Burning Moscow

Under Livinov's arrangement, Mrs. Roosevelt Eleanor set the meeting time in the afternoon of the next day.

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

I took Harold's extended hand and said friendlyly, "Thank you, Mr. Harold, please take me to see Mrs."

Livinov and I followed Harold into the building and walked forward along a paved corridor. But when Harold stopped at a door and raised his hand to knock on the door, Livinov suddenly whispered to me: "Oshanina, you will go to see Mrs. Roosevelt by yourself later, and I will wait for you outside. ."

Hearing Livinov’s words to leave, I couldn’t help panicking, grabbing his sleeves, and almost pleadingly saying to him: "Ambassador Livinov, please don’t leave. I will see Mrs. Roosevelt alone. nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" Livinov murmured. "It is said that you can keep calm every time you see Comrade Stalin. This time you only see the first lady of the United States. I think you should be able to behave normally. "

Before I could respond, the door of the confinement room had been opened, and a bald old man in a beige windbreaker appeared at the door. He glanced at Harold who was standing outside the door, and then turned his eyes to our side with a friendly smile on his face. He stretched out his hands and walked towards Livinov, and when he shook hands, he said: "You Good, Ambassador Livinov."

After shaking hands with Livinov, he turned and looked at me again. He smiled and said: "Hello, girl Oshanina. I am Mrs. Roosevelt's friend James, and she asked me to come out to meet you on her behalf. Please come in quickly. Madam has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Mr. James, I have other things. I won't be with me." After Livinov had said this to James politely, he whispered to me again: "Oshanina, I'll spend some time. I'll pick you up in a few hours."

When I was the only one left, I secretly said to myself: "It's nothing great, isn't it just seeing Mrs. Roosevelt? What is there to be nervous about. Since I have not been nervous when I saw Stalin and Roosevelt himself, then When I meet Eleanor, I won’t be nervous either."

But after I followed James into the room, Harold gently closed the door behind me. At this moment, I also saw the situation in the house. It was a very ordinary room. Except for the windows on two sides, there was a closed door on the other wall. A rectangular table covered with a white tablecloth, a dozen or so chairs are neatly arranged around it, and two crystal compotes filled with fruits are placed on the table.

One was well dressed, with short blond curly hair. The kind and amiable old lady stood at the table and saw us coming in, she immediately greeted us. At the same time, smiling calmly asked: "Is it Oshanina?"

Although she used English, I understood everything. At the same time, the old gentleman James behind him also translated this sentence for me in time. In all respects, Eleanor is in a good mood. So I hurried to greet her, stretched out my hands, just shook hands with her, and said respectfully: "Hello, dear first lady, it is my honor to meet with you."

"Come on, come here. Child." After Mrs. Roosevelt and I shook hands, she still held my hand. He put my hand in her palm and led me to the table.

My body stiffened, and it took a while to return to normal, but I still felt a little at a loss, and mechanically followed Eleanor to the table.

At this moment, she let go of my hand and said softly: "Please sit down, Lida." When she called me Lida in a very casual tone, she explained to me, "According to me I know that in the Soviet Union, only people who are close can call each other by their nicknames. I don't mind if I call you like that."

Hearing her say this, I immediately put my head like a rattle, and said repeatedly: "No, no, I don't mind, Mrs. President. You call me that, I feel very kind."

"If that's the case, then don't always call me Mrs. President, just call me Eleanor." Eleanor smiled and said to me: "Also, don't use'you' when calling me. Particularly alienated, understand?"

"Understood, Mrs. President." As soon as I finished saying this, I realized that I had made a mistake and quickly corrected it before James translated it. "Understood, Eleanor."

My mind was running fast, thinking about how to proceed with the topic. At this time, Eleanor said again: "Lida, do you know? I always bring my personal guard because I don’t want to go anywhere. Team, so the security department once suggested that I should bring at least one weapon on my body for self-defense."

In the history I know, Mrs. Roosevelt has never encountered any assassins, so I was not worried about her going out to visit hospitals, schools, factories without a personal guard without permission. Instead, I asked with a smile. Said: "Dear Eleanor, do you have a weapon with you?"

"In the beginning, I did not hesitate to reject the kindness of the relevant departments." Eleanor smiled and said to me: "But the people in the security department were not at ease, so after consulting my husband, President Roosevelt, they gave me Brought to the FBI’s practice range to learn shooting. Guess, how is my shooting score?"

From Eleanor's smiling face, I couldn't find the answer. I could only rely on my own imagination to think that she might have a talent for shooting. Maybe the first time I entered the shooting range, I stopped everyone. Therefore, I did not hesitate to express my guess: "I think, the first time you enter the shooting range, you may be shocked by everyone present."

"Yes, Lida, you guessed it right." The smile on Eleanor's face was even greater. "I shot ten shots in total, and the bullets that went out didn’t know where they flew. The failure to hit the target shocked everyone present." At this point, she couldn't help smiling forward and backward.

And I laughed with it. The laughter was a bit embarrassing, but fortunately, Eleanor misunderstood me and thought I had guessed the fact that all the bullets she shot missed the target. Therefore, I did not notice my abnormality.

