The girl stood at the bus stop and waited for the bus. The prickly snow and the evening gloom spoiled her already sad mood. And nothing good awaited her at home. Maybe her neighbor would drop by for tea. She too was bored and lonely, and in this weather especially want human warmth and participation.
“Should I introduce her to my boss?” – the girl thought, remembering the good-natured smile of the head of the planning department.
He unsuccessfully showed all sorts of signs of attention to the girl in the form of chocolates, flowers and other attributes required when making a pass at a woman she liked. But he was not at all her type: age, baldness, fullness.
But with a neighbor of fifty years to introduce him – it would be another matter. The idea came to her unexpectedly, but then her bus, thank God half-empty, pulled up, and she sat down by the window, trying to think of an idea to the end.
Suddenly her cell phone rattled in her bag. It was her mother. The girl always tried to answer her calls, no matter what mood she was in.
– So, didn’t we make up? – was Mom’s first question.
It was her about the boyfriend. The affair only lasted a month. The guy rented an apartment and took her out of her parents’ house. At first everything was fine, but after a month it turned out that for her sake he left a woman with a child, to whom he eventually returned. He paid for the rented apartment six months in advance, so the girl lived there.
– We haven’t made up and I’m not going to,” said the girl.
And how can my mother not understand that no reconciliation is out of the question. Yes, she’s twenty-seven, and she’s single. But don’t throw yourself at bigamists, after all!
– And the boss? – Mother continued. – Didn’t you agree at least to meet him, daughter? Just to get to know the man better.
Mom was relentless. And the girl regretted that she had told her about her hapless suitor. She had told her for nothing, and now her mother would pester her with this question: how and what.
– He’s getting married soon, Mama,” she lied to put the subject to rest once and for all.
– And I told you that good men are snapped up right away. Missed…
The girl did not listen further, there was a noisy argument in the bus behind her, young guys were discussing some problem, and then her stop. Still holding the phone to her ear, the girl got off the bus, hoping that the drunken company would not get off with her. But they didn’t.
– …and guess what, daughter, I still can’t get him out of my mind. Why did you turn your nose up at him? – Mama went on with the story she had long known about her mother’s lost opportunity to get married after her husband’s death.
The phone was cold on her cheek, the snow was blinding her eyes, I had to stop her mother in the middle of the story with the words: “bad connection, I’ll call back from home. Mom’s words were indeed interrupted, turning her speech into jerky phrases.
When she reached the doorway, the girl stopped like a lightning bolt! Crap! Her bag… she’d forgotten her bag on the bus, the one that always hung off her shoulder. She slipped the strap off her shoulder as she reached for her phone and left it on the seat.
No key, no wallet, no makeup bag. And the bag itself was quite decent and expensive. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she rang the doorbell of her neighbor. She was frightened, led her into the apartment, asked what happened.
– Masha the slob! – she declared and offered to call the bus depot. – Do you remember the number of the bus? – she asked.
– One hundred and nineteen.
– No, the license plate! – My neighbor was surprised at my lack of intelligence.
The question was the dumbest one I could think of. In this weather to look at this sign, why on earth? But my neighbor didn’t give up, so she called the right people. The bus seemed to still be on the line. “The bag hasn’t been reported to the lost and found. Call tomorrow morning,” she was told.
– Was there a lot of money? – the neighbor wouldn’t let up.
The girl said that a thousand and a half, plus a bank card, it must be blocked now. I feel sorry for the cosmetics and the bag, and the key to the apartment. We’ll have to change the lock. We discussed all this, had dinner and went to bed.
But in the morning to deal with the door was no time, it was decided to call from work to the depot or Lost and Found. What if she got lucky? Although the girl remembered the tipsy bunch of guys on the bus, and decided that there was nothing to hope for.
As she walked out the door, she heard the call on her cell phone again, and again from her mother. She remembered that she hadn’t called her back yesterday, and thought, “No, I’m not going to answer it this time. She didn’t want to upset her mother, and there was no time to talk now. She was already late.
In the lobby of the office building she immediately ran into her boss
– You’re late today,” he told her with a kind of weak smile after the greeting. – And a certain gentleman is waiting for you.
The hapless suitor nodded toward the visitor’s bench by the window. There was indeed a very imposing man of about thirty with a bundle under his arm. The girl went in his direction, and he immediately rose to meet her.
– I’m the driver of the number 119 bus. You left your bag there yesterday.
The girl’s heart rejoiced.
– Did you find it? – she asked.
– The guys found it. Remember that merry company? So they gave me your bag. I was supposed to turn it in to the lost and found, but I’m sorry… I found your company card on the bottom and your name on a bank card. I called this morning, and here I am.
The girl felt a little embarrassed for thinking poorly of those guys. She regarded the well-dressed man with kind and beautiful eyes. He gave her back her bag and invited her to a cafe tonight, if she didn’t mind, of course.
The girl looked at him, still languishing in the lobby, and said yes. The man once again apologized for rummaging through her bag, but could not miss the opportunity to meet her. He could see how embarrassed he was, she had to reassure him.
Already sitting at a table in a cafe, the man told her how he immediately liked the passenger, so sad, so beautiful.
He looked at her reflection in the driver’s mirror and wished he could meet her, looked sadly when she left, talking to someone on the phone, and thought he had lost forever. And then such luck…
From that moment on, the girl’s life changed and finally gifted her with both love, and care, and happiness. And all thanks to this wonderful man, with whom she was so unexpectedly brought together by chance.
So they say: there was no happiness, but unhappiness helped!
