Norm worked with a man from Stalingrad that was somewhat fluent in English, This man, Stefan, ran the largest machine in the shop. After working on the shop floor for a time, the Russian was seen by the Norm as the heartbeat of the shop. Stefan was always moving, lubricating, adjusting even while the huge machine was running.
There was quite a bit of noise from the machine as it worked and no one talked much to one another. Stefan hardly spoke to anyone except Bob, the foreman. He was the first person Norm had ever met from a mysterious country. The impressions of Grade School duck and cover from nuclear war did not seem to fit this man. He was a simple man with a good job.
Indeed, a humble man, obviously of some means, Stefan wore old white dress shirts and woolen trousers. In the summers and the winters. He didn’t socialize but did share lunch with the men. The only heated room in the whole building was the bathroom, so that was the lunchroom too. Running water was handy and it was a welcome break from blowing snow and gloves that made assembly hard. This factory made power poles and cross arms that held insulators for the wires.
There was a loneliness from Stefan and it was expected when you saw him. Perhaps it was because of the war and his time at the battle in Stalingrad. Rarely did he speak of these things but Norm, being an introvert himself, set himself to be a servant to him. Reading Russian classics gave him the way to treat a Zek or prisoner. It can be seen from Dostoevsky’s writing of the mid nineteenth century. ‘The house of the dead’ is a good place to begin this discovery.
As a new guy in the ‘barracks’ of the factory, Norm knew he could attach himself to Stefan as servant to a lord. Small things like bringing in some sweet rolls known as Vatrushka or smoked fish to share. It is the way things are done when men are together in the prison of work. Norm had a friend on the East side, a great violinist, Peter Ostrushko that knew the places to go for authentic foods. vatrushka sweet buns and such too. Norm was intrigued with Russian culture and now, at hand, was a fellow worker that lived those things. It was a path to a desired friendship.
Gradually, Stefan began to understand Norm’s respect of the way Dostoevsky wrote of those things. There was even hot tea for break time and the very young Norm and the very old man began to talk. Drinking tea by sipping through a sugar cube. The deeper personal things that bond and enrich life. There was so much depth to Stefan. Indeed a man of the world and holder of the highest Soviet war medal, The Orden Pobeta which translates to ‘The order of Victory.” It is the rarest order in the world. Sometime later, Stefan showed Norm the actual medal. It indeed was beautiful. To actually touch and hold this badge of honor, given to his friend Stefan was humbling indeed. It was at Stefan’s simple west bank house in an old cigar box. To be continued part II
Jack gators grace notes 