Vika went to the concert without her husband. She didn’t know he would be there too. She was sure he was at work…
Vika had planned to go to the concert with her husband. She had bought the tickets a month in advance. All week she’d been getting ready to see her favorite actor. New dress, new shoes, a new handbag. She’d had her hair done that morning. Everything seemed set. Then her husband was called in to work. Two hours before the concert they phoned.
— Hello, Matvei Fyodorovich, — Gennady answered, giving his wife a meaningful look. — Is it something urgent? We’re about to head to a concert. Really?! No kidding! Of course I’ll come. I’ll be there in an hour.
Gennady hung up, looked at his wife, sighed, and spread his hands.
— Alas, — he said.
“What alas? — Vika thought. — Are you trying to say the concert is off?”
Gennady gave his wife a guilty look.
— Don’t tell me you’ve been called in urgently and we’re not going anywhere? — Vika said.
Gelendzhik, the promenade, sunset, the Black Sea. © Mikhail Lex, author of the channel and the story
— Well, you heard it yourself, — Gennady said, showing his wife the phone as indisputable proof of his words. — Matvei Fyodorovich! Personally! — He tapped the screen with his finger. — He called! Said there’s a problem at the site. Asked me to fix it.
— First of all, — Vika replied irritably, — I didn’t hear that it was Matvei Fyodorovich. Personally! Maybe it was his young wife, Alla, calling you. Why not? And I don’t know what you two were talking about either.
— What are you saying, Vika?! — Gennady flared up. — What young wife? What does she have to do with this? I swear it was him! Why would I lie to you? He called to report a problem at Sector Seven. Asked me to sort it out.
“And why toss in those details with the sector number? — Vika thought. — As if I care. And now he’s explaining things. Usually in these cases he doesn’t explain anything. He just leaves without extra words, that’s all. And now? So many words! And he even swears. Suspicious.”
— And secondly, — she went on, — even if that’s true, what gives Matvei Fyodorovich the right to call you in on a Sunday? In the evening, no less!
— I told you. It’s the foundation. It’s cracked. All around the perimeter.
“Just look at him, — Vika thought. — Spouting technical details again. Is he doing this on purpose? So I’ll start suspecting something?”
— And they can’t manage without you?! — Vika asked with an ironic smile.
— I’m the chief engineer, — Gennady answered calmly, with dignity. — And in cases like this my presence (as the responsible supervisor) is mandatory. It’s strange that such things surprise you. I’m duty-bound to be there when situations like this happen. It’s my job.
— You can stop, — Vika didn’t want to hear anything else, because everything had become clear to her.
“We’re not going anywhere tonight, — she thought. — And all my week of getting ready was for nothing. The new dress for nothing, the new shoes for nothing. I did my hair for nobody. And this handbag. All for nothing.”
— If you have to, then of course, — Vika said. — Go!
— Are you upset? — Gennady asked.
— Not at all, — Vika answered proudly. — Why would I be upset?
— Really?
— Really, — Vika shot back defiantly, barely holding herself back from yelling at her husband.
From his wife’s tone, Gennady understood that wasn’t true, and that she was upset.
— You have to understand me, — Gennady began to justify himself. — A foundation is serious. It’s all around the perimeter. You understand? A crack! Do you know what that could lead to? And if I don’t go there personally right now and figure it out, I don’t know what else might happen.
— What? — Vika asked seriously, though by then she no longer cared.
“I don’t care what’s there, — she thought bitterly. — I couldn’t care less. Everything bad in my life has already happened. It won’t get worse.”
— Anything at all! — Gennady replied in all seriousness. — Without me they’ll make a mess of everything! And I’ll be the one blamed. As the chief engineer.
— So there aren’t any other engineers in your firm, are there?
— What are you saying, Vika? What ‘firm’? We’re a solid enterprise. And what other engineers do you mean?
— Engineers like you, Gena. Civil engineers! Or are you the only foundation specialist in your solid institution?
A bitter smile flickered across Gennady’s face.
— What are you talking about, darling? — he said plaintively. — Civil engineers! Foundation specialists! From where? It’s just a title that they’re engineers. Who knows what they were taught. If it weren’t for me, everything would have ground to a halt ages ago. Everything depends on me. Do you think if it were otherwise, Matvei Fyodorovich would have called me? — Gennady showed his wife the phone again and tapped the screen. — Personally! Well?!
— Then why do they even work there? — Vika said resentfully. — If they’re useless. They should be fired.
— You talk as if I’m the one who hired them. That’s a question for HR. What do I have to do with it? If it were up to me, I’d fire them all. You know me.
Then a brilliant idea came to Vika.
— All right, all right, — Vika said calmly. — Go. Save your foundation. And I can go to the concert without you. On my own!
“And that way it won’t all be for nothing, — she thought. — The dress, the shoes, the handbag, the hair — none of it will be wasted. God, I’m so clever.”
Vika’s mood returned to what it had been. She felt happy again.
“Life is a good thing, — Vika thought joyfully. — Whatever happens, you can always handle any problem. There’s no such thing as a hopeless situation. Because you can always find a way out.”
Gennady stared at his happy wife in surprise.
— You’re going to the concert? — he asked sternly.
— Well, yes!
— Without me?
— The tickets shouldn’t go to waste, — Vika answered cheerfully.
— They won’t go to waste, — Gennady said. — I’ll offer the tickets to my friends.
— Why on earth would you offer them to your friends? — Vika didn’t understand.
— I’m sure one of them will jump at it. And happily go to that concert.
— I’d happily go to that concert too, — Vika said calmly. — So you can leave your friends out of it.
