Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH GORSHIN (Part 11)

   By KATZMAREK

   June the 26th, 1906 was a clear, bright, late summer's day in the Baltic
port of Libau.  Nowadays, the port and town is called Liepaja in the
Latvian language but in 1906, it was known by its German name, Libau.

   Over a year ago the Tsar's Second Pacific Squadron had set out to meet
the Japanese Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima on the other side of the
World. Now, its shattered remnants began to retrace their route back to the
Russian Naval base at Kronshtadt in the Neva estuary.

   First came the only bona fide, surviving warship to make it back, the
Cruiser Almaz.  The Destroyers, Bravy and Grozny, had been left behind in
Vladivostok.  More Yacht than Cruiser, the Almaz's speed had enabled it to
survive the fate of the rest of the squadron.  The vessel knifed into the
port trailing black smoke from its twin funnels.  It stayed a day, time
enough to coal, before scuttling back to its home port, not far away.

   There was no ceremony on the pier, no crowd of well-wishers throwing
flowers and blowing kisses to the crew.  A few Mothers, wives and
girlfriends stood anxiously waiting to see if their men were coming home.
That was all, barring the odd Admiralty official checking some
administrative detail, for the Tsar's Navy still consumed more paper than
coal.

   The next to arrive was the large Cruiser Rossiya.  She'd survived an
unequal battle with Kamimura's Japanese cruisers off Ulsan, Korea.  That
battle saw the demise of the gallant Vladivostok Cruiser Squadron, which
had sent General Oyama's siege guns to the bottom of the Sea of Japan.  The
Bayan and Boyar had been sunk, while the Diana had taken refuge in French
Indo-China.  Her tall sides, serried portholes and four funnels made her
look like a transatlantic liner.  Her six 210mm Oblukhov guns, however had
given a good account of themselves, as Kamimura later testified.

   Again, she stayed only long enough to provision.  She anchored in the
bay as her 12,500 ton size would not fit a berth at Libau.

   Some days later, the first of the chartered merchantmen began to arrive.
The SS Ladoga arrived accompanied by the tug Kamchatka, itself a survivor
of Tsushima.  A passenger steamer, the Ladoga had made a relatively fast
transit from the Kattegat straits.  The rest followed in ones and twos
until the SS Bazan, the oldest and slowest, finally steamed through the
heads belching impressive quantities of oily smoke.

   Senior Lieutenant Yvgeny Gorshin stood at the side rail of the Bazan,
scanning the distant piers for a familiar face.  There were only a few
people, mostly waterside workers preparing the old ship's berthage.  As the
ship closed, he saw a number of women.  Most of them, to his
disappointment, appeared to be the Mothers of crewmen or the host of
disgruntled naval sailors stumbling up from below decks.  Yvgeny could not
find his fiancee, Katka Talsii, among the small welcoming committee.

   Captain Pikalevoi, recently promoted and rigged, as all the officers
were, in his finest uniform, stood beside his crewmate and friend.  Peter
Szpetznar, another Grozny crewmate and newly promoted Ensign, stood on his
other side.

   "She won't be expecting you," suggested the Captain.

   "No, no-one's got any mail through.  She won't know you're on God's
planet," agreed the 'Mad Pole,' Szpetznar.

   "I wired her from Vlady!" Yvgeny told them, "she should know!"

   "A telegram to this cunt of a place?" Pikalevoi replied, "might as well
have sent a pigeon!"

   "They probably would've eaten the pigeon and thrown away the message,"
laughed the Pole, "bloody Latvians...  can't stand them," he muttered.

   "Hey, some of the ladies are cute!  Isn't that right, Gorshin?" the
Captain teased.

   "Some...  one!" Yvgeny replied.

   "Come," the Captain said, patting Yvgeny on the back, "let's get off
this barge and find a bar."

   "No, I've got to find Katka," Yvgeny told Pikalevoi.

   "Yeah, I'll stay put if you don't mind.  I'm a responsible married man
now, you know," Peter said.

   "Oh, bullshit!  What a boring pair of fucks!  I'm going ashore to find a
drink and a whore in that order!" With that, the Captain strode off
purposely to await the gangway.

