I woke up from the post-operative anesthesia, opened my hazy eyes, and looked at a girl in front of me in a white coat and a white hat, bending down towards me, and I couldn't figure out where I was.

"You're awake!" The girl shouted in surprise.

I finally realized that I was in the hospital in the back, and I felt very weak.

"Where am I?" I asked as I tried to sit up. But I was so dizzy that there were many black dots floating in front of me, and I collapsed limply on the pillow.

"Lie down, lie down, dear!" The girl hurriedly pressed me gently with her hand: "Please don't move, you have just had surgery, be careful that the wound is cracked, tell me what you need." ”

It turned out that I had just undergone surgery, no wonder I felt so tired, I struggled to raise my head, moved my eyes to the quilt, and was surprised to find that except for the bandage on my abdomen, my body was naked. I was so ashamed that my face flushed, alas! What a thought! Just to go to the Moscow River to see the beautiful MM naked swimming, I ended up accidentally crossing it. crossed over, and actually wore it into a woman's body. I hesitated for a moment, then struggled to say, "Where's my uniform?!" ”

"Military uniform?!" When she heard my question, she couldn't help but pause, but immediately replied, "I didn't see your military uniform, and you didn't have any clothes on you when you arrived at the hospital." ”

Hearing this, I was even more embarrassed, it turned out that since the 171 Club came here, I haven't been wearing clothes, isn't that a shame to be thrown home.

"I just had surgery, why doesn't my wound hurt?" I quickly changed the subject to resolve my embarrassment.

"The anesthetic effect has not passed. Don't always think about the pain, it will hurt you in the future······" The girl said with a smile.

"So······ Why do you need anesthesia? ”

"In order to remove the shrapnel. Do you know how much shrapnel you have in your stomach? ······"

"Nurse, what's your name?"

"Vera."

"How long have I been here? Where is Warrant Officer Vaskov? "I suddenly thought of the warrant officer with whom I had lived and died, and I couldn't help but want to sit up again, but the scene in front of me became more and more blurry, and I felt a wave of nausea in my throat.

"Don't move, don't move, look at how you move again, be careful to crack the wound." I heard Vera's voice, as if it were coming from afar······

When I came back to my senses, the nurse was gone. I struggled to turn my head and saw that there was still a bed in the room. There was a man lying on the bed, motionless, with the quilt almost up to his chin, revealing only his bandaged head.

"Hey!" I whispered to her, "Are you asleep?" ”

The two swollen, blackened lips that were exposed between the gaps in the bandage moved silently at first, and after a while I heard the words, "Who are you?" Is it a doctor? ”

"No, no!" I said quickly, raising my voice slightly. "I'm just a soldier, I'm in the same ward with you, and I'm wounded······" When I uttered the last few words, I was somewhat of a whispered self-justification.

"Well, but I······ I'm dying······"

"You're talking nonsense, friend!" I tried to turn sideways and said a little indifferently at her. "I've asked the doctor. He said it doesn't matter what your injuries are, the worst thing is to stay here for a month······"

"No, no······ There is no need to comfort me, I know my situation. The words seemed to burst out of her blackened mouth that could be touched.

There was silence again.

"Where are we?" The other party asked.

"In the hospital." I hurriedly replied.

"Where's the hospital?"

"Ah, I don't know what to do with this, I'll be here when I wake up."

She didn't continue to speak, just lay motionless. But I think she's nervously thinking about something, trying to know and understand.

As if to confirm my suspicions, she spoke again.

"I beg you······ Notify my dependents······ My address······ Please write down the address······"

"Say no more!" I couldn't help but raise my voice and exclaim. "Didn't I already tell you······"

"The address of my home!······" She interrupted me and said it again.

"Okay." I could only agree, "I'll write down your address, but I'll only inform your family that you're in the hospital for treatment." Say it, please. "Although I could not move myself, let alone write with my hand, I was convinced that I could remember the address of the wounded man.

"Tell me." I said it again.

"Moscow ······" She said with difficulty. "Goncha Monisgaya······ No. 47······ Katya ······" The name of the place she said was familiar to me, it was the site of the train station in Moscow, I went there a few times to pick up people, and I bought a laptop in the mall next door.

"Katya!" I comforted her and said, "I have written down the address of your home, don't worry, you will be fine soon." ”

Katya's head shook slightly, and her two lips moved silently: "Thank you······ I know my own situation······ You see······ I'm dying. ”

Her voice grew lower and lower, and at last it gradually became inaudible, and I quickly struggled to my side to get up and pressed the call bell beside the bed.

After a while, Vera opened the door and ran in, nervously asking, "Leda, do you need anything?" ”

"She's in a bad condition!" I raised my voice and said to her, "How are you going to see her?" ”

She stood beside Katya's bed, leaned over to look, and walked briskly to the door. Then I heard her voice ringing down the hallway: "Doctor"

Soon, Vera came in with several doctors and nurses to inject and change oxygen for Katya. I lay motionless on my hospital bed, my eyes fixed on the ceiling. Secretly thought to himself: "Katya seems to be unable to do it, how long can I last?" It's a shame that most of the time was spent in a coma. ”

I don't know how long it took to go to the road, but the rescue work next to it suddenly stopped. I heard a male voice coming over: "She's dead, carry her away." ”

Katya's body was carried out of the room, and the doctors and nurses followed, leaving Vera and me alone.

"How much time do I have left?" Katya died, and I began to worry about myself, asking a little incoherently, "I mean, how long will I live?" "I don't ask this for nothing, after all, this is a war year, and many people did not die on the battlefield, but in hospital beds.

"Look at what you said, my dear," Vera said comfortingly, closing the door of the ward, "your operation was successful, the shrapnel in your abdomen has been removed, and you can recover as long as you rest for half a month." ”

"Where is this?" I couldn't help but ask a question that was of concern to me.

"The hospital in the rear." Vera had a look of surprise on her face, and she probably wondered how I would ask such a stupid question even though I was lying in a hospital bed.

"I know it's a hospital." I reorganized the vocabulary a bit: "I mean, what kind of hospital is this?" ”

"Leningrad, my dear."

Leningrad?! I actually came to this city that was besieged by the German army for 900 days during the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union.

"What is the number today?"

"August 28th."

"What year?"

"1941."

It's only 1941, so it's only been two months since the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, but I remember that the story of "The Dawn Is Quiet Here" took place in the early summer of 1942.

"Leda." Vera comforted me and said, "When you first arrived at the hospital, the blood on your body was almost dry, and even the doctors were pessimistic that you would not survive. Look, aren't you lying in a hospital bed talking to me right now? ”

I couldn't help but smile bitterly, in fact, the real Leda had already died, and the rest was me, an impostor.

"How's the situation at the front?" In fact, I don't even know that although the Soviet army resisted stubbornly, under the fierce offensive of the German army, it was still retreating.

"It's still fighting." Her answer was remarkably simple.

"Oh."

"I've heard about your deeds, and it's amazing that a few of you killed so many German devils. It is said that the command will soon send someone to award you a medal. ”

"How do you know about it?" I asked hurriedly.

"There are so many people coming to the hospital every day, what kind of news can't I hear?" She said it in a bland, homely tone, as if it were a matter of course. "Let's get acquainted again, my name is Vera Ivanovna Koroleva."

"Mushdakova Oshanina." I know that the custom of Russians is to tell only their real names to their friends, except on very formal occasions. I took her outstretched hand and shook it gently, and I felt a lot more relaxed.

She talked with me for a long time, until I fell asleep before I knew it.