Chapter 2 Summary

Shurik is now many years in the past, a new arrival at Sosnogorsklag 32, which is the Soviet prison camp to which he has been assigned. (The chapters in this book alternate between the past in the gulag and the present in the town of Myshkino). A prison guard shouts at the new prisoners, who are lined up against the wall of the coal mine. They are several kilometers underground. Shurik has been assigned a number, B916, and is identified as being the only Englishman in the group. Another inmate identifies himself to the prison guard as 'Kirill Karlovich Balashov'. These two have a moment together where they are able to converse, and the beginning of a friendship unfolds. Kirill dubs him 'Shurik', telling him that this is short for Alexander. They take a walk together down a gallery of the mine, and Kirill...