   -------------------------------------

   "I decided to leave the ship with the blessing of Pikalevoi," explained
Admiral Gorshin to the Ensign, "Peter's new wife was waiting for him in St
Petersburg, so he remained on board.  I offloaded my gear and kit and left
it with my old landlady.  She was overjoyed at my return."

   "I next sped around to Katka's uncle's house and there I heard the news
I'd been dreading."

   ------------------------------------

   The peeling, rust brown door reverberated to Yvgeny's anxious knocking.
The door was opened by a maid who stared at him as if he was some vagabond,
rather than an officer in the Tsar's navy.

   "What do you want?" she snapped.

   "Excuse me, madam," Yvgeny said sweetly and with a quick nod, "I'm
looking for my fiancee, Katka Talsii, I believe..."

   "Katka?" she replied, quickly, "you have the wrong address." Yvgeny
pushed against the door as she made to close it on him.

   "I'm sorry, madam, perhaps you know of a Katka Talsii?  Her Uncle..."

   "Yes, of course!" she replied, irritated, "my employer's niece.  But it
must be a different Katka Talsii you're after.  My employer's niece is
engaged to be married to an aristocrat's son from Riga.  Perhaps you've
heard of him, Kasper Hochenlaufen, heir to the Duke of Ventspils, just
North of..."

   "Yes, yes!" Yvgeny cut her off.  His head exploded at the news.  Surely
there must be some mistake?  Or maybe this woman was lying to him for some
unknown reason?  Gathering himself, and still holding the door ajar to the
annoyance of the maid, he asked, "may I see your employer?"

   Yvgeny needed every ounce of control, of courage, to keep his voice
steady.

   "Whom should I say is calling?" she asked him, sniffing.

   "Senior Lieutenant Yvgeny Gorshin, woman, and I'm not used to standing
on the footpath." He thought that two could play her little game.

   "You'd better come into the parlour," she told him with a particularly
extravagant sniff.  Yvgeny thought that he'd punched greater mortals than
this maid for less impertinance.

   Katka's Uncle burst into the parlour with his arms spread wide.  He
hugged Yvgeny like a lost son.  Gorshin thought it great acting.

   "Gorshin, my boy, we'd thought you'd drowned!  How wonderful to see
you!" He pumped Yvgeny's hand as if he expected Yvgeny to spout water.

   "What's this news about Katka?" he asked him, urgently, "the maid..."

   "I'm afraid you're too late, my boy." There was a hint of apology,
almost of guilt in his voice.  "She's engaged to a Duke's son, the
Ventspils, have you heard of them?" Yvgeny thought he was going to hear a
lot more of these people than he cared to.

   "But that's not possible!" Yvgeny told the man, "she's engaged to me!"

   "Now, now, you don't think that little Summer walk-in-the-park a year
ago amounted to a promise to marry you, did you?"

   "Yes I did!" Yvgeny told him angrily, "a promise is a promise...  where
is she?"

   "Settle down!  Don't raise your voice in this house.  Forget her, go
home or I'll throw you into the street."

   Yvgeny appraised the man.  Big, yes, but a comfortable life had grown a
lot of flab.  He could fell him without raising a sweat.

   "Don't fuck with me!" Yvgeny snarled and grabbed him by the collar,
"tell me where she is or I'll rip your head off and shove it up your arse!"

   The man recoiled in shock.  His demeanour changed as he realised he'd
bitten off more than he could chew.

   "See here," he babbled, "I'll call the police!"

   "You'll have to pick your teeth off the pavement if you do!"

   "Okay, okay," the man surrendered, "I'll write the address down.  But
it'll do you no good!"

   "We'll see!" Yvgeny replied.

   Clutching the paper the Uncle had given him, he sped from the house to
find a hire-carriage.

   --------------------------------------

   "All I could find was a two-wheeled cart," the Admiral explained, "what
a thing to come home to!  I wanted to beat this effete Duke's son to a
pulp. I was mad, quite mad!  They would have thrown me in the brig if I was
on-board ship," he chuckled.

