ðîìàíà: «If you get me» Ðîìàí «Åñëè òû äîñòàíåøüñÿ ìíå» Áåííàíè Èðåí, 2020 ãîä
àâòîðñêèé ïåðåâîä ñ ðóññêîãî íà àíãëèéñêèé ÿçûê, ãëàâà 2
Chapter two
"Rublyovka"
Snow-covered streets and slush at the subway entrances, puddles were covered with layers of fluffy snow, sun glare glittered in the eyes and reflected in the thin mirror ice. A pleasant feeling after a series of monotonous weeks of twilight, in a dome of clouds and smog hanging over the metropolis.
Vladimir was maneuvering between houses, he had just driven out of a three-story garage complex, directing a silver model of a German car towards the gate. After passing through the gates that surround this isolated multi-storey complex of houses in the form of a trefoil, the walls of which are considered environmentally friendly from red brick.
There was his apartment in one of the houses. Vladimir pressed the brake pedal in anticipation of Lyudmila.
She got out of the elevator, went down from the ninth floor, opened the front door, stepped into the courtyard of the house and, rounding the building, went to the parked car, seeing her, the guard raised the barrier. Lyudmila only at the exclusive request of Vladimir sat in the front seat, feeling some discomfort.
A minute later, the car pulled out onto the main road and joined the slow traffic. From the windows of the car she looked at the old buildings, at the houses with a gray-yellow bloom, interspersed with buildings, it would seem, of past centuries. Moving on to the buildings of the Soviet era, drawing the line of the streets of houses, behind them appeared multi- storey residential buildings of the Art Nouveau era, and modern buildings, similar as two twins.
Having picked up speed, the car rushed forward, rebuilding from one lane to another along the Rublevo-Uspenskoe, Podushkinskoe, 1st and 2nd Uspenskoe highways with lines drawn in the middle, which were interrupted here and there by short dashes.
Descent under the arches of bridges, then again ascending to a height, continuing to move in the figured space of highways, to the junction of long tunnels, to the right of the wide track, going to the side.
Merging into a calm movement, approaching the direction of the suburb of Rublevka, located west of Moscow. ...
Lyudmila looked through the foggy windows, driving through the territory of the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, built up with country houses of the former Soviet elite, fashionable cottage houses.
The wipers turn on, cleaning off the dirt outside the windows. The panorama changes one after another, swaying, flows into another view from the window.
Now the snow-covered fir trees along the road, then, again leaving in the direction of the arches of the bridges, all these white fields, changing, flashed outside the windows. The car rushed forward, following the signs, in the stream of cars, then joined the other cars and again ahead of their long line.
Soon, turning onto a country road, continuing to move, the car, bypassing a forest, drove past a pine forest, leaving behind low and rare low-rise buildings, buried in the green needles of trees.
Left and right, houses again flashed, surrounded by high fences on the territory of private buildings, continuing to move in a calm rhythmic stream, gradually moving along one highway.
Not more than fifteen minutes passed, the car turned left, towards a narrow road, recently cleared of snow drifts.
Having reached the place and parked the car right next to the road, Vladimir Arnoldovich left it. Lyudmila, staying in the salon, looked. Here, takes out one cigarette from the pack and lights it on the go, then in his long black coat, without adding a single step, goes to the fenced-in area. Then, putting his right hand in his pocket, again taking a cigarette, rearranging it with his left hand, goes to the checkpoint, which is located not far from the territory of the mansions, having talked about something for no more than a minute.
On the way back, he turned around, the guard shouted something to him, who left the booth, nodded to him and began to return: "I see we arrived at this address, if he provided his documents."
“Everything is all right,” Sysoev said to Lyudmila, got into the car, turned the ignition key and slammed the door with an effort. Driving up to the raised barrier, nodding in response to the hand that waved him. Sysoev drove no more than fifteen meters along a quiet street with growing pines near three two-story cottages located on the left.
