To no avail. Where to go next - she did not know yet.
Outside the window of a second-class carriage, which arrived a quarter of an hour ago, it was late spring at the terminal of Kulikovo station. The sun painted everything yellow: the walls of the station buildings, the faces of passers-by and their clothes, even the gray cracked asphalt of the apron, along which the gusty wind drove scraps of newspapers and various small garbage. The passing dachshund, passing in passing, marked a thick concrete pillar and ran on for some of her dog's business, amusingly turning over with short paws.
From thinking the woman sitting on the hard couch of the second-class coupe, brought a deaf male voice. He spoke abruptly. Short sentences. Each time pausing, as if pondering what exactly should be said in the next moment.
- Woman. We arrived. End station! Kulikovsky station. The train does not go further. You need to free the car. I'm here ... it is ... need to wash.
Startled after his first word, Vika glanced at the man who addressed her and recognized him as a young guide, with whom she traveled almost all the way. As soon as she got into the car before midnight before the car, the guide to the rhinestone seemed a little strange to her, but in fact turned out to be very kind and peaceful. Straight light-straw hair, gray eyes, a long nose, resembling the beak of a large bird, a strange expression on which perplexity froze - about that was his portrait. Buttons on the collar of the uniform of the conductor's shirt were unbuttoned, the tie removed from the neck imposingly dangling on a hairpin, over the stomach. The sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, and in his left hand he held a mop, leaning on it, as if on a staff and impatiently shifted from one foot to the other.
Startled, Vika returned from her thoughts to reality and realized that the car had been empty for a long time, all the passengers had already left it, and the conductor was engaged in cleaning up her workplace. He had already washed most of the car until he stumbled into her in the penultimate compartment - a passenger who had forgotten to leave.
The young man waited patiently, looking at Vika with a unblinking gaze, while the woman looked at him thoughtfully (as if remembering something or making some important decision). She was wearing a gray tracksuit and a blue windbreaker, old white sneakers on her feet, and on her knees she was holding a medium-sized black gym bag, scarcely filled with things, barely a third.
Its age was difficult to determine. Although it was evident that she was still quite young, the woman did not look her best: thin, gaunt, pointed cheekbones and broken rays of facial wrinkles, dark bruises under her eyes. Black hair, worn in places with silver threads of gray hair, was gathered in a ponytail and taut with a rubber band, which made her forehead look rather high. In the unbuttoned O-shirt, sharp clavicle looked through, and on the neck there was an aluminum cross on a plain white thread. There were no jewels, as well as traces of cosmetics on her, only two points in her ears testified that a woman used to wear earrings. Thin uneven fingers, with nails cropped at the root, also could not boast of either elegance, or the presence of jewelry on them, or manicure. The appearance of the passenger could be called ugly and possibly even repulsive if it were not for her eyes, large, deep blue eyes, as if in a baby, captivating with their naivety and purity. As if they did not belong to this person or this person, as if someone had planted white roses in the lifeless desert, they attracted a person and did not let him go. These eyes - they just lived their lives, and eyes, as you know - a mirror of the soul. So the conductor, having got into the trap of these eyes, was stuck in their bewildered gaze, and stood waiting, not daring to say a word, not to continue to wash the rest of the car.
The woman suddenly stood up abruptly, as if throwing off her delusion, somehow gazed at the coupe, looking at the forgotten things, and seemed to be about to leave the car, but, having stood indecisively and without making a single step, she sat back, under her brows guiltily looking at the conductor.
- The thing is ... I have nowhere to go!
***
Vika Verevkina all her twenty-nine years of life was a gullible simpleton. Somewhere these qualities helped her through life. Somewhere they were very disturbed, allowing others to have fun with her, or simply offend or substitute.
She lived with her grandmother from her youth, her parents after the divorce was not up to her. My father built his life, his mother hit the business, disappearing for weeks in Moscow, always buying up and selling and dodging a penny. At school, Vika studied mediocre, solid troechnitsy, but had a love for biology, algebra and works. Therefore, after graduating from 9 classes and getting a “solid-curved” certificate, she entered the Culinary School with a specialty cook-pastry chef. Neither an attractive appearance, nor the chiseled figure of a girl could not boast: thin, with a sharp nose and thin dark brown pigtails. She dressed simply, for the 90s too, she didn’t have enough money for more or less fashionable clothes, and she herself was rather reserved, not very sociable, had almost no friends, more and more sat at home for books, but helped her grandmother in the kitchen and housework. It was later, when she studied at a third year college, sometimes her friend Tanya Potapova’s desk managed to pull Vika into a movie or a dance, and even then only briefly, the girl was not used to such a life.
It was there that, at the disco, closer to graduation from the school, one cavalier drew himself, they called Aleshka Petrov, only came from the army, beautiful military badges on the form, muscular muscles. He smiled at her once and winked at her, Vika immediately fell in love with him, well, still, otherwise, youthful love is like a cold. And this guy just had to. First, to the house accompanied. Then midnight kisses in the entrance. Then his strong and confident hands, where his weak “do not” should not be. And then he allegedly left a fishing friend, left the keys to the apartment, everything happened, and Vika’s girl became Vika’s woman, and she didn’t remember the process of becoming, worried more and more, burning with shame and embarrassment, and then the pain is very sharp, down there, that's all. More Vika did not feel anything. When Alyoshka, completing the affair, fell off to one side, like a tick drunk, Vika quietly slipped out of bed, somehow washed off the blood in the cast-iron bath with ice water - was not hot, dressed and huddled modestly from the edge of the couch, resting her head on the chest of her first man, reflecting on how they will now live happily with Alyoshka and love each other. So Vika could not close her eyes, admiring only Aleshkino's beautiful face and sighed softly.
