***

The air outside was warm, almost sultry. The evening sun dimmed eyes softly. Two were walking along a narrow dusty sidewalk of a provincial town, barely touching with their elbows.

- What is your name? It's embarrassing like that! - Vicked thought up.

- And we are with you namesake. I am Victor Konovalov.

- Oh! Very nice!

Vika wanted to reach out, but she was shy, and her companion, absentmindedly, walked in her thoughts and did not react at all to their acquaintance.

- What do you think about? - she suddenly asked, stopping what took him by surprise.

- I? - Victor mechanically took two steps, then turned to her and looked straight into his eyes. - Sorry, I think about you. Or rather. About your story. I...

- You know. I am really embarrassed to go to you. To embarrass you. Thank you, let me look for a hotel?

- No no no! Well, what are you. Do not worry, please. Come the same. Little more, one more block. And already eat hunting. And in solitude even a piece in the throat does not climb! And you, I hope, make me a company!

Vika caught herself thinking that all day, since she had met this strange conductor in an empty carriage, she was smiling strangely: not to him, not to herself, or to herself. She silently continued moving, and having reached him, they again walked beside him, touching their elbows.

- Well, come, please. - They stopped at a shabby pale orange three-story house with a sloping roof. The door of the doorway, with peeling brown paint, squinted at loose loops. In the twilight of the porch, a tall wooden staircase went up. - The house is old, but housing is not expensive. And Valery and I don’t need much: spend the night and take a shower.

On the second floor, the door, studded with black leatherette and having number 8, opened wide in front of Vika, after loud clicks of the level lock.

- Come on in. True, not tidied with us. Bachelor setting.

- Thank! - Vika passed, dropping her sports bag on the floor and sneakers. After the evening stuffiness, the apartment met a pleasant coolness.

“You probably want to take a shower or a bath.” Come on feel free. Here is a towel. I can still give a t-shirt.

- Thank. I have a change of linen. And shampoo and washcloth.

- There the heck, you lock, and do not be afraid, do not hesitate. And while I'm going to the store. Dumplings buy, and sprats. Or maybe you want something?

- No, nothing like that! Thank you, Victor!

The door behind the new Wikin's friend slammed shut, and she was left alone in a strange apartment. Hanging the jacket on a hanger, Vika went into the room. The wooden floor of the broad, enameled brown-painted boards pleasantly cooled feet.

The room was small, but it had a large curtain window that looked out onto the street and a high ceiling. In the corners there were several sketches of paintings, painted with something black, like coal. Vika was interested in fuzzy silhouettes, images, artfully outlined by coarse black lines.

The clock on the wall ticked unpleasantly and loudly, showing a quarter to seven. Vika sat down on the edge of the sofa and clamped her fists between her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, her head thrown back. The girl sat motionless for some time, scrolling through the events of the past day, and then shook her head, shaking off superfluous thoughts now and got up.

“I'll think about everything tomorrow,” thought flashed. "And now you need to put yourself in order."

The girl stood in front of a mirror in her underwear and was brushing her teeth and examining herself in the mirror.

“You can’t see without tears” - she thought, looking at the emaciated body, bulging collarbones and ribs, slender arms, a completely sleeping chest, which could easily fit in a simple white bra that seemed so large to her. Only one eyes remained the same and with keen interest looked at the reflection of their mistress.In her hair was loose, it gleamed too clearly here and there gray hair.

“And if you make up and make your hair, then maybe not so bad? And kilograms hiring and cheeks will appear. After all, all the same now on Freedom, and this is important. Life gives a chance to start from scratch. ” Vika tried to smile. A smile came out tortured and kind of pathetic, but her eyes glittered recklessly, and this already gave strength.

An old bathtub was rapidly filling with hot water, and steam was flowing from the tap from the tap.

Vika took off her laundry and immediately washed it in the sink, hung it on the battery, and plunged herself in a hot bath in bliss. From hot water skin goosebumps. The girl leaned back and closed her eyes. Before her unobtrusively loomed the image of Victor.

***

Victor walked along the back streets to the grocery store, thinking about the woman he had met, whom he invited to spend the night. He did not know how events would develop; today, tomorrow, then. But he understood two things: this woman can be trusted and trusted (he felt this with her heart) and she needs help, even if only today, even if only one night. Tomorrow they will decide together what to do, in which direction to move, and in what composition: jointly (if Vika needs Victor’s help and doesn’t give up on her) or separately, each on his own way if the girl wants to continue on her own path.

Of course, inviting Vika to spend the night, Victor acted solely for noble reasons, without a shadow of such or any personal gain. However, if a man and a woman spend the night in the same apartment, any outcome can be. Victor was not going to take advantage of this situation or make any transparent hints, but no one could forbid him to dream, “What if”. Therefore, buying products from the store, he bought (well, just in case) a pack of condoms. And also a bottle of white table wine. Victor was not a big fan of drinking, but it seems like “according to etiquette” will not be superfluous. He will offer, but will not insist.

On the way back, Victor smiled. He rarely had any relationships with girls. So it was got from a youth. For strange behavior and a big nose, he was teased by Drozd. The school girls had no particular interest in him, and what could he offer them? Interrupted from three to four. Instead of a weightlifting or karate section (unlike other boys from the class), Vitya went to an artistic drawing group. He himself was closed, not very sociable. The first woman he had in the army. They distributed him into a communications company. Once, on duty at night, at the regiment's communications center, he was summoned by a communications officer on duty, Senior Warrant Officer Karavaeva, a dense woman of about forty with slightly slanting eyes and a second chin, where she at first reprimanded Private Konovalov for breaking the line, and then immediately seduced him with a hard and squeaky army bed.

After the army, Victor entered the railway technical school and soon a year later he traveled as a conductor on the Moscow-Chistovodsk train. In adulthood, with women, too, not particularly lucky. By his 23 years old life companion loomed on his horizon. With proximity, it was a bit better (but only a little). Sometimes, at the end of the shift, Natasha Rostova, the senior conductor from the 3rd compartment, the fire-woman, called him to her in all respects: a chest with a wheel, thighs — you couldn’t grip it, a delicate and black-browed one. Life has seen. She was in her 30s and was married and her daughter was already in the 8th grade, she studied, if it was necessary and didn’t go into her pocket for the word and could give anyone her face. But there they had a relationship "sometimes sex" - and nothing more. Natasha had more from a young guy (read: a stallion) and did not need to, just satisfy the physiological needs without commitment. Well, Vitya, naturally modest, could not refuse, and he didn’t want to, if he was bad, it’s better than nothing, he didn’t have any illusions, and she didn’t like her as a possible companion of life - not him man, he felt uncomfortable in her company. So they met 2-3 times a month, in the compartment of conductors of the 3rd car after 23.00, on the final ... Read more →