11, 1912. Time of arrival: 1.57 P.M.

115. THE DATE ON THE BOARD.

116. The train pulls into the station. The porters and the waiting crowd rush toward the arriving train.

117. Jostling and shoving on the platform. The unloading of passengers. Family scenes.

118. A tall, flushed Russian girl descends from a third-class car. Her whole family rushes to embrace her: an old colonel, a flamboyant student, two little cadets wearing large caps, an old maid wearing a hat with dangling ribbons. They kiss the girl, push flowers at her, call over porters. All their faces are filled with emotion. Right behind her, Rachel gets off the train with all her bundles.

119. A wave of people carries Rachel to the exit. She is weighed down by her bundles and bags.

120. Porters are wheeling carts packed high with bags along the plat-

form. On one of the carts is a live bird in a cage. A grinding stream of carts flows past Rachel. She is blocking their way. The bewildered girl is trapped between mountains of speeding baggage. The porters yell and curse at her for all they are worth. One porter shouts:

121. “LOOK WHO’S COME TO TOWN FROM THE STICKS!”

122. Stunned, Rachel staggers back. The carts fly past, sparks flashing from their wheels.

123. At the baggage checkroom. Rachel is checking alLher things. Over her head fly bales, bundles, a bag.    ^

124. Rachel is standing on the square in front of the Briansky Station. The crowd at the station disperses. A provincial girl in Moscow. She goes up to a policeman and asks him the way. The policeman, wearing cotton gloves, explains very politely which tram she has to take. She hurries to catch a tram.

125. Rachel in the tram. She is surrounded by tram passengers, the most hard-hearted people in the world. Ecstatically, Rachel drinks in the never-before-seen splendor of the tram.

126. The man standing next to Rachel is a doleful, red-nosed bureaucrat wearing a uniform cap. He asks her in a sour voice:

127. “WHAT’S THERE TO BE SO CHEERFUL ABOUT?”

128. Rachel answers, beaming:

129. “IT IS SUCH FUN TO BE TRAVELING ON A MOSCOW TRAM!”

130. The bureaucrat raises his eyebrows and moves away from her. He is under the impression that she is a lunatic.

131. Rachel gets off the tram, goes to an old, two-story building with a sign: “Rossiya. Rooms to Let. I. R Butsenko.”

132. The kitchen in the Rossiya boardinghouse. Bright cleanliness. The boardinghouse is owned by Butsenko and his wife, an old couple with neatly protruding bellies. Both are wearing clean aprons. They are busy preparing potato dumplings.

133. Rachel is standing at the entrance of the Rossiya boardinghouse. She takes a letter out of her bag and rings the bell.

134. The kitchen. The doorbell rings. Butsenko takes off his apron and patters to the front door.

135. Butsenko opens the door: “May I help you?” Rachel timidly hands him the letter. The old man leads her over to his desk, takes his copper-rimmed spectacles out of a drawer, and begins to read. As he reads, a tender smile brightens his face.

136. A close-up of the letter: “DEAREST IVAN POTAPICH. WITH ALL MY HEART I RECOMMEND THE BEARER OF THIS LETTER, A GIRL FROM MY TOWN, TO BE A LODGER AT YOUR BOARDINGHOUSE. SHE LEFT OUR TOWN WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY AND HAS HEADED FOR MOSCOW IN ORDER TO CONTINUE HER EDUCATION, FOR WHICH SHE HAS AN UNQUENCHABLE PASSION....”

137. The little old man throws down the letter, takes Rachels hands in his, squeezes them gently, bursts into an endless fit of laughter, and takes her into the kitchen to meet his wife.

138. In the kitchen. Butsenko takes Rachel over to the old woman:

139. “VLADIMIR SEMYONICH HAS SENT US A LODGER.”

140. The old woman clasps her plump hands together, dries her fingers on her apron, and kisses Rachel on both cheeks. Butsenko pulls Rachel away from his wife.

141. “MOTHER, YOU’LL SMOTHER THE POOR GIRL WITH YOUR KISSES! WHY NOT GO PUT ON THE SAMOVAR?

142. Butsenko takes the girl to her room. It is a cozy, old-fashioned room. There are icons and an icon lamp in the corner. Another icon, a tiny one, is hanging on the headboard of the bed. Butsenko rushes around, puts things away, and hurries off with a jug to get water.