In the morning Vika left early so as not to wake him up, she slipped home slowly with a mouse, grandmother and did not notice that she had not slept at home. Only the pillow head touched, and the girl fell asleep. I saw pleasant dreams, and only this tale ended. By evening, the whole court knew that Lech Petrov, Vika Verevkina, broke the hype in a dispute, and a week earlier than the stipulated time: they argued with the boys that he would have to mollify her for two weeks, and she gave him in six days. Here is a hero! Like, they say, in this dispute, he became a steward and won a bottle of beer from above, for efficiency, but then life did not work out for this Alyosha. Looks there is still a god in the sky. Although, on the other hand, Vicky didn’t have it from the very beginning, this is life!
After the case, the grandmother on doctors screamed, was afraid that the granddaughter became pregnant, it is a sin to do an abortion, and another mouth who feeds it, but it turned out, this time God had mercy. It's a shame that only the little girl was branded, she hardly quit school before the final exams, but the management met them halfway, allowed her to be separated from all the exams ...
pass, and there, on the basis of the successful delivery and a diploma issued.
And here in July and the mother came, came suddenly, unexpectedly, as always. She said that things had gone uphill right now, and that she was still a bit rich and rich - she always said that when her grandmother needed to borrow money, an old song in general. I didn’t want to listen to what happened, I just waved away - just think, mistakes of youth! But on the other hand, she promised to attach her daughter (a specialist with a diploma) in the suburbs to a good cafe. They say that she has an Armenian friend there, she keeps a chain of restaurants and barbeque-houses, will take them as a chef, and then, you see, they will transfer them to the senior chef in six months. Vika mummy promises inspired, sort of, and shameful problems faded into the background. A week later, Vika Verevkina had already conquered the Moscow region. It turned out not so colorful as the mother promised, in the cafe they took, but as a dishwasher. Issued part-time, and all worked and a half. The work is hellish, the salary is cheap.
- Nothing, be patient! - mother soothed, pitch at the entrance with caustic Bulgarian "Opal", - we will break through, just about, everything will get better. Things are going uphill. Do you have an advance payment? Catch the money until the twentieth?
We lived with a mother in a hostel in a small room for 80% clogged with goods - Chinese down jackets, jackets, dermatin footwear and other consumer goods. We slept on an army bunk bed, ate right there - uncomplicated, sub palpsa, sprats, cheap sausages.
What kind of personal life is there? So, survival is solid. Two days at 14 o'clock in the dishwasher, on weekends with the mother to the market, bales and trunks, to sell clothes. That's the whole life.
She loved her mother, of course, in her own way, not quite as commonly understood parental love, but she loved. Sometimes they would be sitting late at the dormitory on a bench, the mother of “Opal” would tar, and a bottle of bitter beer would be drunk for two.
- Here we will grow rich, we will escape to hell from this hell. Nothing daughter, and we are lucky! There is no other way. Things are going uphill. Everything will be alright. And we will rebuild the house. And buy a plot. We will grow chrysanthemums. And a decent husband for you! And you graduate from the institute. That's just a little more need to suffer, just a little.
- And then I will open my mom's restaurant, on the shores of the azure sea. White apron with a blue border, the plates are the same, porcelain and wine glasses from the finest transparent glass, and in them wine is white, and the sea is blue-blue and gulls are screaming ...
- So it will be, my daughter, so it will be. Here are just a little more to suffer. Come sleep, get up early tomorrow ...
It was not possible for Vika's mamma to reach out, reach for a better life. Sometime in the late spring, we sat there on the bench, dreamed, listened to the birds, went to bed early, and the next morning she didn’t wake up - heart! Vika remained alone. By that time, the grandmother had completely passed: she did not climb out of the hospitals. From the dorm room they were evicted, the clothes were all unsold, some cunning Slavik was immediately attached, gave Vika 500 rubles, such as compensation, and said goodbye to this.
It is ridiculous whether it is sad, but not for nothing that the Russian proverb says, "If there were no happiness, yes, misfortune helped." Vika with dark circles from the tears and insomnia under the eyes, and a half-empty sports bag (she managed to gain some good stuff), immediately after the funeral (there was no commemoration) went to Armen, the restaurant owner, to receive the payment: the girl decided to return to her grandmother come back, and there will be anything, native walls, they will prompt.
And he is on the threshold of her:
- Vika, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! I respected your mother so much, I loved her, but it was like that. Listen, listen to the girl, I will complain to you to the seb chef. Here and a salary higher, I will help to remove a room. I am in her big debt.
Vika, dimly understanding what was going on, somehow podmahnula statement. Armen immediately issued an advance and took an apartment in an old Mercedes to watch. We looked, the size was barely larger than the room of the hostel, but then there was a kitchenette, a shower with a toilet for 2 owners, so ... well, do not get used!
Vika remained in the suburbs. The next day, the shift came out. Somehow things went uphill (all as the mother said!). A little free time appeared, the girl enrolled in the library, and then in the courses of accountants, so just in case, you never know, it will be useful!
And on New Year's Eve, Vika met Igor in the library. erotic stories Introduced himself as a young businessman. Invited to a restaurant, but Vika - the modest refused. So week after week, fleeting meetings, Igor learned a lot about Vick, and without thinking twice, invited her into his firm as an accountant. The girl thought, was tormented for almost a month. On the one hand, I wanted to break out of the stuffy cuisine, because I had not finished my courses in vain, as if fate had pushed me. On the other hand, Armen seemed to be obliged to many, she could not just leave.
One evening, just before closing the restaurant, a tired and shrewd Armen entered the cafe.
“I see that something is a little girl!” Tell me!
Vika told him everything. And the old Armenian just looked with sadness at her and said:
- What are you trying to persecute your fate from Seb, you fool? Tomorrow zhe go there and get settled! And we are here and bez cope handle. That's Olga for a long time on your mesto matt. And I will calculate the final good lady by the end of the nedaley! Go!
So in “CRYSTALS” LLP a new accountant appeared. No experience, but all grasped on the fly. Glavbukh Elena Sanovna quickly taught her, and after a couple of months Vika spent the self-invoices on her own, made audits at the warehouse, and paid employees a salary: one white, the other black (like everyone else at the time).
