«Masha, listen to me. Just wait, don’t cry. Where I’m going, they pay really well. It just turned out this way, but we can’t give up. I’ll earn money, and we’ll start over.» Vanya tried to calm her down.
Masha shook her head in despair.
«No, Vanya, no. I don’t want to. No money is worth a life.»
«What life are you talking about? What do you mean? Times are completely different, nobody goes into hand-to-hand combat anymore. Don’t worry so much. Do you really think I would go to certain death and leave you alone? No, you just need to hold on a little while I start earning. We have a place to live. At least we still have this apartment.»
Masha sighed.
«Vanya, we don’t need this business anymore. Let it disappear into oblivion. To lose everything again in a week? And we had to sell everything too…»
«Masha, I don’t see any other options to prove to myself that I am worth something.»
He sighed again, knowing she understood him very well, but she categorically disapproved.
Masha knew her husband wouldn’t calm down. What had happened was certainly very upsetting. They had been building their business for almost ten years, everything was going well for them, everything was working out. And then, like small children, they were conned by foreign fraudsters. Now there was no way to find the ends.
Two days later, Vanya left to serve under contract.
Masha felt as if half her heart had been torn away. She flinched every time the phone rang, and if someone rang the doorbell, she would panic.
A month passed, the panic did not subside, rather, it increased more and more. Masha was sure: something bad would happen, it definitely would.
The doorbell rang early in the morning. She looked at the clock, her legs immediately refused to obey. Somehow she reached the door, opened it. When she saw a man in uniform, she understood everything immediately.
He didn’t even have time to speak, and Masha slid down the wall. She woke up in the hospital, at first couldn’t understand what it was, where she was. And then, when she realized, she remembered and wailed, screamed.
It turned out she had been between heaven and earth for a week.
She was discharged only after a week. She immediately went to the cemetery. A cross, no photographs, nothing. No compensation was given, they said an investigation was still ongoing. Everything was so unclear there…
Masha returned home. She wandered from corner to corner for a day. And then decided that it couldn’t go on like this.
For the little apartment, even for an urgent sale, it didn’t amount to much. She immediately asked the agency to find her a small house somewhere far from people, from civilization. They found one 300 kilometers from where she lived.
When the taxi stopped, Masha looked in horror at the old shack she had bought without even looking.
«Is this where you intend to live?» The taxi driver looked at her in bewilderment.
«Right here. How much do I owe you?» Masha gathered her strength and looked at the driver.
He took the money and watched her as she left.
«They’ve gone mad, they’re so full of it, they don’t know what to do with themselves anymore,» he muttered.
Masha didn’t hear these words. She wasn’t in the mood for them. She stood in front of the old house and thought that she wouldn’t have to live here. But to survive…
She made a big bonfire, pulled out all the old junk she found in the house. Not much. While the small fire smoked, Masha grabbed a rag.
«Good evening to you. And here I was wondering what the fire was about,» a voice said.
Masha turned abruptly. At the doorstep stood a grandmother, just like those shown in fairy tales, a godsend.
«Did I scare you? Don’t be afraid, I live next door. Well, or I’m spending my last days,» the old woman said, appearing from around the corner. «And what brought you to our remote parts?»
Masha finally shook off her numbness.
«I decided to get closer to nature. Nothing holds me in the city anymore. My husband died…»
«Come to lick your wounds, then?» The old woman nodded understandingly.
«You might say that. Oh, please come in, why are you standing at the threshold?» Masha invited her in.
The grandmother walked in and sat down.
«Well done, the house is already looking like a home. My name is Klavdia Nikolaevna.»
«And I’m Masha.»
«Why are you alone, Masha? Didn’t you call anyone for help? We might be old, but we can still help,» offered Klavdia Nikolaevna. «I’ll call my girls. We’ll quickly put things in order here.» The grandmother quickly rushed out the door.
Masha just shook her head. It’s amazing, really; how lively she still is despite everything. Twenty minutes later, Klavdia Nikolaevna returned, accompanied by three other grandmothers of about the same age.
Listening to their playful banter and memories from their youth, Masha realized how hungry she had become. When it got dark, they sat down to drink tea. The grandmothers brought out various foods.
«Don’t worry, Masha. Our place is remote, but it’s been peaceful for a long time, forgotten by everyone. Both the authorities and our children don’t need us. A mobile shop comes once a week. We only buy bread there,» one of the grandmothers explained.
«And how do you live?»
«That’s just it, we live. Some have chickens, some have rabbits. We plant a garden and share with each other.»
«And where is the nearest store, medical point?» asked Masha.
«Oh, that’s ten kilometers from here. Sometimes grandchildren and children come by. Look, Klavdia’s grandson has tried so many times to take her away, but she refuses. She says she won’t leave us here,» another grandmother replied.
Klavdia smiled.
«My grandson is good, only somehow unlucky in life. He’s been married twice already, and both times it didn’t work out.»
Masha immediately pictured a self-absorbed young man.
«I know what you’re thinking. But you’ll see for yourself. He threatened to come in two weeks. Says he’ll chop some firewood for me,» added Klavdia.
The grandmothers also helped Masha with the garden. They didn’t do much, but they still did something.
Who would have thought she’d be digging in the garden beds like this? Not even in her wildest nightmares had she thought this. But now here she is, sitting, laying out seeds in the holes.
Every evening, the entire female population of the village, consisting of the four grandmothers and Masha, gathered at someone’s house for tea. Masha eagerly listened to various stories.
«Remember how we caught bandits here?» Klavdia waved her hands.
