Читать книгу Diamond lady. Prose in english - Natalia Patratskaya - Страница 3

Travelers returned home from the ship for the upcoming ball. The owner of the mountains decided that it was time to present the mountain diamonds to the public at a ball. He thought that Agnes herself should appear in a diamond dress at the ball.

The idea of the Master of the Mountains was carried out by Fyodor, he said to Agnes:

– Agnessa, you need to sew a dress on which diamonds will be attached, very large diamonds. The fabric should be beautiful, but in places of seams it should be torn loosely, the threads should be very thin.

– Why such subtlety in places of seams?

– For safety. The price of your dress will be fabulously huge, it may be necessary to remove it quickly.

– I’m afraid of this dress!

– And that’s not all, go to the best dance group and learn to walk in a dress so that it is not visible how you move your legs! Dress you will sew our seamstress, we do not need extra people to create a dress.

White-golden doors of the banquet hall opened. Numerous sparks shone dazzlingly in the doorway. Agnes smoothly, almost invisibly made a step into the hall. The uncrowned queen beamed with thousands of diamonds scattered over her dress. The diamond train was still at the door, and she had already entered the hall. The gait of the dancer from the famous ensemble, in which she stayed for a few days, has decorated her handsomely.

«Divine Agnes,» came a whisper in the hall.

Golden hair of a silk flock surrounded a beautiful and intelligent face.

– Ltd! – There was an involuntary exclamation of the public.

– Honey, you’re lovely! – the Owner of the mountains exclaimed and continued: – Dear sirs, there is a novelty in front of you, diamonds from the Snowy Mountains!

– Amazing! – exclaimed her friend Tatiana, she had a scarf over her shoulder, covered with diamonds.

She looked wonderful, but in the background of Agnes she was somewhat pale. She was invited to look at the mountain diamonds in the rays of neon light.

The table met the guests with radiance of dishes. Everything on the table was brilliant and white: a table set, opaque glasses with sparkles, white fish, white wine in bottles with silver stickers, snacks, ice cream, cakes – everything looked like snowy peaks of the mountains.

– Honey, everything is easy, everything is for you, Agnes! – said the owner of the mountains.

On the snow-white stage appeared a singer in white shiny clothes.

«Prince Silver,» Fyodor announced.

Behind the singer, two steps away, there was a little singer and she tried her hardest to sing.

«Let her shut up,» said Agnes.

Veteran right there under the elbows removed from the scene. More concert did not interfere with food intake. The singer inserted the words «Agnes» and «The Master of the Mountains» to almost every song to the applause of bored eaters.

Fyodor in a black suit, with a diamond on his tie, jumped to Agness and invited her to dance to the singing singer. They approached the stage and involuntarily eclipsed Prince Silver. Fedor surprisingly well slipped next to the queen of the ball.

White garlands, white balls, white Christmas trees sparkled, but Agnes’ dress of unearthly beauty blinded even more.

The owner of the mountains with a huge chain around his neck, on which hung a plaque with a large black diamond, sat importantly and was pleased with everything that was happening.

He managed to present diamonds from the mountains. He did not care at all that the pilots of the helicopter were left with nothing. It is important that Agnessa shines with diamonds. In moments of triumph, the Master of the Mountains had a desire to love a woman, he already anticipated the night of love with the Queen of the Ball. He found an erotic eclipse. The price of the night – diamond placers.

If the last kings loved ballerinas, the Master of the Mountains decided that the dancer was somewhere nearby, but she is more pleasant than a ballerina and she has slender, but not small, not skinny sizes. Love was dictated by a man. He decided to love or not, and did not accept rejection, he was infinitely not care what a woman wants.

Agnes was not accustomed to live in submission, but now she had no other choice, and in recent times she has always been guarded. So this dress in diamonds, she was ordered to wear.

How she was afraid of diamonds! She loved the outfits, brought them home, and the dressmakers came home. All masseuse services for her were organized at home. She did not agree to go to the ball in a dress with diamonds. But who will listen to her! The owner of the mountains said that it was necessary! It should be so necessary.

Behind the walls of the glittering white holiday stood a crowd of people in dark clothes.

