If we believe the storyteller, the events that laid the foundation for this story took place in 1983.
… Natalia Mikhailovna was a music teacher. She was loved by both children and parents for her ability to maximize the musical potential of her students.
At the age of fifty-five, she retired, but she couldn’t sit idle and continued to give lessons to her most talented students.
Her husband, Sergey Ivanovich, was still working as a foreman at a local company, where he was valued for his experience and skill. The company was not far from home, so he often came home for lunch. But not just for the homemade food, although Natalia Mikhailovna was an excellent cook — he wanted to spend a little extra time with his wife. It seemed to him that despite her students, Natasha must have been lonely in her retirement.
Over the years, the couple’s relationship had become more tender. They cared for each other and tried to please one another. They had experienced both good and bad times — the bad had somehow faded away, leaving only the good.
That day, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Sergey Ivanovich left for work, and Natalia Mikhailovna was busy with another student. When the boy left after receiving his homework, she went to the market.
Seeing fresh greens and young radishes, she bought them to surprise her husband with his favorite okroshka — the first one of the season.
She was waiting for him by lunchtime, but Sergey called and told her that he wouldn’t be home until dinner.
— A side job came up, Natasha, so I won’t be having lunch today, — he said cheerfully, — and we’re expecting an advance payment today as well.
— But I made your favorite okroshka, — she said, disappointed.
— Well… don’t be upset, dear, I’ll enjoy it tonight, — Sergey promised.
— Who eats okroshka at night! — a smile touched her lips, — alright, don’t stay too late, okay?
— I’ll try, dear, — he said warmly, — should I pick anything up on the way home?
— No, just come home soon! I’m waiting! — she hung up and turned on the television.
The first program was finishing a segment on the artist Fedotov, and she listened to it with interest while doing all the housework. Then came a theatrical production about Maigret, and Natalia Mikhailovna watched that too. The clock showed half-past six. Her husband should have been home by now.
She picked up the latest issue of the «Zdorovye» magazine. She read a scientific article about artificial hearts, then another about bone healing. She couldn’t concentrate and put the magazine down. A sense of unease crept into her heart, but she couldn’t explain why. She just wanted Sergey to come home.
She stood up and went to the kitchen. The table had already been set for dinner, and not knowing what to do, she went to the window. She stared out into the dusk for a long time.
Finally, unable to bear it, she went to meet her husband on his usual route home from work. When she didn’t meet him, she returned, hoping they had just missed each other, and that Sergey Ivanovich was waiting for her at home.
But he never returned from work that evening. He didn’t return that night, nor the gloomy morning of the following day.
Pale and gaunt, Natalia Mikhailovna sat in the kitchen, trying to process what her daughter Marina was saying:
— The same thing they told you: if he doesn’t come back, come Monday! They didn’t accept the report.
— Why didn’t they accept it? — Natalia absentmindedly looked at her daughter, — I’ll go myself. They must accept it! How can this be? A person’s gone missing!
— Mom, you were there yesterday. Do you remember what they told you? Dad is an adult, so the search will start in three days!
— I remember what they said… — Natalia Mikhailovna’s lips trembled, tears shone in her eyes, — that he’ll sober up and come back on his own! If he got an advance, he must have drunk, and now he’s sleeping somewhere… with his lover!
And she covered her face with her hands.
Like a terrible, dragging nightmare, a week passed. Then another. The cold summer came, followed by rainy autumn… and if in the summer there were still missing person posters, by autumn, even those had disappeared.
Natalia Mikhailovna no longer cried; she had become like stone inside. She no longer took on students — she couldn’t.
Marina couldn’t stay with her all the time — she had her own job and family. She offered for Natalia to live with her, but she refused, and continued sitting by the window day and night.
Then Marina asked their neighbor, Galina, to keep an eye on her. To make sure she ate something and talked to someone besides her imaginary husband. Otherwise, she might lose her mind!
Galina was an active and very religious woman. She didn’t like Natalia and had often repented for it. The sounds of the piano coming from the neighbor’s apartment irritated her, and most of all, she envied her neighbor’s family happiness.
Now, she felt ashamed. She felt deep sympathy for the woman whose happiness had crumbled in an instant.
