Sergeyich discovers a grenade in the hive

Sergeyich discovers a grenade in one of his beehives while making a repair. The green grenade, hidden among the combs and crawling with bees, is the one Petro had given him the previous winter. Its appearance interrupts an ordinary task and brings the absent soldier—and the possibility that he may be dead or injured—back into Sergeyich’s thoughts.

The discovery

Sergeyich is working on a plank beside a hive, using pliers and a wrench to reposition a nail. After apologizing to the bees for the noise and trying to strike lightly, he hears something heavy roll inside the hive. He stops repairing it, removes the strap and roof, and carefully draws out the comb nearest the entrance. A shaft of sunlight falls into the opened space, revealing something round and green.

He moves a neighbouring comb and recognizes a grenade among the bees: the very one Petro had given him the previous winter. Sergeyich reaches into the hive, removes it, and brushes the bees away. The grenade feels warm in his hand, an unexpected physical detail that makes it impossible to treat the discovery as merely an object misplaced among the beekeeping equipment.

The grenade and Petro

The grenade links the hive to Petro, who had been present in Sergeyich’s life during the previous winter. The object’s return is also a reminder of what Sergeyich does not know about the soldier’s fate. Back in his car, he thinks of Petro and wonders whether he is dead or injured; the discovery provides no answer.

Sergeyich puts the grenade in his trouser pocket, then returns the combs to their place, lowers the roof, and fastens the strap over the hive again. The sequence holds together care for the bees and apprehension about the grenade: he restores the hive before leaving the scene with the object.

A wartime object among ordinary goods

The discovery gains force from the practical world Sergeyich has built around his bees. During his wartime relocation, he prepared the hives for travel by closing their entrances, loading them one by one onto a trailer, covering them with a tarpaulin, and strapping them down. He also packed honey because, as he reasoned, it retained its value like money. Later, he traded honey for groceries, receiving more than a thousand hryvnias’ worth of buckwheat, barley, millet, and other goods.

In that world, hives are both living homes for the bees and cargo to be protected on the road. The grenade unsettles that practical order: a remnant of the war has been concealed inside a working hive, among the combs Sergeyich tends and the bees depend on. His discovery does not resolve the danger or explain how the grenade came to rest there; it makes the war’s presence within his everyday life newly concrete.

From surprise to unanswered concern

After securing the hive, Sergeyich places the grenade in his pocket and later takes it out in the car, setting it on the passenger seat. He retrieves his mobile phone from the glove compartment and calls Petro. Long beeps sound; Sergeyich listens for a couple of minutes and then puts the phone away. The failed attempt to reach him leaves the central question open rather than confirming Petro’s fate.

The episode turns on recognition: the unfamiliar sound inside the hive leads Sergeyich to identify an object from his past, and that recognition redirects his attention from repair to the person who gave it to him. The bees continue to occupy the hive, while the grenade makes visible the war that has accompanied Sergeyich’s movements, exchanges, and attempts to preserve a life around them.