Chapter 6

Doctor Kopolev stood frantically by the bedside of the dying man. They had given him oxygen and had applied leeches, but he feared they were too late. Fear from the politburo had led to delay. “If only they had called for me immediately!” Kopolev thought angrily to himself. Now, it would only be a few hours before the Secretary passed. Kopolev had rarely seen a man go with so much pain. For days the Secretary had twitched and withered like a snake that’s been thrown on hot coals. His groaning and moaning were nauseating only granting the listeners a break when he fell back into his unconscious state. Kopolev knew, it was time for him to go. Suddenly with a loud jolt, the man stopped twitching; silence fell like a bucket of cold water on the room. It was over. The great leader of the Soviet Union for the past 3 decades had finally gone. Kopolev looked down at his watch and scratched on his notepad “9:50 pm, March 5, 1953.” Stalin was dead.