Rita was preparing for the wedding. Roma proposed to her very beautifully – invited her on a romantic date, gave her a fantastic bouquet of orchids, and presented her with a diamond ring while standing on one knee. And next to the violinists, they brought out something sentimental, from which Rita and all the ladies present in the restaurant even moistened their eyes. So cute…
And Rita, crying with happiness, said “Yes!” to him, and everyone around applauded warmly, congratulating the beautiful couple…
Even though she had already said “yes” to him before, the day before, right on the phone, she almost broke off the whole buzz for both of them. Rita then went to her city to visit the girls, and at the same time visited the fortune-teller who once told her a quick death…
But either I lied to her, or I made a mistake, or I mixed it up…
This time, he predicted a speedy marriage, children, and happiness in her personal life. It turned out that on that late evening, when Rita saved a young mother and her baby from death, and she almost died for them, she changed her fate, canceling the death predicted by the first divination. To believe or not to believe – Rita was still lost in guesses. But one way or another, she is alive, and a happy future awaits her ahead.…
And exciting preparations for the wedding! And it started spinning: the hassle, the organization of the celebration, shopping, and so on…
Rita would like to return to her beloved city as soon as possible. There are her friends, her Vika, who is almost her sister, a kindred spirit. And Masha and Lida, Victoria’s childhood friends, with whom Rita became very friendly. And she never got used to this city, she still felt like a stranger here…
Roma was going to transfer with Rita. He rented a place here, and so did Rita. It remains a small matter for the authorities to approve the transfer. Making a list of things to do, Rita thought – memories came flooding back. About how they met Roman, under very shocking circumstances. Rita almost died, falling under the wheels of his car. That late evening, she grabbed a stroller with a baby from under the wheels and pushed it off the roadway. And then the child got on the road, because a bandit with a knife attacked his mom, and she, almost losing consciousness, released the handle of the stroller. After the accident, Roma began to visit Rita in the hospital. He helped her to go to physiotherapy when Rita was sitting in a wheelchair after surgery and could not get the hang of it…
I helped her walk around with a leg broken in two places when she was walking on crutches in a cast. At first, Rita was rude to him, and drove him away. She screamed at him to leave her alone….
A couple of times she stuffed bags of fruit into him that he brought her, and oranges bounced around the ward with cheerful red balls. He said then:
– Maybe tomorrow will be a better day… I’d rather come tomorrow.
– Get lost, and no tomorrow! Rita shouted after him then.
And the nurse Lenochka collected oranges on the bedside table, wiped the puddle on the floor that had flowed from the burst juice box, looked reproachfully at Rita and said:
– It’s none of my business, of course… Maybe he has offended you a lot, or is guilty in front of you, and you can’t forgive him… But maybe it’s worth trying? He is a very good man! I paid for your treatment, a separate room. A rehabilitologist specially comes here for you to get you on your feet as soon as possible! He arranged that too…
– Did he pay? Rita was confused. For some reason she was sure that it was Vika…
– Yeah. I’m telling you, a very good person! He spent days in intensive care next to you, Rita. Such love… And you quarreled, didn’t you? Changed it, right? Lenochka’s eyes lit up with curiosity.
Rita chuckled:
– What does love have to do with it? He’s the one who ran over me.
Lenochka threw up her hands:
– Oh, dear Mother! That’s why he’s wearing oranges here, the bastard… And I’m thinking! So he should be sued!
– Don’t. Actually, it’s my fault, I got hit by a car myself. Jumped out in front of him, and even in the wrong place.
Lenochka blinked her eyes, and then waved her hand:
– Try to deal with you. Figure it out for yourself, and I’ll go – it’s time to do injections.
At the threshold, Lenochka still could not resist, and looked back:
– And maybe you will still think about… well, somehow make up, eh? He’s good. And such a handsome man – they look back after him in the department!
– Well, me too, by the way, nothing! – Rita wanted to fix her hair coquettishly, but came across bandages.
A good lady of the heart for such a handsome man, on whom the whole department looks back… All in bandages, abrasions and bruises.
And then he didn’t come, and she cried all night until morning, and then even in the afternoon she started crying – she thought she had achieved her goal and he would not appear again…
Lenochka was comforting her, and on her face it was written: “I jumped up. I turned down such a guy.” But out loud she asked:
– And why did you chase him away then, since you’re crying now?