The girl sat up. Cosmetics she appeared. Things are beautiful. In the hairdresser began to go. Marigold have become well-groomed. Heels, shoes. Why, only in her soul she remained kind and simple.
Vika's life was getting better. Apartment removable changed. Money sent to the grandmother for the operation. Yes, and so it was possible to postpone. Even a small bank account opened. With personal that's just did not develop. Like men, many noticed her, and throwing significant views, but that's just not wanted from her as much as she would like to give. And to confess honestly, they dried on Igor with each other, but only Igor had a bride, and he was tied up at the upcoming marriage. Such is the knot-knot, so easy and not untangle. Vika did not despair, especially since at some Igor there the white light did not converge. There will be a prince on a horse on her street!
As time went. In November, Vike 23 turned. And in a month and a half the FATEST YEAR YEAR has come (although, I must admit, there were so many fatal ones in Vika’s life).
Immediately after the new year, a split occurred on the CRYSTAL board of directors. The most important one, Igor's father-in-law, immediately arranged an unscheduled check. Igor (who knew he would smell the fried one) and immediately wiped his wife to Germany indefinitely. Glavbukh Elena Sanovna with a stroke to the hospital. Vika remained alone to take the rap. And revision shortage for lack of sews. And forgery of documents and stuff. The girl is in shock, always all the numbers converged to zero, and then the shortage of a million. In general, they framed the girl in the most dishonest way. Elder handed her over to the prosecutor's office with guts, although he knew that he was innocent. While the investigation was going on, the gist of the matter was soldered to the girl for 5 years of general regime and sent “to the place of serving the sentence”. On that the happy life also has ended. In the zone of such a cold, it would not have been easy, but I was just lucky again. They were brought into the detachment, around her right there the crowns crowded together with the kites, but only one woman shouted at them from somewhere in the depths of the hut, and all at once ran away!
"Nurse" Faith stood up for her. And her word in the detachment was the law!
“It hurts you to look at my Dasha like two drops after all.” How old are you?
- 5 years in a general regime colony, article ..
- Yes, how old are you, durekha! What age?
- Twenty-three to me.
- That and my durekha twenty two with a little was. I drowned and the boy was not born
for a hole in the hole. Ehhh! - "Nurse" for a long time thought, staring with a sad look at one point.
Vika stared at her, silently shifting on her numb legs and back, feeling the burning looks of inmates. The woman was not young, her face wore deep wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes indicated sore kidneys, dark blond hair with gray hair gathered in a ponytail, a heavy massive chin protruding. Her palms were large and strong, and she herself was rather broad-boned, heavy.
- So it is. Ludka! Go here! “Immediately, a small woman in prison clothes appeared in front of them, white curls were knocked out from under her headscarf, and sly yellow eyes, like foxes, were running back and forth. “Organize something new for this new one, the bunk is normal.” You can go now! - already louder, addressing everyone - THIS, do not touch anyone! She is under my personal protection! Have you truncated?
Behind Vika, she heard a low murmur, and everyone began to diverge.
For a moment, the eyes of the women touched.
“Thank you,” said Vick.
“Go already. I didn’t save one fool, so I can manage another one, ”the mother also answered with a glance and turned away in the barred window.
Not to say that Vika’s life was different from the life of other inmates. The patronage extended to life inside the barracks, but outside everyone worked equally. Vika was identified in the sewing workshop. Finding out that she was a cook, the “mother” tried to push her into the dining room, but nothing came of it, too approximate people worked there. Vika, on the other hand, mastered sewing and cutting, which also she did very well (golden hands, what can you say). In the third year, she had already been approached with a dress to be sewn or some other piece of clothing — those with a deadline coming to an end.
In the fourth year appeared Kostik. By correspondence. Also served time. Went out half a year earlier. He wrote beautifully, said such fraochka to her, sang such praises. The heart of a young woman trembled again. She found it on the ad. Written simply, nothing better to do. Everyone did it, well, and she decided for the company. "Husband. 37 178-76 from MLS looking for a girl for the Society. and c / o. Cheerful, sociable, without i / p "- pointed Vika with a finger at the first announcement. The letter turned out to be dry, not the whale was a girl writing letters. “I’m supposed to do this, I’m leaving the lines for this and that, etc.” “Kostik sent the answer on 6 notebook pages, the edges were decorated with neat monograms, and the letter itself was written in beautiful calligraphic handwriting and resembled an adventure novel. Hereditary sailor, Odessa, somewhere in the overseas port, stood up for the honor of the girl, and in a fight, unintentionally killed the assailant. He repented of his deed, went to church every week and would like to start his life from scratch. These lines touched Vika and she already wrote the next letter more diligently, printed the letters carefully and rewrote several times.
In the second letter, he sent a photo. Smiling, in a vest. A little long face and deep bald patches had a distant resemblance to the singer Celentano. Vika fell in love with this face, with these letters, these warm lines and now she has a Goal. Their goal! Kostik called her to himself, told her about a small shack on the seashore where he would be waiting for her. Small garden with a vineyard. He said that he would get a job as a mechanic while saving up for a small boat and they would go sea fishing, and Vika would give birth to him kids, and they would be happy until the end of days.
Vika was touched to the depths of her soul and told him that she had some small savings that she would willingly invest in the foundation of their future happiness, even if in the form of a boat, which Kostik wrote about.
Kostya was released in September. I wrote a letter that I had already looked after a small house for them and even paid the initial fee. I sent a photo of this house. And the truth is small, with a vineyard and fruit trees, a tiled roof and a white porch.
Vika immediately sent him almost all the savings. Kostik unsubscribed, said that the money to buy a house was more than enough, there was still a bit left! The boat is not enough, but it was enough to drive a motorcycle to work! A month later, he wrote that he was again offered to go to the sea, called for a flight, while Vika spends time, he goes six months to earn some money and in May next year, when Vika has to free herself, she will wait for her in THEIR house. Address: Chistovodsk, pos. Coastal Street General Molotov, 17.
