You tell him you shouldn't come
"Ah! Of course!" The boy winks. "Just be careful,
Sophia. The tsar's eyes and ears are everywhere, and you especially,
should watch out."
You nod, for you know that's true, but what exactly did he mean by
"you especially"? You shrug it off and leave. Not more than
three minutes later, you hear,
"There she is! After that woman!"
What? you think frantically. Out of instinct, you take off running,
but someone claps a hand against your shoulder. You look up and nearly
faint, realizing it is a policeman!
"Sophia Dmitriovna Fedorcenko," he snaps, "I am under
orders to arrest you."
"What? I don't understand..."
"Perhaps this will refresh your memory," he says
sarcastically, holding out a piece of paper--a revolutionary pamphlet.
Drat! You must be guilty of writing stuff like this and passing it
out! Well, fine. If they're going to throw you in jail for trying to
help the Russian people, let them. After all, it's not like you can't
get out of the situation if worst comes to worst. You drop your eyes
in respect.
"Da," you say, using the Russian term for "yes".
"I acknowledge that I wrote this, but not that it was
wrong."
As you leave with the policeman, one thought courses through your
mind--what to do next?
"Ah...nyet," you answer, since you can now speak and
understand Russian. "I can't just now."