   --------------------------------------

   It was late afternoon before he finally found the Talsii's farm.  He'd
got lost, had asked directions and got lost again.  By the time he found
the right farm he was in a murderous mood.

   Yvgeny pulled the horse up outside the rambling, two-storied villa.  It
had a steep, thatched roof with carved gables of corn-sheave designs.  It
was the home of a prosperous, pastoral, Latvian farmer.

   A young man stood on the front porch, a shotgun across his arms.  He
watched Yvgeny get down from the cart, straighten his dress sword and don
his peaked officer's cap.

   "You lost?" the young man said, a hint of menace in his voice.

   "I hope not.  Does Katka Talsii live here?" Yvgeny asked.

   "Why does the Navy want her?" came the response.

   Yvgeny had had enough of being dicked with by posturing civilians.

   "Is she here?" he repeated, louder.

   "What's the commotion?" came a woman's voice from inside.  Katka's
Mother then appeared at the doorway.  She took one look at Yvgeny and spun
on her heels.  "Mateus!" she hollered.

   "Gorshin!" bellowed Katka's Father as he appeared next.  "What the Hell!
We thought you were dead!  Good God, boy, what are you doing here?"

   Yvgeny detected something forced, something profoundly dishonest in the
tone of his voice.

   "I've come to see Katka, my betrothed," he told her Father.

   "Your what?" he said, aghast, "that's a bit extreme, isn't it?  What do
you mean, 'betrothed'?"

   "I mean," Yvgeny sucked in his breath to keep himself under control, "I
mean we are to be married.  She is to be my wife."

   "Well I'm sorry if you've been led to believe that, Gorshin.  But she's
engaged to Kaspar Hochenlaufen the Duke..."

   "Yes I heard all of that," Gorshin replied, "may I see her?"

   "Now, boy, that wouldn't be in everyone's interest now, would it?"

   Yvgeny hadn't sailed twice around the World, fought a Naval battle on
behalf of his country, been through many trials and tribulations, only to
be patronised by his prospective Father in Law.

   "MAY...I...SEE...HER...NOW!" he yelled.

   "HEY!  DON'T YOU COME HERE AND..."

   The youth swung his gun towards Yvgeny.  Gorshin hadn't any weapon
besides his dress sword.  But he wasn't intimidated by firearms, not after
his experiences.

   "Put that gun down, daffodil, or you'll be chewing it between your
gums!" he snarled at the young man.  The youth hesitated.  "The Japanese
didn't get me, I don't think you'll get the chance," he continued.

   Katka's Father nodded towards the young man.  "Put it down, boy, no need
for that." The Youth stood the gun by the side of the house and folded his
arms.  "Now look, boy..."

   "Senior Lieutenant or Yvgeny will do just fine," he corrected.

   "Okay, okay," Mateus Talsii held up his hands, placatingly.  "Simmer
down...  Yvgeny.  This is a difficult situation.  You see, when Katka
didn't hear from you she..."

   "May I see her, sir?" Yvgeny asked, regaining his self-control.

   "That won't be possible.  She's..."

   "Why?" Gorshin demanded.

   "Well?  She doesn't want..."

   Just then there was a shuffling in the doorway.  Bursting past her
Mother's restraining arms, Katka stood, framed, shocked, her jaw hanging
open.

   "YVGENY!" she screamed, her face breaking out in an ecstatic smile.  She
brushed past her parents and ran to him, arms flung wide.  Throwing them
around his shoulders she buried her face in his chest.  Yvgeny was
staggered by the sudden assault and stepped back.  "Why didn't you write?"
she chided.

   "I did, often, and I sent you a wire from Vladivostok and another from
Shanghai.  Didn't you get them?"

   "No, I didn't," she replied, puzzled, "did you use the address I gave
you?"

   "Yes, of course!" he told her, "here, I have it in my breast pocket. 
It's never left my person since I sailed from Libau."

   "I should have got it!" she said, checking the address Yvgeny showed
her. "I know the mail's been funny, but I should have got the telegrams. 
We check at the office in town every week.  Dad?" she turned to her Father,
"have we received anything from Yvgeny at the Telegraph office?"