The remaining months of her term, Vika went happiest of all, she was even nicknamed: Sun! She was painfully shining from the inside, again and again experiencing the future happy life with her beloved person inside herself.
Once, in a fit of happiness, Vika did not even notice that the last letters from Kostya were sent from Voroshilovka (which is not at all Chistovodsk), and they were also signed on demand. How could a woman's love heart pay attention to such trifles?
***
Vika did not notice the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her story was coming to an end. The conductor sat opposite on a hard couch, still not letting the mop out of his hands, and holding it with both hands, like an ancient elder his staff and attentively listened to the story of the girl.
- On Thursday, I was released - my term ended. At night, already got on the train, went to meet his dream. Why, just yesterday, fellow travelers traveled with me, student girls, I asked them to help me with the address. And they have a portable computer, they let's look. And they say: in Chistovodsk there are neither the village Coastal nor the streets of General Molotov. They thought, maybe Kostya was mistaken, but they did not find either a general , or an admiral, neither Molotov, nor Zolotov, nor Bolotov. And he said the house by the sea. And to the sea, another two days, the other edge, is not at all Chistovodsk. So I don’t know if I’m so stupid as a fool, I messed up everything, roofing only took me around my finger. And where now to go, I will not put my mind ...
Both thought for a long time.
- Thank you for listening to my story! - Vika suddenly startled, aspired. - Sorry for taking your time. I'll go. - She got up and already went to the passage of the car, as the conductor called her:
- Where. Where the same. You go. Where? After all, nowhere. You.
- Never mind! Where our not disappeared! Some money is on the passbook. I will spend the night in the hotel, and in the morning I will decide what to do next, because morning is wiser than evening, right?
“So,” the guy answered absently.
- Thanks you! God bless you! - Vika smiled and quickly went to the exit.
- But wait! - the conductor rushed after her, and behind him a fallen mop banged on the floor with a crash. - Wait, Victoria!
Already at the door of the vestibule, she turned around again and smiled.
- Where are you in such a hurry? Wait a minute But. It should not be! Listen!
Vika lowered her deep eyes for a moment, and then raised her to the conductor again:
- I'm listening.
- I want to. I want to help you. That's what. Listen! - The guy spoke confusedly, it was evident that the silence and coherent speech are given to him with difficulty. “You can spend the night with me today.” You do not think bad. I want to help...
- Isn't it scary to lead a criminal to the house?
- Well, what. What are you a criminal? I see in my eyes. Kind you!
- Kind, yes. But for some reason, my kindness always becomes across me!
- Listen. I am now the wagon home. Me a little bit And we will go. Not far there. Apartment. My friend and I are shooting. When he is in flight, I live. When I, he. Conveniently. Together we live. And we pay for one. And tomorrow is my day off. And together we will figure out what to do next! Well, how. Is going?
Vick smiled, throwing a look out the window. She had already burned so many times, trusting in people, but she could not completely abandon her belief in good. Well, they can not all around be evil and just scoff, use, betray.
- Go! - She decided, and the conductor again drowned in her deep blue eyes, with her head sank to the bottom.
Vika offered to help, but the conductor refused, referring to the regulations and the authorities, and while he was cooking the rest of the carriage, the girl saw ...
railway tea from a glass in a cup holder, with two pieces of sugar and cookies, sitting in a small compartment of the conductors of the car №6.
***
The air outside was warm, almost sultry. The evening sun dimmed eyes softly. Two were walking along a narrow dusty sidewalk of a provincial town, barely touching with their elbows.
- What is your name? It's embarrassing like that! - Vicked thought up.
- And we are with you namesake. I am Victor Konovalov.
- Oh! Very nice!
Vika wanted to reach out, but she was shy, and her companion, absentmindedly, walked in her thoughts and did not react at all to their acquaintance.
- What do you think about? - she suddenly asked, stopping what took him by surprise.
- I? - Victor mechanically took two steps, then turned to her and looked straight into his eyes. - Sorry, I think about you. Or rather. About your story. I...
- You know. I am really embarrassed to go to you. To embarrass you. Thank you, let me look for a hotel?
- No no no! Well, what are you. Do not worry, please. Come the same. Little more, one more block. And there is already hunting to eat. And in solitude even a piece in the throat does not climb! And you, I hope, make me a company!
Vika caught herself thinking that all day, since she had met this strange conductor in an empty carriage, she was smiling strangely: not to him, not to herself, or to herself. She silently continued moving, and having reached him, they again walked beside him, touching their elbows.
- Well, come, please. - They stopped at a shabby pale orange three-story house with a sloping roof. The door of the doorway, with peeling brown paint, squinted at loose loops. In the twilight of the porch, a tall wooden staircase went up. - The house is old, but housing is not expensive. And Valery and I don’t need much: spend the night and take a shower.
On the second floor, the door, studded with black leatherette and having number 8, opened wide in front of Vika, after loud clicks of the level lock.
- Come on in. True, not tidied with us. Bachelor setting.
- Thank! - Vika passed, dropping her sports bag on the floor and sneakers. After the evening stuffiness, the apartment met a pleasant coolness.
“You probably want to take a shower or a bath.” Come on feel free. Here is a towel. I can still give a t-shirt.
- Thank. I have a change of linen. And shampoo and washcloth.
- There the heck, you lock, and do not be afraid, do not hesitate. And while I'm going to the store. Dumplings buy, and sprats. Or maybe you want something?
- No, nothing like that! Thank you, Victor!
The door behind the new Wikin's friend slammed shut, and she was left alone in a strange apartment. Hanging the jacket on a hanger, Vika went into the room. The wooden floor of the broad, enameled brown-painted boards pleasantly cooled feet.
The room was small, but it had a large curtain window that looked out onto the street and a high ceiling. In the corners there were several sketches of paintings, painted with something black, like coal. Vika was interested in fuzzy silhouettes, images, artfully outlined by coarse black lines.
