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Vasili and the aide left the room. Volodya went to Zoya and said: "For God's sake, what's going on?"
Her voice was shaky. "The Americans have dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan." Her beautifully pale face seemed even whiter than normal. "At first the Japanese government couldn't figure out what had happened. It took them hours to realize what it was."
"Are we sure?"
"It flattened five square miles of buildings. They estimate that seventy-five thousand people were killed instantly."
"How many bombs?"
"One."
"One bomb?"
"Yes."
"Good God. No wonder Stalin turned pale."
They both stood silent. The news was spreading around the room visibly. Some people sat stunned; others got up and left, heading for their offices, their telephones, their desks, and their staffs.
"This changes everything," Volodya said.
"Including our honeymoon plans," said Zoya. "My leave is sure to be canceled."
"We thought the Soviet Union was safe."
"Your father has just made a speech about how the revolution has never been so secure."
"Now nothing is secure."
"No," said Zoya. "Not until we have a bomb of our own."
vii
Jacky Jakes and Georgy were in Buffalo, staying at Marga's apartment for the first time. Greg and Lev were there too, and on Victory in Japan Day--Wednesday, August 15--they all went to Humboldt Park. The paths were crowded with jubilant couples and there were hundreds of children splashing in the pond.
Greg was happy and proud. The bomb had worked. The two devices dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had wreaked sickening devastation, but they had brought the war to a quick end and saved thousands of American lives. Greg had played a role in that. Because of what they had all done, Georgy was going to grow up in a free world.
"He's nine," Greg said to Jacky. They were sitting on a bench, talking, while Lev and Marga took Georgy to buy ice cream.
"I can hardly believe it."
"What will he be, I wonder?"
Jacky said fiercely: "He's not going to do something stupid like acting or playing the goddamn trumpet. He's got brains."
"Would you like him to be a college professor, like your father?"
"Yes."
"In that case"--Greg had been leading up to this, and was nervous about how Jacky might react--"he ought to go to a good school."
"What did you have in mind?"
"How about boarding school? He could go where I went."
"He'd be the only black pupil."
"Not necessarily. When I was there we had a colored guy, an Indian from Delhi called Kamal."
