Under Litvinov's arrangement, Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, scheduled the meeting for the afternoon of the next day.

Accompanied by Litvinov, I again came to the White House. As soon as I got out of the car, a middle-aged man in a suit standing by the door greeted me. After greeting Litvinov, he smiled and said to me in Russian: "Hello, General Oshanina, I am State Secretary Harold, and I am here to pick you up for my wife." ”

I shook Harold's outstretched hand and said in a friendly manner, "Thank you, Mr. Harold, please take me to Madame." ”

Litvinov and I followed Harold into the building and walked down a hallway paved with stalls. But when Harold stopped at one of the doors, and raised his hand to knock on the door, Levinov suddenly whispered to me: "Oshanina, you will go to Mrs. Roosevelt alone later, and I will wait for you outside." ”

Hearing Litvinov say that he was leaving, I could not help but panic, grabbed him by the sleeve, and said to him almost in a pleading tone: "Ambassador Livinov, please don't go, I will be nervous to see Mrs. Roosevelt alone." ”

"Why are you nervous?" Litvinov muttered, "It is said that every time you see Comrade Stalin, you can keep your composure, but this time you are only meeting the first lady of the United States, I think you can behave normally." ”

Before I could respond, the door to the confinement room was opened, and a bald old man in a beige trench coat appeared in the doorway. He glanced at Harold standing outside the door, then turned his gaze to our side, and with a friendly smile on his face, he walked over to Levinov with his hands outstretched and shook hands with him. Say, "Hello. Ambassador Livinov. ”

After shaking hands with Litvinov. He turned to look at me again and said with a smile, "Hello, Miss Oshanina. I am James, a friend of Mrs. Roosevelt, and she asked me to come out to meet you on her behalf. Come in, Madame, I've been waiting for you for a long time. ”

"Mr. James, I have other things to do, so I won't accompany you." After politely saying this to James, Litvinov whispered to me: "Oshanina." I'll pick you up in two hours. ”

When I was alone, I said to myself, "It's nothing big, isn't it just to see Mrs. Roosevelt, what is there to be nervous about." Since I was not nervous when I met Stalin or Roosevelt himself, I certainly did not be nervous when I met Eleanor. ”

But as I followed James into the room, Harold gently closed the door behind me. And at this moment, I also saw the situation in the house clearly, it was a very ordinary room. In addition to the windows on both sides, the remaining one is on the wall. There was also a closed door. A rectangular table covered with white tablecloths, surrounded by a dozen chairs with backrests, and two crystal fruit bowls filled with fruit are placed on the table.

A well-dressed old lady with short curly blond hair stood at the table, and when she saw us coming in, she immediately greeted us, and asked with a smile, "Is it Oshanina?" ”

Although she spoke English, I understood it all, and the old gentleman behind me, James, translated it for me in time. By all accounts, Eleanor was in a good mood. So I hurried over to her, and at the same time stretched out my hands, shook her hand, and said respectfully, "Hello, dear First Lady, it is my honor to meet you." ”

"Come on, come here, kid." After shaking hands with me, Mrs. Roosevelt still grabbed my hand, put my hand in her palm, and led me to the table.

My body stiffened, and it took me a moment to return to normal, but I still felt a little helpless, and mechanically followed Eleanor to the table.

Only then did she let go of my hand and said softly, "Please be seated, Leda." When she called me Lida in a very casual tone, she also explained to me, "As far as I know, in the Soviet Union, only close people are called by each other's nicknames, and I don't mind if I call you that." ”

When I heard her say this, I immediately put my head on the rattle and said, "No, no, I won't mind, Mrs. President." It makes me feel very affectionate that you call me that. ”

"If that's the case, then don't call me Mrs. President, just call me Eleanor." Eleanor smiled and said to me, "Also, don't use 'you' when addressing you, it seems very distant, you know?" ”

"Understood, Madame President." As soon as I finished saying this, I immediately realized that I had said it wrong, and hurriedly corrected it in time before James translated, "Understood, Eleanor." ”

My mind was racing as I thought about how to move on with the conversation, when Eleanor said, "Leda, you know what? I didn't want to go anywhere, so I always had my own personal guard, so the security department suggested that I have at least one weapon on my body for self-defense. ”

In my known history, Mrs. Roosevelt had never encountered any Assassins, so I was not at all worried about her going out to visit hospitals, schools, and factories without personal guards, but smiled and asked, "Dear Eleanor, do you have a weapon with you?" ”

"At the beginning, I did not hesitate to refuse the kindness of the relevant departments." Eleanor smiled at me and said, "But the security guys weren't reassured, so they took my husband, President Roosevelt, to the FBI practice range to learn how to shoot." Guess what, how did I get a shot shot? ”

I couldn't find an answer from Eleanor's smiling face, and I could only rely on my own imagination that maybe she had a talent for shooting, and maybe the first time she entered the shooting range, she calmed everyone. Therefore, I did not hesitate to express my guess: "I think that the first time you entered the shooting range, you may have stunned everyone present." ”

"That's right, Leda, you guessed right." The smile on Eleanor's face was even bigger, "I fired a total of ten shots, but the bullets that came out didn't know where they flew, and not a single bullet hit the target, which shocked everyone present. At this, she couldn't help but laugh back and forth.

And I laughed along. There was a hint of embarrassment in the laughter. But luckily, Eleanor misunderstood me. I thought I had guessed that all of her bullets were off target, so I didn't notice my anomaly.