Having slowed down at the high gates of the three-story building, he got out of the car and pressed the bell at the gate. A man appeared at the door, a doorkeeper with oriental features, "most likely, he is Uzbek," at that moment the gate opened. After exchanging a quick greeting, Vladimir Arnoldovich, handing over the car keys, simultaneously opened the right door. Lyudmila, getting out of the car, followed Sysoev to the entrance to the front door. Driving from a small hillock, the car was heading to the garage.
In the light of the gilded corridor, against the backdrop of white marble walls and protruding chairs, a beautiful long antique mirror hung in a whimsical, slightly curved metal frame. At the bottom of the wall could be seen not one, but many pairs of children's shoes, and next to them shoes for adults, Lyudmila bent down a little, unbuttoning the zippers of her high boots.
Then she changed into one of the proposed pairs of home shoes of an unusual shape with a strongly curved nose. Lyudmila handed Sysoev a white fur coat, which he quickly took to a spacious room that served as a dressing room, leaving a cloak in it, so that soon he appeared in front of her, in the doorway.
They climbed the soft red carpet into the living room. Seeing in front a curly-haired girl of about nine years old, because of whom a dark-haired boy was looking embarrassedly, Lyudmila at first thought: "Perhaps I am in a gypsy family?" - which was especially surprising.
But, noticing a small round beret on the top of the head of the family, who met him on a wooden staircase, she guessed what religion he belonged to, and followed Sysoev to the second floor to the open doors of a spacious hall where these members of the Jewish family were waiting for guests.
Sysoev's conversation did not begin with the usual greeting between friends, at first he turned to the woman who was holding the baby, and during the conversation with the spouses he kept joking with the children present.
Gathered in the spacious living room, members of a large Jewish family looked with interest at Vladimir and Lyudmila, inviting them to the table. But, as it seemed to Lyudmila, they ran all these beads of the eye with interest, mainly over her. And only a small, fifth child, rattling with a rattle, did not pay attention to strangers.
The interior of the living room in the Empire style made on her not just a solemn, but rather a pompous impression. Light pastel colors included white furniture with gleaming gilding, long polished marble tables, Persian rugs and sofas upholstered in light green leather and decorated with details similar in color to ivory.
Opposite one of the dining tables was a large flat-screen TV that sits above eye level. In this beautiful and pleasant tsarist atmosphere, she felt wonderful, and at some point it began to seem to her, “that she is not in Moscow, in the land of sorcerers, being pleasantly impressed by the shiny trays brought into the living room, covered with a thin openwork napkin. Under it are teapots with embossing and engraving on silver, and next to it are rows of thin transparent glasses made of colored glass, cookies, sweets, baklava, table setting reminiscent of the receptions in Morocco.
During his acquaintance with Sabina, with the woman's husband, with children; among them there were two boys of preschool age, but the youngest of them was blond, unlike his older brother, five and a half years old, and two older children who sat side by side on a soft sofa: his sister was eight years old and his brother was on two years older than her sister. And, in addition to those present in the hall, Lyudmila learned that there are also adult children in the family; which are missing at the moment; the son is a student of one of the capital's universities, as well as a daughter, a school graduate.
Suddenly, the child, who had been playing calmly before, fidgeted in his mother's lap and began to cry loudly. Realizing that Sabina needs to move away to put the child to bed, Lyudmila, calling out to the children, invited them to play in the free space of the living room, thereby sharing the care of children with Sabina.
«Join the game», - she called to the seated children, playing with them, tossing balloons, then inflating new ones. Her cheerful mood attracted two other children a little older to her play with preschoolers. While playing, she tested the boys by asking preschoolers to bring a balloon of a certain color. Contact was established from the first minutes.
Her first meeting did not go unnoticed by the elders, they noticed how caring she is when she plays with children. During such a period, she not only plays, but also deals with them; when Lyudmila went down with the children to the "playroom", they first sculpted with her, and then painted.
While their mother was working with the baby in the walls of the bedroom, the men, Vladimir and his friend were talking, the boys finished drawing, at present, the children were too young for school, but they had to prepare to go to kindergarten. All of them, together with other children, primary school students - first-grader Khava and her brother Ariel, introduced the guest to Lyudmila about filling the playroom, premises for various activities. Opening the wardrobes, she was shown all the toys, favorite books and everything else.