The clock on the wall ticked unpleasantly and loudly, showing a quarter to seven. Vika sat down on the edge of the sofa and clamped her fists between her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, her head thrown back. The girl sat motionless for some time, scrolling through the events of the past day, and then shook her head, shaking off superfluous thoughts now and got up.
“I'll think about everything tomorrow,” thought flashed. "And now you need to put yourself in order."
The girl stood in front of a mirror in her underwear and was brushing her teeth and examining herself in the mirror.
“You can’t see without tears” - she thought, looking at the emaciated body, bulging collarbones and ribs, slender arms, a completely sleeping chest, which could easily fit in a simple white bra that seemed so large to her. Only one eyes remained the same and with keen interest looked at the reflection of their mistress. In her hair was loose, it gleamed too clearly here and there gray hair.
“And if you make up and make your hair, then maybe not so bad? And kilograms hiring and cheeks will appear. After all, all the same now on Freedom, and this is important. Life gives a chance to start from scratch. ” Vika tried to smile. A smile came out tortured and kind of pathetic, but her eyes glittered recklessly, and this already gave strength.
An old bathtub was rapidly filling with hot water, and steam was flowing from the tap from the tap.
Vika took off her laundry and immediately washed it in the sink, hung it on the battery, and plunged herself in a hot bath in bliss. From hot water skin goosebumps. The girl leaned back and closed her eyes. Before her unobtrusively loomed the image of Victor.
***
Victor walked along the back streets to the grocery store, thinking about the woman he had met, whom he invited to spend the night. He did not know how events would develop; today, tomorrow, then. But he understood two things: this woman can be trusted and trusted (he felt this with her heart) and she needs help, even if only today, even if only one night. Tomorrow they will decide together what to do, in which direction to move, and in what composition: jointly (if Vika needs Victor’s help and doesn’t give up on her) or separately, each on his own way if the girl wants to continue on her own path.
Of course, inviting Vika to spend the night, Victor acted solely for noble reasons, without a shadow of such or any personal gain. However, if a man and a woman spend the night in the same apartment, any outcome can be. Victor was not going to take advantage of this situation or make any transparent hints, but no one could forbid him to dream, “What if”. Therefore, buying products from the store, he bought (well, just in case) a pack of condoms. And also a bottle of white table wine. Victor was not a big fan of drinking, but it seems like “according to etiquette” will not be superfluous. He will offer, but will not insist.
On the way back, Victor smiled. He rarely had any relationships with girls. So it was got from a youth. For strange behavior and a big nose, he was teased by Drozd. The school girls had no particular interest in him, and what could he offer them? Interrupted from three to four. Instead of a weightlifting or karate section (unlike other boys from the class), Vitya went to an artistic drawing group. He himself was closed, not very sociable. The first woman he had in the army. They distributed him into a communications company. Once, on duty at night, at the regiment's communications center, he was summoned by a communications officer on duty, Senior Warrant Officer Karavaeva, a dense woman of about forty with slightly slanting eyes and a second chin, where she at first reprimanded Private Konovalov for breaking the line, and then immediately seduced him with a hard and squeaky army bed.
After the army, Victor entered the railway technical school and soon a year later he traveled as a conductor on the Moscow-Chistovodsk train. In adulthood, with women, too, not particularly lucky. By his 23 years old life companion loomed on his horizon. With proximity, it was a bit better (but only a little). Sometimes, at the end of the shift, Natasha Rostova, the senior conductor from the 3rd compartment, the fire-woman, called him to her in all respects: a chest with a wheel, thighs — you couldn’t grip it, a delicate and black-browed one. Life has seen. She was in her 30s and was married and her daughter was already in the 8th grade, she studied, if it was necessary and didn’t go into her pocket for the word and could give anyone her face. But there they had a relationship "sometimes sex" - and nothing more. Natasha had more from a young guy (read: a stallion) and did not need to, just satisfy the physiological needs without commitment. Well, Vitya, naturally modest, could not refuse, and he didn’t want to, if he was bad, it’s better than nothing, he didn’t have any illusions, and she didn’t like her as a possible companion of life - not him man, he felt uncomfortable in her company. So they met 2-3 times a month, in the compartment of conductors of the 3rd car after 23.00, at the final ...
station Kulikovsky station, when all my colleagues went home. They drank tea, then wine or champagne. Natashka didn’t stop talking, then she joked anecdotes, then stories from life, and Vitya listened in silence, smirked and wondered where necessary, and put wine on his back. Well, when she reached her condition, she got up with cancer, resting her 5-dimensional breasts on the surface of the folding table and spreading her legs wide, and then Vitya already knew what to do ...
Victor flushed, thinking about his fantasies, and did not notice how he had already approached the house, squeezing a grocery bag in his sweaty palms. Breathing deeply into himself several times, he tried to put his thoughts together and stepped into the gloom and coolness of the porch.
***
Vika thought about Victor, and felt how the lower abdomen fills desire. She, of course, tried to drive him away, realizing that it was stupid, disgusting and ignorant, just like that, having come out to freedom to surrender to the first comer, even though he sheltered and fed for a while. But all these arguments were so ghostly, so transparent, they were nothing before the fact that here he is, in front of her, a living man, a man, the first and only for all these years of imprisonment of women. Hold out your hand and it's yours.
The girl did not notice how she stretched out her hand, and she slipped on the stomach, and below, and her legs parted treacherously, and bypassing the pubis tubercle she held at TAM and immediately started, as if from a discharge with a current - so much was her excitement. Vika immediately pulled her hand up and jerked herself into the bathroom, splashing a portion of water onto the tiled floor. The girl was immediately ashamed of her thoughts and desires. She felt an unbearable heat and a strong feeling of thirst. Later, remembering this moment, she could not explain to herself why she went to the kitchen to drink water, when she could do it right there, in the bathroom, from the tap.
