Grossman: 'V gorode Berdicheve: babies' clothing

[Alina Israeli]

This is indeed a puzzling passage because only from the following 
paragraph (the one that follows the распашонки bit) does she find out 
that Vavilova is pregnant:

Они  негромко смеялись,  переговариваясь  между собой, и
примеряли, подымая большие толстые руки, маленькие, игрушечные распашонки.
 Днем  Бэйла зашла в комнату Вавиловой; та  стояла подле  окна, и острый
женский  глаз Бэйлы  уловил  скраденную  высоким  ростом  Вавиловой  полноту
живота.
     --  Я  очень извиняюсь, -- решительно  сказала  Бэйла, но  вы, кажется,
беременны.
     И Бэйла,  всплескивая  руками,  смеясь и причитая, принялась  хлопотать
вокруг нее.

So why would the protagonist ошеломленно look at the scene if they were 
making real распашонки? After all Beyla has a baby who might need more 
clothing. And Beyla doesn't know yeat that the comissar will need them.

Alina

Robert Chandler wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> This story is set in Berdichev during the Russian-Polish war.  A tall,
> strong, determined female commissar has become pregnant and has finally had
> to accept that she can’t carry on as usual.  She has been billeted on a
> Jewish family.  The wife is trying to teach her a bit about what being a
> mother will be like.
>
> Вернувшийся  вечером  с  работы  Магазаник  ошеломленно остановился  в
> дверях:  за столом  сидела его  жена Бэйла  и рядом с ней большая  женщина в
> просторном  платье, в туфлях-шлепанцах  на босу ногy,  с головой, повязанной
> пестрой  косынкой.  Они  негромко смеялись,  переговариваясь  между собой, и
> примеряли, подымая большие толстые руки, маленькие, игрушечные распашонки
>
> My dictionary translates ‘raspashonka’ as ‘a short baby’s undershirt without
> buttons’.  But why is it also ‘igrushechnaya’?  Is that simply a way of
> saying it is very small?  The French translator evidently thinks it means
> something like an item of clothing for a doll, but I don’t think that makes
> much sense.
>
> More generally, I am a bit puzzled as to why they are measuring clothes for
> a baby that has yet to be born.
>
> All the best,
>
> Robert--
>   

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