I will tell you right away that only because I am telling my own story, that we are strangers and will never see each other.

After everything that happened, and about what I will tell you now, Lida and I had to, in the end, leave everything and go to another city. It all started so merrily and recklessly, but then we really understood what we were in. Though moving from city to city

this is an unusual form of escape from life for our country, but we still had to undertake all this. You yourself will understand why ...

Lida and I have been married for ten years. Having married in the first year, we got two children. Thus, by the time all this happened, we, despite our twenty-eight years, were already fully formed married couples. We had, by the way, and now a friendly family remains. Nothing can shake one of our love.

We had a decent apartment in the center of our small town, and we both taught at the Pedagogical Institute. In general, besides pedagogical, there were no other institutions in the city. I said that our town was small. Lida taught mathematics, and I taught philosophy. That's how we lived, and even raised our children.

Everything would be fine if it were not for the salaries with which our country is famous. How much does an ordinary lecturer of a provincial high school receive from us? Do not know? And I will not tell you. I will not speak, because you still will not believe. So little that this money is absolutely impossible to survive. Previously, somehow it was possible to survive, well, now there's nothing to say about it ...

Yes, before, of course, in this sense it was easier. You received three rubles a day, but after all, prices were a match for this. But now there is a mass of additional earning opportunities. We talk about it all the time on TV. Well, I don’t watch TV, but women ... They watch and, out of habit, they believe. Oh well.

That's how my Lida looked, looked, and, finally, believed in the fairy tale that now you can earn big money without much difficulty.

At first, let's say, these were pure fantasies, but then, from purely theoretical conversations, my wife turned to a real search for additional sources of income. The fact is that she already had a very old winter palm, and she wanted to buy a new one ...

At first, I didn’t pay attention at all to the thoughts that were in possession of my wife, and, in general, did the right thing, because she certainly could not find anything worthwhile. It will not go in the dark night to unload the cars at the railway station.

But one day, on a dark autumn evening, Lida stopped at work and, coming home quite late, sat in the kitchen and started a serious conversation with me.

She said that, being with a friend Vali, she met a man there. His name was Oleg. Valya didn’t know herself how to present him, and then, since she was still an unmarried woman, she admitted that Oleg was her old lover. There was nothing noteworthy about this fact, because Valya’s wife’s girlfriend always had a neo-temperament, coupled with promiscuity in connections.

But now the whole thing was that this very Oleg turned out to be one of the publishers of an erotic newspaper. Having talked a little bit, having intrigued both women who listened to him with reverence, Oleg shared his serious problem.

The fact was that he was looking for a model for the special issue of his newspaper. And he could not find a suitable candidate. The whole conversation betrayed him as a confident and well-to-do young man. Oleg was dressed, sophisticated and expensive, and women always pay unbelievable attention to all this attention, and from a single glance on clothes can determine a lot in a man. This, as a rule, is a completely feminine gift, which men possess extremely rarely. But my wife was not an exception in this case, and she was impressed by Oleg.And then to say, how much does a smart businessman from the capital need in order to make an indelible impression on a provincial teacher? Yes, even young, and even with fantasy, and even poor ...

In short, word for word, and Oleg looked at the evaluating glance at Lida and suggested that she try as a model.

At first, everyone laughed and laughed for a long time, but then Oleg explained that he needed to make a series of test shots, and if they do, then all of this will be quite expensive. He told my wife that there was no risk. And you can earn a lot of money.

That's what she now came home and, sitting in the kitchen, told ...

“But you just think,” I said. “What will happen if they learn about all this at the institute?”

“But Oleg assures that the newspaper goes very far, in another city, one might say, even abroad, and not a single copy will come here, to us.”

“And how much will he pay for it?” I asked, somewhat calming down.

“He promised that if the first test series passes, I will immediately receive ten thousand, and another fifty at the end of the shooting. Just think, because I can immediately buy a winter coat for myself, otherwise we will have to save money on it for another year. After all, just two days to turn around in front of the camera - and that's it, they’ll pay me. ”

Lida smiled and stroked her arm reassuringly: “And most importantly, let's not worry about anything. After all, you do not suspect me of intending to change you. No, only business relationships ... I take pictures and go home at once. And then just get the money that we need so much - that's all.

By the face of his wife, and she did not know how to lie and pretend, I realized that she did not lie and actually thinks so. I was somewhat reassured by this, and I thought that, in fact, my wife, of course, is absolutely right. In the end, a couple of days you can suffer and shoot even for an erotic newspaper. And then we will never see these pictures and this newspaper in our quiet town ... It will be possible to forget about this whole story and only sometimes alone with each other with a laugh to remember how easily Lida earned sixty thousand in two days. So, we laughed, and Lida gently hugged me before we went to the bedroom: “And don't think about anything like that, please. After all, that's how everyone now lives. Money does not smell. And you are the only one for me and I will not even look at anyone, whether everyone around them is dressed in husky and silk from head to toe ”...

Of course, I was expecting such words from my wife, and now, having heard them, I finally made sure that I made the right decision without entering into an argument with her and not forbidding to get involved in photography.

On the appointed day, and it was on Sunday, I took Lida to the appointed place. Oleg on the phone asked my wife to come for trial shooting by twelve at the address indicated. The studio of the photographer who worked for him was located there. Lida and I decided that the trial shooting would last no more than one and a half or two hours, and all this time I will wait for Lida on a bench in the public garden opposite the indicated house. Moreover, the weather was good, and it’s not every day to sit in a public garden ...

His wife's bright red dress flickered in the front house, and I was left alone. Almost immediately, I regretted that I had not taken anything to read. The fact is that money is money, and common sense is common sense, but you must admit that just sitting on a bench and thinking that at this very time your wife is turning a bare room in front of a photo camera is a rather stupid exercise. I have already regretted that I even went to accompany her. And what's the point? After all, I still here, and Lida - there. Anyway, I'm not there ...

That's all I thought about, while sitting on the ska-meeke. And along the way, I remembered what I did not immediately attach any importance to, did not notice ... I remembered how my Lida had been going to go here an hour ago. I waited for her, and she got dressed and generally put herself in order. I remembered how carefully she chose thin underwear, how slowly, ...