business cards of heads of the largest enterprises from all over the Union. One day, in the middle of February, the surprise was waiting for Matilda at the “Business Center Lingua’. It was the middle of February 1991 year. More precisely, it was on February 14, 1991. Matilda came to work, as always, by nine o’clock in the morning. She went to her office, not finding a single employee in her workplace. All were absent. At the beginning of the ten o clock, she got up from the table, put down the documents and went to the office to Arthur Khananovich. Arthur Khananovich dryly said, “Hello Matilda, I have news, and one of them is good. What news should I start with? I do not know what news is better.”
“Start with a good one.”
“The good news is that our ‘Lingua Business Center’ is grateful to you for your work for eight months”.
“And what is bad news?”
“Well, go to the conference room,” said Arthur Khananovich and followed Matilda. Having overtaken her at the door of the conference hall, Arthur Khananovich opened the door and gestured to Matilda to enter first. It was dark in the hall. The windows in this room were missing, and the light could only be from a few crystal chandeliers located high above the ceiling. Arthur Khananovich entered and closed the door. There was complete darkness.
“I’ll tell you the bad news, Matilda,” Arthur Khananovich said aloud, “you’ve add to old age a one year!”
At that moment the chandeliers were lit, claps of firecrackers. Matilda was showered with paper beads. Everyone clapped their hands and sang a song in English “Happy Birthday to You’. Then everyone gave Matilda gifts and congratulated. On table were a large cake, a tea set, and a large porcelain teapot with tea. It was a nice tea-party. Matilda completely forgot about her birthday, but in the “Business Center Lingua’ she was reminded of this. Remembered Matilda and about her Petersburg apartment. Now she was of age, and not a single cop could take her to the orphanage. By eleven o’clock, the tea-party was over. The staff prepared premises for meeting guests from Norway and guests from the marble open pit of Karelia. Matilda returned to her office. Today after work, she was intending to visit her apartment, call a locksmith, change the lock and settle on legal grounds. The money for hire a lawyer, if it was necessary, Matilda had more than enough. She kept the money in the St. Petersburg branch of “Inkombank’ and in January she already started using a plastic Visa card. After receiving permission to finish the work earlier than usual, at four o’clock in the afternoon she was already standing at the door of her apartment. The lock and door were the other. Not the same as before. The door was made of oak and encrusted with mahogany veneer. Matilda rang the doorbell. The door was opened by a tall, elderly man with glasses and a Chekhov beard. He wore light pants and slippers. From under the dark terry dressing gown, a light knitted shirt was peeking out. In his left hand he held a steaming smoking pipe, which was made from the briar.
“You must have been mistaken,” he said to Matilda, without inviting her to enter. The aroma from the briar smoking pipe, spread everywhere on the entrance hall.
“No, I was not mistaken. This is my apartment and I’m registered here!” answered Matilda.
“Dearie, you do not look like a crook. What brings you here? Couldn’t you show your passport?”
“Here, please, look,” said Matilda, flipped through her passport, and showed the stranger a seal with a registration at this address.
“Dearie, I bought this apartment legally. I bought from the captain of the police. I do not intend to inform you of his position and name. At least, I do not have to. Previously, I studied all the documents for the apartment. It apartment was privatized by captain of police. Yes, indeed, before him was registered a minor girl, but then she was deprived of registration for this apartment by the guardianship authorities and then was registered in the Children’s Shelter. Probably, it was you. It seems that registration in your passport is now not valid, and you can’t reproach me with anything. I am a conscientious home buyer. Encumbrances to the apartment at the time of purchase were not, I have all the relevant documents. In court, you can only rely on the payment of compensation from the state. I hope I will not see you again. Otherwise, I’ll have to call a police squad.”
During a conversation with a stranger, Matilda noticed through an open door that there was nothing left of her former life in the apartment. The floors were now parquet, on the ceiling appeared an elaborate stucco and expensive furniture in the hallway.
“I understood everything,” said dumbfounded Matilda, and retreated. She wanted to cry. She stood for a while in the stairwell and looked at the railing, familiar to her tears, the staircase that she went down to school every day. Matilda wanted to see old lady Zina, and she called her door. The door was also different, it was metal and with a door peephole. Matilda just now paid attention to this. A minute later the door opened and a vulgar woman of about thirty appeared on the threshold.
“Hello! And where is the old lady Zina?” Matilda asked.
“There’s no Zina here. We bought them an apartment in new buildings and exchanged it with surcharge.”
“And can you tell me their new address?”
“I don’t remember the address,” the woman said and slammed the door.
Matilda had no choice but to leave the entrance and return to her dormitory. On the way, she went to the law firm. Having told the situation to the lawyer, Matilda showed her passport and registration on the address.
“Yes, indeed, the situation is complicated. So do you say the captain of the police privatized your apartment?” the lady lawyer asked.
“It turns out that yes. This is true.”
“As much as we can do for you, it’s a small compensation from the state. You will not get too expensive outlay. If you want to get an apartment back, I can give you an attorney’s address. He has connections in tribunal, and he will solve your question positively. This is an expensive lawyer and its services will be worth as much as your elite apartment. The court will not find the error of the guardianship authorities or the police, because they could consider you missing. It will be even harder to get compensation from them and pay for the lawyer’s work on the return of your apartment. In this case, this affair will take only a novice lawyer.”
“I understood. How much do I owe you?”
“Not at all. In fact, I did not render any services to you.”
“Thank you. It was nice to talk with you,” said Matilda, and said goodbye.
This year was a year of upheaval not only for Matilda, but for all the inhabitants of her vast country. There was a deliberate disintegration of the Soviet Union. Despite the fact that at the March referendum on the fate of the country, almost the entire population voted for the integrity of the USSR, the collapse could not be avoided. Was defeated and the Emergency Committee. From the hostel Matilda moved to a rented apartment in the same area and continued to go to work. These were hard working days. Not having an own apartment, Matilda often visited the city Tver and always bought a real estates. Literally from one salary she could buy a two-room apartment in Tver. The average price of an apartment was 5 thousand dollars. Already in the 93rd year the flow of customers to the “Business Center Lingua” has significantly decreased. For all this time Arthur Khananovich got necessary connections, good acquaintances and even friends. He was going to do some other business with his new partners. In August, Arthur Khananovich