Vika listened, the apartment was quiet, which means that Victor had not returned yet. She quickly slipped out of the water, felt her slippers with her bare feet and somehow hurriedly shook a towel around her body, went to the kitchen, where she drank two glasses of cold water in one gulp. Taking another glass of water with her, Victoria walked back, and was already approaching the bathroom door, when the front door in the hallway flew open, and Victor entered, breathless, as if running down the stairs at a run. On his boyish face, he wore a funny blush.
Vika, holding a glass of water in one hand, immediately reached out with the other hand to the door handle to quickly drop into the bathroom. And then the towel, wrapped hastily around the body, treacherously slipped away, but Vika did not have time to catch and hold him on her elbows, and appeared before Victor completely naked, spilling water from a glass on an already wet body.
Victor was dumbfounded, he understood that he needed to turn away, but as a spellbound he himself was looking at Victoria's naked body: water droplets gleaming on pale skin, bulging collarbones and ribs, small breasts with small dark nipple cherries that Vika tried to cover with palms, flat stomach with a dimple navel, in the shape of an inverted comma, triangle pubis, covered with dark brown curls. For some reason he opened his mouth, but then he shut it.
Vika stood, somehow covering herself with her hands and looking not at him, at his face, at his eyes. She understood that she needed to pick up a towel and hide in the bathroom, burning with shame, and then, running away from this apartment, from this person, from herself, so clumsy and unlucky. But she stood and did not dare to move. She knew that if she left now, she would never be able to go back, and she didn’t want to, she couldn’t afford to lose what she seemed to be about to find again. And she was also interested, and the question “What is next?” Was spinning in my head. She had nothing to lose, she could not think of even more disgrace, so she stood, hiding and biting her lower lip, and physically felt how her naked body was caressing (stroking, like gentle warm fingers) Victor's hungry eyes. She was pleased to stand in front of him naked, to see how eagerly they run over her body, his gazes, how the redish cheeks, the red paint of shame fill him. She was pleased to see that he did not look away from her, that there was no disappointment, no disgust in his face (although she wondered WHAT he could like in her, so thin and unsightly, after five years of prison bills) and nevertheless he eagerly looked at her, preparing to rush, as if on the victim. But something held him back, some kind of anchor, like a dog on a leash. And Vika helped him. She met his eyes and slowly lowered her hands. And he understood everything.
***
They lay on a crumpled, damp bed, throwing occasionally unimportant phrases. Very much was said yesterday. Much has been done. The clock on the wall showed half past two. It was night outside, it was quiet outside the window, only a rare car broke it, shining the walls with headlights. A working old TV “showed the snow”, but Victor didn’t specifically turn it off so that it would function as a night light, only turn down the sound to the very minimum.
The girl lay on his chest and looked for his gaze, which she did not want to leave for a moment. She always looked into his eyes, and he just sank in them. Even in the twilight of the room. The fingers of their palms intertwined with each other in intricate knots and patterns.
On the table was a half-bottle of white wine.
“I’m a bad guest,” said Victor.
- Why?
- He promised to feed you, and he ...
- Stop doing that! Wine, cheese, apple. What else do we need? I'm really not hungry!
- Hmm, and there probably dumplings melted. It will be the morning porridge from ravioli. I forgot to put them in the fridge.
“Do you want me to make breakfast in the morning?” My signature dish?
- Crown dish? And what is the same? - Victor became interested.
“Well, this is one such dish,” Vika mysteriously offered, “from the oriental cuisine.” It is called the Hansky scrambled eggs!
- Wow! - whistled Vitya, I myself often make an omelet, but this has not eaten.
(Actually, it was the most common scrambled eggs with sausage, tomatoes and bell peppers. So Vika treated Nurse Vera and her close inmates, when she managed to get products, for which he received the comic name “Pakhansky Omelet.” take advantage of a pun and pahansky omelet turned into a mysterious oriental dish "omelet in the style of Hansky"!)
Vika laughed, and Victor pulled her to him and kissed her lips with a long kiss.
- Vit, and what is your dream in life? The biggest. There is?
- I did not even think. House is a family, like everyone, probably, children, wealth, a favorite thing. I love to draw. But work rarely succeeds. What is yours? Dream?
- Remember, I already told you. Restaurant ... on the shores of the warm sea ...
- ... Yes I remember. Of course. White apron with a blue border, plates ...
- It's like that. Are you laughing?
- Not. Not at all. You know, when a person goes to a dream, he will definitely come to her. And you have a dream. She's so ...
- What? - Vick rose on his elbow, and looked at the guy's face.
- Well ... I do not know how to say.
- Tell me how you can. I will understand.
- You are not offended?
- No. Speak
- You have it ... so ... mandatory. That is, I wanted to say ... it must be fulfilled.
- Mandatory? Why is this?
- Well, you told me. You and mom dreamed together. And you told her your dreams. And now she is gone. And you have. You're still ahead. Go to your dream! You have to embody it. I think so!
“And you will go with me to my dream” - Vika already wanted to say out loud, but at the last moment bit her tongue. She was not yet sure that she was ready to say these words.
They fell silent again, each thinking about his own. Then Vika felt Victor's stroking hand on her hip and felt the desire in herself again. As if reading her thoughts, Victor's other hand gently squeezed her breast, and his lips were already looking for her nipple.
***
Out of habit, Vika woke up early in the morning at the beginning of the seventh. Victor ..
still peacefully droh and the girl went to take a shower, washing away the traces and smells of the nightly pleasures. Again, out of habit, removing her hair in a tight tail at the back of her head, Vika promised her reflection that, by all means, today she goes to the hairdresser and first of all dyes her hair to hide her gray hair.
Dumplings, never cleaned up in the fridge in the evening, were indeed a pitiful sight, and Vika sent them to the trash without any regrets. Peering into the fridge, the girl chuckled disappointedly: she promised an omelette, but there were no eggs.
