Lenin Lives!
As usual, Mrs. Denikin’s schoolchildren screamed that Lenin was alive. This was expected. Every year, when her children were marched past the tomb of Russia’s hallowed leader, embalmed under glass, at least one child was disrespectful enough to grab another’s hand and scream. Vladimir Lenin was a great man. His actions had caused millions to die and generations to suffer, but that was because others had twisted Lenin’s teachings. The man himself was still a great figure. Based on this faith, Mrs. Denikin took a busload of children into Moscow each year, and heard the same disrespectful jokes every time. Only this year the children did not seem amused as they said it, but stunned, or even crying. Mrs. Denikin could see Lenin’s body moving, even from ten meters away at the end of the line. Was someone shaking the coffin? The children quickly ran past, none wanting to linger. As she got closer, Mrs. Denikin was horrified to see Lenin’s limbs twitching and his eyelids moving. What a terrible prank! This was a lookalike, it had to be. Mrs. Denikin herded her distraught children and led them out into the chaotic Red Square. The children began screaming even louder. Mrs. Denikin hushed them, until the screams from the Square made her notice exactly why Red Square was chaotic. The Square was filling with the dead. Naked bodies from a morgue were staggering from the left. Dead soldiers marched in formation on the right. Rotting corpses were crawling with whatever strength their remaining meat could give them. They were all coalescing around the tomb. Mrs. Denikin felt a hand on her shoulder, a cold one that smelled of formaldehyde. Mrs. Denikin hoped she was right about Lenin.
