"Private Borisov!" "Sir, yes, sir!" "Tell how it went, alright?" "I was on my last legs, I barely stood. It rained hard, and I grew tired, then came a foggy night... Only I had warned him like I should! "He joked around when "Who goes there?" I shout, At my shot in the air he yelled, "Cut it out!" I hesitated, but I didn’t quarrel; I spat out my fag and discharged the barrel." "Quit it, private, better for you if the truth comes out. You’d have known him a mile away..." "No, I just heard someone coming, in the dark I shout - It was cloudy, rain, and fog, I say." "He joked around when "Who goes there?" I shout, At my shot in the air he yelled, "Cut it out!" I hesitated, but I didn’t quarrel; I spat out my fag and discharged the barrel." "Private!" the investigator tortured on out loud, "The court martial won’t be so nice again!" "It was dark, I couldn’t recognise no one with fog and cloud", I went on repeating my refrain. "He joked around when "Who goes there?" I shout, At my shot in the air he yelled, "Cut it out!" I hesitated, but I didn’t quarrel; I spat out my fag and discharged the barrel." ...A year ago (and I do not forget old deprivations), We’d argued a little in the mine. Too bad we didn’t get to finish the conversation: The bell called us for the evening line. And there he’d joked when "Leave her alone!" I shout, On my right punch he there yelled, "Cut it out!" I hesitated - I was hurt, too mad to say - I spat out my fag, threw down my knife, and walked away. Luck was with me then, that he survived the year... While I just did my duty well that night. It was true, rain, dark and fog, I was on guard right here... By all the rules, shooting him was right. For he joked when "Who goes there?" I shout, At my shot in the air he yelled, "Cut it out!" I hesitated, but I didn’t quarrel; I spat out my fag and discharged the barrel."
© Tamara Vardomskaya. Translation, ?