-Oh, girls. We’re lucky to be here on a holiday. Everyone will eat salads, and we will eat hospital food – pushed aside a plate with half-eaten porridge a girl, the oldest of the women in labor. She already had three children, and she said she had come for her fourth.
A girl from the next bunk commented: “Well, thank God for me. You don’t have to make a fuss. You don’t have to clean or cook. We have lots of relatives, and they all want to have a free holiday with us.
– And mine promised to bring us a cake today. He’s my pastry chef. Let’s sweeten up our forced stay here a little bit – said the youngest of the women in labor.
Actually there were four of them in the room. Two from the village. And two from the city. One of the girls quickly made friends with everyone and they often chatted until midnight, until a nurse came in and shushed them. And there were times when she, too, was dragged into the conversation and she laughed merrily at the girl’s stories. And she had plenty of them.
Only one was the most silent. She was brought in an ambulance with abrasions on her face and everyone knew at once that her family was in trouble. They didn’t ask questions; if she wanted to share, they would support her. And so, imperceptibly they tried to feed her and not to let her mope. Little by little she began to join in the conversation with the women.
And now, she said huskily, “Mine must have been on the horns since yesterday. It makes no difference for him if it’s Women’s Day or New Year’s Eve or the birthday of the homeless guy who lives in our staircase – the roommate waved her hand – He’s probably the only one. The whole village must go out. And women and men. Why? It’s spring, it’s warm, the sun is shining. I could eat dried fish myself. Mine respects beer and cures his own fish. It’s delicious, and she went back to her place.
There was silence in the ward. Everyone was wondering whether someone would come to congratulate her or not.
And then the girl suddenly laughed. All turned to her. – What are you looking at? I remembered how I made my husband marry me. – Everyone froze in suspense. She had a way of telling stories that made tears come out of her eyes when she laughed.
– Well… I’d been married once before. I had a handsome man, that’s what I fell for. I got married at 18. Stupid as hell. I did everything for my husband, like my mother advised. Cooking, doing his laundry. You won’t believe it, when they bring new clothes to the store, I don’t look at dresses, but at men’s shirts. I want my husband to be the prettiest.
My women tell me that they’ll steal him away. But I say, no, he loves me. So they made a mess of it. My husband left with a visitor from the city. She was old, and she admired me a lot. She said, such a diamond in the dung. So he fell for it, especially since she had money too. He drove off and left me three months pregnant. I cried and cried. My mother yelled at me, she thought my tantrums would ruin the baby. But it all worked out, my son was born healthy.
Time goes by, my son grows up, and my boyfriend comes to see me at night. You see, his precious mother was against divorcees. She said that a husband wouldn’t leave a good wife. It means there’s a flaw, and he doesn’t need someone else’s help. And he listened to her. Of course I found that out later, when I married him. Otherwise he’d have flown with his mother to the ends of the earth.
So he comes to see me. A year goes by, and he hasn’t a hint of marriage. I go back and forth, and he turns a deaf ear. All right, I think I’ll wait. I’m not going to spend my life sneaking around.
Besides, I feel I’m getting heavier. I have to take my dad to the registry office. I thought long and hard about it. – That’s it, boy, you’re in trouble. We’ll have a baby soon, and you’re afraid to marry me. Or rather your mother, so that she’ll be healthy. I tied you to me. Don’t ask how, it’s a family secret. As long as you stay with me, you’ll be fine. If you go to your mother’s, you’ll be tired of changing your pants. You’ll be attacked by the chicks. Are you kidding? Well, we’ll see,” I said with a puzzled look.
There really wasn’t any mystery. He has to go home, I’ll give him a little laxative. He came to me, I gave him some laxatives. He ran around like that for three days and I guess he got tired. How could he not be tired when he couldn’t sit up? He came to me with my mother’s dahlias and on my lap, bam. He said, “I love you. Marry me. I can’t take it no more, take this binding off me.” And as Mommy tries to open his eyes, I smile enigmatically. We’ve been living like this for fifteen years now. Mommy has already calmed down. Who else but me will help her? My husband is a bad cook and hands for cleaning grow out of the wrong place – under the general laughter she finished.
– And mine has not even proposed to me – suddenly said one of the girls. No one expected her to talk about family life for the first time. – I lived with my father, my mother left us when I was three. My father was in the army, and she got tired of being in boring garrisons. He didn’t marry, though, no matter how many people tried to match him. Said he didn’t trust anyone else. But he brought me up strictly. He beat the sissy stuff out of me. He found me a husband himself. Told me to dress nice and let’s go. Took me to the registry office and to my future husband. – He said, “Here’s a wife for you, but I need peace. I’m going to my dacha to live. I spent the whole service dreaming – That’s how I traded one soldier for another. This is my second pregnancy. The first one didn’t work out. My husband pushed me and I bumped my belly on the jamb. And now I feel he’s got a woman for himself, but he’s afraid of my father. That’s why he takes it out on me, she finished and sobbed.