– We will not attack people in the hall! Let them go out! «We will all go our separate ways and observe,» said the helicopter pilot.

«We take Agnes in a diamond dress, we don’t need the rest.» The scarf must be torn off Lisa, but do not touch her! – shouted the navigator of a high mountain helicopter.

Dinner ended with the singing of Prince Silver. The guards stood in two rows. Passing the improvised line of guardsmen, Agnes passed to the huge car. And at this moment there was a hitch. How out of the ground such a crowd of strange people was formed that no one understood anything.

In the car sat Tatiana, wearing a blond wig. Under a sable fur coat, diamonds did not shine, and the guards had already taken off the scarf, but this was not noticed immediately.

Agnes, like a feather, someone took through the crowd and put in a high-altitude helicopter. Only her dress continued to sparkle in the eyes of those present a brilliance that no one had seen. The team of the high-altitude helicopter gave Agnes the diamond dress to the Master of the Mountains, which pleased him greatly. Agnessu without a diamond dress returned home.

Agnes began to move away from his girlfriend Tatiana. They have lost the habit of each other lately. As soon as Tatiana called, Agnes answered:

– Tatiana, Apollo invited me to an exhibition of paintings located on Krymsky Val. We walked around the picture gallery with him. We were not lazy and visited the diamond fund of the country. We went to the operetta theater together. We went to the old drama theater, which is located behind the Bolshoi Theater. We even got to the Kremlin Palace of Congresses at the concert of the ensemble «Berezka». Do not be offended, but I have no time! Better come to our wedding!

After the wedding, Agnessa told Tatiana about her first love:

– Night magic holds us together. The thrill of touching each other is worth it to endure the difficulties of the first days of living together. We like gaming and light touch. Light kisses make us tremble. Desires are growing rapidly. The sense of reality is lost. Control of events disappears. Movement becomes paired.

«You have completely forgotten the feeling of caution,» Tatyana babbled into the telephone receiver.

– And who remembers about him at such a moment? Caution must be remembered before the touch of a man.

Tatiana listened tensely to Agnes and really wanted to get in her place. Elementary jealousy scraped her soul. And she found the opportunity to separate Agnes and Apollo! She asked her father:

«Dad, can you arrange things so that Apollo, Agnes’s husband, comes to you for military service?»

– Daughter, why do you need this?

«To be there,» the daughter answered vaguely.

Apollo was drafted into the army after graduation. Half a year of study, and he is a border guard soldier. The border is always an active army. He had to climb the mountains. He was often rescued by the ability to navigate in any terrain. Behind his back constantly hung a firearm. In the mountains often had to move, using both arms and legs. The climate is mountainous, the air is ozone, and such a head is spinning.

Border post was located high above sea level. Next to Apollo was always a certain Denis. The guys are normal, but together it is always more fun to bear the service.

It cannot be said that there are many offenders in these places, but fate sent them lovers of mountain climbing. Fate sent to meet the border guards pretty girl, by urban standards simple, but by local standards that is necessary! Apollo immediately recognized the girl Tatyana.

He said to Denis:

– Denis, I will go to the rural cinema. Today shows an old movie. And the air I was wearing breaths.

But he did not leave.

Denis and Apollo approached Tatiana. And her eyes ran away: two identical handsome. The guys cheered up, began to talk to her. And she seems to speak the same language, but everything is somehow strange for them. And so they liked her, that they wanted to walk alone with her.

She also told them:

– Guys, they will scold me at home if they see border guards in the company. My father serves on this frontier post.

The demon has moved into the guys. They lost their heads because of Tatiana. Leave quickly passed. The boys and the girl agreed that if they were released the next weekend, they would definitely drop by her. She agreed. She will not say no to the two soldiers!

The service at the border guards went more fun. They go to the mountains and dream about meeting with Tatiana. They would now detain the intruder. Between the border guards went hostile, they began to argue among themselves. Apollo wondered how it was that Tatiana quarreled so quickly.

With a weapon to climb the mountains is difficult, but necessary. The soldiers’ legs were filled with strong muscles, and they themselves became stronger. I noticed Apollo through binoculars, as if someone was crawling through the mountain: a beast or a man, you will not understand at once. Soon the dark spot rose to its feet. It became clear that a man across the border from that side is going to this one.

