4.22 Honeymoon begins

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22. Arrival at Siziman

Olga is aware of vibration and, opening eyes to cabin's faint lighting, she sees and hears Boris on her left snoring.  Zhenya is at desk writing and looks up smiling. “Vee landt zoon.”
   Olga gets glimpse of the Siziman Bay community as helicopter settles toward grassy landing: A valley with coastline and inland low hills with pine trees. Houses with sheet iron roofs glisten brightly in afternoon sunlight.

   Following Boris down ramp, Olga sees the welcome consists of 7 kids, ages 5 to 10, all blond and blue-eyes. Thinking them beggars she gets small kopek coins out, eliciting a sharp negative shake of head from Boris.

Olga is happy to find Boris's duties end with his handing over cartons of vaccine and medical supplies and bringing doctor and nurse.
   The doctor and Zhenya will start vaccinating and will train 3 local barefoot doctors in 2 days; then the helicopter will take off on return trip. Boris gets hold of a small car, and the 10-gallon cans of petrol he'd brought will be enough for his planned trip in the 3-cylinder so-called bug, a latest car model from Germany.

    3 PM and sun still high. Olga feels tingling pleasure sitting next to Boris in Red Betsy, her naming for the mini car that is red, colorfully and politically, and that must be femme because pretty. 
  “Olenka, beloved, for months I plan this honeymoon. We must be back before helicopter leaves or we will be exiled to summer in Siberia.” He opens map: a red X covers Siziman Bay area and black pencil line traces route; first west, away from coast for 8 kilometers; then north to a smaller x at a lake. “We visit my friend. I call her Mamka because native name unpronounceable and is my name for ‘little mother’ which is how I think of her.”

   “She is short stature?”

   “Yes, the aboriginal Sibers are short, especially the women.”
   Boris turns the ignition key. Red Betsy purrs to power and Boris shifts the steering wheel stick into first gear, gradually pressing down on gas pedal and smoothly engaging the gears by a balanced release of floor clutch pedal, and Red Betsy accelerates forward and Boris shifts to 2^nd gear and then to 3^rd by expert combined hand and foot motion that assures good transmission of power to the car drive-shaft. Olga pulls on her eye-goggles and the mask that Boris instructed her to wear. Its being late June, the dirt road is drying out and the car trip will raise lots of dust.

   Boris drives silently; he does not like his attention diverted, and Olga sits back and looks out window at Siberian scene.
   The sod dirt road is 2-car-breadths wide. Red Army engineers using the labor of captured counter-revolutionists had cleared it and packed down the sod to make a 2-way driving surface after the anti communist White Army was defeated in 1923. Olga can see cut trees and shrubbery that had been tossed into side ditches but by now the forest is crowding back and in some places Betsy has to be maneuvered past lowly hanging tree branches or be forced to over-ride thickets of leaves and vines.

   Animals are evident: Here, a hare standing by side of road with long ears straight up, surprised by Betsy’s raucous roar, fleeing it in long hops; there, flying squirrels jump tree to tree and gloomy daytime forest bats flash overhead; and Olga sees two brown bears – mates she guesses – who stare at them from side of road between harvesting honey from a bee-hive in low branch of tree. After an hour – now 4 PM but sun still high – the car breaks out of the foliage and gets onto a rock-hewn road along ledge of cliff by a lake which Boris says is unofficially called Lake Iosif after the Leader. At far end of lake, Olga sees a log blockhouse. Out its door that moment a small figure in gray burlap dress comes hurrying and peers at the approaching car.
                For next, click 4.23 The Evenk Eskimo Eve