Читать книгу Fall of Matilda - Evgeny Russ - Страница 4

It was the fifth year of Perestroika. Matilda was already 17 years old, and she has already passed the school final exams. In the middle of summer her grandmother passed away. Matilda was alone and in the tears. But it did not last long. A week later a UAZ police officer drove up to her house. They were employees of the Children’s room of the police and representatives of Social Security. Matilda has been showed some orders and said to collect her things and documents. She, like a minor, was to be sent to the orphanage. The apartment was locked with a key in the presence of the district police officer, and he escorted Matilda to the police car. Matilda took with her a school bag and old grandmother’s photos. In the backpack was passport, a school’s and a birth’s certificate. After some time, UAZ drove up to the building, enclosed by a fence made of brick columns and wrought-iron lattice. The gate was opened by the watchman Vasily Petrovich. He was the watchman of this orphanage and was on duty this day after three days of rest. UAZ without stopping drove up to the entrance of the building. Matilda was taken to the teacher’s lounge and handed over to director. Then, representatives of the law signed some documents with the director and left. Matilda did not understand what was happening.

“So, girl,” said the Director, “where are your passport and birth certificate?”

“Here in the backpack,” Matilda said.

“Well, leave the backpack here in the staff room, tomorrow morning we’ll wrap it up. Now I’m gonna take you bedroom.”

“Am I must to live here?”

“Yes, until you come of age. And not just live. You can even work in a garment factory, as learner, like all our grown-up girls. It is care of the state and you have to be glad,” the Director said. It was a middle-aged woman with large sizes. Then in the teacher’s lounge was entered the man of thirty years in a sports uniform.

“He is our gym teacher, Andrei,” she said to Matilda, “he’s on duty today at the orphanage.”

The Director then turned to the teacher, “Andrey Andreevich, take her before the dinner in the girls bedroom, let she wait. And I have to run the education Department. Yeah, and don’t forget to give her a mattress, blanket, and bedding. That’s all, I ran,” said Director, and, banging she’s heels, withdrew from the teacher’s lounge.

“Come on, move your ass!” said the teacher and pulled from his pocket a bunch of keys. Matilda stood up and left the teacher’s lounge. Andrei Andreevich closed the teacher’s lounge and led her down the hallway past classrooms. Stopping at one door, he picked the key and opened the door.

“Wait here,” said he and penetrated in the room. Then he came out with a mattress and a blanket. “Behold! Take it,” said the teacher and gave Matilda a rolled up mattress and blanket. Matilda grabbed it with both hands. The teacher returned to the room and took out the sheets and the towel. “Come on,” he said, closing the door, and headed further the hall.

Matilda followed him. The bedroom was small. On both sides of the bedroom was a double bed in a row. The windows were facing the gate and the wooden guard house near them.

“Make the bed which not occupied,” the teacher said, tossed the sheets and towel on the nearest stool and went out. Matilda found a free seat on the second tier of one of the beds and made a bed for sleep. Then she went to the window, sat down on a stool and began to examine the street behind the fence. It was a wide street with tram tracks. On the other side of the street at a respectable distance from the road were ten-story residential buildings.

“How nice it was to sit next to my grandmother and listen to her stories about the war, about the blockade of Leningrad and about pre-revolutionary times!” thought Matilda. Her memories were interrupted by a physical education teacher – he came back and brought a pillow.

“Here on the wall read the schedule of daily regime,” he said and left.

Matilda stared out the window for a long time and did not understand what was happening and why she could not live alone at home. And then she wanted to go out into the garden to the street. She got up, straightened her dress and started to look for a way out.

“Stand! Not move!” Matilda heard, passing by the open door of one of the offices. She stopped. A teacher of physical education came out of the door.

“Where do you go?” he asked.

“I wanted to take a walk in the garden.”

“Not allowed. Go back to room,” the teacher commanded.

Matilda had no choice but to return to the bedroom. She had habit to obey teachers and treat them respectfully from times of school. Towards evening, girls and boys began to return to the orphanage. They were all from the older group and had the opportunity to leave the orphanage and go to work. Everyone tried to get back on time for supper.

“Rookie!” The girls returned from work were glad.

“Yesterday we have been told they will to lead an excellent pupil of school. So are you really an excellent pupil of school?”

“Yes,” Matilda answered.

“Is it means you are cleverest?” asked one of the girls who chewed chewing gum.

Matilda did not know what to answer, and looked at her coevals around her with perplexity.

“You’re in addition a quiet pigling!” another girl said.

“We no need rat-snitch here. If anything not wrong, you’ll fly straight out the window,” the girl with the chewing gum continued, and then she inflate a bubble out.

On the other side of the room Matilda heard an indecent exclamation, which continued with the words, “What the hell! Newcomer will be sleeping here?”

