9
AWIFE IS A GODDESS
had a ribbon in her tidy hair. He became flustered and awkwardly handed
her the flowers. He couldn’t take his eyes off Elena.
She took the flowers and gasped slightly, lowering her eyelashes, and
began to glow.
“Oh, how beautiful the goddess’s eyelashes are! How meek her character!
How unusual her inner beauty and outward appearance!”
Ivan gasped in turn when he saw the table set with their good service, two
candles lit on the table, two wineglasses, and food drawing him with divine
aromas.
When he sat down at the table, his wife Elena sat down across form him,
too, but suddenly jumped up, saying, “Forgive me, I forgot to turn on the
television for you. And here, I got fresh newspapers for you.”
“I don’t need the television, and I don’t feel like reading the papers. It’s
always the same thing in them,” Ivan replied sincerely. “Why don’t you tell
me how you’d like to spend your Saturday tomorrow?”
Completely stunned, Elena asked him, “What about you?”
“I had a chance to buy two theater tickets for us. But maybe in the after-
noon you’d agree to go shopping. If we’re going to be going to the theater,
we should first stop by a store and buy a proper dress for you to go to the
theater.”
Ivan nearly blurted out the words “a proper dress for a goddess.” He grew
confused, looked at her, and gasped again. Sitting before him at the table
was a goddess. Her face shone with happiness, and her eyes gleamed. Her in-
timate smile held a small question.
“Oh, my God, how beautiful goddesses are! And if she gets prettier every
day, will I be able to be worthy of her?” Ivan thought, and a thought struck
him like lightning. “I have to! I have to while my goddess is by my side. I
have to ask her, and beg her to have my child. The child will be from me and
the most beautiful goddess.”
“What are you thinking about, Ivan? Is that excitement I see on your
face?” Elena asked her husband.
He sat there agitated, not knowing how to utter his most cherished
thought. It’s no joke to ask a goddess for a child. God did not promise him a