   "No...  nothing," he shrugged.  Yvgeny knew instantly he was lying. 
He'd learnt to read people's eyes and Mateus Talsii's displayed deceit.

   "Come," Yvgeny demanded, "let's go for a walk." He seized Katka's hand
and strode off with her while her parents gaped, helplessly.  Walking
around the house, he found a suitable tree.  Confronting her, he asked,
"who's this Kaspar Hochenloafer?"

   "Hochenlaufer," she corrected, "he's....  a Duke's son."

   "And?"

   "And...  I met him down in the market...  he's very nice!"

   "And?"

   "And...  he asked me to...  marry him."

   "And?"

   "And...  I said I'd think about it."

   "And, have you?"

   "Well?  I'd get to live in a big house with lots of servants.  I thought
you were dead, Yvgeny, I'm sorry!"

   "So have you agreed to marry this Hochenloafer?"

   "Hochenlaufer!  And, no I haven't said yes....  and I haven't said no,
either."

   "So now I'm back, what's your decision?"

   "Yvgeny...  you don't need to ask, it's always been you, I swear!  I
haven't even let Kaspar kiss me.  Not properly, anyway."

   "I'm glad you've brought that up," Yvgeny said, before taking her in his
arms and fusing his mouth to hers.  Out of the corner of his eye he could
see her parents arguing with each other and waving their arms in his
direction.

   ------------------------------------

   "Katka didn't believe her parents would do such a thing," Gorshin told
the Ensign, "but I knew straight away that my maggot of a Father in Law
kept my letters and telegrams from her.  Over time, she came to accept it
also.  They plainly wanted to throw this Hochenloafer at her.  Not hard to
see why, his family owned half of Northern Latvia."

   "So you saw this aristocrat off?"

   "Didn't need to...  seven days later I stole her off her parents and we
hopped a train back to Russia."

   "You eloped?"

   "Damn right we did.  We'd still be getting the run around from her
parents if we hadn't seized our chance."

   "Did you reconcile with your in-laws?"

   "Not really...  they hated me for what I did.  Even now I'm sure they're
cursing me from beyond the grave.  We'd see them at Christmas, sometimes.
It was awkward, they'd deluge the kids with gifts, then leave.  I liked
that part best, their leaving."

   --------------------------------------

   The atmosphere at the Talsii's villa had not changed much when Yvgeny
called next.  Her parents would not leave them alone and scowled at them
across the room.  Katka whispered that she'd been lectured to about,
'throwing away her future'.  She'd hid in her room when informed, 'she was
not going to marry a sailor as long as we take breath.'

   "Murder them, then," he whispered.

   "Be serious!" she whispered back.

   "Oh, I am, I am!"

   "Stop whispering!" demanded her Father.

   "This is impossible!" he told her, before leaving.

   It was slightly over a week before Yvgeny could make it back out to the
farm.  He found Katka sullen and moody.  Her parents were in town on
business, she said, but her young cousin remained behind to 'look after
her.'

   The young man, the same youth who had threatened Yvgeny with the
shotgun, padded after them not more than two metres away as the couple went
for a walk.

   "Kaspar came to see me," she told him.

   "And?"

   "Don't start that!" she chided, "I told him I can't see him anymore.  He
was upset...  so was Papa.  He told me I needed to give Kaspar another
chance."

   "I'm sorry, Katka, but I don't feel disappointed about that."

   "It's all right," she replied, "but what are we to do?  Papa will never
agree to our marriage."

   "No," he conceded.

   "So why don't you leave our family alone?" came a voice behind them. 
Yvgeny bristled and Katka nudged him.

   "Don't!" she mouthed.

   "Why don't you grow some balls?" Yvgeny retorted.

   "Yvgeny!" Katka warned.

   "He's not so tough, Katka," said the youth, "after all, they were beaten
by a few yellow men, haha!"

   "Rolf!" cried Katka.

   Yvgeny spun on his heels and confronted the boy.

   "What the Hell is your problem, daffodil?"

   The youth blanched white.  Fear began to replace the cocky expression as
he read the anger in Yvgeny's face.  He stepped back a pace, collected
himself, balled his fists, then regained the sneering attitude.

   "You think you're so superior," the boy began.

