Бесплатный фрагмент - Temptation

Beautiful women should not be left unattended, even when they are asleep.

God knows what they’re dreaming about.

From the novel “Flirting with loneliness”, Gleb Karpinsky

An affair

After his wife left him and began to live openly with her lover, Adam began to dilute his melancholy with other women. Mostly they were tired of marriage ladies. Such people were easily picked up by him in social networks and chats. He only had to look at the photos, at the statuses, and exchange a few phrases to understand what kind of woman was in front of him. And how often, behind the haughty masks of decent mothers and faithful wives, behind the deceitful smiles of benefactors and PUritans, behind the garish disguises of shrews and hysterics, he had seen the true face! And as soon as he touched one or another chord of the refined female soul, the mask fell off by itself.

Adam quickly indulged in easy victories, but, as he sated his defeated ego, he soon began to realize that he was degrading. He even regretted that the energy spent on frivolous affairs was not directed to some great and noble cause, and he became more and more disillusioned with women. He no longer enjoyed having a woman of strict upbringing or high morals give herself to him like a total whore. When she confessed her love forhim, he immediately abandoned her, regardless of feelings, cruelly pushed her away from him. On the one hand, he was afraid of a serious relationship, on the other, he justified his behavior by saying that he never cheated, did not take off his wedding ring, did not make a fool of himself, but simply said that he still loved his wife, and many of his women even envied Laura.

But there were also some among them who openly used it. They knew that Adam had no money, but at the same time they went with him to the restaurant, spoiled by the previous attention and care of their lovers, ordered delicious dishes and demanded expensive gifts and other entertainment. And then he felt like the last ragamuffin, and only the realization that he was spending his last ruble on a pleasant pastime consoled him. These women often left him, considering him a failure, laughed at his naivety and inconsistency in life, and looked for other fools. There were also those who openly looked at Adam as a convenient bed for their secret criminal pleasures.

Once he made an agreement on the Internet with a certain Julia. Perhaps the name was fictitious, the page on the Internet said only that the woman was suffering and looking for support and comfort. Julia was a little high-strung and nervous. She was stifled by her lack of self-confidence as a woman, she was always angry at her husband, at his constant infidelities and inattention to her. Her whole being longed for some kind of shake-up on the side, but fear stopped her, and at the thought of a possible connection, she turned cold with horror. She kept looking around and flinching, as if she sensed that she was being watched, imagining a tyrant husband who was just waiting for the moment to point his finger at her and say” You’re блfuckingдьyourself!”. Every time her hesitant heart skipped a beat when the phone rang or a text message from her husband arrived. She hurried to answer, to justify herself, feeling guilty and beaten. Adam met her at the subway station, just as the evening lights were coming on and people were returning from work. No one paid any attention to them in the crowd, and they were like two conspirators who immediately recognized each other, but did not hurry to embrace.

“Hi,” he said first, and kissed her timidly on the cheek.

He often kissed strange women in the first minutes of a meeting, and this brought him very close to them, violated their personal space, excited their blood and subordinated them to some inevitable fate. Julia shivered, pleasantly startled by the kiss.

“You’re funny!”

“And you’re all right,” he said, still watching the game.

She was a little embarrassed, and they followed the path past a frozen pond where schoolboys were playing hockey. Their packs were stacked to represent the gate. It was fun and exciting, and the playful mood of the children was transmitted to passers — by who stopped and cheered for this or that team.

— I used to play hockey too, when I was little. I did my best on the goal, and then skates were a rarity… " sighed Adam with nostalgia. — Can you skate?”

Yulia nodded, afraid to utter a word, and to rouse her, he took her gently by the hand. His profile delighted her with its regular features, its classical Roman beauty, and she was ashamed of her feelings, a flush creeping up her cheeks. A light snow was falling. It fell on their faces and melted, and if she brushed it away furtively and blinked against the wind, Adam ignored the weather and looked straight ahead with a kind of deep understanding and defiance, and, it seemed that tears were running down his sad, dimly lit face.

