Niketa

By Stephen Berley

Niketa was seventeen, likable, adventurous, and curious about everything, especially life. He lived in the early 1900s outside a small village in the southwestern part of Russia with his father, mother, and six siblings. They were a wealthy farming family. He was the youngest of the children, and everyone loved him. He lived a peaceful life—that is, until he saved his cousin’s life. That day changed everything. He was on top of the world one day, but then life began to change—changes that led to the betrayal of his brother, a serious injury, death, and his running away from his family and himself.

He did the one thing he always did when confused. He ran away. But life as we know it has many twists and turns, and in Niketa’s life, it became disastrous. He ran away from his family and traveled to Minsk where he believed his grandfather would help him find himself and the answers he was looking for. On his journey to Minsk, Niketa met William, a young university student who was a Bolshevik and had recently escaped from a Russian Gulag. William had been trying to change the world in tsarist Russia, and Niketa became enthralled with William’s ideals. However, Niketa also found that a Cossack captain was tracking William, and it seemed as if the captain always knew where they were going. The captain was also a fiend, a thug from the Gulag who would stop at nothing to find William and take him back to the Gulag—dead or alive. Although Niketa found understanding with William and a way out of some of his problems, he also found more hurt and death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662419188

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Niketa

Stephen Berley

Copyright © 2020 Stephen Berley

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-6624-1917-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-6231-3 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-6624-1918-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Niketa is watching from the pew when his eyes fill with tears, tears of joy in seeing Will say I do to Helena. The vows are completed, and the couple kiss and walk down the church aisle and out the doors where everyone is cheering and smiling. In a short time, they are all together at the reception hall where there is Russian music playing, dancing, and much laughter. Niketa sees Will and asks Will to come with him as he has something he wants to say and give to his son. They go to a corner of the reception hall where Niketa pulls out a pocket watch and gives it to Will. It is a very special watch, which Will knows belonged to his great-grandfather, Andrei, and is the one thing that his father has cherished, an item that always made him smile.

Will is touched by the wonderful gift and says, I will cherish the watch forever and will always carry it with me. It will remind me of how wonderful and wise you are.

Niketa smiles, laughs, and says, That wasn’t always the case.

It is a snowy night, and all you could hear and see is the howl of the wind blowing, with its eerie sounds, and the snow falling upon the tall, majestic pine trees, which surrounded the area of the farmhouse. The snow begins to fall heavily, and with the gusts of wind, the snow begins to pile up everywhere. Drifts of snow are already over two feet and are covering the steps leading up to the farmhouse. It is going to be a difficult night.

Tatiana looks out the kitchen window and shivers as she looks into the dark, cold farmland and forest. She knows that John will be going to Yagetz, a small rural village, 250 miles southwest of Minsk, that evening as everyone wants to talk about the world news of Italy winning its war with the Ottoman Empire and how Germany, being concerned, is now enlarging its army. The world powers are all talking of war, including Russia.

John Berlinetz is the oldest child of Andrei Berlinetz, a wealthy farmer and the largest landowner in the area with over ten thousand hectares of land. Andrei has been able to grow the farm so that they now have a large number of horses, cows, and pigs and have many hectares of corn, wheat, and rows of apple and cherry trees. It is the nicest farm in the area, one that Andrei is proud of and pleased to see how it has grown over the past fifty years. His wonderful wife, Anna, has died ten years ago after forty years of a great marriage. They have two children, John and Stella. Andrei has been well respected by the other farmers, who know him as an honorable and honest person. He, however, is now in his eighties and, although in fairly good health, has decided five years ago to give the farm to his son, John, and to leave Yagetz and live in his large, beautiful house in Minsk, where he has also become a highly respected man.

John has married Tatiana twenty-five years ago, and his life with her has been wonderful. They have seven great children, who are still at home helping on the farm. John and Tatiana know the Lord has been very good to them. John, meanwhile, has become a person of respect in his own stead. The other farmers and village residents now go to John when they have problems or are concerned about anything. He has recently been approached by several churchmen this past Sunday to meet tonight and discuss their concerns of Russia becoming involved in a war with Germany. It will be a long night for John.

Tatiana is still looking out the window and thought she notices a shadow quickly moving along the trees coming toward the house. Just then, she hears John shouting from the sofa next to the fireplace.

When are we going to eat? I am hungry and must be going to the meeting in the village tonight.

Supper will be coming shortly, Tatiana answers and asks that he call the children to dinner while she sets the table.

John calls to the children to come to dinner. He thinks how proud he is of his family. They are good children although that Niketa, his youngest son, is curious about everything and always seems to be getting into something. Niketa has recently talked with him about when they would see their grandpa as they have not seen him in over six months. John knows that Niketa loves his grandpa dearly, and he, too, has been thinking of a time when the family can go and see him.

John comes back from his daydreaming when he hears the bedroom doors above slam closed, and the children come running downstairs. Susan is pushing Delores and complaining of her being too bossy. Delores has told Vera and Susan that they must clean their room tonight as it is so sloppy, she cannot find her slippers, and she will tell their papa if they do not clean up the room. Everyone knows that whatever Delores says, their papa will listen as she is the oldest.