   "Oh, Rolf, shut up!" snapped Katka.

   "You come here looking down your nose at us in your sissy uniform like
some big hero..." He took another step back.  "...  but you're just a
peasant.  Uncle says you ran away from the Japs..."

   "Is daffodil a favourite cousin of yours, Katka?" Yvgeny interrupted.

   "No, he's a jerk like his Father, why?"

   "So you don't mind if I slap his face around the other side of his
head?"

   "Yes, I do!  You'll get me into trouble and I won't be allowed to see
you again."

   The youth took two steps back and raised his fists slightly.  His face
had lost all its confidence, however.

   "Well!" thought Yvgeny, aloud, "that won't be a problem because you're
leaving with me!"

   "What?" she replied, shocked.

   "You can't!" whined the youth, now plainly frightened, "Uncle Mateus
will come after you and..."

   "Pack a couple of bags," Yvgeny told her, "take everything you need
because you won't be coming back."

   "Yvgeny?"

   "Do it woman!" he commanded, "for just one time don't argue and just do
it!"

   "Ok, ok," she said, her face now flushed with excitement.  For a
fleeting moment Yvgeny realised he'd seen that look before, when she'd come
to him at his lodgings before he'd sailed to the East.

   Katka broke into a run for the house.  Rolf, her cousin, turned and
started after her.  Yvgeny thought he might be going for the shotgun. 
Running him down, he seized him by the collar and threw him to the ground
on his face.



   "Uncle will kill me!" he said as he started to get up, trembling in
fear.

   "Well, take your pick, daffodil, him or me!"

   "Please, don't call me 'daffodil'," he whined, as Yvgeny steered him
towards the house.

   Yvgeny put Rolf down on a chair at the kitchen table while Katka raced
upstairs.  Rolf cowered, a sullen look on his face, as Yvgeny sat opposite
him, listening to Katka thumping about above them.

   "Please don't leave me here.  You don't know Uncle, he'll..." continued
the young man.

   Yvgeny softened a little.  He realised the boy was terrified of his
Uncle and, no doubt, expected a beating.

   "How old are you?" Yvgeny asked him.

   "Seventeen."

   "I was in the Navy at sixteen," he told him.  "By seventeen I'd been
halfway around the World on the training ship Novaya Zemla.  Three masted
Barque...  90 cadets...  great time!"

   Rolf looked at his hands in misery.

   "Visited the German Baltic ports...  St Nazaire in France... 
Copenhagen...  Devonport in England...  My point," he sighed, "is that you
don't have to put up with this shit."

   Rolf screwed up his eyes and looked away.

   "You don't understand."

   "What's to understand?  You're scared shitless of your Uncle, treated
like dirt.  You're miserable here, leave and take your opportunities."

   "But I'll be disinherited!"

   "Disinherited of what?  Misery?"

   "The Farm!  Papa owns a half share!"

   "You want half of this sodding piece of real estate?"

   "I'll build a big house over there one day," he told Yvgeny, nodding out
the window.  "get married, have my own flock of sheep."

   "When your Father dies.  Is he likely to croak soon?  He seemed to be in
good health when last I saw him."

   "He'll retire sometime...  maybe ten, fifteen years?"

   "So you're going to take this shit until you're 27, at least?  Half your
life gone, good God, man!"

   "It's not so bad."

   "Your life!  What the Hell is Katka doing?  Packing the lounge
furniture?" Shouting towards the stairs, he yelled, "can we move it, Honey?
We have a train to catch!"

   "Coming!"

   "Do yourself a favour, daffo...  Rolf, take one of the horses and go...
anywhere.  Get yourself a life before it's too late."

   "They're draught animals!" he explained, "I couldn't, they're needed for
ploughing."

   Yvgeny stood, waving his arms in resignation.  "Come on, my Love," he
yelled, "the Riga express leaves in two and a half hours.  We need to go
now!" He turned to Rolf, "now boy, you're going to to sit there and make
yourself comfortable until your Uncle returns, aren't you?  I won't have to
lock you in the pantry, will I?"

   Rolf slowly shook his head.

   "Because, if you fetch the Police or your Uncle, I will return and snap
both your arms off, understand?"