Two days later, the family had a joint "barbecue" dinner with Lyudmila in the courtyard of the house to celebrate the addition of a new member, Lyudmila, not only as a governess, but also as a new family member. This was an unexpected offer from Sabina, since the nanny, a one-year-old baby, had to leave for family business, time passed, and her mother needed help, Lyudmila loved working with children, so the offer was accepted with pleasure.
Children competed with each other, helped to set the table: they laid out cutlery and dishes, then tried to fold napkins of different shapes beautifully. And soon the time came and they began to serve shashlik, salads were offered to it, Lyudmila for the first time tried shashlik from the beef liver of the heart.
Everything went on as usual, the younger got acquainted with the rules of table etiquette, learned how to use a fork and a knife, then a five-year-old boy named Benya began to select flowers by size for a small bouquet for his mother. The younger brother Monya was in a hurry to help him. From the prepared bouquet of flowers for the floor vase, he chose several large daisies.
It would seem that everything was fine, if not for the hints: - Loves, does not love, - repeated Sabina, pulling out the petals.
“It seems to me that my dad doesn't love me anymore.
"What's going on here, are these hints of jealousy?" - mentally Lyudmila was indignant, - “besides, I am older than Sabina, why does she“ attract attention in this way ”when everything is so good, why put pressure on her husband and ruffle the nerves of the children. What is this, a habitual desire: to attract attention, what kind of game? "
“No, daddy loves,” the children objected!
The hints of the head of the family were offensive and unpleasant for Lyudmila, but she tried to collect her will; not to think and not dwell on it: "I guess I have no idea about strange traditions."
In the morning, as is customary in this family, the children and dad decided to go to the store for sweets, inviting Lyudmila, however, considering what they hinted at yesterday during divination with flowers, Lyudmila politely refused.
She went with a cup of coffee to one of the canteens - there was dairy cuisine. Where is the female half; The family's mother, Sabina, Sluva, a high school student, and eight-year-old Khava, who was helping her mother, rolled the dough out on the smooth veranda table in this rather spacious second living room.
Where three-quarters of the bright veranda was occupied by glass windows, through which a stunning view of the well-tended garden opened up.
When preparing food, certain rules were strictly observed: in the space of the hall, where the dining room is functionally combined with the dairy kitchen, meat food was not prepared or consumed; There were two kitchens in the house - a dairy and a meat one, as the saying goes: "they didn't cook lamb in milk." When the boys returned with sweets, they hurried to the table, began to arrange the dishes for breakfast, all the children gathered, except for little Moni.
He found himself in the garden next to dad. At the same time, the rest of the family, gathered in the living room through transparent stained-glass windows, watched the negotiations with great interest. Here at a table next to dad - Ravil, opposite two, apparently from his, partners, they are talking about something animatedly, Monya hangs on his father, clutching his neck, he is behind his parent. During the negotiations, one of the men tried to distract the child by waving his hand, holding in it a pack of green bills - "like a rattle intended for babies, unique originals."
Looking at them, Lyudmila did not even suspect how funny a serious deal can become, watching the development of events through a stained glass window. As is customary in Jewish traditions, the father is quite loyal and does not scold the children, basically he seeks to establish contacts, the mother brings them up, supporting "the fire in the hearth."
Soon, before the eyes of the rest of the family, the negotiations ended, and Monya returned, joining the meal, to the others.
A little later, opening the door from the garden side, his father appeared on the veranda, who had already said goodbye to his business partners.
As Lyudmila understood, Sabina remained very unhappy with the terms of the "newly made" agreement; later she shouted loudly, talking with Ravil, reproaching her husband, although Lyudmila did not know Azerbaijani, but for this she did not need to know him thoroughly, gestures and intonations spoke for themselves.
Since in the children's routine the regime was observed and she had to put the boys to bed for a long time, spending hours in the children's bedroom. Before going to bed, they were allowed to eat everything, the children preferred different sweets, for example, chocolates or small pieces of cake, muffins.
