Scout's Honor! Part 4

1984.

Again.

Citizens of the USSR are still building communism with the азарт of hunters “getting” scarce goods. They don’t suspect the dreadful turns of events that await both them and the country in the near future.

My father is still alive and teaches at a school. For me, it’s only seven years since “past time” began. And he (not me) will soon go to first grade. This boy doesn’t know that life has surprises in store for him.

Only, surprises can be different.

I myself am the big surprise. For some—pleasant. But for others, my return to 1984 promises nothing good.

Will I change the future I remembered? After all, the me of today is only ten. I’m a pioneer again, preparing to go to fourth grade.

In the Soviet Union, a ten-year-old boy doesn’t have many chances to influence people’s fates and the fate of the whole country. Perhaps that’s why fate didn’t only grant me a “second chance,” but also gave me a gift. Or did it curse me?

I’ll use that gift. And I’ll make it into someone else’s curse. Honest pioneer’s word!