Rita said hollowly, burying her face in the pillow:
– I think I’m going to die soon. That’s why! A fortune teller told me. More precisely, a fortune teller. He said that I was stolen from fate, and it was time to pay the bills… Something like that. By the way, I remembered him! I saw him in the program, he was a finalist in one of the Battles of psychics!
Now Lenochka had “What a fool!” written in large letters on her face. She shrugged and remarked:
– To survive after this, and continue to wait for death because some fortune-teller has guessed something there? Or a fortune teller … yes, even the whole crowd of participants of the “Battle of Psychics”!!! Fate is not stupid enough to have something stolen from her! They also invented it together with this finalist of yours… So get the crap out of your head! And turn your back to me, and your front to the forest, and take off your pants! It’s time to give the hut an injection!
All day Rita pondered what she heard from Lenochka, and was surprised. Wow, but the girl is right! It’s so simple: fate is not stupid enough to have something stolen from her! And you really need to get the dope out of your head. In the evening of the next day, Roma appeared. Rita tried awkwardly to thank him for everything, and to apologize for being rude. And then they started dating – Rita was still hobbling along the hospital corridor on crutches at that time. And now Rita has completely recovered, the fractures have healed, the bruises have come off, and the limp is gone. They are planning to have a wedding. Rita has been running around since early morning, trying to redo a lot of things. Vika was supposed to come and help Rita choose a dress, but Masha arrived.
– And Vika is there, is she all right? Rita was worried.
“What’s going to happen to her?” Calm down, don’t panic! She’s coming to the wedding, and so is Lida. They’re laying hens. I’m already pregnant. It was I who dissuaded them from traveling and doing business with such pot-bellied ones. Let them bear offspring, and we will try on the dress ourselves! Ida? Masha shook her curls and opened the door, hurrying the bride.
Having traveled half the city and several wedding salons, Rita and Masha still found what they wanted – the perfect princess dress. Moderately glittering with rhinestones, moderately flowing with a train, and with a moderately open back. At least now to the ball in the fairy castle! Masha clapped her hands:
– Perfect!
They brought their purchases home, and then Masha began to persuade Rita to try on the dress again.
– Show yourself! Let me admire it! I would ask you to try it on, but, firstly, I’m married, and secondly, you’re my best friend. I’m not going to do this: wear your dress before the wedding, even if only for a minute…
When Rita in a new dress was spinning in front of the mirror and in front of an enthusiastic Masha, Roma entered the apartment. Rita has already moved in with him: they decided that living in two houses is inconvenient both in terms of finances and in terms of time spent. Roma froze in admiration. Rita turned pale. Masha began to push him out of the room, saying:
– Leave the room, young man! It is not allowed to see the bride in a wedding dress before the wedding!
Roma went to the kitchen, and Masha returned to Rita and saw that her friend was almost crying, sadly pushing the dress into the box, and it crawled out like snow-white foam back.
– What are you! Stop it! It’s okay! Moreover, you were just in a dress, even without a veil, and without shoes. Not a full outfit. So – it doesn’t count!
– Masha, we’re not getting married … – Rita whispered, almost crying.
– Well, here’s another one! Because of what suddenly? Who have we always had of all of us – the most persistent tin soldier? She always denied divination, psychics, called them obscurantism… And now suddenly she began to believe in dense omens? Masha shook her curls and dragged Rita to the kitchen, to Roma.
They set the table together, then the three of them had dinner, but the thought of a bad omen stuck in Rita’s head like a splinter…
When almost everything was ready, and even the restaurant was prepaid, and it was left to hand over the invitations to the guests, Roma … suddenly canceled the wedding. It turned out that his ex-girlfriend, with whom they broke up almost a year ago, is pregnant from an affair.
– How is that? You didn’t know about this? Or did she get pregnant not immediately, but after a certain incubation period?
– Reith, don’t mock me. It’s already hurting me…
– Does it hurt you, Roma? YOU? – Rita pressed her palms to her eyes and moaned: – Damn, I can’t even leave … why did I refuse to rent that apartment of mine!
