Vitaly placed the folder on the kitchen table, between the saltshaker and Polinka’s math notebook. “Sign it, please. Just a formality.” I was standing by the stove, stirring the stew. The wooden spoon knocked against the edge of the pot, and I turned around. The folder was blue, plastic, the kind they sell in stationery … Read more
“Take your hands off my underwear. Right now.” I said it in such a way that even I heard the steel in my voice, steel that had never been there before. I was standing in the bedroom doorway, a pharmacy bag in one hand, watching Galina Petrovna, my mother-in-law, rummaging through my dresser with such … Read more
Pack up your bags, fold up this gypsy camp, take your plastic tubs of mayonnaise slop, and get off my terrace. The clock is ticking. You have exactly ten minutes to gather your things, or I’ll release the Caucasian shepherd dog on your enormous bodies.” Lera stood on the steps of her brand-new, recently finished … Read more
Andrey was yelling so loudly that my right ear went numb. The very same ear into which he had whispered “I love you” eleven years ago in the maternity ward, when they brought Sonya to me. “File for divorce and you’ll end up on the street, and I’ll take the children! Do you hear me?! … Read more
“So, Tanya, you should thank my dear Pasha! You basically came to us from under a fence. Any other man wouldn’t even have looked in your direction. An orphan is an orphan, after all. No relatives, no dowry, no home, no family. You got lucky!” That was my mother-in-law, Rimma Gennadyevna, speaking at our wedding. … Read more
Thirty-four years I lived in that apartment. Thirty-four. And I never imagined that one day my own daughter would say to me, “Mom, come on, you’re already old. What do you need a three-room apartment for? Move to the dacha and give the apartment to me.” I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I simply put … Read more
“Your own fault,” Svetlana said, adjusting a strand of hair and leaning back in her chair. “You lived with a man for thirty years and couldn’t keep him. So yes, it’s your own fault.” I was standing by the stove, holding a spatula. The cutlets were sizzling in the pan. Inside me, everything froze, as … Read more
“Dust on the baseboards in the living room. Did you wash the floors with plain water again instead of the special cleaner?” Zinaida Pavlovna’s voice cut through the cozy silence of the dining room. Anya froze at the entrance, holding a heavy porcelain soup tureen in her hands. Hot steam burned her fingers, but she … Read more
The third step on the fourth floor always made an unpleasant sound. Veronika knew this peculiarity of her building by heart, just as she knew that the elevator in their nine-story apartment block broke down exclusively on Fridays, when grocery bags seemed to weigh an entire ton. She stopped to catch her breath. Blood throbbed … Read more
“Step away from the table right now! Can’t you see people are relaxing? Better bring more salad, and hurry up! And change the cups, these are already dirty!” my mother-in-law Antonina Pavlovna’s voice cut through the air in the living room like a whip. She sat at the head of the table — my table … Read more