grate and raising their heads to the sky – the enormous stars shone above them, and it was possible to make out the Milky Way. After a few moments of silence, Klyuchitsky surprised Maya by uttering not quite what Maya expected to hear:
«Let’s enclose the balcony with glass! And here,» – he pointed to the middle of the loggia, – «we’ll put up a table and some wicker chairs. We will install a rotating frame, and turn this corner into a real solarium, and you’ll be able to sunbathe here even in winter.
– I cannot make heads or tails of what you do for me already…
– Maya, come on! I can build you a palace… Look at me, do I look like some kind of shallow talker or philanderer? I’m just a man who has more money than you! The things around us need to be improved, and our life needs more comfort, as simple as that.
– Well, in this case, let’s set up our nest.
– Let’s drink some coffee. I’ll send you some professionals the day after tomorrow.
– Here’s the coffee, – Maya passed Klyuchitsky a can of instant coffee.
– We’ll need this later. Bring the cups!
Klyuchitsky rummaged in his bottomless bag, took out a small glass jar and unscrewed the lid – the room got filled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans. Spooning coffee grounds into the cups, Klyuchitsky filled them with boiling water so that a soft foam coating formed on the surface of the intense brown liquid. He then passed one cup to Maya and began to sip the burning drink from the other one, taking one small sip at a time. When he had finished his cup, he filled the glasses with liquor, cut a lemon into thin slices, sprinkled each slice with sugar and spiked them with a little bit of instant coffee. After appraising his work, he smacked his tongue and, raising his cup, offered: «Let’s chase the liquor with «nikolashka.»
Maya had already drunk enough for it to show in her behavior: she became bolder and more relaxed, she felt the sudden wish to be naughty – she wanted to do something, so that her self-assured, rich guest, who did not perceive a woman in her (or as she thought), would feel embarassed.
Leo proposed to return to the balcony, and Maya readily agreed. He took a bottle in one hand, a glass into another, nodded in the direction of the snacks and, stepping over the low threshold, sat comfortably on the balcony floor. When Maya sat down next to him, Klyuchitsky, once more, started by saying something completely unexpected:
– Maya, my dear, I want to offer you an extra work at the feldsher’s station located in the old town.
– I did not even know that there’s a station there.
– Actually, it’s not even a station, just an empty room. But why should you care? You will get your two or three hundred a month, and work for an hour a day.
– Do the deportees live there?
– Yes, and they rarely need medical help.
– Why can’t they come to our infirmary?
– They can or they can’t, for all I care. Let’s make a deal: you work without getting officially registered, and if you like it – you stay, if you don’t – you leave.
– And are these killers no longer dangerous?
– It all depends on how you behave. If you try to pry into their lives, then anything could happen. If you just work with them, then no harm should be done. They are like any other average person. Of course, they are still all psychopaths, make no mistake about it, and even their appearance bears the stamp of years spent in camp isolation. Just don’t focus on that, or, better, do not notice anything at all.
– Will I be allowed to work part-time, then?
– Let me sort it out. But, for a start, you will work regularly. Deal?
– Deal. Excuse me, I’ll be right back.
Maya slipped back into the room, and Klyuchitsky looked up at the sky. He looked at some marvelous constellation and could not remember its name. He thought that it looked like a steel farm, the Milky Way resting on its corner. Time passed. Suddenly Klyuchitsky felt someone’s presence next to him. He turned his head and saw a sight more amazing than the stars: nude Maya was standing in front of him.
Klyuchitsky was not one of those men who centered all their life around women, but at the sight of a really beautiful form he immediately recovered from his sudden oblivion and even scrambled onto his feet, as if the warm cement under him suddenly turned into the red-hot iron, and, then he snapped to attention all at once, as if upon receiving a command. When he came to his senses, he came closer to this smiling naughty woman, bent down, took her in his arms and carried her into his room with deft, confident movements…
From that moment, Klyuchitsky took over their amorous foreplay, leaving no chance for his partner to take the initiative and almost never picking up on her hints and signs. Maya was flattered by an unusual attitude toward her body at the hands of this huge, strong man and was thrilled by the endless kisses that scattered over the skin like burning stars until she made out certain purposefulness in Klyuchitsky’s actions, clearly aimed at exploring her female assets. The more attentively she listened and looked, the more she became convinced that Leo explored her while caressing: he measured her, weighed and scrutinized as if she was a beautiful heirloom. Maya felt offended and upset.
Klyuchitsky only fell asleep as morning came in, but Maya lay awake for quite some time, staring into the darkness, and listening to the snores of this weird man. She tried to understand him, but, alas, unsuccessfully. One thing Maya knew for sure, though: there was no trace of love today. Why Klyuchitsky, such a charming and passionate man, who clearly felt drawn to her as a woman, and who was so amusingly confused at her sudden nakedness, behaved so unambitiously between the sheets? Maybe the wise classic was right, saying: «With womankind, the less we love them, the easier they become to charm…?»
She tried to remember the rest of the stanza, and succeeded: «The tighter we can stretch above them, enticing nets to do them harm.» But Klyuchitsky was not a philanderer! Maya had neither patience nor wisdom for a deeper insight into the last line, especially since she was not sure of the word-for-word accuracy, so she decided to write it off as her wounded female pride. After all, she had rushed into the arms of this man who turned out to be both kind of decent in bed, but at the same time frighteningly non-standard. Nevertheless, she invited Klyuchitsky to her place not only as a token of gratitude, or after the latter’s hint at the restaurant, but, above all, following her own, selfish motives. But what’s next? They could not just eat and drink all night long. Maya remembered another quote she had read in a wise book: «When left alone, a man and a woman would hardly indulge in reading paternoster.»
For all intents and purposes, deep down inside, Maya was plagued by not feeling the flush of love, which she, Cleopatra, wanted so badly from her admirer. She felt both passion and contentment, but no inner satisfaction, no comfort. It was like winning the battle, but losing the war. Deep down inside her, Maya did not get closer to Klyuchitsky in the slightest, although she all but threw herself into his arms, like a hypnotized rabbit would get into a snake’s jaws.
This comparison made Maya feel uneasy and creepy…
«Maybe it’s better to keep it simple?» – She thought. – «Maybe Klyuchitsky is a real man, who is not into sentimentality, but, on the plus side, he will help me to put my plans in place. The trick is not to follow any momentary moods! He offered me an extra work, which means extra money. Isn’t this what I need right now? But for what price? Better not to think about it. Everything is fine! My faithful vassal and lover is by my side. The bottom line is not to pry into his heart, just like one would do with a deportee, and to leave all sorts of questions behind. But still, why am I still awake at this late hour then?»
And once again, Maya remembered the lines from the Egyptian Nights:
…And only on a bed of gold
The proud empress is not sleeping.
She listens carelessly to distant noises,
And looks onwards with a cloudy brow
At