Then from there to Matilda came a girl in tight jeans and with a small ring, threaded through the lower lip on the left side. The left side of her nose had also inserted some small metallic shiny object, similar to a tetrahedron.

“What stared?” said the ringed one, “did you not find another place? Do not you piss at night?”

“Girls, why are you so angry?” Matilda asked, “I did not anything to you.”

Matilda was shocked by the behavior of her coevals and did not even know how to talk to them. The position was saved by the physical education teacher who entered the room.

“So, everyone left and goes to dinner, and do not make a noise, otherwise you’ll go follow the ranks!” he said, and waited for everyone to leave.

The dining room was roomy, no smaller than the other school cafeterias. In the dining room, the boys also ate. They were also Matilda’s peers. Many of them already had specialties, such as turner, welder, assistant auto mechanic and other working specialties. In the dining room they behaved loudly. The boys loudly talked and pronounced indecent words. Matilda did not hear such words, even from the rare school hooligans. She looked around the audience, and began to for dinner. On table was compote, bread, pounded potatoes with a cutlet. Here were no forks. Matilda took a soup spoon and broke off a small piece of cutlet, then sent it to her mouth. The taste of minced meat seemed to Matilda stale, and she laid this piece in her hand. Putting it aside, Matilda little ate pounded potatoes with bread. The potato was tasteless. After drinking compote, she got up, went out of the dining room with obscene whoops of some boys addressed to her and went back to the girls’ bedroom. Matilda realized that she did not want and could not stay here. She went to a poster with a schedule of the day and began to read it. The sleeping room was designed for twenty people. On the left and right side of the room were five double beds. Matilda counted the mattresses.

“Means here will sleep fifteen girls, I’m sixteenth,” she thought, “no, sleep here I will not, I should try to get out of here. What if the girls will involves me into fight?” thought Matilda, and began to look is whether in a room suitable items to protect herself. In the room there was nothing except the stools, and nightstands. Near each bed there was a bedside nightstand and two stools. Matilda picked up one of the stools. “Heavy,” – she thought, “it will be difficult for me to swing by it and hit.”

After a while the girls returned. It was dark outside. Matilda didn’t have a watch, and she didn’t know what time it was. The girls were divided into small groups, sat on the beds and discussed something. Matilda stood beside the window and looked out. To have acquainted with girls Matilda had no desire. After a while the teacher of physical education entered the room.

“So girls, all stripped and went to bed, then I’ll turn off the light,” he said, and remained standing in the doorway and watch. Girls, do not hesitate, undressed and lay down in bed, covering up with blankets. They almost all had black pants and white tops.

“What the fuck you are stand? Do you need a special offer for undresses?” said the teacher, turning to Matilda.

“She’s shy, modest,” said one of the girls and her girlfriends laughed.

“Clearly,” said the teacher, and turned off the light, “after five minutes I’ll check that all lay in their places.”

After that, he went out and closed the door to the room.

“Yeah, he doesn’t check, he just always says,” said one girl and climb down from her bed. Then to Matilda came a few girls, among them was ringed. Ringed girl on was a stretchy black pants and an expensive bra. There was no curtain in the room, and light from the street lamp penetrated into it.

“If you’ll ever just look at my boyfriend, I’ll knock out your keekers,” said girl with ring in nose.

“I wasn’t looking at your boyfriend, I don’t need him,” Matilda replied.

“I didn’t see how you stared at him in the dining room? I’ll ruin your scoreboard, no one guy will look at you,” threatened ringed girl, and added, grabbing her by the hair, “your skin is too white, will be all scarred.”

“Why don’t you go to bed?” another girl who had previously inflated bubble gum asked.

“Do not touch her, she’s an excellent pupil, let her read us a poem better,” shouted one girl from the bed.

“Well, get up on a stool and tell us,” said the girl with tetrahedron in nose, and released Matilda’s scythe.

“Pushkin, Mtsyri,” said the other, smiling slyly.

“What’s your name?” the ringed girl asked.

“Matilda.”

“Jew?”

“I’m the Russian,” thought Matilda and remembered her conversation with her grandmother.

Matilda once asked grandmother, “is it my Russian surname?”

“Your mother was Russian, and your father was Russian too, according to the passport,” grandmother replied, “you can be of any nationality, but the main thing is that if you feel Russian in your soul, then you will not be afraid of anything.”

Matilda wasn’t afraid. She took a stool and smashed by it the window glass. Shards fell. The girls rushed in all directions to their beds. Matilda picked up a small fragment of glass that looked like a knife blade and squeezed it in her hand.

The gym teacher came in and turned on the light.

“She banged on the glass by stool. She wanted cut us,” said the ringed girl from bed.

“She’s crazy,” said the other girl.

“So what’s that in your hand? Drop it and come here!” the gym teacher commanded.