When she saw Natalia, who had spent almost four months sitting in her apartment, afraid of missing a call from the police, she gasped. In front of her, instead of the always well-groomed and elegant neighbor, sat a thin old woman with a dull gaze.
— Mom, I asked Galina to cook for you, — Marina said carefully, — it’ll be easier for you two together.
— Hello, Natalia, — Galina nodded, — long time no see.
— Hello, — Natalia answered indifferently, looking at her daughter: — why, Marisha, I can cook myself. I have no appetite.
— Me neither, — Galina played along, — but you need strength.
— Yes, Mom, — Marina hugged her, — you need to pull yourself together.
— Why? — Natalia asked, staring straight ahead, — life’s already been lived.
— Why? You need to pray and hope for the best! And if Sergey comes back, and you’ve let yourself go… — Galina said, but, noticing Marina’s reproachful look, fell silent.
— Will he come back? — there was bitterness and doubt in Natalia’s voice, — I called the police station today… when they hear me, they hang up! Maybe they’ve already found him, and they just aren’t telling me?
Galina and Marina exchanged glances, and Marina hugged her mother again:
— If they had found him, you would have been the first to know!
The rains gave way to snow, and Natalia still looked for Sergey. Galina visited her twice a day: in the morning and evening.
In the morning, they usually drank Indian instant coffee, chatting about the old days. This time was no different.
Galina admitted that she had once been irritated by the repeated scales, but now, when full pieces played, she really enjoyed it.
— Especially this melody, — Galina put down her cup and tried to hum, conducting with her hands: — Ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta…
Natalia silently went out, and soon the sounds of the piano were heard from the room — the hostess was playing the «Moonlight Sonata,» which her neighbor had tried to hum.
Galina walked up and stood next to the instrument. Natalia Mikhailovna finished playing and looked at her with regret:
— I haven’t played in a long time. My fingers are cold.
— That’s because you need to eat properly, — Galina said reproachfully. — And get some exercise. Movement is life!
The neighbor gave Natalia Mikhailovna an icon of the Savior and said that if anyone could bring her husband back, it would be Him.
Although Natalia Mikhailovna had been baptized and raised in an atheist family, she decided to use all means. Every day, she asked Christ in her own words to bring her husband back. And she began to feel lighter.
When Marina found out that her mother was going to church with the neighbor, she became angry:
— Why are you giving Mom false promises? — she scolded Galina, — if Dad were alive, he would have let us know! How can you be so shameless! It’s cruel!
— I didn’t promise anything, — Galina tried to defend herself, — I truly believe that for God, nothing is impossible!
— Well, keep believing! — Marina kept getting angrier, — but don’t involve my mom with this nonsense!
Galina lowered her eyes, not wanting to argue. The best argument for her was Natalia Mikhailovna’s appearance. The woman had gained some weight, and her dull eyes now sparkled with a glimmer of hope.
But Marina perceived the gleam in her eyes differently. It wasn’t the «activity» she had expected!
The next time Marina visited her mother, she noticed the icon and prayer book. She didn’t say anything to her mother, but before leaving, she went to see Galina.
— Don’t come here anymore, Aunt Galya! — she said grimly when the neighbor opened the door. — The last thing we need is for you to fill Mom’s head with church nonsense! She’s already lost her mind!
— These aren’t your words, — Galina said in a strange tone, and, crossing herself, shut the door.
Natalia Mikhailovna didn’t know that her daughter had forbidden Galina from coming. She waited for her in vain, neither in the morning nor in the evening, and decided to go to her herself. What if something happened?
— Your daughter is afraid that I’m filling your head with nonsense, — Galina was offended, — she said not to come to you.
— How can I not come? — Natalia Mikhailovna was surprised, — I thought we were friends.
They hugged, and now Natalia Mikhailovna had become a true churchgoer. She asked her daughter not to interfere.
Marinka was angry, saying hurtful things, and in the end, she threw at her mother:
— If you’re such a fool, just go to your monastery! — but then, scared by her own words, stared at her mother. — Mom, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say that! Mom, I was just worried about your sanity! You’ve become different.
— You know, Marisha, you’re right, — Natalia hugged her daughter.