Everyone at once began to calm her down. – So divorce or tell your father,” said one of the girls. Sveta waved her hand – My father does not care about me. He lives in the dacha with his new wife, spoiling her grandchildren. When I first saw him, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He’d never treated me, his daughter, like that. I tried to complain about my husband once. He said, “That’s the right thing to do. You got bad blood in you. Let you off your leash, you’ll go straight to pieces like a mother.
That’s how we live, she said at the end. Nastya gave her a motherly hug. When you give birth come to me. We have a big house, enough room. I’ll find you a new boyfriend too. I’ve got one in mind. He’s a bit of a mower, but it’s not a problem in my personal life, right girls? – she laughed.
– Thank you, girls. I feel like I’m in heaven. No one’s yelling, no slippers thrown. As I listen to you, I wonder if there is another life somewhere – smiled the girl.
– Of course there is,” said the girl, “My husband is shy and he didn’t dare approach me for a long time. You know what he came up with? I used to go to this cafe for lunch all the time. It was inexpensive and not far from work. I was a secretary. He’d bring me a cake for dessert. One, let’s get to know each other. Number two, you’re going on a date with me. I’ve never been wooed like this before. And when we got to know each other, I fell in love. And the proposal was in the form of a cake. It said “Marry me” on it and a ring in a rose. I said I’d think about it. I spent the whole evening in the kitchen. He came in the evening, and on the table with the words “Yes. Although, to be honest, I can’t eat sweets right now. I always want something salty. And I don’t want to hurt my husband’s feelings. So I told him that the doctor advised to eat less sugar and baked goods. So now he makes up vegetable and fruit desserts for me,” she finished with a smile.
– Well, since we’re having this conversation, I’ll tell you about it, too,” said another girl. – Mine said that only fools get married. Stamp in the passport means nothing. And I’m a woman, I want stability. Once he made me so angry with his remarks about civil marriage. But in order. He decided to put a new toilet on the street. He dug a hole as deep as that excavator. And I’m there to help out. I’d give him one thing and then another. And he’s digging and thinking, “I want to leave, I have the right. And the children will be born, you will receive as a single mother. I am tired to work with my tongue and shovel, and he says, “Give me a ladder, or I will not get out without it. Get out however you want. I’m a free woman. I’ll give it to him if I want it. – He yelled, “At least give me a shovel. – I leaned over to the edge of the pit and calmly said, – Unless you promise to get married, you will sit there. – He came out of there, – no way. I’ll get out and I’ll leave you. She wanted to get married.
I turned around and left. I hear him fussing and shouting something. I don’t go near her. Waiting for him to mature. By nightfall, he’s quiet. So I walk over and listen. And he’s mumbling. – All right, then. I’ll get married quickly. It’s never too late to get a divorce. But she’s a good girl and a good wife. On the other hand, why does she need a wedding? To tie her to herself tighter? Understand those women. I agree, let’s take the stairs, we’ll apply tomorrow, – he said.
How did you know I was there? He said: “My heart told me. – And as soon as I raspered, – added, – stomping like a bear, and then asked. – I was offended, but I gave him a ladder. I fed him and went to sleep on the couch. And he came over, sat down next to me, and said, “I love you, you fool. I just didn’t think it was that important to you,” he patted me on the shoulder. So I cried and forgave him. We only got married when I was already finishing my term with the first one. At the ultrasound they said my son was coming, so he dragged me to the registry office himself. I said I wanted him to have my surname. That’s how it is – the girl smiled.
And in the room again became quiet. Everyone was thinking about something. Nastya that it’s good that the children are at their mother’s, otherwise the husband is a bad hope. The second thought that anyway her husband was the best in the village. Handy. He showers in the house when she arrives. The third is that she should tell her husband not to come and see her twice a day. He is already tired at work and has enough food for half a department.
And the fourth decided that as soon as she gave birth, she would kick her husband out at once. Let her go. It’s not good for a child to watch his mother being humiliated. The apartment is hers and she has the right to live there alone with the child. And then she can go and visit her new friend and see her groom. Maybe it was her destiny. She giggled and fell asleep, smiling in her sleep.
Slowly, everyone calmed down. A nurse looked into the room. Everything is fine, everything is fine. And quietly shut the door, went into the waiting room. It’s a holiday, a cake and tea is allowed. And in the evening my husband promised me a surprise. I wish my shift would be over. I wonder what he prepared for her to celebrate.