Matilda didn’t moves. The gym teacher came closer, grabbed her hand which had a piece of glass with his left hand, and grabbed her by the scythe with his right hand.

“Drop it,” he said, and turned Matilda’s head more tightly, holding her by the scythe. Matilda released the splinter from her hand, and the teacher dragged her by the scythe to the exit.

“I’ll kick your ass and you’ll be learning undress,” – the teacher said and dragged her into his office.

“You better fuck her on the table,” the girls shouted after her and laughed.

The teacher pushed Matilda into the middle of his office and followed her. Behind him appeared watchman Vasily Petrovich.

“What happened here?” he asked, “there the glass fell out.”

“Here, the newcomer did not want to go to bed, broke the glass with a stool. I led her to a preventive conversation,” the teacher replied.

The palm of Matilda’s right hand was cut and blood bleed from it.

She lean her hand at the dress on the waist and said to the watchman, “my blood oozes, it hurts, maybe the liver damage. Call, please, an ambulance.”

A red spot appeared on the dress under Matilda’s arm.

“Well, can you go?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Come with me,” the watchman said and led Matilda to his lodge. Then he dialed 03 and called the Ambulance.

“I’ll need a passport there. It’s in my backpack and closed in teacher’s lounge.”

“Well, I’ll bring it right away,” the watchman said and left.

“Andrei Andreevich, it will be necessary the passport for an ambulance, open the teacher’s lounge please, the passport there in her backpack,” said the watchman.

The teacher and the watchman went into the teacher’s lounge, the watchman easily found a bright backpack.

“I will not rummage in it, I’ll take the whole backpack,” said he to the teacher and left the office.

The ambulance did not have to wait long. The watchman opened the gate. Into the watchman’s lodge entered the doctor with a suitcase and a young girl – an assistant.

“So, what’s here? Let me take off your dress and see,” said the doctor.

– No, I’m not going to take off my dress here, drive me to the hospital, the wound is not too deep.

“Well, can you go?” the doctor asked.

“Yes,” answered Matilda and went to the ambulance, taking her backpack.

Ambulance drove through the city with included beacons. The doctor and his assistant were very polite.

“At last I broke free,” thought Matilda.

“I cut my hand too, could you see it and bandage it?” she asked the doctor.

The doctor examined her hand and processed it with hydrogen peroxide.

“The wound is not terrible, a small cut,” he said. A young girl, the doctor’s assistant, cleverly bandaged her hand.

Arriving at the hospital, the car drove up to the reception. The doctor took Matilda to the department and handed it to the attendant. Then he said goodbye to Matilda, wished her a speedy recovery and left. He already had to go to another challenge.

“So, what have you got here?” asked the attendant.

“I cut my hand with glass, I was treated in the car, the doctor stitched wound and bandaged. The doctor said that you need to registry me in your journal and then I can go home. He said me to come to your clinic tomorrow,” Matilda lied.

“Okay, passport with you?”

“Yes, of course,” said Matilda and handed in her passport.

The attendant made the necessary entries in the journal and returned the passport to Matilda. Then Matilda said goodbye and went out into the courtyard of the polyclinic.

“I forgot to give her pass to the exit,” the attendant thought, “well, nothing, she’ll be right now back, and I’ll write out.”

At the exit from the policlinic’s gates was a guard.

“Girl, what hospital room are you from?” he asked.

“I’m not from a hospital room. I accompanied my sister to the ambulance, now I’m coming back.”

“Ah, got it. Well, come on,” he said, and went back to the security guard cabin and the automatic gates opened. “Maybe I can help you to get a taxi?” the guard asked after Matilda.

“Thank you, I’ll catch it myself,” answered Matilda and moved away.

It was about ten in the evening, and the city did not sleep. Matilda straightened her backpack behind her shoulders and headed toward her house. It was far to go. On the way Matilda met no one hooligan. There were strolling couples, were also married couples with baby carriages. As always, there were a lot of idle tourists and hurrying people in the city. Matilda reached her house at midnight. Entering the entrance and climbing till her apartment, Matilda did not know what to do. She did not have the keys. After standing a little at the door, she went down into the courtyard and went to the nearest kindergarten. There were no children in the kindergarten. They were ordinarily taken there early in the morning, and in the evening they were taken away.

“Perhaps there is a watchman here,” thought Matilda, “I don’t need to run into him.”

She tried to find some place in the fence to penetrate the territory of the kindergarten. Then she went to the gate. The gate, was like a fence, was made from a forged rods. She slipped her hand through the bars and pushed back the bolt, and then closed the wicket behind her.

“I need to sleep somewhere until the morning,” thought tired Matilda and headed to the playground. She climbed into the small hut on the chicken legs, sat down on the wooden floor and fell asleep.