Fardwor, Russia!: A Fantastical Tale of Life Under Putin

XXXV

NADYA, OF COURSE, didn’t believe it when the man in the jacket, but without a tie, told her that she had just imagined it all, and that there was no husband here, and that one of the deranged patients (“They really didn’t warn you? The rehabilitation of the mentally ill is taking place here.”) had thrown himself at her thinking that she was his mother, whom he had himself killed with an ax the year before—that’s the point of why they are crazy, they do things like throw themselves at people. But the director didn’t ask her to believe him, he simply told her that she would receive pay for a month’s work, but, given what had happened, she would not be working here, and as long as she didn’t tell anyone about what she had seen and heard here, everything would be fine. “But if you do… ” the director added, but she did not understand this “But if,” she just understood that in spite of his smile, he was threatening her.

“Let me see him,” she asked, but the director again smiled and repeated that he was sorry, that she hadn’t understood him, and that he was counting on her common sense or else “there would be a problem.” He also offered up a car to take her home, as the next bus wouldn’t come until the evening. Nadya dried her eyes and nodded. She thought to herself, “Look what I’ve drunk myself into.”

Close to Zero immediately noticed that Kostya wasn’t at the lecture, and when he asked about him, the children began interrupting as if trying to outshout one another that Kostya’s mom had come. “He’s with his mom?” Close to Zero inquired, but the children didn’t know the specifics, and only the gossiper Katya (the one who had co-authored with quiet Misha the famed “Fardwor, Russia!”) said that no, Kostya wasn’t with his mom, they had taken her off somewhere, and that they had beaten Kostya, and now he was in the medical ward. Close to Zero almost started to cry, he wanted to do something, and he told the children that today he wanted them to play “Cities” among themselves, but then he remembered that these children didn’t know any cities, and he then pulled himself back together and had them play a word game. He explained the rules and then left.

The director was not in his office. Close to Zero ran into him on the stairway of the administrative building. He dragged Close to Zero back into his office, closed the door behind them, poured a whiskey for himself and for his guest, and (in the tabloids they describe such moments with the expression, “unable to hold back his tears”) described the situation. By all indications, they were in an emergency situation.