Ninka, are you up to your tricks again? They’ll put you in solitary!” her friend cast a reproachful glance at the girl. “So what? At least I’ll get to play soccer, and if they lock me up for a week, so be it—better away from those matrons,” Nina shrugged and smiled slyly. Looking around, she … Read more
Anya, open up, it’s cold out here!” a voice called from behind the door, drowning out the howling wind in the hallway. Anna, standing in the hallway with a towel in her hands, froze. She expected to see her neighbor Ira, who always dropped by for some salt or advice. But the voice was unfamiliar. … Read more
In the city, there was a stifling heat, it seemed even the asphalt was melting, with temperatures soaring above thirty degrees Celsius. In a residential area, a young pregnant woman wandered confusedly through the courtyards of apartment buildings. She carefully looked for numbers on the corners of the houses but couldn’t find the address she … Read more
You know, sometimes fate presents such surprises that you spend your whole life marveling at how everything turned out? I still remember that chilly October day when I was returning from the market in the neighboring village. Back then, buses came once in a blue moon, and I had to trudge home on foot, cursing … Read more
Yevgenia and her friend Inna had been sitting in a cafe for over an hour, staring out the window, afraid of missing an important moment. They had already drunk two cups of coffee each and stuffed themselves with pastries, yet nothing was happening on the other side of the glass. Yevgenia decisively broke the ensuing … Read more
— “I have a small child, where are we supposed to climb!?” Anna’s voice, a young woman with a tired face, sounded sharp, yet also carried a note of desperation. — “And you suggest an old woman like me climb up there?!” Tatiana Arkadievna’s voice, dry and categorical, cut through the stuffiness of the train … Read more
Maria Petrovna appeared in the village school about ten years ago. She was immediately noticeable: small but lively, like a spring, always with a bucket and a broom in hand. She didn’t just work there – she breathed life into that school. She was the first to arrive in the morning and the last to … Read more
Boys, time to head home?” Alsou whispered breathlessly, her hot breath burning Pavel’s ear. “Shall we take a cab?” Pavel stretched blissfully, hugged the young woman, and laughed. “Time, time… sweet little… cannibal… Let me make some coffee and we’ll scatter for a week,” he said, abruptly getting off the bed with his toned body. … Read more
Dina shook her housecoat, jumped into her slippers on bare feet, and dashed out of the building, trying to catch up with her husband. “Pasha, come back! Where are you going?” she cried out, almost in tears. Pavel irritably responded over his shoulder: “I can’t stand being around you right now, I’m going fishing!” “You … Read more
A man stood in the reception area of the maternity hospital, shoulders slumped. He held no flowers in his hands, unlike what is typical when greeting new mothers with babies. His cracked and chewed lips were tightly pressed together. This was not how Ignat had imagined meeting his long-awaited heir. Oh, not like this! He … Read more