Vodichka

There were only a few merry-men in the hall. The Lagerführers group, and a few lonely individuals, all bent over their beer. "Let's go join the Lagerführer." Nikolai proposed. He got along well with him, espescially since the past few weeks. "I've grown to like the man. He's honest." 

"Alright, whatever you want." Werner replied. He'd gotten in the mood to drink. Something about Nikolai's light-heartedness made him envy the alchohol coursing through his veins. Their boots sqeaked on the way over to the long table, alerting the Lagerführer of their advance. 

"Hart! Werner! Kommen Sie zu uns! (come over to us!" He invited them, raising his hand. 

"Keine Angst, mein Guter. Wir sind ja schon da. (no worries, my friend, we're already here)" Nikolai said. He talked to the Lagerführer in a way most men wouldn't dare too, but it was Nikolai, he was allowed to. 

"Wie gehts dir, Joseph? (how are you doing, Joseph)" Nikolai asked. The little group of men seemed surprised that the soldier was calling the Lagerführer by his first name. 

"I'm doing quite all right, what about you?"

"I'm fine. It was too cold today to work." Nikolai answered. "I almost stayed in bed this morning. Afterall, Hitler has it much easier, it's warm in the Führerbunker." Some might have taken his comment as anti-nazi, but the Lagerführer laughed. Werner and Nikolai sat down, Nikolai to the officers right. 

"Get us some Vodka if you will?" The Lagerführer politely asked one of his cronies. The man quickly stood up to fetch a bottle and a few glasses. "Werner, are you enjoying your job as Dr. Ziegler's assistant?"

"Yes, it's very interresting. I like it a lot. I want to study medecine, once I get the chance. It's a great oppertunity for me."

"I believe you. I meet him regularily, he tells me how the experiments are going. They are truely very interresting, I'll give you that." 

"Yes. He's a smart one." Nikolai said adoringly. 

"And quiet too." The Lagerführer added. Werner just smiled. He didn't feel comfotrable around 'Joseph' even though he seemed sincere. Werner had always had a problem with authority, especially if they were the type of person who was over-sensitive to critisism. He had a feeling that the Nazi-leader wouldn't like to be bad-mouthed. 

"There's the vodichka!" Nikolai realized his mistake directly after he said it, but he just laughed, acting as if he was mocking the russians. The Lagerführer laughed. 

"Na zdorovye!" He exclaimed. Nikolai chuckled and slapped him on the back. Werner was puzzled, but he tried to hide it. It seemed to him that both of them knew that Nikolai was a Russian; maybe it was the sparks in their eyes or the curl of their wicked smiles. Nikolai was a good man, there was no doubt about it, but there was a dark side to him. 

The Lagerführer poured the vodka, only three shots, and he dismissed the other men, including the one who'd fetched the drinks. "How's the wife, Nikolai?"

"Darya's doing well, they moved away from Essen as I told them too."

"Essen could become dangerous...it was a smart move."

"It took me long to convince them, but I managed it." He toyed at the glass, obviously wanting to feel the soft tongue-kiss the vodka would gift him.

"Well, cheers to keeping family safe!" The three held up their glasses and then downed the content. Werner pulled a face, he had nothing in his blood, so it was hard to keep the vodka down. It got easier the more he drank. The Lagerführer immediatlly filled the glasses again. "And you Werner, too young to have a family?"

"I don't, no. Do you, sir?"

"Call me Joseph. But only when we drink, please. Or I'll get stange looks from our comerades. I have a son and a wife."

"You must miss her as well."

"Not really..." The Lagerführers gaze grew distant. "I married her out of pity, and not love."

"I couldn't do that. I'm not a hero, I'm a lover." Nikolai replied with a weak smile. He touched the Lagerführers arm. "I'm sorry for you. I hope she's beautiful at least?"

"She is very pretty. She's a good house-wife and she takes great care of our son. There's always food on the table and it tastes delicious..." The fact that Jospeh was sharing so much with them made Werner realize how drunk he must be. As if he had been thinking the same thing, he added: "Please don't tell anyone, it would be bad for my image if that got out...I'll trust a Soviet and a doctor." 

"I'm still not soviet, Joseph, no matter how much you think I am!" Nikolai said, half-jokingly. The Lagerführer waved his comment away. 

"You're as Russian as my eyes are blue, Kolya. But I don't care. This fucking system can't last forever anyway, and the soviets are as fucked as the Germans."

"You need another vodka." Nikolai said, he slung his arm around the leaders shoulders. "It'll make you feel better. And Werner, drink your's too, you're awefully quiet." So they all took another glass. 

"Love or cigarettes, Joseph?" Nikolai asked out of the blue.

"Cigarettes."

Nikolai smiled, he knew the perfect thing to cheer his comerade back up. He paused for a second before receiting Kaljuschins poem. 

"The rich smoke Marlboro,

The proletarians smoke Belomorkanal, 

The kids smoke what their fathers smoke,

Stalin smokes a pipe,

The poor men smokes stumps off the street,

But our fate remains the same - 

We're all going to die." 

The Lagerführer laughed and nodded his head simultanously. He liked the poem, it was honest, even if it didn't rhyme very well. "You always have something to say Kolya." He noticed.

"My mother always said my mouth was too big." Nikolai admitted, making both of his comerades roar with laughter. They drank and talked for another hour, until their talking was slurring and their drinking turned to hiccups. The next day they were strictly business again, as if nothing had ever happened.