There was something blissful about his good-natured, sweet smile. With such a person, it seemed, you could talk about everything, even the most intimate. When he spoke, passionately and passionately, his intelligent, deep eyes shone with a kind of revelation, and his face itself seemed to radiate light, like the radiance on an icon at the first rays of the spring sun. He was carried away by his thoughts, reflections, and carried away even the most indifferent listener.,Like an ancient orator, he poured out his great soul, trying to touch the hearts of the crowd, only this time it was a woman, weak and tired, but dreaming of love. His words touched Julia, kindled her long-extinguished fire. She still tried to rebel and resist, but she could no longer resist, and she felt her heart light up, and Adam kept telling her about himself and Laura, about the injustice they had to deal with.

His hand was large and strong, his grip gentle and unobtrusive. She could have freed her hand, but she was already too timid and walked meekly, feeling like a small and stupid girl. She liked this game. She forgot herself, enjoying this walk in the middle of nowhere, without a goal or any obligations.

“You have high self-esteem,” she said. — You’re very impertinent…”

“Every human being is a god who came down to Earth to suffer humiliation. And everything that happens around me is just my rules, it’s like I deliberately limited myself in my abilities, you know? But trust me that everything is in my power…

He had long ago decided that he would take her to his rented apartment, and Yulia, pretending not to notice where they were taking her, or indeed she did not notice it, complained about her husband all the way.

“It’s a scoundrel! Imagine, my close friend is his mistress! And she sends me his text messages. And there are such lyrics! Poems of your own composition!

“What does she want?” Adam asked, taking a shortcut.

They walked past the pond and stopped in front of the hill where the house stood. Adam had already pointed out that he lived somewhere over there and even pointed out his window, but Julia couldn’t see anything and just waved away the snowflakes as if they were intrusive flies. Then he pulled her with him, and they began to climb in an unexpected place. They had to walk sideways to avoid slipping down, and they were even out of breath and out of breath. At that moment, through the noise of the evening city, the bell of a nearby church rang out, and for some reason Adam had the absurd idea that the messiah climbing Golgotha was also stumbling and panting, but instead of a heavy cross, Adam was dragging along a lost woman and a whole train of her sins.

“What’s he trying to do?” Known! her companion scoffed angrily. “He wants a divorce.”

“And you, why don’t you leave yourself?” Adam demanded. “Why do you need a husband who doesn’t love you?”

— You see, we live with his mother, and if something happens, I will stay on the street, and he can take the children away, why do I need these problems? Perebesitsya yes will return! And this bitch won’t get it!

They went to the entrance and began brushing off the snow, tapping their feet, straightening their clothes, as if to make each other look decent. Yulia hesitated a little when Adam let go of her hand, as if giving her a choice — to go in or not to go in, and she so wanted to be pushed, taken by the scruff of the neck and thrown into the abyss, like a stupid kitten. She tried not to think, to be a naive fool, but she couldn’t.

“You know,” he said suddenly, looking her straight in the eye, “the greatest sin on earth is to reject the love of those who love you.

A janitor stopped them in the foyer. She did not like tenants, demanded registration and complained to the district police officer. Adam also annoyed her by taking suspicious girls around all the time.

“Ah, young man, what kindшof bars are these?! She said sternly as she adjusted the curly wig that made her look like a vicious poodle on her head.

“Marya Ivanovna! It’s my little sister who’s here, “he lied, even though he knew they wouldn’t believe him anyway, and quietly promised to bring a cake tomorrow so that no one would hear.

“Okay, come on in,” the janitor said, frowning. — Just to keep things in order!”

As they stepped into the elevator, Adam got his first good look at Julia in the bright light. In real life, she looked older than in the photos.

“How old is she? Thirty-five? Forty? He wondered.