Then, getting their hands dirty, they lay in this form right in bed, clutching the sheets with their hands and not worrying about anything, the children got used to the servants washing and cleaning everything, changing the bed after them.
In the dining room, they were allowed to independently take any food from the refrigerator. In the process of eating, children often dropped various sweets; ice cream or muffins. At the same time, they easily stepped over everything that fell out and lay under their feet, intending to take more.
As usual, the governess hired by the family, Lyudmila, accompanied mother and children everywhere; to the doctor, with the arrival of guests with other children, she took part in their games, at festive celebrations - she was also next to the children, nevertheless, giving the children the opportunity to play on their own, observing them, resolving their small conflicts.
"It is clear that they do not know how to behave in the company of other children, because they are constantly in the closed world of the family, limited by the territory of the house and the nearest playground."
Once, together with the head of the family and children, they found themselves in the Detsky Mir shopping complex, where, in addition to shopping for goods for young people and children, they visited Europe's largest amusement park - an interactive science museum. Innopark.
But when they passed from the stereo hall to the fifth floor, heading to the city of professions KidBurg, to the miniature model of the adult world, an unexpected incident occurred after visiting the "Dinosaur Country" exposition.
Monya walked calmly and a little ahead, suddenly he jumped sharply to the side, in the direction of a passing little girl with a woman and, most likely, with a bodyguard. Lyudmila managed to react in time to the unexpected impulse of the child.
The reaction of a bodyguard who stood up to the baby's defense could pose a threat to the boy, but, fortunately, in a split second, the bodyguard retreated, restraining his mechanical actions, his practiced techniques could have disastrous consequences for the youngest - Moni, such sudden bursts in the behavior of children, did not bode well.
Throughout the walk through the children's entertainment complex, concern for the safety of children kept in suspense not only Lyudmila, but also the father of the family. Together with the older schoolgirl and the younger sister of the mischievous little boys, they watched the boys, keeping them in the spotlight.
To prevent the children from scattering in different directions and directions, and in this entertainment center, there was where to get lost, among the toy stores, so the elders tried not to lose sight of them so as not to lose them at all.
- Hurry here, quickly catch the younger ones from the hill! - Dad commanded, - Ravil, - small children do not feel the measure, they are ready to ride slides, jump on an inflatable trampoline until they faint, they do not know how to control themselves.
The smallest of the children, three and a half years old, went upstairs, and the seven-year-old went down from the trampoline, a five-year-old child climbed out of the soft pipe, whom his sister called. Lyudmila was catching boys; Having improved the moment, first taking the younger, wet Monya by the hand, saving him from climbing and running, returning to her dad, she began to catch the second, who was older.
And then, pointing at the children in the direction of the huge clock announcing the start of a unique 3D light show, she began to walk down the stairs with them to the spacious foyer on the first floor. Where under the dome of the main atrium, with a huge area of stained-glass windows made of natural stone and glass, painted based on Russian fairy tales; about "The Frog Princess", "The Feather of Finista-Yasn Sokol", "Vasilisa the Beautiful", "Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka", a three-dimensional spectacle began to play, to a ticking and tinkling melody against the background of the clockwork spinning. Light scenes changed on the mirror surface of the largest clock in the world with a huge 13-meter pendulum with a diameter of 3 meters, acting as an aspherical mirror.
An optical effect was created in front of them, animating the heroes of fairy tales; the trio of magic horses got under way, they delivered gifts from Santa Claus, rockets flew into space and the final of the show, colorful fireworks, a bright flash of lights.
On the way back in the car, excited children tried to stick their heads and hands out of the windows of the car, as if they were returning from the jungle, this is how real savages could act.
“You shouldn't behave like that, it’s not safe, you can be left without your head, please close the window,” Lyudmila turned to the driver of the Mercedes.
The head of the family acted as if he did not care what was happening in the car. “Or is it tradition, for a Jewish family, is this the way it should be? It is clear, here is a mother, she is engaged in raising children, so her husband is loyal with children in any situation, ”thought Lyudmila.
