«Well, mo-o-om…»
«Get out, I said, you viper. You slandered Yurka, it’s because of you they took him away in handcuffs. You deprived your own mother of a personal life. I can’t stand to see you anymore,» Yulka’s drunk mother shrieked, to the approving looks of her drinking buddies.
«Where will I go?» the girl sobbed in despair. «Come on, mom, maybe you’ll think it over?»
«That’s your problem, where to go. And what were you lacking? Yurka, he always brought an extra piece home. And now…»
It had been ten years since her father’s death, and Yulka’s mother was slowly but surely drinking herself to death. At first, she would go out with friends, coming home cheerful and smelling of cheap wine and strong cigarettes.
«Why are you looking at me like that?» she tried to justify herself to her six-year-old daughter. «How do you think I should cope alone? How? If I were alone, but with you… Ah…»
Then the friends started coming over by themselves, along with other friends. First one stepfather, then another, and then this one—Yurka.
This one started to get handsy. She should thank Yulka for being able to defend herself, no longer a little girl. And she didn’t tell the police about it. They arrested him for theft. Yulka later withdrew her statement, since there was really nothing to steal from them. But she strictly forbade him from appearing in their apartment again.
And now her mother couldn’t forgive her for this.
The woman stood up from the table, staggered over to her daughter, and swung at her. But this time, the daughter managed to catch her hand.
«I hate you,» Yulka yelled, pushed her mother away, dressed, and ran out into the street. Bitter tears ran down her cheeks.
She wandered around the city until evening; she had nowhere to go. She didn’t want to go to her mother’s cousin, Aunt Valya, who had seven kids of her own, and Uncle Vasya who drank, always short of money.
Her father’s own brother lived well, in a big house outside the city. But he wouldn’t even let her on the doorstep, the fat cat. He had stopped communicating with his nephew’s relatives as soon as he passed away.
With love to you,
Yulka knew no other relatives nearby. She had one true friend, Masha, and the girl asked to stay with her.
«Do you have relatives in Moscow, Yul?» Masha suggested.
«I don’t really know them, I was very little when they last visited us…»
«Do you have their address?»
«I do… If it hasn’t changed. But what’s the use? Do they need me?»
«Yulka, I’ve saved up a bit of money,» Masha offered, «enough for a round trip to Moscow and back, just in case.»
«No, I won’t take it,» she objected, «that’s for your dream.»
«Well, if you settle in Moscow, and I come to visit you—my dream will come true,» Masha took out her savings from a drawer.
That’s how Yulka ended up in Moscow. When she rang the bell of an unfamiliar apartment, a pleasant, good-looking woman answered.
«Are you Alexandra Valeryevna?» the girl asked.
«That’s me, and who are you?» the woman was surprised.
«I’m your relative… on the tenth remove,» Yulka smiled sadly.
«Well, come in… Let’s figure this out…»
Aunt Sasha turned out to be indeed a pleasant woman. She lived with her disabled husband in an old two-bedroom apartment. It was evident they were poor.
«Uncle Petya doesn’t work, he receives a disability pension, but it’s small,» she explained to Yulka, as if apologizing, «I sweep the yard in the mornings and evenings, and during the day I sew robes in a small atelier. Well, if you stay—we’re not rich, but you’re welcome.»
«I’ll be very grateful to you,» Yulka was delighted, «I’ll help you, and I’ll get a job.»
«You’re too young to work. You need to study,» Aunt Sasha objected.
But there was nothing to be done; she had to survive somehow. And Yulka, instead of her relative, began to sweep the yard. Collecting trash in the entrance and dumping it in the trash bins, the girl began to notice that people sometimes threw away amazing things. These were slightly worn clothes and branded shoes. USSR-era dishes, figurines, and other cute items. Without much thought, Yulka started collecting them and storing them in the janitor’s storeroom.
One day she brought rags home, washed them, and asked her aunt for permission to sit at her sewing machine. She tore apart the items and sewed new ones: a masquerade dress, a bag, a tablecloth, and beautiful retro curtains.
On her day off, she went to a pawnshop, sold the dishes and souvenirs. And with the money earned, she bought a spot at the market and laid out what she had sewn by hand. All day, no one bought anything from her, they admired, touched, were impressed, but walked past, even though her prices were quite democratic. But half an hour before closing, a woman approached her and took everything wholesale. She even gave her a business card, offering the girl a collaboration.
Happy Yulka went to a store, bought groceries and sweets. She set the table, and the remaining money she placed in front of Aunt Sasha.
«I always dreamed of giving my first, independent, paycheck to my parents. Now you are my parents, Aunt Sasha, Uncle Petya. Use the money as you see fit.»
Uncle Petya tried to refuse, Aunt Sasha teared up. They started living that way, Yulka collected things from the garbage, part of it she sold, part of it she sewed. The money she earned she gave to her relatives, and they saved it for her education.
But Yulka earned her education herself. She had almost forgotten about the woman who made her first purchase. But she appeared again and invited Yulka to sew clothes for her store. Now the girl didn’t have to stand at the market, she sewed to order and earned well. She went to school to study fashion design. And a few years later, she already had her own sewing workshop and store.
And also a young man, who proposed to her.
«Let’s visit your mother, I want to meet her,» the future husband insisted.
«I’m not sure about this,» Yulka hesitated.
But one day they went anyway. It was a hot day, the door to her mother’s apartment was slightly open, and the stench could already be felt in the hallway. Her mother was sleeping on a dirty bed, surrounded by a whole array of empty bottles.
«Mo-o-m,» Yulka called out, just as she had when leaving home.
She opened her eyes and mumbled something unintelligible in response.
Yulka called a detox specialist, who administered an IV to the woman. With her fiancé, they cleared out all the trash from the apartment, Yulka wiped down the old, broken furniture, cleaned the floor, and cooked chicken noodle soup.
«What are you doing here?» her mother finally spoke.
«Mom, I’m doing well. I’m getting married. And I want to help you.»
«Give me some money for a hangover cure,» she asked.
No matter how hard Yulka tried, she couldn’t save her mother. She didn’t want to be treated, resisted, cursed her daughter for interfering in her life, for all she was worth. And soon she was gone.
And when Yulka had kids, they called Aunt Svetlana and Uncle Petya grandmother and grandfather, as they never had their own blood children and grandchildren.
It was a warm summer day, Yulka stood over the graves of her father and mother, placing a bouquet of white roses on each mound.
«Can you really forgive your mother?» asked her friend, Masha, «she literally threw you out like trash.»
Masha also lived in Moscow now and worked in Yulia Andreevna’s firm.
«I’m even grateful to her for that,» Yulka replied, «I don’t know how my life would have turned out if I had stayed at home then…»