   Rolf rubbed his arms together and nodded, warily.  The colour, once
again, drained from his face.

   ----------------------------------

   Katka had packed a carriage trunk of her things.  Yvgeny muttered as he
helped to haul it down the stairs.  He manhandled it onto his cart and
lifted Katka on top of it.  Quickly he gathered the reins and set off
bumping down the rutted, dirt road.

   There was a little village some 15 kilometres away through which the
main line to Riga passed.  They arrived with a half hour to spare.  Katka
purchased the tickets, while Yvgeny sent a cable to his old landlady with
instructions for his sea chest and belongings.  The horse and cart he left
with the station master with instructions to contact the owner.  At last,
he thought, they could relax.

   Katka was nervous, however, and looked anxiously back the way they'd
come.  She wouldn't be happy, she explained, until they crossed the border
into Russia.  That border, though, was 220 kilometres away and they'd have
to wait for another 6 hours to transfer to the St Petersburg express at
Riga.  In all, it would be a good ten hours before they reached the
relative safety of Pskov, Russia.  There, the train ran straight to St
Petersburg with a brief stop at Novgorod.

   In most of the Russian Empire a girl didn't reach her majority until
aged 21.  Because Katka was only 19, then technically, Yvgeny could be
charged with kidnapping.  However, each province had its own jurisdiction.
To be arrested in one jurisdiction for a crime in another was often a
lengthy and complicated process.  A formal charge had to be laid then
extradition proceedings initiated.

   Yvgeny knew Katka's parents wouldn't be returning to the farm for two
days.  This was ample time, he reasoned, for them to gain the protection of
the Russian Navy at Kronshtadt.

   For the Tsarist armed forces were a law unto themselves.  In some parts
of the Russian Empire, they *were* the Law.  Any charge laid with the
civilian Police against a serviceman had first to be delivered to the
accused's superior officer.  It was then up to him what action ought to be
taken.  If the police were dissatisfied then they could appeal to the Navy
or Army's Chief of Staff.  Failing that course, the only other avenue of
appeal was the Tsar himself.  Yvgeny doubted the Police would consider it
serious enough to go through that process.  In any case, he and Katka would
be well-married by that time and that would change everything.

   Once they were safely on base the civilian Police had no jurisdiction
over him nor Katka.

   "Where are we going to live?" Katka asked suddenly, breaking through his
thoughts.

   "I was thinking...  we could live with my Father at Petrodvorets until
we get some married quarters.  No-one would dare touch us there."

   "Have you told him about me?  Is he expecting us?"

   "Yes and no," he told her.  "I will cable him from Riga."

   "What will he think of all of this?" she asked.

   "I...  I don't know," he conceded.

   Katka sat on her carriage trunk fidgeting while Yvgeny paced the
platform.  At last they heard the distant whistle of the locomotive.  In a
few minutes it hissed into the little station, steam cannoning from the
release valves.

   The train was only stopping long enough to water the locomotive, so the
couple quickly hustled on board and to their compartment in the sleeping
car.  Presently, with a sharp jolt, the train began to move.

   -------------------------------------

   "The night train to Riga!" sighed the Admiral, "what can I say?  A few
passengers were quaffing drinks in the Pullman shrouded in cigar smoke. 
The day cars were half deserted and that half were bundled under blankets
trying to get comfortable.  The guards were drunk or semi-concious having
taken naps in the van.  You just hoped that the driver and fireman were
fully awake," he laughed.

   "You and Katka got a sleeper?" asked the Ensign.

   "Yes, we fled into it straight away, slid the door shut and drew down
the blinds.  They were private in those days.  Four narrow bunks, two up
and two down.  You could fold the bottom two beds up to form seats. 
Between them was a collapsible table and they had waiters who brought you
meals...  But only in the daytime.  At night they assumed you were
sleeping. That was 1st class, of course."

   "Of course," the Ensign sneered.

   --------------------------------------

   The train compartment was finished in carved Limewood veneer.  Beside
the large window, on either side, were two oval leadlights.  In the roof,
clerestory windows let more light in during the day.  Katka had rarely seen
such sumptuous appointments.