John notices that everyone is there except for Niketa. Tatiana says for everyone to sit down and dinner will be served. They must eat as they never know when Niketa will come home as he is always forgetting the time. Tatiana is serving borscht tonight with pork—everyone’s favorite dinner. She takes the bread she has just made out of the oven. The wonderful aroma fills the kitchen, with everyone smiling as they love their mama’s cooking. As usual, Stephen rushes to help his mama with the bread as he is always hungry and willing to help her when it comes to food. He also knows he can take a little piece of bread, and she will not say anything. Everyone sits down, and John begins the blessing.

Just as John is about to complete his prayer, the kitchen door flies open with a gust of cold wind and snow coming into the kitchen along with someone who looks like a strange being all covered with snow. The girls yell from the blast of the air and the way that the person looks. It is Niketa. His face is dirty and scratched with some dried blood by his nose, and his coat is torn. He is very excited and says loudly that he and Stan were in the forest hunting and had lost all track of time. They had seen the wolf.

He says he and Stan had decided that they would search the forest and kill the wolf, which had been raiding the area farms for the past month. Niketa says they had gone to their pond, but before he says anything more, Tatiana becomes mad and yells, Niketa! Take your hat and jacket off. Wash and come to dinner before everything gets cold. No more stories about wolves. You are always telling stories about something. It is time to eat as Papa must go to the village shortly.

But I must tell you what happened, Niketa says. I must—

No more, Niketa. Enough!

Everyone then begins to eat, but you can see Niketa is squirming in his chair and bursting to tell everyone what happened. John thinks to himself that he may as well hear what happened as it will be interesting to mention at the meeting tonight because almost everyone has lost a chicken or a pig to that wolf.

John then says, Mama, I think we should listen to the story as no one is going to eat until Niketa tells us what happened.

Tatiana gives John a look of frustration, but she knows when he says something, that is it. John then asks Niketa to tell them what has happened.

Niketa jumps up and excitedly explains how he and Stan decided last week that they would take their shotguns and look for the wolf by the forest and the pond.

They have gone to the pond for the last five days but have not seen anything until late this afternoon. They have been sitting next to the large, old oak by the pond even with the snow blowing in their faces and the snow starting to accumulate on the ground. After a while, Stan is getting cold and needs to get up to move his body, plus he needs to take a pee. Stan goes to a bush nearby and is peeing when he hears a sound behind him. Stan turns, and there behind him is a large gray wolf with bulging red eyes staring at him. The wolf is growling with its mouth wide open, showing its large fangs and saliva dropping from its mouth. Stan yells, but before he can do anything, the wolf is on top of him, biting and tearing at him.

Niketa hears Stan’s yell and comes running with his shotgun. When he gets to Stan, he can see the wolf on top of him, biting ferociously. Niketa raises his shotgun and takes aim, but he cannot get a good shot without hitting Stan. Niketa yells, picks up a rock, and throws it at the wolf, hitting it in the head. The wolf then stops biting Stan and looks around at where the noise and rock have come from. He then sees Niketa.

It immediately runs and jumps on Niketa, knocking him down. They struggle, but Niketa is very quick and gets to his feet, picks up his gun that he has dropped, and then hits the wolf with the gun, stunning it for a second, which is long enough for Niketa to point the gun and shoot one time. The wolf lies motionless. Niketa turns and runs to Stan, who is still lying on the ground.

Stan, are you okay? Did he bite you? Stan, do you hear me?

Yeah, I’m okay. The wolf didn’t bite me, just got my clothes.

Stan gets up and then asks Niketa if he is okay. Niketa’s clothes are torn and covered with snow. Except for a little scratch by his nose, he too is fine. They then turn and look at the gray wolf lying on its side with blood all over the snow. The large, gray wolf is motionless, but its eyes seem to be glaring at the boys. The boys look at each other for a time, saying nothing, and then turn and run to their homes to tell their parents.

Conrad yells, I don’t believe it! You are always telling stories!

But Niketa says, I’ll show you. Let’s go to the pond.

Stephen, Andrew, Conrad, and Niketa all get up from the kitchen table and run toward their coats when their mama says, Stop this crazy talk. I don’t want to hear any more of this wolf.

John then says, Mama, something happened to Niketa. I think the boys and I should go to the pond.

What of your meeting, Papa?

I still have a few more hours before I have to go. I will be back in time.

With that, the boys and John get their coats, gloves, and hats, take their horses, and ride to the pond. When they get to the pond, there lies the great gray wolf on its side just like Niketa has said. John has a huge smile and turns to Niketa, hugging him. His brothers are all laughing and jumping up and down. They quickly put the wolf on one of the horses and go home to show Tatiana and the girls. Just as they get home and are about to enter their house, Stan and his father, Peter Velkov (a farmer in the area, who has married Stella Berlinetz and has one child, Stan), come riding to the farmhouse. Stan has told his