65
I WILL GIVE BIRTH TO YOU, MY ANGEL
“I decided to have my younger daughter at home, in the bathtub, with a
midwife’s help. A lot of people do that these days. People think it’s more
comfortable for the child to come into the world at home, in the presence of
his relatives. They say a newborn can sense when people are acting lovingly
toward him, and when they’re indifferent, as often happens in maternity
wards. It’s like a conveyer belt there, you know.”
Victor didn’t feel encouraged by his conversation with Valentina Petro-
vna. In fact, it had the opposite effect: it depressed him. For two weeks, he
spent all his free time outside of work considering the problem of giving
birth to children. For two weeks, whenever he was walking through the city,
whenever he went to fancy restaurants, bars and theaters, he kept looking at
women’s faces, evaluating them. He even took a trip out to the village, but
he didn’t find anyone suitable for himself there, either.
One day he drove his Jeep with the tinted windows over to the teacher’s
college and looked through the window at the girls walking by. After three
hours of this, he turned his attention to a young woman who’d come out
onto the porch – a brunette with a short, but tight braid, an elegant figure
and, it seemed to him, an intelligent face. As she passed by the Jeep on her
way to the bus stop, Victor lowered the window and called out to her:
“Young lady, excuse me. I’ve been waiting for a friend here, and he hasn’t
shown up. Might you be able to show me the best way to get downtown? And
then I could drop you off at home, if you’d like.”
She took in the Jeep with a glance and answered calmly:
“Why ever not? I’ll show you.”
When she’d gotten into the back seat and they’d introduced themselves,
Lusya pointed to Victor’s pack of cigarettes and said:
“Those are good cigarettes. Might I have one?”
“Of course, go ahead,” Victor answered, and he was happy to hear his cell
phone ring. It was nothing important, but as soon as he’d hung up, Victor
made a worried face and informed Lusya, who was greedily taking a drag on
the cigarette:
“Plans have changed. I have to get right to a business meeting. Please for-
give me.”