He’d been fooling the kids ' heads lately, and he was pretty tired of their whims. And now that he had a mature woman in his power, he felt a sense of good fortune. Julia stared at the blinking elevator buttons and read пthestrange inscriptions on the walls. Her eyes wandered, and she was already getting used to the inevitable. He suddenly wanted to take her right there in this dirty and spattered elevator, and she, sensing his desire, clung to him and even kissed him. Her lips were weak, almost lifeless, and smelled of sweet strawberry gum. Adam put his arm around her, touchedher beautiful white neck with his lips, and whispered something pleasant. The elevator opened, but they were in no hurry to get out. She loved the way his cold hands took her tired face gently and gently, like an expensive crystal vase, as his gentle fingers wandered over her sensitive skin, walked under her thick hair, caressed behind her ears and the back of her head. She would involuntarily get goosebumps all over her body, and she would close her eyes, forgetting herself with the sweet poison of infidelity.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she whispered defensively. — This is my first time… God, God… what am I doing!

Before she knew it, she was in his apartment. All she remembered was какthrowing her clothes around without taking off her shoes or stopping kissing, and indulging in debauchery, and everything was like a dream. And for a long, long time her phone rang, and it must have been her impatient tyrant husband on the other end, and she, drunk with revenge, writhed under the caress of another man, giving herself to him in some animal and unthinkable poses that no decent woman could afford. When Adam had finished, she lay still for a minute, staring at the ceiling with unblinking eyes. Shadows from the headlights of passing cars moved across the ceiling. I could hear the neighbors ' TV blaring. There was some kind of soap opera, where the characters were arguing about something, figuring things out, and these shadows crawling on the ceiling scared her, and she saw that she was not alone in this fear. The room was crawling with cockroaches, red, nasty, disgusting, and they hid from these wandering shadows somewhere behind the edges of the torn wallpaper and the brackets of the cornice. But where could she hide? Julia’s phone made a faint beep: it was discharging. Adam stroked her in vain, and listened to her weak heart beating softly, while she mechanically stroked this strange man, whose name she could not even remember, on his shaggy, tousled head, and held him like a child. She already felt as if nothing had happened between them, and she even tried to convince herself of it. She suddenly wanted to leave, and she pulled away…

“I have to go…”

“Go!” he said slowly.

She got up and gathered up her clothes as she went, then opened the front door herself.

“Don’t think -" she was saying something. “There was nothing between us, and there can’t be! I’ll tell my husband everything.

The door slammed shut, but he could still hear her hurrying up the stairs without even waiting for the elevator, her uncertainty returning, her trembling response to someone’s insistent phone call saying she was shopping, and he smiled ruefully.

The temptation

When he rode the subway and looked at the well-fed and contented faces of people, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He gave his breakfast of two eggs and a piece of bread to the children. His wife did not even deign to kiss him, but he was used to her behavior, justifying it with pregnancy. Yes, it’s his own fault that the family ran out of money, yes, life punished him for his pride, and now he is a courier who travels around the capital from morning to late evening for a dubious income. Today, there’s only one order, which means that the money is barely enough for milk and bread. And here he is, young and handsome, with two college degrees and even a once-successful business, and if it weren’t for a couple of credits and his faith in people, he would be on horseback right now, probably even in the province of Bordeaux in his vineyard, sipping his own Мfive-year-old mello. Oh, how he had longed for the vineyard all these years! He suddenly imagined the southern French sun and somewhere in the distance the blue of the warm sea, a light wind and barelyswaying ripe bunches, as he barefooted and happy in a loose white shirt, tasting theberries and blinking with pleasure, countingthe future profit…

“Next station is Chekhov…” a metallic voice said, and he jumped out at the very last moment, almost missing his station.

On the street, the courier was met with snow and slush, he vainly wrapped himself in his thin windbreaker, there was simply no money for a new jacket, since under it was still a warm knitted sweater that his wife had knitted for him in the first year of marriage. Now not only did she not knit things for him, but she also excluded sex, and bitterness and resentment for his wife suddenly overwhelmed his cold soul, and he wanted to go to a tavern and get drunk, but even this small joy was impossible. There was no money.

— Eh… — he sighed sadly and went to the entrance of an elite house.

The two guards gave him an incredulous look and seemed to be rude, mistaking him for some homeless guy, but he didn’t pay attention. I’d like to give up the goods and leave as soon as possible. After the humiliating explanation that he was a courier and that they were waiting for him, they still let him pass, writing down his passport details and agreeing with the client on his arrival.

