“Whose bag is this?” Curly repeated loudly.
Burtsev pushed Artiom in the chest. “Did you fall asleep?”
Looking around, Artiom saw that the soldier was holding a deck of cards.
Vasilii Petrovich took a step to the side.
For some reason, Artiom decided that they were giving him the cards, and, not thinking why he was doing it, he took them, though Curly was already preparing to take them into his hairy fingers.
For a few seconds, Artiom held the “icons” in his hands, automatically realizing that the hammer and sickle on the top card was intended to represent the ace, while the carefully-drawn Red Army soldier who was under the ace was intended to be a Jack.
Burtsev grabbed the deck from Artiom’s hands and gave it to Curly; a few cards fell on the ground.
“Pick them up,” said Burtsev.
