Natalya slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
From the morning, she had a premonition that this day would be off. Lucy, her 19-year-old daughter, recently brought a kitten named Musya home, and it had already made a mess right on the bathroom rug. Natalya found it hard to scold her daughter for this, as Lucy was trying to show care and was doing everything right.
Musya usually behaved well, and her litter box was always washed on time and set out to dry. However, today’s incident irritated Natalya.
Her daughter was studying Chinese in her room. At her mother’s call, Lucy poked her head out from behind the door, taking off her headphones:
«Mom, please clean it up!» she begged. «You know it makes me nauseous. Please, just this last time!»
«I don’t have time, I’m late for work!» Natalya responded.
«Mom, you know I don’t have any time either, exams are just around the corner!» Lucy exclaimed, widening her eyes.
Natalya sighed, and her daughter, hugging her, added:
«Mommy, you’re the most beautiful and beloved! Please, just this last time.»
Natalya smiled with difficulty:
«You’re such a flatterer, Lucy. Alright, but this is the last time.»
«And mom, you know what…» her daughter hesitated. «Tomorrow Igor wanted to…»
«Igor again?» Natalya snapped. «Stop getting engaged, finish your studies properly! Find a job, stand on your own two feet. I don’t want to hear about Igor anymore!»
«But mom, he wanted to tomorrow…»
«That’s it, enough!»
Lucy rolled her eyes and pouted offendedly. Putting her headphones back on, she demonstratively swished her tail and disappeared into her room.
Natalya rushed out of the house and hurried to the bus stop. If she missed the shuttle bus, she would have to endure reproaches from the train foreman again. Nikolai was a decent man, but he always found time to reprimand Natalya. Her colleagues often joked that he was in love with her. To which she invariably responded:
«You’re making things up! He can’t stand me, and it’s obvious.»
Natalya couldn’t understand why Nikolai judged her so harshly and tried to avoid him whenever possible. She made it to the shuttle bus in time and even managed to get a seat by the window. But when getting off, she tripped over the curb and fell, so everything went dark before her eyes. Approaching the wagon, she limped and hoped that no one would notice her. Her pantyhose tore in several places, her skirt was stained, and one sleeve of her shirt was torn.
A familiar voice rang out:
«Hello, Natalya. What’s with you? Coming from a party early in the morning?»
It was Nikolai Sergeyevich. Natalya felt a surge of indignation boiling inside her.
When will this end! Her husband left when Luce was three. Since then, no personal life. Now her daughter is nineteen and thinking about marriage.
Natalya was not happy with her job. Before, she could at least rest occasionally, but since Nikolai Sergeyevich appeared, nothing brought her joy. Moreover, she had broken her knee and torn her expensive tights.
And like the cherry on top — she saw among the passengers the terrible grandpa, as she and her girlfriends called him. He traveled to the neighboring city once a month and always looked grim, never speaking to anyone. His facial expression reminded her of an evil sorcerer, and his gaze was chilling.
Other passengers usually avoided this grandpa, often asking to be moved to another compartment if he was nearby. From the morning, Natalya felt: if the day started badly, this «hermit» would definitely be in her carriage.
She crossed her arms over her chest angrily, looking at Nikolai Sergeyevich.
«And you, Nikolai Sergeyevich, apparently have nothing better to do than to make up nonsense. If you have no personal life, you shouldn’t meddle in others’. Let me put it this way: it’s none of your business where I came from or why I came. I do my job, and I’m in uniform, as you see, so my appearance outside of work should not concern you.»
Natalya saw the supervisor’s jaw drop. This even amused her, but she did not show it. She turned around and headed to the carriage, trying not to limp too much.
«He’ll probably fire me,» she thought. «Well, let him. There’s little work here anyway, and there are never enough trains. I’ll go work at the factory, at least I’ll be home more often.»
Before the trip began, Natalya calmed down. Her irritation subsided. The passengers weren’t to blame for her troubles. She was about to check the carriages when she noticed the «hermit,» standing at her compartment.
«Hello,» said Natalya, but the man silently handed over his ticket and walked past without saying a word.
«Well, as usual,» she thought and sighed. For a moment, she closed her eyes to calm down, mentally counting to ten. There were few people in the carriage, so she could check everyone’s tickets right away.