Every day she became more and more attached to the little family members, despite all their childish antics, which remained the same, immediate bully.
And at times, the outwardly calm ten-year-old boy Ariel made her nervous. He gave Lyudmila a lot of trouble, his behavior only proved how negatively he affects the younger ones, which, of course, affected the lessons of the governess with the children.
For the smallest, older brothers and sisters had great authority. Unfortunately for Lyudmila, the elder Ariel was a model of cruelty and hooliganism, but at first Lyudmila took this some isolation of his behavior for modesty.
His aggression was manifested not only in relation to his younger brothers, but also to the dog.
- I will take Charlik from you, if you beat the dog again, why do you need him, give it to me, I will love him! Take a closer look, Monya and Benya, I'm stroking him. So let's substitute the dog's bowl and pour milk, you know, - Lyuda turned to the older boy - Ariel, - he drinks, look: this is how he should be fed.
In a conversation with the children, Lyudmila learned that before her appearance there were two puppies in the house. However, one of the boys drowned one of the puppies while playing by the pool. She was alarmed by the fact that they do not even remember which of them was involved in the murder of the puppy: “Maybe one of the younger brothers drowned him, but who taught them this? Naturally, the handiwork of the elder brother, in this four, - decided Lyudmila.
Over time, she remarked: “And here again Ariel, as a senior, manipulates them. Trying to hide his tricks, he forces the children to drop out; beckons children to close in one of the rooms and spend time watching gadgets, but everything that happened at first turned out to be a weak signal.
Just ... minor tricks, compared to how one day Ariel ran away with his younger brothers, locked himself in the house from the inside, in a room adjacent to the hall with the pool. And at that moment, she realized: "The situation is already at the breaking point."
When she managed to open them, the following picture appeared before her eyes; A pool room filled with water, wet children standing at the open tap, water flowing from a full washbasin to the floor, reaching to the ankles, how can such games by the pool end? - horror seized her, at the thought of this: “This time everything worked out, everything ended well, I was very lucky that the housekeeper stayed here after hearing the ringing sound, thank God, she came down and opened the door for me. - Standing in the stream, ankle-deep in water with children, she experienced anxiety and fear, feeling that her legs gave way: "Thank God," she repeated to herself, "that everything ended without loss and everyone is healthy and alive."
When my mother returned, Lyudmila was indignant: - Today Ariel will put the children to bed, as now he replaces me, and I will take care of my hygiene procedures! - publicly declared, furious with these antics, Lyudmila in the living room, turning her back to everyone, with quick steps began to climb the stairs to the third floor.
- Bring a towel, here, to the children's bathhouse, now you will help me, - ordered Sabina, supporting Lyudmila, furious with children's pranks with water sweat in the room by the pool.
“Sabina, a good mother, I like her,” reasoned Lyudmila, who adored boys, she liked this family. - But we must not forget about responsibility, I am afraid to take on such responsibility. And if in the future the situation gets out of control, it is fraught with dangers and even criminal liability. It is a pity that Sabinana could not or did not want to understand me, of course, the children do not need to play with the schoolboy Ariel, with this elder, they need to immediately distance themselves and this is the only reason why I part with this family. "
During the second week of work in this family, Lyudmila tried to teach boys to be tolerant in society, trying in every possible way to encourage children to play together in the sandbox while building garages for small children's cars. The fallen fluffy snowball added new elements to the games: slides, a tunnel. Lyudmila tried to cheer up, direct the children to friendly communication, talked with them, played with the children herself, tried to teach boys exchange toys while playing to show children how to negotiate without quarreling with each other.
- Find a way out of your conflicts by communicating with words - she tried to instill in them the skills of friendly behavior, to direct situations in a peaceful direction, making it clear that they need to yield to each other, and not measure their strength: “Yes, all my beliefs are useless , everything turns upside down when the elder brother Ariel is with them, in all likelihood, his behavior corresponds to his name. "
While exchanging toys on the playground, the children began to look at the new girl with interest as they saw her for the first time. Near the swing on which the girl was swinging was a woman - the grandmother of a six-year-old girl. They were the boys' new neighbors.
