LITMIR.BIZ

      KYRILL: Good afternoon to you, Maria. I do apologize. Go on, I won’t interfere.

      MARIA: You don’t bother me at all, Kyrill. On the contrary, I wanted to talk to you, and here you are.

      KYRILL: I am always ready to listen to you, Maria. Speak.

      MARIA: You know, Kyrill, when I returned home, I promised myself never to conduct experiments on people and animals anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I sincerely believe in God, and I always did. What happened to my last patient is a sin I will never atone for. It will haunt me until my death.

      Kyrill listened attentively to Masha. His face showed no emotion.

      MARIA (continues): Everything was different before. When I started working at the research institute, I was sure I would benefit people. I will make discoveries that will change the world and help humans say goodbye to many diseases considered incurable. But when faced failures, I had doubts. As a result, I was completely disappointed.

      Maria’s eyes were filled with tears. Kyrill listened to her silently.

      MARIA (tries to restrain herself from sobbing): Nothing worked… Nothing! So I came here. Hell knows why… Sorry. For some reason I came to this farm. I almost promised the chairman to start working in his laboratory. But the worst thing, Kyrill, is that I want to do it again: to carry out what I was doing before! I am completely at a loss. I’m like a drug addict lured by a dose again and ready to run after it as fast as I can.

      KYRILL (after a pause): Maria, all you are doing now is escaping from yourself. I see that it’s difficult for you to give up the goals you had set in your youth. And even failures couldn’t force you to change your guidelines. Higher powers are telling you that you are moving in the right direction. You try to turn away from the path, but Providence brings you back. You are used to explaining everything from a scientific point of view, but science is powerless here. That’s why they say: “divine power”. It is the thing that guides you. Just think about how many discoveries on our planet would not have happened if people gave up everything halfway through. Do you think their ways were easy? Do you think the burden of responsibility weighs only on you? We see only the results: Darwin discovered this, Einstein discovered that! But we don’t know what these people had to go through on the way to their discoveries. It looks like you are following this path, Maria.

      MARIA (with admiration): Wow! I don’t even know what to say. You know how to motivate people!

      KYRILL: Sometimes it’s enough for people to hear their thoughts said by someone else. This gives an incredible effect.

      MARIA (thoughtfully): You’re right. You said exactly what I’ve always thought. But how could I know that these thoughts were true? At least, I’m not the only one who thinks so, this changes everything. So this is not schizophrenia!

      KYRILL (smiling): Well, that’s fine! Let us consider that today you are one step closer to pacation. And now, with your permission, I will leave you alone. Repair, as they say, won’t do it itself.

      Kyrill retreated to one of the inside premises of the church. Mary began the ceremony for which she had come. Having lit a candle and said a prayer, the girl headed for the exit. Hearing a noise from the room where Kyrill had disappeared, Maria looked inside, wanting to thank the priest for the recent conversation. She found Kyrill working without church vestments. The priest was mixing mortar for plastering the walls. He was wearing a tight T-shirt, showing his shredded and slender figure. Noticing that Maria was looking at him, Kyrill was embarrassed. Without thinking, he reached for the cassock hanging on a hanger, but then he relaxed, put the shovel aside and came close to Maria.

      At that moment, Maria felt the priest inspire strange feelings in her: it seemed to her that he had the very features she found attractive in men: wisdom, religiosity, male beauty and strength. For a moment, Masha thought a spark had run between them.