Chapters 17 and 18 Summary

In Chapter 17, in the boys' restroom, Sasha dashes into the last stall. He can hear the kids in the hall. His mind is on the broken nose and he silently apologizes to Stalin for the incident. He hears Miss Petrovna ordering all the kids to return to their classrooms. Sasha is frantically trying to wrap the banner up when in walks Vovka. He grabs the banner out of Sasha's hands. He plays around with it like it's a bayonet. Sasha warns Vovka not to damage the flag - it's state property. But Vovka has no respect for the banner and drops it on the wet floor. He sites the Soviet Criminal Code which lays out the laws that cover damaging or destroying state property and the punishment for violating them - death by firing squad. To Sasha's dismay, Vovka pulls Stalin's...