Train to Samarkand

A boy wearing a sleeveless men's jacket in maroon color with golden flowers and glass buttons was standing in the corridor, urinating into a bucket. The jacket was very large that the hem crumpled and stretched into folds on the parquet floor, and the boy's thin neck protruded from the collar of the jacket like a stick from a tree. Beneath the red velvet, his completely naked white body was visible. The boy had no trousers, not even underwear, after he had relieved himself, he lifted the edges of his cloak so they wouldn't drag behind him while walking, and he moved to his place, dragging his feet heavily. His bare feet, visible from under the sides of the jacket, resembled elephant feet—those ugly, swollen lower limbs that had lost any shape—moving slowly, with effort, barely lifting off the ground. Shapiro, panting and breathless from the climb (it seemed to Dave that she was swaying from exhaustion and from the anxiety and agitation during the last few minutes), explained, "We found this treasure on the orchestra balcony, along with the wig and powder. That's right, a dozen of the musicians' concert suits remained, and not a single pair of shoes." It would have been better if we had found the opposite. But good is not wasted, so we distributed them to the children... Or are you looking at his feet? I told you, we have a clinic here. The third-floor space was much narrower and lower, with small windows through which one could see a hanging cornice from above. Dave could have touched the ceiling with his hand if he wanted. Clearly, the annexed buildings R were once here. And there was a low door leading to each of them... Shapiro and Dave looked into several hallways (they had to bend at the door threshold so as not to hit their heads on the lintel), until they found Bellaya in one of them. She was not wandering around the room but was standing close to the door, looking attentively at the occupants. Even if she wanted to walk, she wouldn't be able to move here—the rooms were very narrow, and the children's bodies densely covered the floors.