   The 1st class coach was coupled at the rear of the train, just in front
of the Pullman car.  The booming from the locomotive was hardly audible
from back there as it strained to work the train back up to speed.

   The Russian Western Railway in 1906 was a model of Edwardian splendour.
The Company controlled the extensive East/West network, which was built by
French Government interests to enable their ally to mobilise troops quickly
in the event of war with their common enemy, Germany.

   Yvgeny put his arm around Katka's shoulders and settled her against him.
The tension, the excitement, of the last 2 hours had exhausted them and
they began to doze with the gentle swaying of the coach.

   The next thing he became aware of was the squealing of the Westinghouse
brakes as the train began to slow.  The lights of Riga flashed behind the
thick window blind.

   To his delight, he found that the coach was going to be routed through
to St Petersburg and they could sleep on the train.  He retrieved some
light supper from the Pullman and returned to the compartment.  Katka was
just stirring when he slid the door back and put the tray on the table.

   "Good news," he told her.

   "Mmm?"

   "We can sleep on the train."

   "I see," she replied, a shy smile slid over her face.  It reminded him
that this was their first night together, their first meal alone as a
couple.  No hurried, furtive embraces, keeping watch for her parents or
cousin.  No desperate coupling by garden walls with an eye on the clock. 
Now, he thought, they could just relax and enjoy each other's company.



   He squeezed in beside her on the seat, his leg pressing into hers.  He
could feel her warm thigh through the fabric of his uniform trousers. 
Yvgeny ate slowly, his senses heightened at the intimacy of it all.



   When Yvgeny placed his hand on her knee, she smiled again.  She turned
and kissed him and he returned the favour.  Her smiles bathed him with
their radiance.  They were infectious and he couldn't help grinning back.
It left him helpless before her dancing brown eyes.  He moved his hand
higher, now.  He wanted to see her smile again so he stroked her thigh
until she obliged him.

   "How shall we sleep?" she asked, innocently enough.

   "Together, in the one bunk.  There'll be times when I'll be at sea
without you, maybe for months?  Who knows?  I don't wish to waste any
opportunity to lie beside you."

   "Oh, Yvgeny, you're so sweet," she told him softly and kissed him again.

   There was movement outside the door.  Yvgeny locked it quietly as he
listened to the footsteps fade.

   "Guard," he replied to Katka's anxious expression.  "Here!" he took her
by the hand and brought her to her feet.  He released the handle and folded
the seat down to form the narrow bunk.

   "Not much room," she commented.

   "Bigger than my bunk on the Grozny," he told her.  Yvgeny could see she
was nervous, a fact she was trying to mask with forced smiles and busy
hands.

   He pulled the covers back and started to unbutton his shirt.  She
watched him for a bit before starting to undo her own blouse.  Underneath
she wore a loose shift that she planned to wear as a nightdress.  Yvgeny
watched her take off her dress before removing his trousers.  Stripped to
their underwear, Yvgeny indicated that she should get in first. 
"Traditional," he explained, "so I can get out first if I have to defend
your honour against an intruder." She giggled and called him her 'hero.'

   Once in bed, he put her arms around her and drew her tight into his
body.

   The closeness, the intimacy, the months of unrequited desire ensured
that neither felt like sleep.  At last Yvgeny had Katka all to himself.

   "Can I ask you a question?" she murmured, "all those months and
months... were you true to your promise the whole time?" It was a question
he didn't feel like answering right now, but how could he get himself out
of the hole and still keep the mood?

   "Were you?" he retorted, "Hochenloafer?"

   "Hochenlaufer!  I didn't sleep with him...  never even kissed him on the
mouth."

   "So where did you kiss him?" he smirked suggestively.  She slapped him
playfully on the face.

   "Nowhere where you're thinking!"

   "And where would I be thinking?" he asked.

   They began to play as Yvgeny suggested places that could be kissed until
they dissolved into laughter.  Yvgeny had dug himself out and her question
remained unanswered for the present.  He kissed and nibbled her mouth,
throat and the tips of her unfettered tits bobbling beneath the cotton
fabric of her shift.  Her hand found his bottom and drew him tighter so he
could sense her warm crotch through his long underpants.