Roma confessed what had happened. Shortly before Rita’s discharge from the hospital, Irina came to him to pick up her remaining belongings. More precisely, a painting, a wall clock, and a floor scale, which she really needs. She’s without them, like without hands…
At parting, they had a heart-to-heart talk under a bottle of wine that she had brought with her. The conversation dragged on well past midnight…
In the morning he woke up with a wild headache, but did not attach any importance to it. Well, I’ve had too much, with whom it does not happen…
He always drank a little, and here he overdid it a little…
However, the events of that night were completely erased from his memory, he then had too much…
And now, on the eve of the wedding of Roman and Rita, Ira told him that she was pregnant and did not intend to get rid of pregnancy.
– She has twins, you know, Rita… This is a dead end. Roman groaned, looking at Rita with the eyes of a beaten dog. – I can’t leave them, I can’t do this to my children…
Rita’s gaze came across a box with a wedding dress. She shook her head:
– That’s it. I told you we weren’t getting married.…
Roman started saying something about Rita being able to stay in the apartment as long as she needed until she left, and something else, but Rita exclaimed:
– Lord, if you can leave, then leave at last!!!
He excused himself and carefully closed the door behind him, and Rita sat down on the floor in the middle of the living room, stretching out her legs. Such silence fell on her, as if Rita had gone deaf…
Then Rita figured out what to do. How long can you bear the blows of fate? It seems that all the misfortunes in life were measured out only for one Rita, although it would be enough to divide them into ten. Dad died very young. He should live and live…
And he never even went with his daughter to the circus to see clowns and gymnasts, and did not ride her on his shoulders, so high that his heart stopped with fear.…
Then my grandmother died: she fell ill too quickly and died of cancer. And then Mom left. Her beautiful mother, who was looked back at on the street, turned into a creepy yellow skeleton with gray lips and pale eyes before her death. She cried with almost dry eyes, and kept asking her daughter for forgiveness for not being able to save her from the fate of growing up in an orphanage: she didn’t have enough strength to live anymore…
There were no relatives from Rita’s dad’s side either – his mother did not survive the death of her son, and her husband could not survive the death of his wife…
The poor girl was left like a blade of grass in the field, around which someone heartless with an unwavering hand mowed down all her relatives.
The apartment after Mom belonged to Rita, as the sole heiress. When she turned eighteen and left the orphanage, she decided to dispose of her property as an adult. A clever realtor turned up in time, who began to convince the girl that housing in the center should be sold very profitably – why would she need such a large apartment alone?
– Enough for a cozy smaller apartment, and for studying … And I’ll help with the documents! Don’t worry about anything.
Naive Rita trusted until she paid – she was cheated. She received no money, except for a ridiculous amount of deposit. It was not possible to return the apartment – while the realtor was leading Rita by the nose, by that time the housing had been resold more than once. And then the realtor disappeared without a trace.
Then Rita found out that she, as a round orphan, is entitled to benefits, and there is no need to pay money for her studies at all. Rita chose a university and enrolled to study. And then I met Vika. And then with her friends with Masha and Lida, who became like a family for her, and they have been friends for many years. Only she tried to build her own family – again a failure…
People live, love, make friends, cope with problems, enjoy life, and Rita…
And Rita gutted Romka’s first aid kit on the carpet, and methodically took all the pills that were found there, washing down with cognac that she got from the bar. Roma had a considerable first aid kit, there were also several packages of sleeping pills – just right for Rita’s case. Then Rita felt that her black and viscous consciousness was flowing away somewhere, and she was even glad. Finally, all this will come to a logical end! Rita curled up on the carpet in a ball and either fell asleep, or lost consciousness, or died altogether. Masha discovered it, experiencing a strong inner anxiety since yesterday evening. She couldn’t get through to Rita, but she was too shy to go to the house of a friend and her fiance in the middle of the night. You never know what kind of inner anxiety she has there, and people sleep at night, especially those who have to work. I barely waited for the morning and rushed out of the hotel by taxi. She rang, knocked – it was useless. Wondering where Ritka had gone, Masha called Roman, but he said that she might have left because they broke up. Oh, how! We didn’t quarrel, but just broke up!
On the eve of the wedding. Finally, Masha, in complete bewilderment, before leaving, finally thought of pulling the handle of the unlocked front door…
Masha found her friend lying on the carpet. Unsuccessfully she slapped Rita’s cheeks, rubbed her cold hands and sobbed while an ambulance was coming to them. Rita got back to the same hospital where her fractures were repaired, but in a different department. There were all chances to get into psychiatry, but Masha swore and swore that it was just carelessness when taking sleeping pills. Her head hurt a lot, so she got it mixed up. The doctor looked at Masha carefully and said seriously:
– I will pretend that I believed you, and you will pretend that you are really sure that that bucket of pills in her stomach, splashing in two glasses of cognac, was solely due to carelessness. Because of the headache… Does she have any relatives?