143. The tiny icon hanging on the headboard.

144. Rachel is alone. She takes off her hat and walks over to the window.

145. Outside the window stands an ancient Moscow church with its onion-shaped domes.

146. Butsenko, panting and beaming, comes in with the jug of water and a clean towel. Rachel washes up. She brushes her teeth, thoroughly washes her face and hands. She gasps with pleasure. The old man looks tenderly at her unbound hair and the wonderful, virginal nape of her neck. Rachel continues washing for a long time, and the old man, tired of standing with the towel in his hands, walks over to the table and looks at Rachels passport. A change comes over his face.

147. Rachel is washing, gasping with pleasure.

148. Old Mrs. Butsenko comes busding through the corridor, carrying a tray with steaming pies, tea glasses, and a samovar that envelops her head with a cloud of steam.

149. Butsenko is holding Rachels passport in his hands. He peers at Rachel, and then, with a nasty expression on his face, continues leafing through her passport.

150. A close-up of the passport: RACHEL KHANANEVNA MONKO, 19 YEARS OF AGE, UNMARRIED.

151. There is a look of surprise on the old mans face. He adjusts his spectacles on his nose, and reads page three of her passport.

152. The heading on page three: ZONES IN WHICH JEWS ARE PERMITTED TO RESIDE.

153. The old woman puts the pies, glasses, and samovar on the table. Rachel has just finished washing up. She laughs, and with her bare, strong hands reaches out for the towel which the old man is holding. But Butsenko wont give her the towel, he pulls it away. There is anger, fear, and reproach in his meek face. Shaking his head, he says:

154. “A JEWESS! THE SHAME OF IT!”

155. Rachels face. Having been refused the towel, she dries her wet face with the hem of her skirt.

156. Butsenko stamps his foot and shouts to his wife, “Take all of that away!” The indignant old woman removes the tray she had prepared for Rachel. The old womans head is enveloped by the samovar s steam. Cut.

157. Evening. Boisterous, prerevolutionary Moscow crowds. To one side stands a little chapel. Lit candles, sparkling icons, worshipers bowing and praying. Rachel appears from around the corner.

158. Three tiny gypsy girls are dancing in the street, beating tambourines. They are draped in coin necklaces and are wearing long dresses that reach to the ground. The gypsy girls see Rachel, rush over to her, and dance all around her.

159. Rachel tries to break out of their noisy circle.

160. She gives the gypsy girls a coin and escapes. An old Persian man in an embroidered caftan blocks her way. He directs an equivocal, old-mans smile at her, and touches her breast with the painted nail of his finger.

161. The half-dressed figure of a holy fool emerges next to Rachel and the Persian. The holy fools body is shivering vigorously. His bald, egg-shaped head is wagging.

162. The Persians fingers with their painted nails slither slowly over Rachels breasts.

163. Three faces: Rachels, the Persians, the holy fools.

164. The holy fool is grimacing, spittle is bubbling in his tangled beard, he asks threateningly for alms. Rachel runs away.

165. Rachel runs in a panic through the streets, the holy fool stumbling after her.

166. Night. Rachel runs over the Zamoskvoretsky Bridge.

167. The Moscow River, the embankment. The glitter of the snow. Black iron gratings over the snow. Far away the illuminated windows of factories and homes.

168. A quiet back alley in the Zamoskvoretsky quarter. A line of gas lamps. A well-dressed man in a fur coat is leaning against a wall, drinking vodka out of a bottle.

169. The door of the Hero of Plevna rooming house in the depths of the alley.

170. The sign: “FAMILY ROOMING HOUSE FOR TRAVELERS—EVERY CONVENIENCE.”

171. Rachel hurries over to the entrance and reaches for the door handle. The door opens unexpectedly. A man of about twenty-four comes out. He has a round, cheerful face, and the devil-may-care cap of a vagabond student on his curls. Stopping at the entrance, he peers at Rachel, scrutinizing her carefully. Rachel goes into the rooming house.

172. The office of the Hero of Plevna rooming house. Orlov, the attendant, a drowsy fellow in a vest, is playing draughts with a solemn old man who has the appearance of an Old Believer.* Orlov is wearing galoshes on his bare feet and cavalry breeches tied at the

* The Old Believers were an archconservative Christian sect that had split from the Russian

Orthodox Church in the seventeenth century.

bottom with string. Over the usual squeamish expression of his face there is now a powerful, feverish streak. The old man is deeply pensive, but sure of himself. It is clear that he is winning.

173. The game board. The situation is hopeless for the attendant. His hand making a desperate move.

174. Rachel enters. She asks:

175. “COULD I HAVE A ROOM, PLEASE?”

176. The attendant, without raising his head:

177. “WE DONT LET IN NO GIRLS WITHOUT A FELLOW.”