The train started moving. Natalya habitually walked through the carriage, ensuring everything was in order. Ticketless passengers, as often happens, could sneak through from neighboring carriages. She peeked into each compartment, asking passengers if everything was alright.
Reaching the «hermit’s» compartment, Natalya cracked open the door.
«Is everything alright? Do you need anything? Maybe some tea?»
To her surprise, the man looked up at her. His eyes were clear and intelligent, not at all as she had imagined.
«Yes, if possible, some tea,» he replied quietly.
Natalya almost dropped the tray, hearing his voice. This person, always silent and gloomy, suddenly spoke.
«Alright, I’ll bring it in about ten minutes,» she replied, closing the door.
As she placed the tea before the man, she heard an unexpected «Thank you.»
«You’re welcome,» she replied, closed the door behind her, and paused in the corridor for a moment.
«What’s with him? — Natalya thought. — He suddenly spoke like a normal person!» She shrugged and moved on.
Reaching the end of the carriage, Natalya noticed a strange bag in the corner of one of the empty compartments.
«What if it’s something dangerous? That’s all I need,» she thought.
She approached closer and cautiously nudged the bag with her foot. Suddenly, a thin voice came from it:
«Please, don’t kick me out. I just want to get as far away as possible.»
Natalya gasped. The bag moved, and on closer inspection, she realized that it wasn’t a bag at all, but a young woman. And very pregnant at that. The stranger immediately burst into tears.
«Please, don’t kick me out. I need to get away, I have nowhere else to go. I ran away from my fiancé and his mother. They wanted to kick me out and take my baby, but I won’t give my child to anyone!»
Natalya realized she needed to act quickly.
«Alright, quiet down, calm down. Come with me. I’ll make you some tea, and you can tell me everything calmly.»
The girl stopped crying, but her eyes were still filled with fear. Natalya thought she looked very young, younger than her daughter Luce. Kira, as the stranger was called, hungrily ate a sandwich and washed it down with tea.
«A typical story,» she said a bit later. «I fell in love, he seemed to as well, but his mother was against it. And then the pregnancy… They didn’t like that the blood would be ‘not right’. They just didn’t tell me. I’m an orphan. I have an apartment from the state, all legal. They quickly transferred it to their name, supposedly to buy a new one. Then I heard that after giving birth, they wanted to strip me of my parental rights, declare me insane. For them, it would have been easy—his mother is influential. They would have kept the baby for themselves and thrown me out on the street. That’s in the best case.»
Natalya poured her more tea and frowned, thinking about what to do next.
«I’m not lazy, if that’s what you thought,» Kira added, looking up at Natalya. «I can do everything: cook, clean. I just need somewhere to settle down, then I’ll manage. I won’t give my child to anyone.»
«Alright, just calm down. You shouldn’t get so worked up. Where are you planning to go, alone and without money?»
Kira shrugged.
«I don’t know yet. The main thing is to get as far away from them as possible.»
Natalya sighed.
«What am I going to do with you… Alright, I’ll put you up with one passenger for now. He’s strange, but don’t be afraid of him. He’s always like that.» Kira grabbed Natalya’s hands.
«Thank you, thank you so much!»
Natalya led her to the compartment where the terrifying hermit was sitting.
«This is your neighbor,» she said, nodding towards the girl.
The man glanced at her briefly, frowned upon seeing her belly, but remained silent and turned away to the window. Natalya returned to her own compartment, heavily sat down on the chair, and exhaled:
«What a day. What a trip! I wish I was going back already.»
She looked at the clock. It was already late, and soon everyone in the carriage would be asleep. Today there were no drunkards—at least there was that. A quiet knock came at the door.
«Yes?» she responded.
Nikolai Sergeyevich stood in the doorway.
«May I come in?»
Natalya tensed internally. Had he found out about Kira the ticketless passenger? He would surely fire her now.
«Natalya…» he began.
«Antonovna,» she prompted.
«Natalya Antonovna, I came to apologize. I was wrong to say those things to you. I behaved badly. Instead of helping, I started accusing you.»
Natalya, surprised, struggled to find the words:
«Well… apology accepted. I also should have explained everything calmly, but I yelled at you…»
Nikolai raised an eyebrow.
«Did you get hurt?»
«Yes, a little,» she replied with a smile. «Knee, elbow… It will heal.»
