of activity needs a financial manager and… chief accountant!” Olga summed up in a solemn voice.
“Wow!” I exclaimed in surprise and exhaled deeply.
“It’s not just ‘wow’! ” said Olga offended. “It’s a sign from Heaven! Destiny! Where else will you both find such a fateful combination to work together further?”
“Perhaps,” George agreed without much enthusiasm. “However, I would prefer not to work with Arisha, but to live! Happily and forever!”
“One doesn’t exclude the other!” I declared. “So, Olga?”
“Yes, yes, Arisha, I’m about to sell you both! With giblets!” she exclaimed triumphantly. “No names yet, of course! I called that agency, without specifying our company. I asked if there was anything for me as well, throwing the ‘fishing rod’… Well, their HR specialist will contact the customer and let me know the result for you! I’ll tell you then! Just don’t forget to take me there when you get the job.”
“Agreed!” George promised.
Olga finished her melon and went home. I washed the plates in the kitchen, anticipating the Wind of Changes, when a strange thought suddenly pierced my mind, and I flew back into George’s office.
“Isn’t it strange that another foreign company appeared in our narrow sector, when…”
I didn’t finish the sentence, as the lights went out throughout the building.
“What difference does it make now?” George sighed, hugging me gently, but…
…the front door to our floor slammed loudly, heavy steps were heard, and my heart began beating with a strange premonition, since no one usually was there at such a late time, except for Olga and us…
“A security guard, probably. Because of the electricity,” George supposed and decided to make sure he was right…
…That evening, saying goodbye – and obviously forever – to my almost second home, regretting only that the first one would never see my babies, which I naturally dreamed of, but constantly put off for ‘tomorrow’, because of my own complexes and fears (what if it didn’t work out, or the child would be born unhealthy, or I would really turn into a fat cake, and George would start cheating on me), I stopped at the ajar door to Olga’s office. She had forgotten her phone on the table, and it beeped, informing about a new message received.
Oh, curiosity!.. I went over and read it.
“Your candidates are welcome tomorrow at 2 pm,
floor No. 5, entrance B, building 77,
the 1st April Street.”
“Oh, my little witch! You were as always right,” George grinned. “And what Wind is blowing now?”
“The Wind of Love,” I laughed, detaching myself from the situation.
Having drawn, like in childhood, two hearts pierced by an arrow, with dripping blood, on that date page in Olga’s business diary, I took George by the hand, and we went out through the window into Heaven, without any desire to think about who had ordered the death to us…
5. The City of Rains
It was the other way round: in the City of Rains we were greeted by the Sun!
We stepped out of the express train onto a platform filled with sunlight.
“No one will notice us, there’s no need to rush anywhere, and we can do whatever we want,” Denis said thoughtfully. “It’s so great to be absolutely free! Even if for 24 hours only.”
“Yes, Denis! I feel the happiest in the world!” I said enthusiastically in response.
We walked through the City of Rains in the morning, hand in hand, both of us with small backpacks, wearing blue jeans, dark blue T-shirts and brown boots, just like the day I had got the most important dream. Sometimes we stopped and passionately kissed each other, not ashamed of passers-by.
“Think about it, Yana, this wouldn’t have happened without your dream,” Denis smiled.
“It was Angel the Guardian! He took me by the scruff of the neck like a kitten and poked with my nose in you,” I smiled back.
We walked along my favorite embankment, checked out the temple, and then came to the place where girls used to arrive in white dresses with little bunches of flowers.
“I wish I were here like that, too…” I thought.
“Of course!” Denis immediately read my thoughts. “That’s how it’s going to be, next time.”
We both were not free and owed something to everyone. It was scary to think how many people fussed around us, constantly demanding one thing or another, but offering nothing in return, not feeling even an elementary gratitude, not to mention respect.
Denis and I felt like completely alone beings in the Universe. Perhaps, apart from children, whom we saw too rarely for various reasons, nothing kept us on Earth.
Until I got that dream…
We went into a cafe to have a talk finally!
“Believe it or not, Yana, the world became completely grey, I lost any interest in life. I neither watched TV nor read newspapers or books, I didn’t care what car I drove, what clothes I wore, what I ate. I came home from work late at night and went to bed, and then I had breakfast in the morning and returned to work again. I didn’t want to see or hear anyone, to talk to anyone…”
While Denis recounted his life to me, starting from birth, I listened to him realizing that our destinies were so similar that I could tell him nothing about myself. It seemed strange that for so many years we had been nearby without noticing each other.
“Yes, I liked you, and yes, you were always around, but you looked absolutely happy and never gave me even the slightest hint…”
Until I got that dream…
We climbed to the observation deck and stood in silence for a long time, enjoying the view of the City of Rains, in which the Sun was shining.
I felt at the dead end, too. The real life was whizzing by somewhere outside the windows and at breakneck speed. I could barely keep up with the calendar pages in my business diary.
Until I got that dream…
Sailing in a boat under the lowest bridges of the City of Rains, we were more silent than talking. A stronger and more experienced soul was next to me, and I felt calm, but…
“Are you thinking about what will happen to us after we get back? Yes, Yana? You don’t have to think about anything,” Denis answered, reading
