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would not meet again. But they met.They met again in the Chechnya Mountains. The soldiers were returningto camp, going down the slope of the mountain, when suddenly there was firing.The strongest was the machine-gun fire. The machine gunner knew his business.Some of the soldiers were wounded. The platoon commander told Ivan to destroythe machine gun. Ivan went to the machine gunner from behind. Suddenly hesaw the machine gunner, standing in a trench and hurriedly charging his gun.Ivan threw two grenades. When the smoke dissipated, he came up to thetrenches. He saw the machine gunner, who lay on his back and looked wide-eyedinto the blue sky. Ivan was looking at him for some time. Then he looked longer,and he recognized him. This was his old friend Bazav.When the soldiers came up to Ivan, he was standing above the machinegunner, repeating, “I killed him. It can’t be true. It can’t be true . . .”Telling Tales69nikolay malevanayNikolay Malevanay was born in Ukraine. He graduated from Higher EngineeringMarine School, in Russia, and lived in Tashket, Uzbekistan. Since 2004 he haslived in New York. He studies English at the Peninsula Adult Learning Centerof the Queens Library, where Ebru Mestizo Yenal is the literacy specialist, andBarbara Miller is the center manager. He writes, “I recently became a citizen ofthe United States. I am very proud.”