Sitting down on an old stool and keeping the fist between her legs out of habit, Vika thought for a moment. Then a smile lit up her face. She remembered that when yesterday they were going home to Victor, she noticed a grocery store on the way. The girl was not sure that he had already opened, but decided that, if so, she would wait and walk around the city a little. She did not want to sit in the four walls, while Victor was sleeping, her soul was torn to freedom.
Victoria already wanted to wear a sports suit according to the habit, but then her eyes fell on the sports bag, which she left in the hallway. Revealing, she took out a dress from her. Plain, light summer dress with polka dots, with open hands. The dress, which she sewed herself when she was serving a sentence, as well as several dozens of other dresses, sewn to her to her inmates, about to be released. And let the simplest, but still it was a dress - a symbol of femininity. Vika, without thinking, put it on herself and twisted in front of the mirror - it neatly folded up neatly folded. The dress was sitting on it like a molten one, it was not for nothing that they said that Vika’s hands were growing from where necessary. From the same bag, the girl took out a pair of simple light sandals and was about to leave the apartment, when she remembered that she had no cash at all, only a passbook with a small amount of money. In addition to searching for a store, there was also a savings bank, which was certainly closed at this morning time, which complicated the task of Vika, who did not want to leave Victor for a long time and leave Viktor awakened hungry.
She still didn’t know what was waiting for them in the future, whether they would be together (she would have liked to) or everyone would go their own way, but Vika really wanted this morning to be unusual, pleasant and kind for Victor. It was such a kind of payment for his kindness. Good for good.
Victoria's gaze fell on Victor's shabby leather wallet, lying on a bedside table. She took it and opened it, not considering it a bad act, because she wanted to buy products for Victor, moreover, she was going to return this money later. Taking 500 rubles, the girl closed the wallet and put it in its place. Silently closing the door behind her, Victoria went out into the street, breathing in the cool morning air. Like it or not, this was her, one might say, the first morning on the Will. In the city, at large, not in the cramped wagon and even more so, not among the thick prison walls.
Victoria walked along a narrow, deserted street of a provincial town with a flying gait (as she sang in an old song) and smiled at some pleasant thoughts. The first rays of the early May sun fell on her face and she squinted funnyly, meeting them halfway. Near the small old church, the girl stopped and crossed herself three times. Previously, Vika did not believe in God, but in recent years she has changed her attitude towards Faith. Vika promised herself that she would definitely go to the temple during the day and put a candle for her mother, while she hurried to the grocery store. At the crooked gate leading to the church, an old grandmother stood in a worn gray downy shawl and stretched out a thin hand with a plastic cup. Her face was so wrinkled that it seemed as if some of the wrinkles were crushed under the other, earlier ones, but the faded faded eyes were very lively and looked even as if with some enthusiasm. Vika slowed her pace near the old woman and stopped in indecision. She wanted to give her grandmother some money, but she had only one bill, and that secretly borrowed from Victor for food. It turned out an awkward situation, it seems, the old woman was waiting for some action from her, but Vika could not stop, suddenly leave, without putting anything in the cup. And to explain that she does not have the necessary amount and the only piece of paper needs to be exchanged, Vika was somehow ashamed of herself, finding it completely ridiculous. As if reading the girl’s thoughts, the old woman said:
- Good now the weather! But it's cold here. And you get naked running, daughter! Hot you can see your blood!
“I ...,” began Vika, but the old woman, as if not hearing, continued. - A supermarket somewhere behind that corner, today just fresh eggs were delivered. You, daughter, take the whites, but not the ones that are the largest, but smaller, they will be the most delicious. True, I say to you!
- And where are you from ..., - she was surprised, Vika, but the old woman again did not let her finish her sentence.
- You go, daughter. It's still cold outside. And you need to take care of yourself. But you see, mum is soon to be, and you don't save yourself! Say something, you do not need it. Go too!
- Okay. Good. - Vika was confused and even more surprised by the speech of the old woman, finding her not quite in herself. “But in one thing, grandmother was right, it was really not hot enough outside to walk around in one dress, especially in the early morning.” - I will buy products now, and on the way back I will return.
- Do not, daughter! You have already paid God a very high price. Doubly or even triple overpaid. Now it's God's turn for you to do miracles. Go now!
She didn’t find what to say in response, who was taken aback thoughtfully went in the direction of the store where the old woman pointed.
Taking the products in the store (eggs, the same, white and medium-sized, as the old woman advised, fresh loaf, cheese and sausages) Vika went to the checkout, summing up the cost in her head so that there was enough money.
- Lottery do not want? - Smiling, she asked the chubby saleswoman in a burgundy apron and the same color uniform cap on her head, habitually punching the goods. - “Mig luck”, instant win up to ten million rubles. Here, just take the ticket and take it, otherwise I have no exchange.
Vika suddenly remembered how, on long prison nights, she and the girls dreamed that they would come free one day and one of the obligatory tasks that had to be done first of all was to try their luck in the lottery. And then suddenly, how lucky! She, too, was going to do so, but recent events have dirtied this desire, pushing it into the background.
- And let's! - Vick smiled in response! - What God is not joking!
***
Victor was awakened, as if by shock. A strange thing, in the train after the shift could sleep in any conditions, no matter how hard the train was on the looped railway tracks. And at home, in peace and quiet, usually slept sensitively, waking up several times a night and often falling asleep only in the morning, a few minutes before the alarm. But not at this time. Victor slept soundly through the rest of the night and morning and woke up as if someone had pushed him. Automatically glancing at the wall clock, he noted that already half past eight. Throwing back the blanket and dangling his legs out of bed, he listened. The silence in the apartment was broken only by the loud monotonous ticking of the clock. “Has she gone?” A thought flashed through her head, from which she simultaneously threw both heat and cold. But something was wrong, he rather intuitively sensed that he was not alone in the apartment. Silently leaving the hall, the guy was taken aback for a second. Vika was squatting, with her back to the front door jamb, pressing some package to her chest, and large drops of tears were rolling down her pale face. In the twilight of the hallway, his knees and whites of eyes that were bare from under her dress, were clearly looking at Viktor who had appeared with some sort of mixed, vague feeling.
