The Man At The Front Door

It was a cold winter's night in 1921 on the prairies and the Kupchenkos huddled around the wooden stove in order to stay warm. The two children of the family watched their father stoke the fire. There was plenty of firewood so there was no fear of running out of heat. The family ate dinner, said their prayers and went to sleep. Then just after midnight there was a knock at the door. The father of the family, Igor, immediately bounced out of bed and grabbed his gun and walked to the front door suspiciously. The temperature was at least -50 Celsius and Igor knew that it was highly unusual to have a visitor come to the farmhouse in the winter and never had they had a visitor come during a night this cold. Igor looked out the window as the man rapped even harder on the door. 

Igor walked over to the door and hollered, "Who is it?"

The man from the other side of the door yelled, "My name Valerion. I have been walking for hours. I am cold, lost and hungry. Could you please help me for the night, otherwise I will die in the cold."

Igor knew that the man was desperate so he opened up the door and the man stood in front of him looking stiff as a corpse. His beard was completed frosted white and there were black rings around his eyes which was an indication of a man that was about to be frozen to death. He came inside and walked like a zombie over to the oven, he took off his gloves and placed his hands over it to feel the heat. Igor roused his wife and told her to make the visitor something to eat. 

The man sat down and Igor looked at the man's nearly black hands and toes knowing that they would likely have to be amputated. Igor did what he could to help the stranger, applying an ointment to his wounds and wrapping them in cloth. As the hours passed and the stranger ate his spirits buoyed. One of Igor's sons crawled up onto the strangers lap which brought a smile to the stranger's face. The stranger then began to talk. He said that his first name was Valerion and he had recently been evicted from his land because he had not paid his taxes and the police had a warrant out for his arrest. He claimed if he was caught he would likely be deported back to the Ukraine. He had nowhere to go and all he could do was hide and live off the generosity of others.

For Igor and his wife the story sounded true but they were still suspicious as the name claiming to be Valerion Stotchko, may be in fact a liar and wanted for much more serious crimes. Igor and his wife went to sleep while Valerion sat by the stove. A couple of hours later Igor got up and Valerion was gone. Igor opened the front door and saw the footprints in the snow leading and then disappearing into the night. 

A week later Igor was riding to a small town to pick up some groceries when off in the distance he saw a naked man with a beard wandering the fields near a bush. It looked like Valerion. Igor screamed out to him. The man who looked like Valerion looked his way and then like a paranoid hallucinating man that had wandered for too long. The naked man with the beard ran off to hide in the bush and was never seen again.