He entered a very high-tech elevator, and the elevator informed him of his thinning weight and asked him which floor he needed to go to. He pressed “thirty-two,” and the elevator said, “Thank you.” The cabin was spacious, perhaps the size of his nursery, but even now the courier did not betray this injustice of importance. Quickly return the goods and leave. In the mirror, he couldn’t help but see his exhausted and depressed image, his disheveled hair, his cheap windbreaker, and the crumpled, terribly indecent package in his hands that contained the goods. Most of all, he was embarrassed by his shoes, which were dirty from the slush and were already torn in several places, and it was still winter ahead. The flight was smooth, just flying, because it felt like being in zero gravity.

Finally, liefT brought the courier to the right floor and he went out. Everything was clean, decorated with expensive and beautiful natural stone, on the floor there were ceramic vases with decorative indoor plants, resembling an entire arboretum. It even seemed to him that somewhere a fountain was gurgling and canaries were singing. After walking a short distance down the hall and finding the right apartment, he pressed the bell, trying to tune in to a cheerful mood and thinkingabout what kind of joke or phrase to say depending on the situation. Whether he got a tip depended on it. Damn it, he was counting on a tip today, such a cool house, thatexpensive armor-piercing door…

I didn’t have to wait long. A completely naked woman in her thirties met him on the doorstep. All she was wearing were fluffy white slippers and a gold chain around her neck. Her long, wet hair fell from her shoulders in swirling curls, as if she’d just gotten out of the tub. Shaved pubichair, neat little breasts, well-developed thighs. He’d only ever seen such women in museums. Venus herself appeared before him. Her swollen nipples stuck out as if she wanted to feed him milk, and he even swallowed. Still, he took a step back and looked at the apartment number again.

“No, you’re not mistaken,” the woman grinned.

The courier noticed for the first time the smoking cigarette holder in her mouth and, trying not to notice theseductive beauty of her naked female body, took out the goods and invoice from the package:

“Seven hundred and forty rubles,” and showed her the bill to prove it.

His fingers were trembling slightly. He tried to concentrate and hide his excitement, but it was all he could do. The womannoticed this, grinned again, and walked into the room, swaying her hips like she was on a catwalk.

“Close the door, it’s draughty,” she said casually.

The courier paused for a moment, thinking about closing the door behind him or in front of him. At the back of the room, which was quite large and probably contained his entire shack, along with the proverbial kitchen, he saw antiques — a coffee table with crooked legs, probably the only furniture there, apart from an exercise bike and a hanger in the hallway with a mink coat. On this lovely table was a bottle of champagne, fruit, a light snack, and two empty glasses of pure crystal. The smell of fresh red caviar also reached his empty stomach, and he swallowed again.

“I’m sorry about the mess, we’re doing some repairs,” she said, blowing out a ring of cigarette smoke.

Then she opened her small purse anda piece of yellow leather and rummaged through it, occasionally frowning. Several thoughts raced through the courier’s mind, including the possibility that this lady was about to pull out a revolver and blow his brains out, but one thought still prevailed and tormented him with its obscenity. “But what will the wife say?”, — she will immediately understand everything, he can not hide this event, no, no, he must fight and show that he is a real man, a faithful husband, an exemplary family man, he is not like everyone else.

“Damn it, what an obsession! — What is it? “he said faintly, unbuttoning the collar of his stuffy shirt.

“Please close the door, it’s draughty!” she repeated her request, and her voice, surprisingly clear as a bell, was full of petulance and selfishness.

And he closed the door and closed it for some reason behind him, that is, left standing in her hallway on the rug. He was a little ashamed of the mud dripping from his shoes onto this unusually soft pile.

The woman finally came up to him with a red pressed bill.

— Do you have change from 5000?

He took the bill as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She knewit from his erratic movementsand triumphantly blew out another ring of cigarette smoke. She seemed to begetting tired of his insecurities.

