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“Natalya, are you going to peel the potatoes, or are you just going to sit there like some lady of leisure?” Larisa, my sister-in-law, threw the words across the table without even looking at me. I was sitting on a bench under the apple tree. I had only just arrived — two hours by train, … Read more

“We decided with Mom that this would be the right thing to do,” her husband said, completely unaware of the consequences his words were about to bring. “Ksyusha and Vladik need a proper place to start their family. Living in rented corners with a baby is a crime. So they’ll move into your three-room apartment, … Read more

“Have you completely lost your mind? Now we can’t even get into our own house!” the relatives fumed outside the locked door. Inga stood in the hallway, looking through the peephole. One after another, three cars pulled into the yard. First came Vadim’s old silver foreign car, then Svetlana’s dark crossover, and finally the car … Read more

“Your sister has children, so the country house is always open to her. Nobody asked for your opinion here,” Ilya declared, not even trying to lower his voice. Lyudmila froze in the middle of the kitchen, still clutching the car keys in her hand. Outside the window, the hot July air shimmered. The room smelled … Read more

“Well, why are you getting worked up over nothing? I already told you, they’ve bought the tickets. Non-refundable, Sveta. The train arrives tomorrow at eight in the morning. We’ll have to go meet them.” Igor sat at the kitchen table, calmly peeling the skin off a dried fish. Tiny silver scales scattered across the oilcloth … Read more

“Again, there’s no way to get through your hallway! Is it really so hard to put your shoes in the closet instead of throwing them right under everyone’s feet?” The metallic scrape of a key turning in the lock came only a couple of seconds before that indignant complaint. Galina Petrovna pushed the front door … Read more

Valeria stopped at the front door before she had even managed to take off her coat. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag on their own. The hallway, which had still felt spacious that morning, was now filled with three large suitcases, two plaid travel bags, a cardboard box from some appliance, and … Read more

— Artyom, why aren’t you eating? Karina stopped in the kitchen doorway so abruptly that the strap of her bag slipped off her shoulder. The apartment was noisy, stuffy from food and other people’s voices, and her five-year-old son was sitting on a stool by the wall, as if he had not been placed at … Read more

“Sergey, what are these envelopes doing on my table?” Olga stopped at the kitchen entrance without even taking off her coat. She had a bag of documents in her hand, her shoulder ached after a long day, and the lines from the work reports she had been reviewing in the car on the way home … Read more

“Let’s go after him!” Veronika suddenly rose from the sofa and grabbed the car keys. Galina, who had been sitting beside her with a cup of coffee, did not even understand what she had just heard at first. “After whom? Kirill?” “Who else?” Veronika was already putting on her jacket. “He’s ‘at work’ again. For … Read more