   "Oo!" she cooed, "what's that?" she giggled, "oh!"

   She pushed herself at his hardening bulge and crossed her leg over his.
He kissed her long and intensely.  Katka's eyes moistened.  Not noted for
being free with her tears, nevertheless she began to sob against Yvgeny's
shoulder.

   "What's wrong?" he asked.

   "Nothing," she whispered between tears, "I thought I'd lost you...  and
now you're here....  it's too much!" Yvgeny groaned with passion.  He
rolled over on top of her kissing fiercely until forced to gulp in some
air. Her face glowed with excitement and lust.  She squirmed with sexual
energy, working his hard ridge between her legs until it pressed into her
soft sex.  He rose up and urgently pulled up her shift, over her pale
teenage body and off up her arms.  Her breathing came in gasps.  Himself
panting, he hungrily devoured her stiff nipples and tongued the soft flesh
of her little breasts.

   Katka scrambled at his underwear and he paused to help her discard them.
The bed covers were now bunched and falling off the bed but neither cared
as each sought desperately for the other's body.

   Katka gasped and trembled as Yvgeny wrenched her panties free, tearing
the pricey silk in the process.  She spread her kness wide for him as he
probed his hard cock at her wet bush.  With one relieving heave he found
her burning hole and launched himself to the very hilt.  She grimaced,
hands clamped to his sides trying to control the assault.

   "Easy!" she gasped urgently.

   In response he relaxed his efforts to allow Katka to adjust to him.  She
put her arms around his back and hugged him, kissing his neck, cheek and
lips.  Her hands moved back to his sides as she guided him to a steady
rhythm.  She pushed back in time to his movements until they flowed
together like experienced lovers.

   They were unaware of any other sounds of the Riga Central Station but
their rasped breathing.

   "Ohh" she said softly and guided him faster and more firmly into her. 
"Ohh!" she moaned again.

   "Oh darling!" he murmured as he watched her passion climb.  She looked
so beautiful, face soft and radiant in the dim yellow of the electric
light. Her moist lips were parted, he detected a smile of pleasure and
contentment in those lips and bright brown eyes.

   "Ohh!  Ohh...  love," she whispered, "ohh!"

   She pushed back at him urgently as she climbed towards her plateau. 
Yvgeny's cock ached for release and he was worried he'd burst into her
early.  He tried to minimise the friction and instead ground his pubic bone
against her clitoris.

   "Ohhh...  Yvgeny!" she cried, "ohh baby, I...  Ohhh, uhh, ohhh." Her
cries grew in intensity as she cried out her release.  Her hands grabbed
the flesh at his side and pulled him hard down against her pussy.  Yvgeny
worked himself faster into her and she moaned again.

   "Uhhh!" he grunted, as the first stream shot deep within her vagina. 
"Ohh," the next followed, equally intense.

   She felt his hot fluids and squeezed his body with her legs to keep him
grappled.  She realised this was a receptive time of the month and they
were playing a dangerous game.  Dangerous, at least, if she was concerned
about a rounded tummy on her wedding day.  Well, she thought, she wouldn't
be the first.  Strange what thoughts cross your mind in the heat of
passion, she mused afterwards.

   Squashed together on the narrow bunk afterwards, they didn't bother
dressing again.  Katka fell asleep feeling Yvgeny's hand clamped firmly to
her pussy.  Her own hand fell from around his cock as she drifted into
unconsciousness.

   --------------------------------------

   "We married some months later," explained the Admiral, "but it was in
that railway carriage, with passengers and platform staff just metres away
outside, that we became united.  We resolved never to let the service, our
families, anyone, come between us again."

   "And did Katka become pregnant?"

   "Well, she was carrying on our wedding day, but who knows?  We fucked
like bunnies right up to when we said our vows.  It could have been at
Riga. Certainly Katka preferred to believe I knocked her up after our first
dip.  Damn, she'd get pregnant just by me looking at her.  She used to tell
me I had the sperm count of a prize bull," he laughed.

   "But then, we had to face my Father, the Admiral."



   KATZMAREK (C)