“What’s the matter with you?” “What is it?” she asked, slightly annoyed. — You’ve never seen such money?”

“I’m a little confused, to be honest…” he said, struggling for words, and hurriedly handed over the goods.

“I don’t have any change,” he added.

“You can return it later,” she said, waving her hand. “Would you like a drink?”

Awkward thought hard, his heart began to pound, something whispered to him, “Go away, go away!” but his head itself nodded treacherously.

He, suddenly, remembered that his socks were torn and not very fresh, that he was just a courier, but the client seemed to read his mind.

“That’s great. Keep me company.” You don’t have to take your shoes off, the housekeeper will be here soon anyway.

He walked softly, to the coffee table, so that you could hear the parquet floor creaking under his feet, and stood looking out of the window.

The gorgeous panorama of the capital from a bird’s-eye view fascinated him. He even saw on the horizon smoking chimneys, red tower cranes, somewhere behind them, behind the constructionsite, his khrushchovka was lost-a five-story buildingwhere a family of five people huddled in a modest hole, hungry people…

— I also like to admire the landscape, — the woman went to the window, leaned slightly on the sill and peered into the distance.

O’Neill noted several moles on her tanned back, strong buttocks that had obviously been worked up on an exercise bike. Also on the left shoulder blade of a stranger, he noticed a tattoo in the form of an angel’s wing. Perhaps this was the femaleangel. He couldn’t help but inhale the scent of her wet hair, the expensive shampoo that reminded him of the freshness of the sea, and he imagined again the green vineyards, the ancient knight’s castle, the southern sun on its gilded roofs. He uncorked the bottle and poured sparkling foam into the glasses, making a few jokes. They clinked glasses for the meeting and the wonderful view outside. The champagne wasexcellent, some kind of elite micro-cuvee draught. Tasting the long-forgotten taste of red caviar, he gulped down sandwiches and sank back into his vineyards, the ripe grapes swollen with juice mesmerizing and enticing, and he counted the profits.

“One bottle from the bush,” he said, “no more.”

“What did you say, Pavel?” “What is it?” she asked.

And he didn’t even remember how in such a short time, he had already managed to tell her his name. He gently took the woman’s hand, took the mouthpiece out of her erotic lips with his other hand, brushed herhair back from her beautiful face, and looked into her eyes.

“I really like you, Alice…”

Alice’s eyes were large and black, and there was a hint of loneliness in them. It was as if someone had abandoned her, abandoned her suddenly, abruptly, and she needed comfort. And he saw himself in her big black eyes, the one who would comfort her.

“My God! If you are on Earth, ‘his lost soul suddenly pleaded,’ save me from temptation, and if you are not, forgive me.”

Their lips touched, and the long, intoxicated kissof the two lonerswas ecstatic. It was all a bit of a blur. He put his arms around her and kissed her shoulders, caressed her firm breasts. Thesharp, extended claws dugваinto his back, causing him pain. The woman bit him lightly, alternately holding him close and pushing him away. She looked likea slippery and full of strength and danger snake caught by an experienced kite. And all this lovemaking on her part was very exciting for him. He turned her back on him and pressed his lips to the tattoo on her left shoulder. The woman laughed and said some impertinent things to him, and he kissed her and kissed her, until suddenly the phone in his pocket rang and he realized that it was his wife calling him, reminding him of reality, that it was time to go home.

He started and was about to pick up the phone out of habit, because of his simple nature, to say that he would be here soon, that he was bored, to ask about the children… Butthe phone went silent, and he realized that the battery had run out and that it would be impossible to call back, and that his wife, would probably, be very nervous.

“I’m sorry! — he pulled away and looked guiltily at the white slippers of a beautiful stranger. — I have to go, I have children, my wife is on the last terms, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…

He even made the sign of the cross to prove his point, though it never did him much good. The woman, hot from his caresses and kisses, took a step toward him, but he pulled away again, torn by doubts. Then she went to the table and casuallypoured herself a glass of champagne.

— Са ne fait rien! (it’s okay), " she said with a bitter grin in pure French.

