Flight from the USSR

The Sea

The Black Sea was calm and so still that it hardly moved. This was usual in autumn, before the stormy and tempestuous days of winter. At sunset, the sun was big, red and beautiful.

Tina and Gega would watch the sunset from the balcony of the house. There, you could see the entire shoreline, which was thoroughly controlled by Russian border guards with submachine-guns. Turkey was only a couple of villages away. Getting close to the border, even within a few kilometers, was forbidden of course. Tina and Gega rented a room in a house that stood high on a mountain slope with a wonderful balcony. The hosts were Laz and, like most Laz, they often had delicious Black Sea fish to eat. They frequently invited Tina and Gega to lunch and dinner. They became very close to their hosts, but Gega was careful to study English in secret. He did not wish a family that lived so close to the border to find out and grow suspicious. That’s why it was even a bit comical to be learning new words together with Tina in whispers. She covered him in kisses after each correct answer.

On the day before their departure, Tina and Gega took another long walk on the beach and decided to watch the sunset from there, staying late and not hurrying to the house.

The cold of autumn wasn’t unbearable just yet. Gega kept close to Tina to keep her warm. She always felt it as they listened to the sound of the sea and waited for the sunset.

Gega put his arm around Tina and kissed her on the cheek. She put her head on his shoulder and once again felt there wasn’t anyone else in the entire world closer to her than Gega.

“Can anyone cross the sea swimming?”

“Humans can do anything, if they desire.”

“I’m not asking theoretically. Can someone really swim across this sea?”

“In width?”

“Yes, to Turkey.’

“Yes, there was a cameraman or a director at our studio, his last name was Alexandria, and he did it.”

“He swam the Black Sea”

“Yes, from here to Turkey.”

“How?”

“Slowly…”

“No, seriously.”

“He really did it.”

“How?”

“He trained and he crossed it.”

“All the way?”

“When he got close to Turkey, they picked him up on a ship.”

“So he still didn’t cross it to the end.”

“He didn’t need to, he wasn’t trying to set a record. He wanted to escape.”

“Where is he now?”

“In America…”

Afterwards they sat silently on the beach strewn with white stones, and were utterly surprised when Russian border guards with submachine-guns approached them. At first they demanded IDs and then explained that Tina and Gega were violating a public order with their immoral behaviour. As soon as Tina got to her feet, she looked around to make sure that the deserted beach really wasn’t a place for a public gathering. But what shocked her more was that putting your head on your lover’s shoulder was apparently immoral behaviour.

Gega grew angry and started talking back to the border guards. With her eyes, Tina begged him not to say anything to them. Gega bit his lip in desperation and complied. He followed her silently and obediently to the house and didn’t say anything for a long time.

Gega lay still and Tina stroked his head, very gently, until Gega broke his silence:

“That’s why I don’t want to live here anymore…”

“The army and police are rude and violent everywhere.”

“But love is not forbidden anywhere.”

“Not in free countries, I suppose.”

“That’s what I want. I wish to live in a free country, don’t you?”

“I want to be together with you.”

“Don’t you want freedom?”

“If I’m with you, there’s freedom for me anywhere.”

“Will you follow me, if I go?”

“I can’t swim across the sea.”

“Nor can I, I can’t swim that well.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fly.”

“Are you better at flying?”

“Well, you are an angel. The thing is whether your wings will carry both of us.”

“I’m asking you seriously, what are you going to do?”

“I’m also telling you seriously that you are an angel.”

“Please be serious.”

“I’m really going to fly too, only together with you…” Tina got up, opened the window and looked out at the sea. The Black Sea lived up to its name.

Together with his brothers, Dato listened attentively to Father Tevdore. They were in Dato’s room, which seemingly was like that of any other carefree young person.

“After you left, they came up to the monastery again, the very next day.”

“What did they want?” asked Paata, taking out a cigarette as he waited for the answer.

“They probably wanted to know what business you had with me.”

“And what did you tell them?”

“I told them what we talked about, that time.”

“What did we talk about?”

“About God, goodness and love.”

“And? Are they scared of those things?”

“That’s what scares them most of all, but they won’t admit it and won’t openly fight with the Church. On the contrary, when people can see it, they treat priests and monks with reverence, but the KGB is secretly watching them all.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“The same as I always have been. Obstacles only make my faith stronger. That’s how the path of the first Christians began too. Suffering is nourishment for faith”

“You are a monk and you’ve made your choice.”

“People have to make their choices. It doesn’t matter whether they are clergymen or laymen. You still have to choose between good and evil, light and darkness, slavery and freedom.”

“We’ve made our choice too,” Kakhaberber said, looking at the others and then at the monk, repeating the phrase.

“What choice?” Father Tevdore asked all of them.

The young men looked at each other, as if hesitating. After a short pause Paata looked at Father Tevdore straight in the eyes and calmly said:

“We’re going.”

“How?”

“On a plane.”

“How?”

“We’ll land in Turkey, on the American military base, and they’ll take care of us from there.”

“How?”

“Like refugees. You remember the Brazauskas family, when the Americans received them like heroes?”

“Those Lithuanians were simply lucky.”

“We’ll be lucky too. We’ll scare the pilots a bit to change the flight course.”

