I’ve already prepared myself for all the yummy sausages Aunt Ann could spend the money on!”
Coco was so funny at the moment because it opened its mouth and pretended to swallow a sausage, and then it began to lick itself. Lika got amused by the scene, she could not help laughing.
“You’re a fun,” she said to Coco through laughter.
“Me? In my eyes, it’s you who’s being funny – just a minute ago you were almost crying because you worried about Aunt Ann, and now you’re shouting with laughter and don’t care for your dear aunt who’s probably broken her leg and may be lying helpless somewhere under a bush, poor thing.”
“Oh, stop it, Coco! I won’t think in….” Lika hesitated trying to find proper words to finish her thought.
“In a tragic way?” the cat helped her.
“That’s it!” agreed the girl. “I’ll just call her and find it out.”
“Then she’ll think you’re crazy.”
“Why?” Lika wondered.
“Because she had told you before she left that she’d go to Olga Petrovna’s summer cottage to help her pick currents.”
“Really?” Lika could not stop wondering.
“Really. You asked her when she was going to be back and she told you not to expect her return till tomorrow evening.”
Only now she managed to recall vaguely the conversation. She remembered her aunt’s face when she was telling her something about Olga Petrovna, but at that moment Lika was probably thinking about how it turned out that Emily had learned about Rita’s pregnancy or about why Rita had begun to drink tea with mint. No, she was likely to be thinking about the tea with mint at the moment Aunt Ann told her something about patties.
“Mint patties?” Lika got surprised then.
“What mint?” Aunt Ann did not understand.
“Melissa,” Lika replied seriously.
“Lika!” Aunt Ann exclaimed, indignant at the niece’s inattention. “You’re always in the clouds, and you never listen to me! I was speaking about apple patties!”
Lika tried to explain herself giving the distraction for a joke, but Aunt Ann shook her head saying “Okay, I’m off. I’ll lock the door myself. Call me if you need me!”
“So does this mean there must be apple patties somewhere in the kitchen?” Lika asked Coco.
“Hey!” The cat cheered. “At least you remember this.”
“Let’s have a bite then,” the girl suggested after she had proceeded into the kitchen and took a bowl with patties from the cupboard.
“Do cats eat apples?”
“Are they tasty?” Coco asked.
“Yes, they are… mostly.”
“Give me a bit and we’ll see.”
Chapter 8
Lika would not give up
When the next morning Lika came to her friend, she was having breakfast. Pale and thin, she was sipping hot tea ignoring the sandwich.
“Rita, why aren’t you eating? Look at yourself; you’ve lost so much weight,” Lika detected.
“I can’t,” the girl answered glancing at a slice of bread and cheese with disgust, “I’m constantly sick. Everything I eat goes out. Tea with mint and lemon somehow helps.”
“Oh, poor thing!” Lika took pity on her, but when she saw that her friend was about to cry, she strictly added, “You must do something about it. There must be some kind of medicine for it. I think you should go to the doctor’s and ask.”
Rita remained silent.
“Doesn’t your mom take a notice of how different you’ve become… how thin and… unhappy?” Lika wondered.
“I try not to betray myself when she’s at home. Anyway, it didn’t escape her notice that something’s happened. But I didn’t even have to invent anything. She herself suggested that I’ve been sad because of the departure, that I’m going to miss my friends, you, and Vlad…”
“Has she noticed you’ve lost weight?”
“Yeah. She said after they return from Turkey, they will send me for a week to my grandmother. This will be good. I will need to be alone to think.”
“By the way, saying of thinking… I want to show you something… a video.” Lika began, not knowing how to describe it so that Rita agreed to watch it, “It’s just amazing! I think you should see it!”
“Is it a film?”
“You can say so. But it’s short. Documentary. Is your laptop on?” she asked heading for Rita’s room.
“No, I haven’t turned it on yet,” the answer flew from the kitchen.
“Finish your tea, I’ll turn it on.”
Lika hastily pressed the power button. She wanted to open the site she needed as quickly as possible, so that Rita immediately began to watch the film without having time to read its title. Lika was afraid that if the friend saw the name, she would refuse to watch it. But it did not work. Rita did not immediately understand what the film was about, but realizing it, she stood up with the words that she would not watch it.
“Rita, please! Do it for me, please!” pleaded Lika.
“I can’t!” she almost shouted in response. “It’s already been hard for me! And you press me instead of helping!”
“No, I didn’t mean to press,” Lika was embarrassed. She did not expect such a reaction. “It’s just… just…” she suddenly forgot all the reasons she wanted to give in favor of watching the film.
“Just what?” continued Rita, “just want me to leave him? Well, yes, it’s not you who’s sick all the time! It’s not you who’s been abandoned while being pregnant! It’s not you who’s going to grow a belly! It’s not you who’s going to have neighbours gossiping behind your back!
“Rita, you only see the minuses of this situation, and I want to show you the pluses,” speech finally returned to her, “I don’t want you to make a…” she did not want to say the word “mistake’, “an ill-considered act. And in order to make a deliberate choice, you need to look at the situation from different points of view, don’t you?”
“I’m very well aware of both, but minuses prevail here,” Rita sighed.
“Well, what are the pluses then?” Lika was not going to give up. She felt that it was only necessary to adjust the friend to a positive wave, and that would make her be able to make the right decision.
“Don