178. Rachel does not understand. The attendant yells furiously:

179. “WHO’RE YOU WITH? WHERE’S YOUR TRICK?”

180. Rachels dumbfounded face.

181. The attendant and the old man are playing feverishly. The old man makes the winning move.

182. Baulin, the young man with the students cap, is pacing up and down in front of the rooming house. Rachel comes out. She stops, leans against the wall, and closes her eyes. The young man takes off his cap and asks her:

183. “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE IN THIS... THIS DEN?”

184. Rachel opens her eyes.

185. TM ... I’M A JEWESS.”

186. Baulin scratches his forehead pensively.

187. “WELL, COMRADE . . . THEY WON’T LET ME GO INTO THIS PLACE WITHOUT A GIRL, AND THEY WON’T LET YOU IN WITHOUT A MAN. MY NAME IS BAULIN, I’M AN HONEST FELLOW, YOU CAN TRUST ME.”

188. Rachel looks at him mistrustfully. She hesitates, but then smiles at him and gives him her hand.

189. The attendant is staring shattered at the game board. He has lost the game. The old man is snidely sipping his tea. The galoshes fall off the attendant’s feet. He scratches one foot with a toenail of the other. Rachel and Baulin come into the office. Baulin:

190. “WE WANT A ROOM, POPS.”

191. The attendant gets up and stretches himself.

192. “HA! AND SHE SAID SHE DIDN’T HAVE NO JOHN!”

193. A dirty hallway in the hotel. The attendant walks down the hallway, carrying a candle. Rachel and Baulin are following him.

194. One of the doors in the hallway opens, a womans trembling hand and bare shoulder jut out, but are immediately yanked back into the room, the door slamming shut.

195. The attendant takes Rachel and Baulin to the door of their room. In the corner of the hallway stands a pile of chamber pots, broken tin washbasins, and pictures in gold frames. The attendant unlocks the door.

196. The attendant, Baulin, and Rachel enter the room of this “nighttime” hotel. The attendant switches on the light. Baulin comments on the questionable cleanliness of the bed linen.

197. “CHANGE THESE HOLY CHASUBLES HERE, WILL YOU?”

198. The attendant, offended, inspects the stained sheets.

199. “WE CHANGE THE SHEETS AFTER EVERY CLIENT!”

200. The attendant changes the sheets, and slyly manages to use an old one as a tablecloth.

201. While the attendant is busy changing the sheets, Rachel reads a note nailed to the mirror.

202. The note: TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT I HAD A SESSION WITH A FABULOUS GIRL, BUT SHE WON’T TELL ME HER NAME. I HOPE I DIDN’T CATCH ANYTHING.

203. Rachel steps back from the mirror. Baulin tries to block her view of the graffiti covering the walls. The attendant leaves. Baulin locks the door and turns to Rachel:

204. “GO TO SLEEP, MY FRIEND. I’LL SEE TO IT THAT YOU’LL BE SAFE.”

205. Trembling, Rachel climbs onto the bed without taking off her shoes, and curls up. Baulin spreads out his coat by the door, and furtively takes out a bundle of printed leaflets and a batch of proclamations.

206. A close-up of the illegal proclamations printed by the Moscow Committee of the Social Democratic Party.

207. Baulin lies down by the door, puts the bundle of leaflets and proclamations under his head, and furtively slips a revolver under his makeshift pillow.

208. “WE MIGHT EVEN GET SOME SLEEP....”

209. Rachel lies curled up on the bed listening with horror to the rooming house s habitual night noises.

210. The room next door. On a disheveled bed, a half-dressed officer in riding breeches and boots is grappling with a woman wearing a prim, high-buttoned, black silk dress. He has pinned her arms behind her back.

211. Baulin smokes a cigarette, chuckles, reaches out to the switch, and turns out the light. Fadeout.

^Part^vur

212. Night. A squad of policemen enters the back alley.

213. The policemen silently jimmy the Hero of Plevna’s front door.

214. They climb the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible.

215. Orlov, the attendant, is sleeping sonorously beneath an icon. He is again wearing his galoshes. One of the policemen lays his hand on his shoulder. Policeman:

216. “ANY ILLEGALS
¹
OVERNIGHT?”

217. The attendant jumps up. Scratching his head, he answers:

218. “NO, I DONT THINK THERE’S NO ILLEGALS STAYING HERE.”

219. The policemen and the attendant leave the office.

220. In the hallway. A sudden slamming of a door, then silence.

221. Baulin, lying on his overcoat, is sleeping in the room by the doorway. Hearing the commotion, he jumps up and grabs his revolver.