“How are you going to scare them?”

“With weapons.”

“How are you planning to take weapons onto the plane? Everyone is thoroughly searched.”

“Except for priests and monks,” Dato replied. Together with his friends, he waited for Father Tevdore’s reaction.

“What if there are casualties?”

“There won’t be.”

“What if there are?”

“There won’t be.”

“The possibility is completely excluded?”

“Nothing can be completely excluded.”

“Then there may be.”

“Only theoretically.”

“It’s not worth it, even theoretically.”

“What’s not worth it?”

“Nothing is worth the life of even one person—neither freedom nor any other goal. Every life belongs only to the Lord, and death is only for the Lord to decide.”

“But we’re not intending to kill anyone,” Paata interrupted as he shot an angry glance at Dato. “We need the weapons only to frighten the pilots, nothing else.”

“Fatalities always follow fear. Besides, the pilots won’t be allowed to land in Turkey.”

“Why not, if the Lithuanians managed to force them?” Paata interrupted him again.

“That’s exactly why you won’t be able to force them again. The Russian won’t repeat that mistake again.”

Kakhaberber and Paata stood up, took their jackets, and left without saying goodbye.

Dato and the monk were left alone in the room. After a long pause, Father Tevdore smiled and said:

“They probably thought I was afraid…”

Giorgi met Soso on a crowded street, and was to the point:

“That priest isn’t coming.”

“I know.”

“Only one option remains.”

“What option?”

“That girl, Gega’s girlfriend, has to take the weapons onto the plane.”

“How?”

“Pretend she’s pregnant and hide them on her belly.”

“She’s not even his wife yet.”

“He’ll marry her first and we can go right after the wedding.”

“Is he going to agree?”

“I don’t know, but you have to convince him.”

“Gega—yes, but Tina?”

“Is her name Tina?”

“Yes, her name’s Tina.”

“Gega will make her agree. We have no other option. And not much time either,” said Giorgi as he left.

Soso stood on the pavement for a little longer, then crossed the street and walked away.

“Has the snow already disappeared?” Dato asked Father Tevdore with surprise, breaking the silence in the monastery yard.

“It’s the autumn sun. It’s going to snow again in a week.”

“It is so quiet here.”

“There’s peace here and we need more peace than quiet.”

“Did you call me here for some peace?”

“No. Why didn’t you bring Gega?”

“He’s got filming and said he’d definitely come up next week.”

“I wanted Gega to be here today too, I wanted to tell you both.”

“What?”

“I know you have already decided to go.”

“We haven’t decided anything yet.”

“I’m saying this to you, because I know that if Gega decides to go, you’ll follow him.”

“They haven’t decided anything yet, as I said.”

“And I’ve told you what I feel. And Gega’s not coming up here because everything is already decided.”

“I told you—no.”

“You are free to not tell me anything. That’s not the reason I wanted to see you. Quite the opposite. I wanted to tell you what I’ve already told the others. But they are different, they don’t have what the Lord has bestowed upon you.”

“And what is that?”

“Common sense. Other languages might not have such an accurate word—when a person’s sense and soul guides their actions.”

“You know I’m not the one who’s making decisions in this case.”

“That’s why I’m telling you that if you say no and don’t go with them, others will also begin to think that even one person’s life is more precious than any goal, no matter how great and noble it might be.”

“There won’t be any fatalities. You believe me, right, that I would never kill anyone? I would rather be a victim myself than for someone else to die. I really would.”

“You won’t kill. But the special forces will. They will kill their own passengers, innocent people and…”

“And blame us?”

‘Of course they will blame you. Worse than that, you really will be responsible for the people they kill.”

“Why us?”

“Those people will be killed because of you.”

“There will be no victims.”

“There will be! You don’t know the people who you intend to slap in the face, and Gega probably thinks that it’s another play or a film awaiting him to play the part.’

“If several people escape from here, what will this supposed great empire lose?”

“Several… hundreds… thousands, it doesn’t mean anything to them. Human life doesn’t mean anything to them at all.”

“All the more reason to go.”

“They won’t forgive the insult.”

‘We’re not going to insult anyone.’

“You don’t know how evil arrogant people can be when they come to power.”

“The same government was unable to do anything about the Lithuanians who hijacked a plane, and let them go.”

“That’s why they aren’t going to repeat that mistake. They won’t let you go!”

“We haven’t decided anything yet…”

“I know you already have, but if you refuse, someone else will dare to say no too, then another, yet another and all of you will survive. The whole thing will collapse and everyone will survive.”

“Nothing is decided yet.”

“It’ll be too late then. That’s why I want to see Gega. He probably thinks that backing down now is a sign of cowardice. I want him to know that it’s more important to think about the Lord than about those who want to use him.”

“No one can use Gega. No one can force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do himself.”

“That’s exactly the reason I want to see him before it’s too late. That’s why I’m going to wait for him and reason with him. Tell him I’m waiting.”

“I will.”

“I’ll be waiting for him every day.”

“I’ll tell him.”

When Dato walked down the hill a considerable distance from the monastery, he looked back to where his friend, the monk, was standing at the monastery door. He waved goodbye one last time. Then he turned around and continued and went away…