– I am. – Masha said firmly. – Well, that is… I’m like her own. She doesn’t have anyone else. The groom was, but they broke up…
– She lost the baby. She’s sleeping now. And he will sleep until tomorrow, so you also go home and rest.
Rita fluttered under the ceiling and somersaulted in the air, rejoicing in the feeling of flight and experiencing an unprecedented sense of lightness. She was learning to control these movements of hers. It was worth thinking about Masha, and Rita is already over her. Masha was so funny with those curls of hers…
Only the eyes are sad. Tearful. Why? Rita feels so good! Rita, remembering something, thought about herself. Iiiii… That thin pale… thing with tubes in the vein – is that her, or what? But Rita didn’t feel sorry for this motionless thing–it’s not her! Suddenly Rita saw a corridor, and behind it a large bright hall…
And there’s Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and grandma…
Rita rushed to them, but then someone pushed her away, not letting her go there… And Rita woke up. I wish I hadn’t come to my senses! Because what she found out…
Rita then screamed for a long time, like a wounded animal, and she had to inject sedatives urgently. Masha took two more weeks of vacation at work, said that her relative was dying. Released without objection. And my friend tried not to leave Rita, supported her as much as she could. And she lied to Vika and Lida that everything was fine here, they bought a dress, their mouth was full of troubles…
And Rita is very busy, she will certainly call, but a little later…
And swallowed tears, looking at Rita sleeping under the influence of medications.
– Masha, why should I live? I have the impression that I have already died several times, and my corpse was reanimated again and forced to move and creak again… I don’t understand why…” Rita said hoarsely when she came to.
Masha stroked her hand and tried to comfort her, but then a psychotherapist was sent to Rita. Well, that’s good – the specialist will choose the right words better…
And he won’t burst into tears at the wrong moment. Masha left the ward and leaned against the cold wall. Poor Ritka. How much had fallen on her – enough for ten…
Lost a child due to severe intoxication. She didn’t know about her pregnancy yet when she swallowed all the chemicals from the first aid kit…
Romka crashed. He was driving in a car with his ex… what’s her name… Irina, it seems…
Now there is no beloved man in the world, and there is no child of his…
And as Rita repeats all the time – there is no sense in all this floundering…
And how to help her, Masha could not think of. When Rita started to get up, she went to the other wing to check on Lenochka from traumatology. And I pestered her with a request to find out from the pathologist whether the recent victim of the accident, who arrived at the same time as Roma, was pregnant. Lenochka once mentioned that she knew that employee well.
– And why do you need it? – Lenochka was surprised.
– You see, I see and dream of everything. That’s why it’s very important for me to know for sure … otherwise it seems to me that I’m going crazy from all this…
By what truths and untruths Lenochka found out, but she told Rita a secret: the woman was not pregnant. She tricked Roma around her finger. He died in ignorance…
But Rita calmed down – she’s not going crazy. And then right in his ears his voice whispered insistently – “I am deceived, Ira is not pregnant”…
These are not schizophrenic hallucinations. This is Ritina’s new condition after clinical death. Then Rita checked out and quit, to the bewilderment of her superiors. And I went to my city, as I was going to do before. She was going to go visit a man…
For the third time in her life, Rita got out at the right entrance. I paid the taxi driver and went up to the right floor. I put my finger to the bell button, but I couldn’t press it to call, as if I suddenly forgot how to do it…
I began to doubt, standing in front of the door – was it worth coming here at all? The door swung open by itself. On the threshold stood a familiar black-haired man in black silk trousers, a black silk dressing gown and slippers of a Small Mook with curved noses. His eyes seemed to be lined with antimony, like those of Oriental women– but it wasn’t makeup. He just naturally had such thick black eyelashes. He himself has not changed, and nothing has changed in his apartment. The same chairs in the entrance room, the same maroon curtain over the door to the room, where it is dim, candles flicker and incense smells. And where a bucket of wax is always basking in the sand, and in the secretary there is an old deck of cards wrapped in a green flap…
But his guest changed so much that at first the man even shuddered. It was as if not a year had passed since their last meeting, but all ten. At least for his visitor. The woman looked thinner, and as if she had fallen down like dust. The hair is dull, the eyes are faded. He told her about love, a wedding and a family… but people who have it all don’t look so broken…
– My name is Vsevolod. After all, we never met…
– Rita.