I shared it with Lyudmila - my granddaughter is with us at the weekend. On days in the middle of the week she goes to a private kindergarten, and before the girl went to a regular one. Imagine what ditties she sang in music lessons: "I do not look like my mother or my father, I hatched from a chicken egg!"
- Yes, but do you really need to teach a three-year-old child such ditties? At this time, when this woman, who lives in a neighboring mansion, was indignant, her remark was interrupted by a tennis ball flying straight in her direction. Lyudmila could hardly restrain herself from laughing.
- On the other hand, it's folklore. It's good that everything is not otherwise, that I do not look like either my mother or my father, but like a passing merchant, ”Lyudmila could not restrain herself and laughed.
This is one of the boys, Benjamin, who tried to get his granddaughter's attention by throwing a small snowball at her. And at the request of the governess to stop pampering, he only repeated, aiming more clearly. A neighbor, the grandmother of a pretty girl, without hesitation, picking up a lump of snow in front of Lyudmila's eyes, threw a snowball into the gazebo where the boys were standing.
Their reaction was not long in coming: one of the children knocked over a plastic table, throwing it at a neighbor's grandmother, and the other instantly rolled a small snowball and also threw it directly at her.
- Oh, how you behave ... ugly, - she swore at the neighboring boys.
Lyudmila did not swear at the boys, despite the fact that she did not like their behavior, believing that the smarter one was to blame for the dispute.
“It's not so scary, unlike how the boys used to behave, especially Benya,” she explained to her grandmother from a neighboring cottage.
"Did they really fight?" the woman asked.
- Yes, not that word, they fought, removing iron bars, right from the fastening of the carpet, stairs, -
- Remembering this with horror, Lyudmila said, - at the moment of a quarrel, they are ready to kill each other, but after that, when you separate them in different directions, after a minute they repeat:
- I want to return, because my brother Monya, my beloved Monya, was left without me there!
Now, on the way home, holding hands with the children, Lyudmila asked them:
- What do we do when we really want to evoke the sympathy of a little girl, when
do you want to play with her, is it really worth attracting attention in this way?
She discussed situations familiar to them that arise during the game, finding out which of the children did the right thing and who did not, what behavior would be more pleasant for others, how to behave next time.
Approaching the house, they began to sing. "So, letting off steam, relief immediately came - and how good they are!" The fresh frosty air breathed the smell of pine trees, the circle at the foot of the trunks formed an ice crust on a white cover with bright black dots, spots from cones falling from the height of trees, which, having gone deep into the wet snow, left their traces in the form of an elongated and semicircular cone.
“Apparently, yesterday the trees were swinging properly,” Lyudmila managed to think when the eldest of four children threw a pine cone into the net over the fence. Which flew around a high paddock with dogs. Having flown into the aviary, which was located next to the road to the house, not far from the playground.
“You know, dogs can be very friendly,” Lyudmila threw a piece of cookies over the fence, “listen,” she shouted, throwing a bagel to the dogs. The barking died down, the dogs began to eat the treat, then Benya threw them the remnants of the food he had taken with him.
Finish your ride with a scooter ride on the snow-free track. Lyudmila increased her pace, trying to catch up with these pranksters, who rode off on scooters forward to the house. But what was her surprise; when she saw one of the boys hurrying to her.
- Be careful, I'm back, I'm worried about you, - said little Benya.
How nice it was to learn about this, - "So, she thought," I am not indifferent to the children? "
When she was eating challah and pizza at the TV, in a cozy living room surrounded by children, she heard a quarrel between the children brewing again. A dispute broke out:
- Bread cannot be thrown on the floor - do you know that this is a sin? - the girl taught her younger brothers.
“Only Russian pigs throw bread on the floor,” concluded the five-year-old boy.
Khava, with all her appearance, made it clear to her younger brothers that they violated or crossed all permissible boundaries of decency.
However, Lyudmila was not at all offended: "They are still children and repeat what they heard somewhere on the street, or maybe in the Jewish clan."