He understood her words, even though he had never heard live French so closely before, and, guiltily, made his way to the door. Before he left, he looked back once more and saw her looking out the window with a glass of champagne.

The door seemed to close of its own accord, the lock clicked, and he went out. The elevator, the marble staircase, the disgruntled stares of security, the terrible wind, the snow, the saving subway, the crush, the crowded minibus, the entrance to the store to buy milk, the doorbell, and on the shabby threshold a pregnant wife with red eyes from tears and a bunch of children having fun around.

“I thought something had happened!” I already wanted to call the police, “she said.

“Sorry, the phone just went dead,” he said defensively, looking away and turning his attentionto the kids.

“Dad, did you buy some milk?” “they’re hanging on to him. “Dad, you promised me a chocolate bar.”

“Dad, did Mom think you were hit by a train… Tam is so slippery.

“No, not really. It’s all right, I love you… " he answered them.

He hurriedly hugged each baby, hugged his plump wife from pregnancy and kissed her for some reason on the top of her head. Tears streamed down her unshaven cheeks, unable to contain themselves. He didn’t even mind that he smelled like expensive perfume and probably had a lipstick mark on his neck. He was comforted by the thought that he had bought some milk, that he had not lived another day in vain. And in those moments, it seemed to him that outside the window the southern sun and in its precious rays ripe vines ripen against the azure of the warm sea.

A cigarette for two

Someone tapped her gently on the shoulder. Laura opened her eyes a crack and saw a gray-haired old man in a uniform. The guide smiled and, twitching his cockroach-colored moustache, said respectfully:

“I’m sorry, ma’am. The train is going to a dead end.

Laura rose from her chair. The guide noticed that the woman was a little confused and, coughing into her hand, called after her.

— I advise you not to take a taxi at the train station. They rip off half the skin there.

“My husband meets me.”

Laura adjusted her shawl. It was cold. Sparse snowflakes swirled over the deserted platform. No one met her. Laura hesitated, puffing out clouds of milky steam, and headed for the exit. Moscow was dozing. Tomorrow was the first working week. The station building flickered with garland lights. Confetti and firecrackers were trampled on the floor. There was a Christmas tree with mirror balls in the waiting room. Beneath it, Santa Claus was bored, his hat askew, and mumbling “Happy Christmas"under his breath.

— Where is Russia heading?! They can’t find a normal Santa Claus, “the janitor was indignant.

He swung the mop lazily, leaving a shiny floorin his wake, and then returned after a while, because if one impatient passenger walked around here, all the routine work went down the drain.

“Careful, it’s slippery!” He shouted to the passenger who was hurrying to the exit, but Laura didn’t even look at the janitor, trying to slip unnoticed past the crowd of taxi drivers.

His shout aroused their attention, and they swooped down like ravens on the poor woman, blocking her passage. As if on the last piece of bread, they rushed, hungry, predatory, with sharp noses, pushing each other with their elbows.

“The devils have inherited it again! the janitor swore and threw the hated mop aside.

It must have been a bad idea to quit smoking right after Christmas. The ashtray was filled with cigarette butts, as Aslambek had already smoked a pack of cigarettes today. To avoid thinking about the bad habit that was killing his inflamed lung, he bought a December Playboy at a newsstandPlayboyand became even more despondent. From the cover, the beautiful Natasha, reincarnated as the snow Maiden, was looking at him. Smiling affably, she coquettishly covered her bare breasts with her hands.

The man put down the magazine. Through the cracked windowof an oldVolkswagen, he stared out at the world with the detached gaze of a hermit who was just unlucky enough to find a placeto meet people. For five years now, Moscow had become Aslam’s second homeland, sheltering his family from the persecution of bloodlines, but even here there was a distant echo of the war. Once a well-respected man, who owned a car wash in Grozny and was popular with women, the refugee now felt like a ragamuffin, surrounded by distrustful and sometimes hostile stares, every day facing the demands of the taxi mafia, which consists mainly of Caucasians. But they weren’t his brothers. These people did not honor the Qur’an. Perhaps life has made them so, but he, Aslambek, has not lost the faith that was nurtured with his mother’s milk. He was a Muslim at heart. The trials had hardened him, made him a philosopher.

