BooksBarbecue
Back A Train to Moscow: A Novel Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. ACT 1 IVANOVO
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. ACT 2 MOSCOW
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. ACT 3 LENINGRAD
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. ACT 4 IVANOVO-LENINGRAD
  46. 38
  47. 39
  48. 40
  49. 41
  50. 42
  51. 43
  52. 44
  53. 45
  54. 46
  55. 47
  56. 48
  57. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  58. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  59. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The next morning, Sasha wakes up determined to go into the rehearsals full throttle, ready to accept her legendary mentor’s criticisms and follow her direction. She knows this is her only chance to survive the ordeal.

But the day begins with a bombshell. Vera calls the three of them into a classroom to announce that Polevitskaya has fallen ill and will no longer be able to work with them. Sasha stands there dumbfounded, unable to digest what Vera has just said. Could their reading have been so disastrous that it made her mentor’s soul revolt against it? Could it have made her so sick that she cannot now get out of bed? She feels the walls of the room close in and collapse silently around her, but she sees Vera’s mouth moving. “If you are unable to finish the scene on your own,” she says, turning to Sasha, “we will still credit you for having tried. A credit, not a grade. It doesn’t guarantee your chances after graduation.” She pauses. “It’s up to you to decide what to do.”

Sasha is in such shock that she simply stands there, paralyzed, after the door shuts. Polevitskaya’s illness is undoubtedly a sign of fate, a clear harbinger of her looming failure. She feels she has already fallen into an abyss, and from the bottom of the canyon, she hears Lara’s faint voice.

“So . . . ?” Lara squeezes out after a gap of leaden silence.

“We can’t! We simply can’t!” Sasha shrieks, her voice on the verge of breaking. “I’ll mess up and they’ll kick me out and they will be right.”

“Calm down,” Slava orders in a new voice edged with steel, a man from the Caspian Sea taking charge of the Dostoyevsky territory. “We are going to stage this scene ourselves. It’s a piece of cake.”

“It may be a piece of cake to you!” Sasha yells, raising her voice to stage heights. “You only sit in the corner while the two of us do all the heavy lifting.”

“Then I will direct the scene,” Slava says in his new commander voice. “I’ve been watching the two of you for almost six months, and I know you can pull it off. The committee knows our mentor became ill and couldn’t work with us. So what do we have to lose?”