prompt other hearts.
From now on, the fatigues mute
Will fill out a notebook with words as lute.
Forgotten other people’s suffering.
He has not any speech metaphoring.
Twice on weekdays Lucy went to the beach, where there were few people. There she, leafing through the pages of her diary, read poetry. Of course, it would be better to go to the beach with Alex, but he was at work. The week flew by unnoticed. The day of departure came.
With her friends she met at the entrance, took a taxi. The flight was morning. Alex promised to take time off work, Lucy called him beforehand. His voice was too confident in the phone, she thought that Alex was not at all the kind of person with whom she would be happy, but then she threw away such tricky thoughts and decided that she was too worried on the eve of her departure.
Alex was waiting at the airport with a bouquet of lilies. Olga and Irene were escorted by Olga’s brother – a student of the university, who came especially to Saratov to visit his parents. Five of them went into the buffet, bought champagne and drank in honor of leaving “for a smooth path.” Alex raised his glass and said:
“Look, Lucy, do not flirt much,” he sighed, “and you girls, watch my bride return home safe and sound.”
The girls laughed, and Lucy was offended by such rude patronage, but she did not say anything.
* * *
Gurzuf. Wild beach. The people are few. Here and there groups of tourists are visible. Lucy, Irena and Olga are already bored. They lived only ten days, and from the monotony it seemed that the whole summer was devoted to sunburn. The sea was turbid, slightly stormy. It was decided to return home in two days. The day before departure, Irena met a handsome guy Igor in the form of a paratrooper from Lvov. He escorted the girls to the airport on his black Ford sedan. Lucy flew to Moscow on the same day, but four hours later.
They left the terminal and returned to his house, where he worked as a rescuer. Crimea attracted by the variety of colors and flowers, the riot of plants and fruits.
In the house there were sports equipment, but in general everything was beautiful and cozy. Lucy was taken aback by the excitement. Igor hugged the girl by the shoulders, trying to calm, and they began to look for an inflatable mattress, so she swam before leaving. He suggested that she had to do a massage and undressed naked.
“I have a great experience,” he said, and showed his tanned stomach and shoulders without too much shame. “Touch me, I do not bite. Also undress. That’s more interesting.”
Lucy took off her shorts, tightly tied on her hips, a pink, glamorous jersey. She remained in a swimsuit, which immediately appeared on the floor, drawing white spaces on the body. She lay on my stomach right on the carpet. He switched on the receiver and began massaging her neck, back and legs to the beat with the music.
“Do not hurt, say if you feel something unpleasant,” Igor said, touching the body of the girl with strong hands. “Do you like?”
Lucy hugged the rescuer, and they lay down on the inflatable mattress and made love. Igor turned the girl on her back, admiring the beauty, and she pressed herself warmly to him, hugging him by the shoulders. Their sudden coition continued.
“Your friends are just as proud,” Igor said when they were already calmly going to swim. “My job is to teach you how to swim.”
The love story ended literally when she boarded the plane. Many-voiced and multicolored Moscow met Lucy hospitably and happily. Lucy took a taxi and asked to bring to the hotel near the exhibition, hoping to stay three days in the capital. The hotel administrator – a pretty dyed brunette – smiled and said:
“There is one luxury room in a double room for hundred dollars a day.”
She did not have to choose, and Lucy paid ahead in three days. She went up to the third floor, opened the door of the hotel room and looked around. From a small but spacious hallway with a refrigerator and wardrobe, the door led to the bedroom, living room and bathroom.
In the bedroom there was a bed, two bedside tables, an armchair and a chair. The room could be called “blue”, as the wallpaper, the bedspread on the beds, the upholstery of the furniture and the curtains on the windows were blue. The furniture was modern, low, polished. In the living room there was a high cabinet, a table, a sofa, four chairs, a plasma TV and a telephone. Lucy put things on and, without undressing, lay down on the bed. She wanted to rest after a tiring road.
She seemed to doze off. The feeling of hunger made her wake up. She took a bath with pleasure.
“I’ll put on something especially elegant to look more attractive and cute than ever,” she said aloud.
Once again, having reconsidered her things, Lucy opted for a bright colored blouse with short sleeves-wings and a light, sports skirt; she put on her shoulders a colorful, shortened jacket.
She went to the mirror: a young, elegant woman was looking at her. Lucy combed her hair, slightly tinted her lips with a toned lipstick of Yves Rocher, picked up her purse and thought.
“We have to figure out where to go first. Dine and then… Cover as much as possible, so you need a solid plan,” she reasoned.
For three days Lucy managed to visit many places: the Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Art Theater, and the Beauty House at her plastic surgeon; managed to bypass the hypermarkets and department stores, bought some of the things for father and herself.
From Moscow she called Alex twice. At the airport he met, helped carry the suitcases. The taxi was already waiting at the bus stop. Alex admired the works of contemporary artists, the appearance and tan of Lucy.
“Next time, we’ll go together. It’s bad for you to sunbathe a lot, you look like a movie star, and it scares me. I can imagine what was going on in Moscow when you were walking down the street.”
“Stop joking. I was so looking forward to this meeting, hoping to see you more intelligent. We will never find a common language. I realized…”
Lucy did not finish, as the taxi braked sharply. Because of the sudden stop, she lost the thread, what she was talking about, yes it was and to nothing, since he did not listen, but looked out the window.
“You seem to be interested in something more than I do. Then why come to meet me, since we do not understand each other,” she added.
Then he distracted from the examination of his hands and said, hypnotizing the girl:
“Come to me.”
Everything became clear to her, and she decided not to tell her father about the time of her return and agreed to stay with him for a couple of days, but changed her mind.
4. Visible Windows
Father met Lucy as usual with questions: “How did you get there? How did you rest? Where did you go to Moscow? What was the most memorable? How is your health?”
For a long time she retold the screenplay “Like the gods…” with the participation of folk artists, and herself tensely thought: “What has happened? Whence this cold? Alex was right, why did I go to the south? It would have been better if I stayed in the city to avoid conflict.”
Her father took the excitement with which she talked about the performance she saw, fatigue and overwork of her daughter, but, despite this, he asked:
“Lucy, what happened?” It seems to me that you are ill. You do not say something. Maybe you have complications at work? You’re very worried. Before you left, you had not been so nervous.
After these words, she could not stand it and burst into tears: “Here’s how it always is. My father understands me even more than I do myself.”
The