now I work in journalism. I study in graduate school. And I was in a childhood queen of beauty. Is it not noticeable?” very simply asked the girl, exuding magnificence densely applied, purple shadows on the eyelids, colorful cream powder, the color of the tan, on the cheeks, blinking, brightly painted black mascara, eyelashes, appearance identical with Ornella Muti, famous for the film “The Taming of the Shrew”, directors Castellano and Moccia. It was hardly possible to resist the gaze of such a world beauty. Irina was embarrassed, but did not show the view, but internally gathered and retorted:
“This is noticeable. Still, you better roll in a movie. Charges will be stunning. You will participate in film festivals, biennials, views. There will be a lot of fans. You will be signing autographs to everyone, defiling in front of journalists and photo reporters.”
“It’s all in the past. I want to start my life from scratch, as some of my former cellmates say, with whom I was imprisoned for almost an hour.”
“What took so long interview?” Irina said, making a displeased facial expression.
“I had to report to the head. He demands some facts that I now have,” Quido explained with a feeling of satisfaction, and Irina could hardly imagine that a girl with such appearance could move along the prison corridors or wait for a get-together in a meeting room.
“Great! And what is their crime?
“Mostly drugs. This is the most popular among them article of the law.”
“All this is very unpleasant and routine. No romance. Some problems. It’s just scary how many broken lives are due to a pernicious potion,” said Irina reasonably.
“Romance happens at festivals and screen tests. You will see me on the pages of magazines. I will appear in my ballroom, royal dress, got from my mother,” Quido said proudly.
“Right. You do not need to visit government houses anymore. There are no directors, no screenwriters, and some prisoners. You understand, you should do a career in your youth… You can lose everything if you follow a vicious lifestyle,” Irina pointedly added, marveling at the courage, magnificence and independence of a movie star who managed to become a beauty queen in childhood, to attract public attention due to a successful coincidence of circumstances, parental care and perseverance film critics.
“What did you visit there once?” Quido asked straight away – the future journalist and actress.
“Fortunately, I didn’t, and I’m not going to,” answered Irina, intending to finish the slippery topic of the conversation, nervous about the full house in the library.
“And I want to write a book about these sufferers. This will be the subject of my dissertation. Do you really have no pity for them?” Quido asked, burning, continuing to leaf through the letters in her mailbox.
“Sorry is not my profile. Evil must be eradicated. And pity can only harm in professional activities,” said Irina, sententiously, having the experience of educational and pedagogical activity behind her back.
“We’ll have to go back to those tables again. A lot of things interested me in the work of police investigators and experts. The prisoners themselves asked me to go in to talk with them,” Quido said with annoyance, recalling her independent previous steps within state institutions.
“I wish you good luck,” Irina encouraged the girl sincerely.
“Good luck a little. We still need permission and a pass signed by the warden. Could you help a prisoner with money? They all want to borrow some money from me,” Quido obviously wanted to pass on the shoulders of Irina the pressing problems and aspirations of people who were in difficult life circumstances.
“I think no.”
“Why?”
“This is a philosophical question. I am afraid that I will not be able to answer it right away. It is necessary to prepare, read at our leisure the necessary publications, and delve into periodicals.”
“They told me, too. Not enough time for everything. And you?”
“As you see. I am in a hurry to go home for lunch now, but I hope to come back after and find the necessary information. Why, it seems that one table was free,” Irina moved to a free place and started studying philosophy from the position of modern views on the subject.
The tense situation among librarians began to decline. They finished recounting the fund, checking between themselves the data extracted from the computer. All of them turned out quite clearly and without blots.
“See you after lunch?” Quido asked.
“Probably,” Irina answered vaguely, although the conversation turned serious.
“I’ll be here for a long time to deal with the letters,” Quido promised Irina, showing her appearance with the aplomb of a professional actress and a movie star.
In fact, after half an hour of respite, Quido noticed Irina hurrying into the computer room.
“I’ll kill two birds with one stone: I will work on a computer and look for books in the catalog,” said Irina, feeling her superiority over the famous actress. She was relieved from everyday worries and summer heat in the shadow of the computer room, where the quiet noise of the air conditioner did not interfere with the work of visitors.
“Let’s go together. I’m already tired of being here. How are you doing? Found what you were looking for?” the girl asked, not at all disappointed in her search.
“Very little information. But something dug up. Now I’ll print one sheet and leave,” said Irina, satisfied that she had managed to extract an interesting article about an ancient philosopher, whose biography was absent in the textbook, and intercourse with such a phenomenal movie star, whose work she could only admire.
They again talked, leaving together a spacious hall where there was a catalog with the foundation, several tables with computers and a printer. It turned out that Quido works at Irina’s previous duty station, sitting at exactly the same table in a state institution where a graduate student had previously worked, wishing to pass the philosophy exam as “excellent”.
“Amazing coincidence!” Quido admired, finding out some details about the former employees of Irina, who now became her colleagues.
“No wonder, normal.”
“Where are you working now? Maybe soon I will have to change my profession or place of work; therefore I am looking for suitable guidelines in the business world. I wonder if you have something in mind for me?”
Irina quietly sighed, not giving out an internal struggle.
“I teach at the university. Judging by the fact that you are proficient in several languages, you can also, upon returning to Italy, teach Russian language to young people who want to learn correct speech,” said Irina with a touch of envy.
“Yes, it will be in perspective. I still have a lot to learn myself to become a teacher like you,” Quido agreed, seeking to conquer the world with her beauty, mind and dissertation about women’s prisons. They parted, and Irina remembered that it was necessary to study all questions for the exams so as not to lose face in front of the doctors of sciences in the examination board.
WATCHMAKER’S LOVE
A short elderly man with gray, sparse hair, barely covering his forehead, bent over with a magnifying glass in his eye and tweezers in his hands above the clock mechanism, sitting at a table near a high, folding, polished counter, dismantling a regular clock mechanism. Several wall clocks with pendulums and without prim were adorned on the board wall of his workshop, showing different times. And he himself reminded Goodwin from the tale by A. Volkov “The Wizard of the Emerald City”. Something