— It’s no trouble at all. What are you talking about? One call and the tickets are gone.
— Don’t call anyone. Really. I’m going to the concert.
— Nonsense! — Gennady exclaimed. — You’re not going to any concert without me. I won’t let you!
“What is this now? — Vika thought, looking at her husband in surprise. — Did I hear that right? He said he won’t let me?”
Vika had heard right. Gennady really couldn’t allow his wife to go to that concert. Which is why he said it. And he couldn’t allow it for one simple reason: he was going to that concert himself. And not alone. With Alla!
Yes, yes. With that very same Alla, the young wife of Matvei Fyodorovich. And that whole story about the sudden call to work had been invented by Alla. Because she wanted to go to that concert with Gennady too. She had called Gennady from her husband’s phone at the appointed time. She even spoke in a bass, carefully imitating her husband’s voice. Just in case. You never know! What if Vika decided to check who called or recognized the voice.
And now it turned out that Gennady might end up without tickets to the concert he’d already promised Alla, because Vika also announced she wanted to go!
“What am I going to tell Alla? — he thought. — She won’t forgive me for this.”
— Why won’t you let me go? — Vika asked in surprise.
— Because… — Gennady thought for a moment, trying to come up with a respectable answer on which everything depended. — Because I’m jealous of you! — he answered confidently.
Nothing smarter came to him in that moment.
“That’s new, — Vika thought. — He’s jealous! That never happened before. In twenty years of our life together there’s never been any jealousy. And now suddenly he’s jealous? Right after our daughter grew up, got married, and moved to another city, he suddenly becomes jealous?! Suspicious.”
— You’re jealous and that’s why you won’t let me go? — Vika repeated.
— And not just because of that.
— What else?
— Because! — Gennady replied firmly, and again pondered the next reason. — Because the concert ends late. And you’ll be alone. I’ll be worried about how you’ll get home by yourself.
“I often go shopping alone late in the evening, — Vika thought, — and up till now that hasn’t worried him. Why now? Suspicious.”
— I won’t go alone, — Vika said. — I’ll take a friend.
— What friend?
— Lyusya. She’ll definitely agree to go with me.
— Don’t you dare! — Gennady said sharply. — Oh, she’ll go to the concert. She’ll take her friend with her. Don’t even think about it.
— Why? Why should I suffer because of you?
— What are you saying, Vika? Do you even hear yourself? She’s going to suffer, she says. Her husband’s going to work, all night long. Problems up to the ceiling. The foundation is cracking at every seam! You don’t know what to grab first! And she? Instead of giving me a kind word of support, she’s off to a concert. And with whom? With Lyusya. Lyusya just got divorced! She’s probably looking for a new husband right now! And you? Going to a concert with her? Couldn’t think of anything smarter? I can just picture it. I’m supposed to work all night! And you? Have fun? Maybe we should just get divorced right away then? Why not?
— So you’re going for the whole night? — Vika was surprised.
— All night, sweetheart, all night, — Gennady replied.
“Now that I don’t get, — Vika thought. — All night? Because of a cracked foundation?”
— And when will you be back? — she asked.
— Tomorrow evening, — Gennady answered without the slightest embarrassment. — If everything’s fine. If not… I’ll have to keep working. Until we fix it all.
“Could it really be just as he says? — Vika thought. — Maybe yes, maybe no. But how do I check? I’m not going to spy on him! There’s nothing left but to take his word for it.”
— Fine, — Vika said. — You’ve convinced me. I’ll stay home. Alone. And be bored.
— I adore you, — Gennady exclaimed happily. — I promise next weekend we’ll definitely go somewhere. To the circus, for example. Want to go to the circus? To cheer you up!
— I do.
— Done. In a week we’re going. For now, stay home. Watch TV. Your favorite show will be on soon.
After seeing her husband off, Vika was about to settle in front of the TV, but just then her friend Lyusya called. And suggested that Vika go to the concert with her. Lyusya happened to have two tickets to the very concert Vika had planned to attend with Gennady.
“This is fate! — Vika thought. — I don’t think Gennady will be offended if I break his ban. I’m not going to do anything wrong.”
As it happened, only when the concert ended did Vika see who was sitting in the seats where she and her husband were supposed to be.
“And what about the foundation? — Vika thought when she saw Gennady with Alla. — What about the crack all along the perimeter? Or did he already fix everything, and in gratitude Matvei Fyodorovich allowed him to take his wife to the concert?”
Vika shared what she’d learned with Lyusya. They started thinking about what to do next.
— First, we need to call Matvei Fyodorovich, — Lyusya proposed confidently, — find out where he is and what he’s doing. At the same time we’ll check whether he knows where his young wife is right now. Maybe he really did ask Gennady to take her to the theater.
That’s what they did. It turned out that Matvei Fyodorovich was at home, watching a TV series. And his young wife Alla had gone to her mother’s village today. For two weeks. And no foundation had cracked. And Gennady was starting his vacation tomorrow as well.
— Now we’ll tail the lovebirds and see where they go, — Lyusya suggested. — They’re probably renting an apartment. We need to find out where. Then we’ll call Matvei Fyodorovich there. But before we call him, you’ll pack up all your husband’s things.
It was already deep into the night when the doorbell rang at the apartment Alla and Gennady were renting.
— Someone’s ringing the door, — Alla said fearfully, waking up.
— Who could it be? — Gennady asked in a sleepy, surprised voice.
— I’m scared, — Alla said.
— There’s nothing to be afraid of with me. — Gennady said confidently. — Wait here. I’ll deal with it.
He looked through the peephole and, seeing his boss — and behind him his own wife — Gennady immediately understood that this was it — the end.