At the train station, where he usually stood guard for hapless passengers hitching a ride, Aslambek could not understand why once a Russian bullet still deviated from a given trajectory and, piercing through his left lung, spared his heart. Perhaps Allah was preparing him for new challenges. Seeing a woman walking along the road with her hand raised, Aslambek quickly turned the key in the ignition and drove off with a whoosh. He was afraid that someone would get ahead of him. TheVolkswagenbraked sharply, and the man bent down to open the front door, having previously hidden the magazine in the glove compartment. Driving passengers in the back seat at night was unacceptable for safety reasons. This is the second taxi driver found with a garrote around his neck just this week.

“For a kind smile, I’lltake you anywhere in Moscow,” he said to Nalet, trying to please the stranger.

There was a slight Caucasian accent in his voice.

“Isn’t your buggy going to fall apart?” the woman cast a skeptical glance at the car.

“There’s a real German engine under the hood,” and the driver put the gas in neutral at his own risk.

The engine roared loudly.

“You’ve got a decent dent in the fender.

— This is a dent, unfortunately, from my face. There are a lot of hooligans here.

“You seem to have a strong head- " Laura smiled sweetly.“And how much is my smile worth?”

Aslambek sighed. He needed money badly.

— Sit down quickly, we will arrange. It’s not safe here.

The mention of bullies affected the woman, and she quickly got into the car, waving away the smoke in the cabin.

“Yes, Aslam has a strong head. He said proudly. — They wanted me to share the proceeds with them, but I didn’t even have the money for gas.

“Aslam…” she repeated his name thoughtfully. Do you know the city well?

“Like the back of your hand, madame.

He inhaled the pleasant perfumethat all these Russian women wear when they go out on a date, and coughed.

“Excuse me, madame, but where are you going?”

His question seemed to confuse the passenger. She thought about it, tapping her slender fingers nervously on her purse, and after a briefй pause, she puzzled the driver herself.

— Do you know where the Khovanskoe cemetery is located?

— of course. He nodded, fighting a fit of coughing. “It’s a dark place.

“It can’t get any darker,” Laura said with a grin.

The Chechen hid his concern. On New Year’s Eve, robberies became more frequent, and he heard about a gang of thugs who disemboweled gullible taxi drivers, luring them to remote areas of Moscow.

“Show me the money, if you can.” — What is it? “he asked.

Watching the passenger rummage in her purse made him uneasy.

“I’m sorry. Basic safety precautions. You bring a client in, and suddenly they throw up their hands, and what do I do? Don’t fight, right? The cops infringe on the rights of illegal immigrants and just do somethingextreme.

“Of course I understand, just turn down the radio and turn on the air conditioner.

Laura waved a bill in the driver’s face, not concealing her slight distress, and Aslam regretted his lack of confidence. They were silent all the way, and only once did the woman ask him if he was dreaming.

— What Are You!? After such a sleepless and exhausting night, I barely crawl to my bunk and fall down dead, without hind legs, like a squeezed lemon in the back room of the homeless canteen. My own mother doesn’t offer me breakfast because she knows I can’t even chew semolina. I close my eyes and fall into a bottomless abyss. Nothing but darkness. Maybe I dream about black cats, but Idon’t really see them!? he chuckled, eyeing her curiously.

“MalEvich had a similar dream. She smiled.

“Is this an acquaintance of yours?”

“Don’t you know,” the passenger laughed, “he’s an artist, and he’s famous for drawing a black square.

— These daubers are now a dime a dozen on the Arbat. For money, they will draw a parallelepiped. If I had discovered the ability to draw, I would not hesitate to draw only beautiful women.

— Let’s hope for your success.

The headlights of oncoming cars were blinding. The driver was squinting and looking at his passenger out of the corner of his eye. He liked her. It was warm in the cabin, and the snowflakes were melting into water droplets, shimmering like frog eggs on a woman’s shawl.