— Just like those old witches in headscarves! — Marina laughed, thinking she had «broken the spell» on her mother, — they’re all crazy!
— I need to go to a monastery! — the mother continued, — that’s how the Lord will hear my prayers sooner. And if Dad is dead, He will let me know… and I’ll be able to pray for his soul!
She kissed Marina, who had decided that her mother had completely lost her mind. The decision to go to the monastery even surprised Galina, let alone her own daughter.
Natalia chose a remote monastery, and on the anniversary of Sergey’s disappearance, she set off for it. The road was tough and unpleasant. The closer she got, the more doubts plagued her heart. Was she abandoning her daughter? Her friend? Her students, who were waiting for her return?
The last outpost was a village on the Volga, where a ferry crossed the river twice a day, taking passengers to the monastery. Natalia hesitated, got lost, and by the time she found her way to the pier, the ferry had left.
“Maybe this is a sign?” — doubts began to torment her again, — “Or maybe, on the contrary, the devil is stopping me?”
And then her gaze fell on the local church. Natalia was very tired, but she decided to go in and clear her doubts. There was a small cemetery next to the church, the snow had already melted, and crocuses had appeared on some of the graves.
Admiring them, Natalia noticed an old stone and tried to read the faded inscription.
— If you’re looking for the priest, hurry, he’s about to leave for the neighboring village, — she heard a voice she would recognize anywhere. She froze, too afraid to move. Finally, she asked in a choked voice:
— Sergey?
No one answered. Then she turned and saw him.
— Natasha? — Sergey said uncertainly, little resembling the man he once was — his face was darkened from sunburn, and he had a beard.
Seeing through the window how the worker was hugging an unfamiliar woman, the priest hurried to them.
Father Daniil felt sorry for the man who, after the hospital, had nowhere to go. They found an ID in his jacket under the name Alexander Ivanovich Kotyko, but due to a head injury, the man remembered nothing. He ended up living under the name Alexander and had even gotten used to it.
Upon hearing this, Natalia burst into tears.
— You’re Alexander! You’re Sergey, my husband! And not Kotyko, but Stepan!
— I remembered… and I thought of you, Natasha, but in fragments, — Sergey seemed to apologize.
— We found the ID in his jacket, that’s why we thought he was Alexander, — Father Daniil recalled, — there was no cross on him, so we baptized him as Alexander.
— Father helped me fix the documents, — Sergey smiled, — but I haven’t received them yet, I still need to go to the district… bureaucratic red tape, and now it turns out there’s no need.
His memory gradually returned. Sergey recalled that on the fateful day, he had altered his usual route. He had received his advance and wanted to do something nice for Natalia, so he went to buy flowers for her.
Three young men stopped him not far from home, asked for a light, then attacked and started kicking him. To hide the traces of the crime, they threw the beaten and robbed Sergey into the bed of a truck with out-of-town plates, under a tarp.
The man couldn’t move normally. After several failed attempts to escape the truck bed, he lost consciousness and woke up only in the hospital, where he couldn’t remember anything, not even his own name. He was discovered thanks to an anonymous phone call.
The caller informed them that there was a person, possibly a corpse, in the back of a truck.
The bandits removed Sergey’s new jacket, which had his documents. How the jacket with someone else’s ID ended up with him remains unclear. Perhaps this very Kotyko, seeing the crumpled, half-dead person in the truck bed, had pitied him, threw his jacket over him, and called the police?
At the hospital, they discovered that the man had been in the truck for more than a day: he was dehydrated and badly chilled. They managed to cure his pneumonia, but the doctors couldn’t help him remember who he was or where he came from.
The poor man had nowhere to go. Without a passport, he couldn’t get a job, but he was lucky. Upon hearing his story, the local priest took pity on him and took him in as a laborer.
After spending the night with the hospitable priest, Natalia and Sergey went home together.
Sergey Ivanovich recognized the men who had beaten him from photos once his memory fully returned. The criminals were tracked down with the help of his passport, which was used by one of the offenders.
Galina, the neighbor, once again heard music and laughter from the Stepan household, but she no longer got angry. Instead, she smiled, thinking about how the Lord had once again performed a true Miracle.