He unexpectedly laughed.
«You really told me off back then! It really put my brain back in place.»
She joined in his laughter and suddenly suggested:
«Want some coffee? I have some really tasty instant coffee.»
They sat, talking like true friends. Nikolai no longer tried to act like a boss and turned out to be an interesting conversationalist. Natalya unexpectedly found herself thinking that she even liked him. This realization embarrassed her so much that she suddenly blushed and turned away. Nikolai only managed to glance at her before a loud knock interrupted them.
«Sort it out over there!» a passenger’s annoyed voice called out. «It’s impossible to sleep with all that noise!»
Natalya suddenly turned pale. She intuitively knew exactly which compartment the passenger was talking about. She ran to where Kira and the strange stranger were located. A puzzled Nikolai followed her. They met the terrifying old man in the aisle.
«What did you do to her?» Natalya asked, alarmed.
The old man looked down on her disdainfully, as if she were a nuisance:
Natalya gasped. «The passenger has gone into labor. Is there a doctor on the train?» Natalya hurried on, her thoughts jumbled. In the compartment, Kira was restlessly pacing.
«Please help!» she begged through tears. «Something’s wrong.»
Natalya turned to Nikolai:
«Well, boss? It’s been two weeks since we had a doctor!»
«And the nearest station?»
«We’ll stop at a small village in three and a half hours, but there might not be a doctor there either,» Nikolai said, looking guilty.
As they pondered what to do, the terrifying old man approached Kira.
«Quiet, quiet, don’t worry,» he said softly. «The baby might get scared if you panic. Breathe more evenly.»
He gently touched her stomach, listened, then turned to them:
«The labor has started. The baby is in the wrong position, and a lot can happen in three hours. We need to help.»
Natalya’s eyes widened, and Nikolai nodded:
«Let’s do it.»
Natalya wanted to scream, not understanding how they could trust a complete stranger, but decided to follow his instructions. She ran for boiled water, towels. Nikolai stood in the aisle, calming passengers who spilled out of their compartments to find out what the fuss was about.
Over three hours later, closer to morning as they approached the station, a healthy boy was born. The terrifying old man stood up and handed Natalya the bundle:
«Here. Let the mother rest.»
Hearing the baby’s cry, people in the aisle applauded, and one woman joyfully exclaimed:
«Roman Romanovich Savitsky! That’s you! You saved me and my son twenty years ago!»
The old man bowed and quickly left the compartment to wash his hands.
«I wasn’t mistaken, it’s him… When his daughter died during childbirth, he disappeared from the city,» the woman whispered.
An ambulance arrived at the station for Kira and the baby. The hermit also prepared to leave.
«Where are you headed?» Natalya asked in surprise.
«I’ll go with Kira to the maternity hospital,» he said with a smile, looking at her. «She reminds me so much of my daughter. I have a big house, there’s a school nearby in the city, I’ll look after them. If Kira wants, I’ll find her a good man to marry. Today I realized that helping people is still more important than suffering from my own grief.»
He left, and Natalya watched him go, sobbing with tears, unable to understand why all this had moved her so deeply.
After that trip, she returned completely drained.
At home, a surprise awaited her—Luce’s fiancé Igor had come to meet her. Natalya glanced at the laid table, Luce excited.
Igor also looked anxiously at Natalya.
«Do you work or study?» she asked sternly.
«I work and study. I work in an auto service, understand cars, my father taught me. I’m studying part-time to be an engineer.»
«And do you earn well?» Natalya inquired.
«No less than your salary, mom,» Luce answered. «He rents an apartment near the factory.»
Natalya raised her eyebrows in surprise and asked tiredly:
«And do you love Luce? She’s quite a character.»
«Of course, I love her. How could you not adore her?»
The young man beamed, looking at Luce, and Natalya thought how the minds of young people were like the wind. They run away from home, not finding understanding, and give birth on trains. She smiled and said:
«Well then, if you want to get married—get married.»
Luce squealed with joy and hugged her, while the cat Muska got scared and climbed up the curtain. The fiancé also smiled happily and tried to hug everyone.
At her daughter’s wedding, Natalya was not alone. Standing next to her, tenderly holding her hand, was Nikolai Sergeyevich, who now often visited their home. Luce joked that she was leaving her mom in reliable and serious hands.
