feel better. (He pointed his finger upward). Even on the death bed she repeated: “Masha, my Mashenka will come, and I will immediately feel better!” Mashenka didn’t come. She has arrived now. But she is five years late…
Maria still stood with her back to Kolya. Her eyes immediately filled with tears, and they rolled down her cheeks in large drops. After standing there for a few seconds, the girl moved to the bathroom, still not turning to face her brother.
Kolya was totally exhausted. Memories of his mother seemed to have taken most of his energy. He sat down heavily on the sofa, put his hands on the knees of his long legs, and gazed at something on the floor. Maria returned with a bucket of water, placed it in the center of the room and began sweeping out litter from the corners, using a homemade broom she had found in the entrance hall.
KOLYA (with squinty eyes): What are you doing?
MARIA (surprised): What do you mean? I’m cleaning the house!
KOLYA (with a drunken grin and disgusting voice): “I’m cleaning the house!” It’s the right word! It’s like I told you: “clear the house”, and you misheard me.
Kolya burst out laughing. Maria stared blankly at him. Kolya abruptly came up to the bucket of water, put his foot on the rim, and in one sharp movement dropped the bucket on its side, so all the water poured out onto the floor.
KOLYA (sarcastically): Clean the house, and then clear the house. I repeat for the slow-witted: clear the house means “get away from the house”!
And Kolya, looking at his sister with contempt, showed her the following gesture: with the help of the index and middle fingers of his right hand, he imitated steps. After these words, he left the house and walked towards the gate with his signature gait: slightly bending his legs at the knees and swinging his long arms.
MARIA (raising the bucket): I hate you! Dipso! Cocky mug! Scum! Pig! No, you’re even worse than a pig: it would be offended now! You should be the subject of our experiments. It’s you who must be chipped. Maybe you can come to your senses this way only?!
Suddenly it dawned on Maria. She straightened her back abruptly and dropped the bucket onto the floor again. Maria thought there were many candidates in the village who had nothing to lose, take at least Kolya’s friends, or rather his drinking buddies. This is a great fund for scientific experiments!
The girl hurried to look for her purse. Having discovered it, Maria took out her phone and selected Fyodor’s number. He picked up the phone almost immediately.
FYODOR (a surprised voice comes from the phone): Hello?!
MARIA: Hello, partner. You’d be surprised, but I need your help. I have an idea of how we can continue our research!
Scene 8
The intense quarrel with Nikolai did no good for Maria’s working spirits. For a long time, she paced back and forth, not knowing which way to turn. Finally, the girl sat down on the sofa again. Looking around the living room, she remembered what it looked like long ago, in her childhood. A scene from that time recurred to her again.
Masha is twelve. She stands in the living room. Everything around her is spotlessly clean, every subject is in its place. Mother comes in.
MOTHER (looks around, putting her palms together at chest level): My God, Mashenka! Did you do it all?
Maria nods, looking pleased.
MOTHER: That’s fine! Good for you! What about the kid’s room? Is it clean too?
Mother turns and goes to the children’s room. Maria’s face suddenly changes, and she runs to intercept her mother and prevent her from entering the room.
MASHA: Stop, mom. There… uh… it’s not done yet.
But mother had already pushed the door and saw that the nursery was a terrible mess.
Mother frowned and looked sternly at her daughter.
MASHA (avoiding her eyes, getting angry): Why are you looking like that? Kolya did this. He was meant to clean the nursery and I was meant to clean the living room. As you can see, he hasn’t even started.
MOTHER: And where is he?
MASHA: Where, where…somewhere! He had escaped to the street with his friend.
MOTHER: What Mityai do you mean?
MASHA: Sure, he’s with him. (Sighs.) Mom, after all, it’s all your fault!
MOTHER (surprised, putting her hands on her hips): I like that! Will you explain please?
MASHA: You fuss over him like over a kid, but he’s no longer a child! He’s nine!
MOTHER (smiles and puts her hand on Maria’s shoulder): Darling, no matter how old you are, you will always be children for me. As for Kolya, let’s consider this… creative chaos!
MASHA (smirks): Hmm, it’s interesting! There is no creativity, but there is chaos!
MOTHER: Why not? What about chess?
MASHA: Mom, are you serious? Who needs these chess?
MOTHER: I need them, my daughter! I need…
Maria’s memory ceaased. She smiled sadly, brushed away a tear, and remembered another episode from her life. Here she is, a young university graduate, standing in the middle of a cluttered laboratory. It was her first day at work. Fyodor nicknamed Point Head is standing next to her, he is her fellow graduate who got a job the same day Maria got it.
FYODOR (with his eyes round in surprise): Holy vibrios! And how will we work here?
MARIA (looks suspiciously at Fyodor): How, how… First let’s start cleaning!
FYODOR (spreads his hands, turns to the door): No, no, I graduated from uni with honors not for going through this junk!
Maria grinned. Several minutes passed. Maria was sittinh at the desk with her legs dangling. In her hand she had a big red apple, which she periodically nibbled on. Fyodor walked in front of her, taking objects from a heap in the middle of the laboratory and carrying them out the door. He shot glances at Maria, not hiding his resentment.
MARIA: Why are you looking at me like that? We agreed: you take it all away, I wash the floor and put everything in its place.
Remembering that day, Maria smiled, looked again at the room she had to clean up, got up from the sofa and continued cleaning. A few hours later, Maria stood in the yard next to the metal barrel where she burned old things. Her eyes were fixed on the horizon, where the fading rays of the setting sun were still visible. The north wind forced Maria to grab a long knitted jacket from home; she was forced to wrap herself in it, shivering at times when the wind cut through it.
Looking at the sunset, Maria worried about her brother. She imagined him in some garage, where his loyal drinking buddies sat around him. They empty one bottle after another and cackle loudly. Kolya tries to relax, pretending that he is also having fun, but from the look on his face it’s clear that he is thinking about something else and feels concerned. The phone rang. Maria reluctantly took it in her hand, looking
