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coughing.
    “Hey, Grandfather!” a pupil jeered from the back row. “With a voice like that you should have been a church cantor!”
    The children turned red with laughter and banged their desks. Little Tolik sitting in the third row stuck out his tongue, as did Ohrimko, who sat next to him.
    “Tolik! Ohrimko! Both of you, come here!” Sergei barked at them.
    Tolik, his head hanging, rose reluctantly from his seat, and shuffled slowly to the teacher’s desk. Ohrimko sat looking defiant.
    Sergei tapped his ruler against the palm of his hand. “Tolik, I saw what you did. It was very disrespectful. I want you to tell Grandfather Cemen that you’re sorry.”
    The boy turned scarlet. Edging his way toward the old man, he timidly kissed his hand and sputtered out an apology.
    “You may return to your seat, Tolik. Ohrimko, your turn.”
    Ohrimko refused to budge. “Why should I apologize? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
    Sergei gave him a stern look.
    The boy stood his ground.
    The old man hobbled over to Ohrimko. Squinting at him, he exclaimed, “Why, it’s you, you little hooligan! You’re the one who threw snowballs at me the other day. Is that what they teach you in school these days, to disrespect your elders? What you need is a good thrashing.”
    “Ohrimko, come here!” Losing patience, Sergei pointed to a chalk line in front of his desk, where he wanted the boy to stand.
    At that moment, Kulik, having heard the commotion from his office, came through the door. The children jumped instantly to their feet and said together, loudly and clearly, “Good morning, Director Kulik.”
    Frowning, Kulik stood at the head of the class, his hands behind his back, and looked around. “What, may I ask, is going on here?”
    Looking first at Ohrimko, then at the old man, it did not take him long to understand the situation. Sergei was quick to fill him in on the details.
    Kulik took a moment to think. Although he was headmaster and had control of the school, he had to act in accordance with the new regime. Thoughts whirled through his head as he tried to find a way out. It was true, Ohrimko had stepped out of line and ought to be punished for it. On the other hand, the old man had no business barging into the school in the first place. Kulik was on the verge of reprimanding them both, when he changed his mind. If he were to scold Ohrimko, he would not only be condoning the old man’s intrusion into the school, but, worse yet, condoning his outburst, which, under the new laws of the land, was clearly antagonistic and subversive. And if he were to turn on the old man, the children would become ruder and more abusive. As he struggled with these thoughts, he became less certain of what to do. He looked at Sergei, and came to a decision. “Why don’t you go ahead and dismiss the children for the rest of the day?”
    Quickly and silently, the children pulled their satchels from under their desks and as fast as they could, scrambled outside. Ohrimko was first out the door.
    The old man scowled. “Is this how you release the children, like a pack of sheep and with no prayer?” He looked along the walls for an icon. “And where are your icons? I see they’ve been ripped from the walls. Is nothing sacred anymore?”
    “What you say has some truth to it, Grandfather.” Kulik leaned forward and spoke softly. He was aware the slightest slip could seriously compromise his position. “Atheism has become the new way of life and unfortunately there’s not much you or I can do about it.”
    The old man pushed on. “At one time things were much different. In Kiev I used to go to the Lavra Pecherska monastery and pray, and I did it openly. But today God has been replaced by the Devil. Evil has triumphed.”
    Kulik listened patiently to the old man’s ramblings, and finally invited him into his office for a cup of tea. Taking him by the arm, he escorted him down the corridor. Sergei had packed up his belongings and gone