- I have not seen, - Ludmila chided, - that the Russians throw away bread, but I certainly have not seen such "impurity" as yours, round candy wrappers on the floor and pieces of bread.
The contract for conducting classes with children was about two weeks, constantly observing the situation in the family, Lyudmila tried to explain to Sabina the inadmissibility of finding schoolchild Ariel with preschoolers: “You see what negative examples the older brother gives to the boys. What cannot be denied is its bad influence. Moreover, the problems of his older brother led him to be expelled from the traditional Jewish school, which led to his studies in usual ... "
Now Luda has clarified the state of affairs; As it turned out, all attempts to convey to Sabina the seriousness of what was happening were in vain, it became clear to her that the conversations with her parents were unsuccessful, so she politely refused the offer to continue further studies. Later, Lyudmila learned how true her intuitive assumption was about Ariel.
It is clear that the boy has some kind of psychological attitude, since at the time when he was four years old, perhaps a little more, he lived in a different society in Azerbaijan. Most likely, he remembered some negative experience that happened before his eyes. Under the influence of such behavior, his cruelty began to manifest, that is, over time he began to demonstrate this negative example.
It is likely that it is difficult for a child to control himself when old behavioral ideas are crumbling. Realizing that the manifestation of the child's mental abnormalities has become obvious, that in no case should be mistaken for ordinary non-standard behavior.
In the evening, Lyudmila went into her room and, before going to the bathroom, took a cell phone and called Vladimir, when at the other end of the line there was a cough at first, and then he asked her what had happened, she said:
- Come for me tomorrow, it will be completely uncomfortable for me to follow the subway with my things.
“I’ll try, perhaps,” he said after a short pause, “but by evening, it’s unlikely, if only I manage to manage, I need to pick up my daughter at the airport.
- So, what do you mean, in the morning?
“If I don’t manage by the end of the day, I’ll call,” he answered even more vaguely.
From Friday evening to Saturday, the family gathered in the living room by burning candles - a tradition on the sacred day of the week - Shabbat, according to the festive table setting, at which there were smartly dressed family members, Lyudmila realized that this was an important part of the life of a Jewish family. When she went down the stairs to the bathroom before going to bed, she heard beautiful singing - it was Ravil's voice, accompanied by the sounds of a musical instrument.
On the way back, climbing the stairs, Lyudmila met the children's father, Ravil, while Lyudmila could not help but notice that the meal was over, the hall was empty; candles in silver candelabra burned on an oval table covered with an embroidered tablecloth, next to it was a wicker golden bread challah and unfinished wine in a bottle.
At the request of Ravil, in this hierarchy, a woman is the head of the family, in this family - Sabina, since in Jewish families women are the head of the family, they are already "one step higher" at birth. to God, "- Lyudmila went to the table and, blowing out the candles, dimmed the light in the living room, and then in the neighboring rooms. Climbing up to her, continuing to extinguish the lights everywhere, until she reached her bedroom door.
On Saturday evening, Lyudmila did not immediately look into her phone, since without receiving an affirmative answer from him, she did not wait for him that evening, believing that he would be busy, but it turned out that Vladimir arrived and waited for her at the gate for more than an hour.
- Shalom! - Vladimir turned to Ravil and Sabina, who were standing next to him. The boys, as usual, hid behind their parents, embarrassed by the appearance of strangers.
Leaving the house, she met the gaze of more than one pair of beads of children's eyes, climbing the stairs, Lyudmila continued to joke with the boys: - Sit in my suitcase, you noticed - it is big, everything will fit in it - she remembered the words that Ravil said her in the first days: "When women from agencies came to us, the children did not play with them for a long time, did not want to stay with them, and if we talk about you, then you, they immediately believed and went to play with you."
“And it seemed to me that I had just found an approach to children, and with all my heart I became attached to them in such a short period, the most difficult period of adaptation. But, despite all the efforts on my part, unfortunately, events become unpredictable, Sabina does not want to distance the guys from Ariel, although I liked it here - it makes no sense in such a situation to wait "until the crayfish whistle."