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up in the office. Can I help you?”

      “Yes,” she said, still excited. “I called on his mobile, it’s switched off, I left him a message. The alarm went off in our flat. I’m scared!”

      “The negotiations won’t be over until lunchtime. Anyway, Vladislav will certainly listen to your message. Of course, I can call him too, but if the phone is switched off …”

      “I’m so scared, Vika! Could you come over right now? Please!”

      “Okay,” I reluctantly agreed, since they lived a couple of minutes from the office, and it would be more expensive to resist.

      “I am waiting for you at the entrance! Thanks!” Marina breathed a sigh of relief.

      I called Vlad, but the answering machine turned on.

      “Your wife’s called. She’s asked me to come to your house immediately. Well, I’m going…”

      ***

      “Hello, Vika! I’m very embarrassed! I met our neighbor, and he helped me with this damn alarm! So, everything is fine, it just went off by accident! Sorry for disturbing you!”

      “Not a big deal! I am glad that’s all right! To be honest, I understand nothing in alarm systems,” I exhaled and was about to turn back and leave, as Marina stopped me.

      “Vika, I don’t feel comfortable! Come in for a while! Let’s drink coffee! I’ll treat you to something delicious!” she offered smiling.

      “No, no, I have to go back to the office!” I said, squeezing out a smile in return.

      “Your office can wait! Moreover, your boss is at the bank! Let’s go, come on! I won’t let you off so easily now!”

      I wasn’t too keen on going into their flat, although I had never been there before. I was even more embarrassed by the prospect of the upcoming conversation. A couple of years ago, when Marina and I had got acquainted, I tried to chat with her on general topics, but, as it turned out, we had really not much to talk about, besides, I was afraid to say something extra, so we ended up drinking coffee in silence.

      However, she almost dragged me into the entrance.

      We got up to their flat. Marina invited me into the kitchen. I was looking at the collection of souvenirs on the open shelves without much interest, while she brewed coffee.

      “How are you?” Marina suddenly broke the silence.

      “I wonder who she means saying ‘you’? ” flashed through my head, but I tried to respond neutrally, “Everything is just as usual.”

      “Vlad said that a business trip to Finland is planned.”

      “Yes, but no dates have been set yet.”

      We sat down at the kitchen table. Marina silently offered to clink the cups. I didn’t resist.

      “When are the negotiations supposed to be over?” she asked, taking her first sip and glancing at her watch.

      “I don’t know, probably soon,” I answered and felt a sharp pain in my stomach, once again remembering the doctors’ advice to forget about such a wonderful drink.

      “Vika, do you believe in life after death?” Marina suddenly asked and picked me up, as I was losing consciousness from pain. “Come with me!”

      The pain left me as abruptly as it had appeared. I got up from the floor and followed Marina into the living room. She stopped by the window.

      “Now there is nothing to fear and lose,” she said without looking into my eyes. “Why did you need him?”

      “I don’t know what to answer you…”

      I knew what to answer her. I loved Vlad. Not for anything. And that’s why I didn’t care what status to be next to him. Did Vlad love me? A great question. Anyway, I had never asked him to divorce his wife, realizing that he got used to her. I didn’t wish them any harm.

      “God sees everything, Vika. He should have punished you both. You can’t imagine how much I hate you! However, God will forgive me for what I’ve done,” Marina began to sob like a kid.

      “What have you done?” I got surprised and, from a bad feeling, I immediately turned to Vlad mentally, “Please, come here quickly! Your Marina is going to eat me now!”

      “I know he wouldn’t leave you! Yes, I’ve never loved him, since it was a marriage of convenience, but he had no right! No right!!!”

      “Calm down, please!” I didn’t know what to say in such cases.

      “I couldn’t live like this! Could not! He had to lose us both!!!”

      Suddenly we heard rushing footsteps on the stairs, and the front door slammed.

      “Marina! Vika!” Vlad shouted out of breath, “are you there?”

      Marina froze in silence, turning to the window, and I ran out into the corridor.

      “It’s nice of you to come!” I exclaimed.

      Vlad didn’t seem to hear me, heading for the kitchen quickly.

      “We are here!” I shouted again. However, frozen at the ajar door, Vlad didn’t even turn around.

      “Marina!!! No, you couldn’t!” he exclaimed without turning to me.

      “God must forgive me!” she said coldly, approaching us.

      I stood between them, trying in vain to figure out what had happened. Vlad turned around, slammed the kitchen door in my face, and, not paying any attention to us, started pacing back and forth down the corridor, frantically dialing someone’s number on his phone.

      “Vlad, what’s wrong?!” I wondered.

      “I’ve calculated everything,” Marina said, patting her husband on the shoulder. “It’s too late!”

      “Ambulance?” shouted Vlad, getting through.

      “What damn ambulance?! What’s wrong with you?” I screamed in his ear.

      “He doesn’t hear us,” Marina stated. “However, life after death exists indeed.”

May, 2002

      7. Intergalactic Union of Writers

      The path to my glory was easy enough, since I was incredibly lucky!

      However, it all started with the fact that I was born exceptionally ugly and short. My twin sister, Maya, on the contrary, turned out to be pretty, and short stature for a girl is more of a plus than a minus. Everyone liked Maya and turned up their noses at me. No matter how much I tried to please people, to get their attention, it was all in vain. Even heavy shoes with thick soles didn’t add to my weight or height.

      That’s the way I became a writer. I got myself a vest in the form of a diary, to which I trusted my intimate sufferings from non-reciprocity, but after the first rhyme that came to mind, I changed my shoes into a poet. Soon I discovered plenty of websites where one could post one’s masterpieces. As a result, after painful swings between pros and cons, because at that time I wasn’t sure yet of the excellence of my works, I nevertheless registered the profile, uploaded a picture of a handsome man and my first verse, the “Unrecognized Genius, or The Rejected”.

      Incredibly, I was instantly hit by a flurry of positive responses, including declarations of love from women of all ages, suits and calibers!

      They began to invite me to events at literary associations and circles, to performances in museums, libraries, schools and even kindergartens, which at first I was naturally embarrassed, because the picture

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