“And what do you dream, madame?” — What is it? “he asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

“In my dreams, I often talk to a man who loves me very much, but is afraid to admit it… " and the woman stopped again.

— Maybe someone really loves you and is afraid to admit it? — What is it? “he suggested, when there was no answer.

The journey was tiring. Laura closed her tired eyes and drifted off. Her brows were furrowed in her sleep, and Aslam could hear her whisper softly, but he couldn’t make out what his passenger was saying over the noise of the road. Laura dreamed that she was still sitting on the train in an empty car. A strange man, wearing a hat that obscured his face, sat down in the far corner of the room.

— The last train almost ran away from me… — he hummed some paraphrased words from the hit song.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t run away! Where do you live? Laura asked the stranger.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m temporarily living in your imagination.”

“Why temporarily?”

“It’s a sad story. Do you have someone who loves you?

— I don’t have true love… Lots of likes and hobbies. But I think that everything passes with time.

“I can’t live without love. The emptiness in my heart suffocates me. Can I fall in love with you? the man asked sadly.

“What am I going to do about it?” We don’t even know each other.

— Maybe one day in a difficult moment you will remember that someone far away, but native is waiting for you and sincerely loves you, and it will become easier.

“Where are you now?”

— I don’t know. I listen to the wheels roll over the snow-covered tracks, and the steel screech calls me into the distance, lulling me to sleep. The car is almost empty. Outside the window, the dim lights of lonely stations flash by. A cold woman is sleeping across from me, wrapped in a shawl. Sometimes she shudders uneasily, as if seeing something terrible and painful in a dream…

Laura woke up, and even though the driver was driving carefully, they were swayed to the right on the shoulder of the road and almost swept into a ditch. An ice crust formed on the asphalt, and Aslam did not have time to change his tires for winter. The cemetery was located away from residential areas, and, what this woman might have forgotten here in the middle of a chilly night remained a painful mystery to Aslam during the entire trip. She didn’t look like an accomplice to the robbery. He was burning with curiosity, but he didn’t dare question the passenger who was now sitting with her face against the window.

Afraid of getting stuck in the snow, Aslam did not drive up to the fence itself, but stopped nearby. There were no cars in the parking lot, except for an old hearse with an advertising sign that read “Making monuments and monuments out of granite.” The passenger paid, and the driverheard the snow crunch under her feet. She glanced back at Aslam, feeling his eyes follow her. The gate was loosely closed and rattled with a chain wrapped around it. The woman was peering between the bars of the fence, peering into the snowy distance of the cemetery. The wind blew in gusts, swaying the dim lantern above the guardhouse, making the black shadows of the crosses flicker. A dog emerged from under the hearse, shaggy and thin, with floppy spaniel ears. The dog pursed its paw and whined piteously.

Aslam felt uneasy. He broke down and got out of the car. The dog sniffed cautiously at the woman’s coat, and the woman even reached out to caress her, but when Aslam came closer and coughed, the animal ducked under the fence with its tail between its legs.

“You scared her, Aslam, and you scared me, too. Laura asked, startled — Why didn’t you leave?”

“I’m worried about you,” he said, “it’s terribly cold outside, and the night watchman won’t open the gate even for good money. In this gloomy place, no one will stop, except for all the rabble. You may be mistaken for a prostitute.

“I think you’re right,” the woman sighed, and began rummaging in her purse.

She reminded Aslam of his mother, and right now he really wanted to take care of her.

“I’ll give you a free ride,” he said, thinking the woman was looking for a new bill.

“You are a very kind man, Aslam.

“May I ask who you have here?” — What is it? “he asked with undisguised sympathy.

Laura looked up at the man, her eyes wet with tears.

“No one.

“Then why are you here?”

“Because of you,” she said shakily, peering into the darkness of the cemetery. — My husband disappeared in the war years ago, and I don’t even have his body…”

The Chechen smiled bitterly. He gently hugged the frozen woman and led her to the car.

“Come on, you’re shaking.”

He was touched by the stranger’s feelings. He opened the car door and sat the woman down.

“Please take me home.” She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

“As you wish.”