– Margarita?
Rita shook her head:
— no. Just Rita. So it is indicated in the passport…
– Come on in, Rita. We have a lot to talk about. Including the diagnosis. By the way, cards and wax are not all tools. Runes, gypsy cards, Indian beans, a crystal ball, and even seal bones from a Chukchi shaman… And also –I have coffee. here he smiled conspiratorially.
She nodded:
– Do you know, Vsevolod, coffee is probably fine. But not for the sake of fortune-telling on the thick. I’ll probably surprise you, but I can say everything without tools. Beans and seeds. It turns out to be easy! It’s harder to keep silent when you want to say something, but the person doesn’t want to hear…
– If you don’t need my advice on prediction, then what are you doing here?
– I need an answer to the question – how do you live with this?
– Are you sure you need it? You’re already living with it. And even adapted … – Vsevolod smiled knowingly.
Then Vsevolod ground the grains and brewed delicious coffee for the guest. They drank it from Turkish cups and talked, talked…
He had to cancel the next two recording sessions and offer to refund the money. And even pay for a taxi. Rita told him everything about herself, since childhood. About their losses, which were more than victories. She lost her family. A loved one. A child. She didn’t break down even after what she went through, although she tried once…
And when she saw that she could now read every person like an open book, she realized that she wanted to talk to the only person who could understand her. Because he’s like that himself. Vsevolod smiled, not noticing that he switched to “you”:
– My gift was revealed to me, as well as to you – after I survived clinical death. More precisely, I probably always had it. Just then came the contact… me with me…
And then he asked:
– What about your friends? Have you given up on them? They are very good!
– No, why. It’s just that there have been so many losses in my life that I’d rather be at a distance. In order not to be… well, a virus that can carry a destructive program, God forbid. We will meet, but not so often… They are really very good. Wonderful!
Then Rita got up:
– Excuse me. I have to go.
– Are you in a hurry?
— no. I’m completely free until Friday. Rita joked, uttering a catch phrase. – It’s just so late… I’ve been forgetting about the time for some time now… It stretches, then flashes … – Do you have somewhere to go? Rita grinned again.
And Vsevolod said:
– Stay?
And Rita stayed. And after a while they left for the village. They chose a small house on the edge of the village and Vsevolod bought it. The house seemed to be waiting for them. They were stoked with firewood, which Vsevolod chopped, and Rita helped him put them in a woodpile. They grew a large garden of rare trees and flowers, which Rita wrote out from wherever! We swam in the river all year round. When the river froze, Vsevolod cut down more wormwood to have enough to plunge and swim through the purest water back and forth for two strokes. The villagers often saw the traces of bare feet in the snow by the river, and they twisted their finger at the temple without malice: a couple of strange ones had come to them in the village…
But everyone goes crazy in their own way, if only not to the detriment of others…
And the couple was even useful to others: useful tips…
They also liked to make a bonfire under the star-studded sky, and huddled together to watch the sparks fly up into the blackness. Vsevolod was no longer guessing. But from time to time I caught Rita, who here and there suggested something to the local women, and they nodded and thanked her, pressing their hand to their hearts. And then they had a basket of eggs on their porch from time to time. A jar of fresh milk. A bundle with homemade sausage… a head of homemade cheese…
– Do you tell fortunes to people without cards? Do you think I don’t notice?– once he asked Rita when, once again, a bowl of ripe black grapes brought by someone materialized on the table in the courtyard as a thank you for Rita’s advice.
– I’m not guessing, but I’m suggesting … – Rita grinned.
– After all, it is very important for people to know the truth when they need it. And the cards, by the way, do not always tell the truth… I know by myself.
However, he knows it too. For example, he observed Rita’s fate – it changed dramatically three times… Try to understand – this was originally planned, or everything was rebuilt later, in the process…
Maybe she changed her fate herself, and then the cards read what she rewrote… Vsevolod came up and carefully wrapped her shoulders with a shawl:
– Fresh this morning.
She smiled and patted his hand… Rita is right– cards don’t always tell the truth. However, the cards don’t say anything. It’s just that a person knows how to read the world around correctly, and often even without the help of maps. What do you think?
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