«Oh, how could I forget! Those scoundrels hid in my attic. And I had no idea.»
Masha’s eyes widened.
«Oh, please tell me.»
«It was about fifteen years ago. Many had already left, but there were still many residential buildings. Police appeared one morning. We all came out of our houses, not understanding what was going on. It turned out that some bandits had robbed someone, took a lot of money and all sorts of gold. And it seems they headed our way in a car, only to get lost somewhere. So the police were looking for them.
«What police? It was still the militia back then,» someone objected.
«Oh, what does it matter. So, they went around the yards. And it turned out that the bandits had settled in Nikolaevna’s attic. Oh, we were so scared! They were shooting, and Klavdia was at home and couldn’t leave.
«Did they catch them?»
«They caught them. But they didn’t find either the money or the car. After this incident, the last residents left the village. They say it’s a godforsaken place,» said one of the grandmothers.
«But people used to flock here before. There’s a spring here that’s very clean and healing. So many legends about it, told by our great-grandmothers.
«Yes, exactly. Women who couldn’t have babies would come, live a few days on the spring water, and then everything would work out for them,» another grandmother added.
Masha dreamed of bandits and pregnant women all night. In the morning, after waking up, she remembered the grandmothers’ stories about a strawberry glade and decided to go there.
She always thought she had a good sense of direction in the forest. But there were so many berries, and the forest was so beautiful, that she lost track of time and realized she didn’t know where to go.
At first, she wasn’t scared, but fear set in later as it began to get dark.
«No way, just my luck to get lost in the forest,» she muttered, realizing for the first time since Vanya’s death that she wanted to live.
Perhaps the miraculous spring really had its effects. When an owl hooted, Masha started running. It seemed to her that wolves were surrounding her from all sides. She didn’t know how long she ran, but suddenly she stopped, finding herself in the middle of a glade. In the moonlight, a car stood. It was completely unclear how it got there, surrounded by bushes. She remembered the grandmothers’ story. Could this be the very car the bandits had abandoned?
A branch snapped behind her, and Masha, with a squeal, jumped into the car. She didn’t care what was inside; the main thing was that the forest dwellers couldn’t reach her there. By morning she had dozed off and woke up as the sun shone directly into her face. Looking around: dust, cracked seats, and a bag full of bills on the back seat…
Masha leaned over the seat and saw the grandmothers gathered around.
«My dears, how glad I am to see you!» She cried from joy.
Klavdia Nikolaevna said:
«I already called my grandson, he’s on his way.»
Everyone gathered in Masha’s house, and she told them about her adventures.
«We’re going to turn things around here! But let’s not tell anyone where we got the money.»
«We’ll clear the road, beautify it, and people will come to our spring,» they discussed.
«What a plan! Does anyone realize how nice it is here?»
Everyone turned around. A young man stood at the door, smiling at the gathered group.
Klavdia Nikolaevna jumped up:
«Vanechka, the grandson has arrived!»
Of course, the word «grandson» hardly suited this two-meter-tall man. Masha twitched when the grandmother called him Vanya. Ivan turned out to be nothing like she had imagined. He was cheerful, simple, and seemed very smart. In two days, he cleared the yards for the grandmothers and Masha, stacking up plenty of firewood.
Meanwhile, Masha tried to calculate where to start the beautification, what to buy. And somehow Ivan caught her at this activity.
«May I help you? I happen to work with business plans,» he offered.
Three years later.
«Maria Anatolyevna, we’re booked two months in advance, and people keep calling.»
Masha sighed:
«I understand, but we don’t have that much space.»
Ivan stood up from the table:
«Mash, maybe it’s time to think about expanding?»
She smiled at him:
«Well, dear, we can think about it, but you’ll have to handle it yourself.»
Ivan looked at her in surprise:
«Why alone? Without you?»
«Without me, because I’ll be busy with completely different things,» she replied.
Klavdia Nikolaevna looked at Masha and suddenly said:
«And I tell everyone: it’s not a legend at all, it’s all true.»
Ivan looked at his grandmother in confusion:
«What are you talking about? I don’t understand.»
«Vanya, why do people come to us? Because the spring is healing. And we live here,» she explained.
«And what?» Ivan stared at her in the same bewilderment.
«Mash, don’t keep us in suspense,» added Klavdia, winking.
«You mean to say…» asked Vanya, looking at Masha.
Masha nodded. Ivan slowly stood up, looked at her in bewilderment, then suddenly yelled out and scooped her into his arms!
In the evening, they stood on the porch of their new house and looked at the village. There were new houses, an increased number of residents. Indeed, the village was unrecognizable: lighting, new buildings, pathways. Nearby, the building of a sanatorium was visible, the very one with such a long waiting list.
«Well, Mash, aren’t we great?» Klavdia rejoiced.
«We’re great, and so were those bandits who left the bag in the forest.»
«Let’s not even remember that, just live here and now.»
«But we’ll have to remember something,» Ivan intervened. «Mash, I’ve been filing requests for three years… Basically, your husband is a hero. I know that was important to you. So we need to go to the city, get all the documents, and there’s a medal awarded to him posthumously waiting for you.»
Masha stood silently for a while, then hugged her husband.
«Thank you. It really was very important to me.»
Ivan stroked her head.
«What do you think, who will we have?»
«I don’t care, as long as they’re all healthy.»
Ivan sighed.
«We need to think about building a school.»
Masha laughed.
«What, not about a university right away?»
They hugged each other and faced the village. They would do everything to make this place thrive, to make people here happier.
