“... and these people standing by the coffin, and along with them, him, and Petka—everything is part of one huge and powerful whole, what is called the Soviet country. And this thought, simple and clear, firmly settled in his excited mind.
— Petka, — he said, for the first time seized by a strange and incomprehensible emotion, — it’s true, Petka—if they were to kill us too, or like Yegor, or in the war, then let it be so?...
We don’t mind!”
— We don’t mind! — Petka repeated, like an echo, guessing Vasya’s thoughts and mood.
— Only, you know, it’s better if we live for a long, long time.”