Throwing off his stupor, Victor found himself in two steps beside the girl, hugging her by the shoulders.
- What. What happened? On you. Persons Not. What. It happened? Vika? - excitedly began to ask Victor with abrupt phrases.
- I ... I ..., - several times trying to start Vika, but tears choked her and sobbing ..
she fell silent.
Victor helped her up and took the package somehow mechanically and carelessly set it aside, but Vika suddenly started and said clearly:
- There are eggs! Be careful! Break up!
Victor stared at her in bewilderment, not realizing whether it was a joke or if Vika was really hysterical, and she was staring at him, and at that moment her face seemed so funny to her that she involuntarily laughed, rubbing and smearing tears on her cheeks , and from her sparkling sincere laughter, Victor himself laughed. And they were standing in the hallway, looking at each other's eyes and laughing unable to stop, and then, instinctively, without saying a word, they rushed into each other’s arms, and Victor felt the bitterness of tears on his lips when he began to randomly cover Victoria’s face with kisses.
***
The midday sun tried to break through the gap, between loosely drawn curtains and a strip of light crossed diagonally, intertwined, the bare legs of a man and a woman.
Vika was again on Victor's chest, and her head, then rose, then fell in time with his breathing. The fingers of their palms were again intertwined in the castle - it was their peculiar sign, trusting intimacy, and possibly love, if you like, which was rapidly arising in their hearts, which they, if they guessed, did not decide to call themselves out loud to themselves the longer each other.
Vika told Viktor that she accidentally bought a lottery ticket for delivery and won the largest possible gain in the lottery, something about 10 million rubles. The lottery ticket was right there on the bedside table and both could not believe that this piece of paper could bring a lot of money by chance. Here are just some of them? Vika honestly admitted that she took money from Victor in her wallet for food, with the clear intention to return it later. And it turns out that she was lucky and the win seems to be like her, but the money for which the ticket was bought is Victor. And let no one say it out loud, everyone was thinking HOW now they should act with it.
- Winners! - Suddenly, all of a sudden, Victor said.
- What? - not understanding, Vika asked again, lifting her head and looking at his face, and her chest slipped from her movement with a hard nipple on his side.
- Or in Latin it will sound UICTORUM!
- What to sound? What are you talking about?
- I? - Victor suddenly focused on her eyes. - I am about us! About us with you! And about the name.
- The name of what?
- Well, how? Our future restaurant. By the sea. With white plates with a blue border. With white wine. Have you forgotten?
- Are you kidding?
- Well, this is your cherished dream!
- And you want ... that is, I wanted to say, do you agree to go to it ... well, to this dream, together ... with me? - uncertainly and confusedly formulated Vika her speech.
- Exactly! Unless of course you take me. Call me. Or...
- What is "or"? - Vic was on the alert, narrowing her eyes and seriously looking at the man.
- I can not without you. I understood it this morning, when I woke up and did not feel you near, and I ... - but Vika, without letting me finish, already kissed him on the lips with a hot, tart kiss. And it seems that she was crying again, crying with happiness.
***
They say they were seen after a couple of weeks. Happy couple. She recovered a little - or rather restored her former weight and got rid of the prison thinness, and now her brown hair fluttered in the wind. She was wearing a simple light-colored dress and pumps, and he was wearing light-colored trousers and a light lilac shirt. Oh yeah, there were branded drop glasses on his nose, which, by the way, were very good for him!
Silver rings glittered on their ring fingers, the symbol of their engagement. It seems they were doing some things before leaving for the small resort town of Lazurny, where they bought a small house and intended to fulfill their dream and open a restaurant.
Vika every day she ran to the temple, where she put candles - and the mother, for the rest, and God thanked God for happiness, but more she wanted to find the shrewd old woman who had so shrewdly discerned and predicted her fate. But, neither at the gate, nor in the temple of this old woman did the girl see again. Already before she left, she turned to the young priest, the abbot of this temple, asking about that old woman, but the priest shrugged her shoulders with embarrassment, saying that he had never met such an old woman in the past year and a half.
Was she really, or just dreamed, now it remained only to guess.
Already leaving the city (the first June rainstorm was pouring outside the train window) Vika seems to have noticed a lonely figure in a gray shawl on the platform. The old woman crossed them three times in a way, and, turning away, shuffled away.
Epilogue
I visited them in Azure, a month ago, in August. One evening, over a bottle of white nutmeg wine, they are the owners of a cozy restaurant, on the sign of which “ UICTORUM ” means proudly, which means the Winners, and told me their story, which I, as I could, told you.
Of course, their establishment is not such a huge restaurant, and it is located not on the very shore of the sea or even on the second line. But, on the other hand, this is a small and very cozy establishment, located in the shade of chestnut trees, which few people know about. Here you can meet middle-aged couples, single tourists or visiting writers like me - scouring the world in search of the muse, playing pleasant music, preparing delicious dishes and serving exquisite young wine. And there really are snow-white tablecloths with a blue border, and such white porcelain plates and staff apron, and on the walls there are different paintings painted in charcoal - the work of Victor.
They say that before the hostess herself had time to prepare and provide attention to each of the guests (good restaurant for only eight tables plus a bar counter), although the hired staff also has everything and everything to do. Now she was replaced by a skilled chef who fully supports the brand of this institution. The thing is that in the eighth month of pregnancy, and even in anticipation of twins, it is not easy to manage the kitchen and the hall itself, and to keep up
They live in a small one-story house with an attic, whose windows face the sea shore, and chrysanthemums bloom in a small front garden.
If fate once brings you to Azure, do not apply to visit a small restaurant called “UICTORUM”, which is located on Kashtanovaya Street, in the shade of three chestnuts and order their signature dish, “Hanski Omelet”, in your breakfast. Just lick your fingers !!