After laughing for a while, James, who had been acting as an interpreter for us, interrupted and said: "After Madam went to the shooting range several times, Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, complained to President Roosevelt and said:'Mr. President. If in the United States If anyone must be banned from carrying weapons, that person is your wife. She is on the FBI shooting range. She has shot hundreds of bullets, but she has never hit a target once.'"

Since James said this in Russian, before he translated to Eleanor, I asked first: "Eleanor, do you carry a weapon with you now?"

"Of course, to reassure everyone, I now carry weapons with me whenever I go out." Eleanor continued to tell me: "I learned how to deal with weapons from a guard named Miller of my husband, so from now on As long as I go out, I will carry a pistol by my side, although it is a pistol without bullets, but this can make everyone more at ease."

Mrs. Roosevelt is a talkative person. As long as I don't interrupt her, she can go on speaking endlessly. When she notices a little sign that I want to speak, she will take the initiative to stop and ask if I have anything to say.

After we chatted for a while, she picked up a box of camel cigarettes on the table. He handed it to me and asked politely: "Lida, do you smoke?"

I waved my hand quickly. Rejecting her kindness, he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Eleanor, I never smoke."

I thought Eleanor would take a cigarette out of the cigarette case, but she just put it on the table casually. At this time, I heard James whispering to Eleanor: "Madam, don't you hate the smell of cigarettes the most? Because of this, Mr. President tried to restrain himself from smoking when he was in front of you."

After listening to James' caring complaint. Eleanor smiled and said to him: "Dear Mr. James, although I don't smoke at all and I am particularly disgusted with women who smoke. But I later found out that it was wrong for me to do so. I cannot impose my likes and dislikes on others. So I tried to overcome my disgust. I strongly advocated the habit of passing cigarettes to the wives after dinner in the presidential residence."

Although I can understand most of the conversation between the two of them, I still pretended that I didn't understand anything, and looked at them with a smile, and at the same time, my feelings for Eleanor increased a little.

When the conversation between the two of them came to an end, I said with a smile: "Eleanor, I heard that you and our female sniper Lyudmila have a good friendship."

"Yes, Lida, you are right." Eleanor readily confessed the friendship between her and Lyudmila, and specifically explained to me: "I saw Lyudmila for the first time. When pulling, she asked her:'How many enemies have been killed.' Who knows she answered me and said:'I don't kill people, I kill fascists.'

I froze for a moment and then asked again: ‘then how many fascists have you eliminated. ’

When she told me expressionlessly that she had killed 309 fascists, everyone in the audience was shocked to hear this.

I thought I had heard it wrong, and I checked it again. Yes, there were still 309 people. ..."

"By the way, Oshanina, I suddenly remembered something." James suddenly asked after translating Eleanor's words: "I remember one or two years ago, you were called'female' in the newspapers. Butcher, I don’t remember the specific details, but it seems to have killed dozens of German officers and soldiers who surrendered with their weapons. Can you tell us the specifics?"

"Mr. James, you have a good memory. After the great counterattack under Moscow began, I did command my subordinates to shoot and kill a group of German prisoners who surrendered with their weapons. This incident has also been widely publicized in Western newspapers. "Since James asked me about the killing of the German prisoners, I was immediately filled with outrage about how I found Zola's damaged body in the village, so I did not hesitate to go through the whole process of the shooting order, telling it as it was. Again.

I said one sentence, and James translated one sentence. Eleanor didn't speak, just silently listening to the ins and outs of the whole thing. Although she never spoke, I found that after listening to her for a while, the expression on her face became serious, and her hands clenched into fists on the table trembled slightly.

After I finally talked about the whole thing, James said solemnly, "It turned out to be like this. If I existed in your position at the time, Oshanina, I think I would also be tempted to give the same order."

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

I listened to her and said casually: "Whether to forgive these executioners is God's business; and all we can do is send them to see God!"

As soon as my voice fell, there were a few clear and audible applause from the side. I followed the sound and saw the closed door I just saw. I don’t know when it was opened silently. A tall and handsome bodyguard pushed a wheelchair and slowly walked into the room. ~www.NovelMTL.com~ Sitting in the wheelchair is President Roosevelt, whom I once had a relationship with.

Eleanor uttered "Ah" and walked over to take over the wheelchair push from the bodyguard, and I couldn't ask the earth to continue sitting in my seat, and I quickly got up and directed at Roosevelt not far away. Slightly bowed, and said politely: "Hello, Mr. President."

"Yes, yes. Oshanina, what you said just now is really great." Roosevelt smiled and nodded at me. After praising me, he repeated what I said just now: "Do you forgive these executioners? God’s thing; and all we can do is send them to see God!" After saying these few words to me, he turned to his wife who was pushing his wheelchair and said, "My dear, you will speak again next time. At that time, you can add these words of General Oschanina to let our people understand that whether it is German, Italian, or Japanese, we and them are a life-and-death relationship between ourselves and the enemy, right This group of executioners who are destroying the peace of mankind cannot come with any kindness."

Eleanor heard Roosevelt say so, did not speak, but nodded with a smile, agreeing.

"Please sit down, General Oshanina." Seeing that I was still standing in a daze, Roosevelt greeted me quickly: "How can we let guests stand in front of us and speak. Please sit down!" (to be continued. )