“You should be proud,” he said. “Few can take such a decision.”

His superior held an antique folder. She replied, “Pride is a canceled word.”

He hung his head.

She ordered, “Destroy this.”

Accepting the manuscript, he whispered, “Pride, which not a world could bow.”

He went to the incinerator.

Nelly Shulman lives and writes in Saint Petersburg and Berlin. See more at nellyshulman.com.