After laughing for a while, James, who had been acting as our translator, chimed in: "Madame has been to the shooting range a few times, and the FBI director, Edgar . . . Hoover complained to President Roosevelt: 'Mr. President, if there is anyone in the United States who must be forbidden to bear arms, it is your wife. She fired hundreds of bullets at the F.B.I. range, and never once did she hit a target. ’”

Since James said this in Russian. Before he could translate to Eleanor, I preemptively asked, "Eleanor, do you have a weapon with you now?" ”

"Of course, in order to reassure everyone, I now carry a weapon with me whenever I go out." Eleanor went on to say to me: "I learned how to deal with weapons with one of my husband's guards, Miller, so from now on, whenever I went out, I always carried a pistol with me, even if it was an unloaded pistol, but it was more reassuring. ”

Mrs. Roosevelt was a talkative person. As long as I don't interrupt her, she can go on and on. At the slightest sign that I wanted to speak, she would stop and ask if I had anything to say.

After we chatted for a while, she picked up a box of camel cigarettes on the table and handed it to me, politely asking, "Leda, do you smoke?" ”

I waved my hand, rejecting her offer and apologetically, "I'm sorry, Eleanor, I've never smoked." ”

I thought Eleanor would take a cigarette out of the case, but she put it on the table. At this time, I heard James whisper to Eleanor: "Madame, don't you hate to smell smoke the most?" Because of this, Mr. President, when he is in front of you, he also tries to refrain from smoking. ”

After listening to James's concerned complaints, Eleanor smiled and said to him: "Dear Mr. James, although I do not smoke at all and have a special aversion to women who smoke, I later found that it was wrong for me to do so, and I cannot impose my likes and dislikes on others. So I tried to overcome my resentment and strongly advocated the habit of handing cigarettes to the wives after dinner at the president's residence. ”

Although I could understand most of the conversation between the two, I looked at them with a smile on my face as if I didn't understand anything, and at the same time felt a little more good for Eleanor.

After the conversation between the two ended, I smiled and said, "Eleanor, I heard that you have a good friendship with our female sniper, Lyudmila. ”

"Yes, Leda, you're quite right." Eleanor readily acknowledged her friendship with Lyudmila and explained it to me: "When I first met Lyudmila, I asked her: 'How many enemies have you killed?' But she answered me: 'I don't kill people, I kill fascists.' ’

I was stunned for a moment and then asked, 'So how many fascists have you eliminated?' ’

When she told me with a blank face that she had killed 309 fascists, everyone in the audience was stunned.

I thought I had misheard, and I double-checked, yes, it was still 309 people. ……”

"By the way, Oshanina, something suddenly occurred to me." After translating Eleanor's words, James asked abruptly: "I remember a year or two ago, you used to be called 'butcher woman' in the newspapers, I can't remember the specific details, but it seems that you killed dozens of German officers and soldiers who laid down their arms and surrendered at one time. Can you tell us more about that? ”

"Mr. James, you have a good memory. After the great counteroffensive under Moscow began, I did command my men to shoot a group of German prisoners who had laid down their arms and surrendered, and this event was still widely publicized in the Western newspapers. "Since James asked me about the killing of the German prisoners, I was so indignant that I found the destroyed body of Zora in the village, so I did not hesitate to give the order to shoot, and told the whole story as it was.

I say a word, and James translates it. Eleanor didn't speak, just silently listening to the whole thing. Although she never spoke, I noticed that after listening for a while, the expression on her face became serious, and her hands clenched into fists on the table were trembling slightly.

When I finally finished the story, James said with a solemn expression: "I see, if I had been in your position at the time, Oshanina, I think I would have been tempted to give the same order." ”

But Eleanor was silent for a long time, and finally said slowly: "Lida, you are doing the right thing, these heinous crimes committed by German fascists, even if God sees it, he will not forgive them." ”

I listened to her and said casually: "Whether or not to forgive these executioners is God's business; And all we can do is send them to God! ”

As soon as I finished speaking, there were a few distinct applause from the side. I followed the sound and looked over, only to see the closed door I had just seen, I don't know when it was silently opened, a tall, young and handsome bodyguard, pushing a wheelchair, slowly walked into the room, sitting in the wheelchair is President Roosevelt, whom I once had a relationship with.

Eleanor said "ah", and walked over to take over the work of pushing the wheelchair from the bodyguard's hand, and I couldn't continue to sit still in my seat, so I quickly stood up, bowed slightly to Roosevelt not far away, and said politely: "Hello, Mr. President." ”

"Not bad, not bad. Oshanina, what you just said is wonderful. Roosevelt smiled at me and, after complimenting me, repeated what I had just said: "It is God's business whether or not to forgive these executioners; And all we can do is send them to God! After saying these words to me, he turned to his wife, who was pushing his wheelchair, and said, "My dear, the next time you make another speech, you can add these words of General Oshanina, so that our people can understand that whether we are Germans, Italians, or Japanese, we have a life-and-death relationship with them, and that there is no mercy to these executioners who destroy the peace of mankind." ”

Eleanor heard Roosevelt say this, and did not speak, but nodded with a smile on her face, indicating that she agreed.

"You may be seated, General Oshanina." When Roosevelt saw that I was still standing in a daze, he hurriedly greeted me and said, "How can we let the guests stand in front of us and speak." You may be seated! (To be continued.) )