Moscow, Summer 1934... the next day after Alexei accepted in Alexandrov Ensemble and met everyone.
This time, Dmitry walked leisurely, enjoying the morning sun shining on the communal areas, shops, and streets. He strolled among the busy Muscovite traffic until he reached the tram terminal. Dmitry checked the number on the tram and was delighted to see the number ten. At the same time, from outside, Dmitry spotted Alexei standing reading a book. Dmitry enthusiastically boarded the tram and approached the curly-haired young man.
"Good morning, Lyosha," Dmitry greeted Alexei. But Alexei didn't answer, his eyes still darting from side to side, reading his diary. Dmitry remained silent and shrugged, assuming Alexei was still busy reading his diary from yesterday. Suddenly, another passenger nudged Dmitry, asking him to move aside because he was blocking the tram entrance.
"And I don't remember if we've met before..." Alexei replied in astonished tone, but his eyes remained on the book. Dmitry, equally surprised, replied, "Um... we just met yesterday, right?"
"I forgot your name again..."
"Dima... Petronov Dmitry Sergeevich. I hope you haven't forgotten my face too?" Dmitry began to worry that Alexei was severely forgetful and clumsier, even worse than he was. Alexei's eyelids, which had initially seemed half-asleep, widened at the mention of Dmitry's name. He turned the page of his book, read it briefly before returning to Dmitry's gaze. Alexei said regretfully, "Ah, I'm so forgetful. I should have seriously remembered you."
"It's okay," Dmitry smiled in relief, assuming Alexei just hadn't been paying attention. Without a word, Dmitry returned to staring out the bustle of the street outside the tram window, humming the song "Polyushko Pole" he had memorized that morning.
Meanwhile, Alexei was now staring at that young man in the black hat, and this time his eyes showed genuine interest. Dmitry, realizing that Alexei was staring at him, immediately raised an eyebrow. But Alexei didn't say a word, just staring at Dmitry with interest, or perhaps inspecting his new friend's body, Dmitry thought. Until the tram reached Kommite Street and began picking up and dropping off passengers, Alexei continued to stare at Dmitry, making Dmitry feel uncomfortable. But just as Dmitry was about to ask about Alexei's stare, a figure shorter than Dmitry suddenly appeared and pushed his way in between him and Alexei.
"Good morning, Dima! Alyosha!" Vasily shouted loudly, startling the other passengers who stared at him in surprise. Alexei immediately averted his gaze to Vasily with great distaste. At the same time, Vadim, the tallest of all the passengers, also pushed his way in and stood next to Vasily, completely blocking the view between Dmitry and Alexei.
As the tram began to move, somewhat jerkily, Dmitry saw Alexei's hand hitting Vadim's arm while shouting, "You're blocking me from Dim... Dima!" so Vadim could hear him over the noise.
"Ah, I'm sorry, Alyosha! But I can't move aside - it's too narrow!" Vadim replied. After that, there was no more complaining from behind Vadim, and tram number 16 became much busier after leaving Kommite Street.
===
"Dima... Dima..." Alexei called after they got off the tram. Dmitry turned to his right, seeing Alexei's face, which still looked tired from earlier. "I still regret forgetting. Really, I really made a mistake. I'm sorry..."
"Eh, I don't mind. It's normal that you still forget my name, since we're in different sections. Hahaha..."
After that, the two of them chatted, though they mostly talked about their lives after the Soviet Union was founded in 1917. "Well, since then, my father served as a guard in Stavropol, supporting the Red Army. Then a year later, he died, and my mother and I were almost affected by the famine. We quickly moved to Tsaritsyn where we could find shelter," Dmitry explained.
"My sister and I were alone. But my family survived, until finally the famine struck Kiev. My parents, my mother, and my youngest brother, Konstantin, fell victim. Meanwhile, they ordered Anna and me to quickly flee to Leningrad, to find our aunt who could care for us better than they could. It worked, and my sister and I survived," Alexei replied grimly, his frozen eyes beginning to soften slightly toward Dmitry.
"Aw. My condolences, Lyosha. Well, parents do do everything they can to keep their children alive. Love, you know," Dmitry comforted with a wink of his left eye, making Alexei smile slightly. Then they arrived at the Zemledelcheski building, going straight up to the third floor. Alexei made a brief detour to the instrument room and began searching for his trumpet case. Dmitry waited a moment, and finally Alexei managed to pull it out. The letter В.Б was engraved in very small white ink on the bottom of the suitcase, which Dmitry accidentally saw. Although after that Alexei put the suitcase down, it turned out that there was another white letter, А.Ю.М which was larger than the writing on the bottom of the suitcase. Dmitry didn't think about it further, after Alexei with his small smile still persisted, said, "See you at lunch."