Apollo warned Denis about the intruder. Together began to wait. Interestingly, the offender also noticed them. He waved a white scarf over his head. The guys did not have the right to shoot the white flag. They went to the violator, followed hands with a white handkerchief, suddenly deceived them and would shoot them. Carefully they approached each other.

The guy turned out to be strange, he had nothing in his hands, only a white handkerchief, but he kept saying:

– Tatiana, Tatiana … – and showed himself that he was going to Tatiana.

The border guards realized that this guy and Tatiana were talking across the border, and they know each other since childhood. Tatiana recently stopped showing up at the border, so the guy from the other side of the border went to the border guards to find out what happened to the girl. The guys also understood that the father does not let the girl out into the street.

«Oh, what it came to,» thought Apollo, whose service was coming to an end, thought with longing, and he said aloud:

– With Tatiana everything is fine. We owe you as a trespasser to bring to the outpost.

«I understand you, but they will be looking for me at home,» the guy with a big accent sighed.

The guys also wanted to see Tatiana, but for this the intruder had to be taken to the destination. The guy gave up: there are two of them and they are armed. The border guards handed the guy over to

And the captain said to them:

– I am well acquainted with the detained person: this is a local pendulum. His name is Mach. He always walks at the border from that side. I do not know what to do with it. I know that he loves my daughter Tatiana. You guys haven’t fallen in love with my daughter yet? It is better not to, – and the commander of the outpost continued to say: – take him to where you took him. We warned the pendulum for the last time.

Mach asked the guards to take him to Tatiana. He really wanted to look at her, say two words to her, and then leave completely. The guys themselves wanted to see her. They went to the blue-eyed girl with blond hair up to her knees.

Girl on the issue as a traffic light at a crossroads in the city. Tatyana, seeing all the guys together, didn’t know what to do: be happy or not.

– Mach, be a man, stop risking! They can kill you by accident. Not everyone will deal with you! Or just stay on this side of the border.

– Tatiana, will you marry me? – asked Mach, it seems, not the first time.

– Oh, Mach! «I don’t want to be the tenth wife in your harem,» she dismissed him.

And happiness was so possible. After this incident, Apollo again drew attention to Tatyana. And she noticed it. He missed Agnes so much! And here, next to him, was her friend, in whom everyone fell in love, but he was never red.

Tatiana and Apollo met by chance in the mountains. At the head of Tatiana sounded the words of Agnes that Apollo is a good lover even for his own wife.

Envy demanded implementation!

On a small flat platform, located between the rocks, there was a girl and a young man in uniform. They were talking. Their eyes glowed. The lips were burning. Young organisms required association.

He touched her hair. She took his hand. He kissed his hair. She touched his lips to his hand, then to his face. He hugged her easily. She clung to him with his whole body. Convulsions went through their bodies. They both lay on the grass between the stones. Their hands penetrated each other’s clothes.

Apollo wrote a letter to Agnes that he would not return home, as he has an urgent business in another city. Agnes from this news in the soul was born a wave of emptiness. And her mother buzzed her ears to everyone she knew about her son-in-law, who did not return to her daughter from the army. He really did not return, but went to work at the Diamond Plant.

The plant at this time received an order for a hundred orders. The authorities of the country decided to mark discoveries in science with diamond orders. The factory received a batch of high-quality diamonds. This plant, like the main bank of the country, was not mentioned in the mass media. Workers went to the workshops and went out in a stripped form. The new batch of diamonds was so good that everyone who worked with them had a strange desire to reward themselves personally for their achievements in science and technology.

Crazy heads thought about how to remove hard stones from the plant, and the workers and comrades-in-arms did not agree among themselves. Everyone thought: «I’ll take one diamond, no one will notice right away.» But the humor was that twenty people immediately thought so. It is clear that diamonds were protected and issued one by one. One diamond processed, hand over and take another.

And yet, there was some irresponsibility with regard to the diamond currency – not all and not all was fixed at once. At that time there were no surveillance cameras at every turn. People just worked on every line. Diamonds caught hard. The tool had to be changed if it fell into disrepair. Normal production situation. People carried diamonds in their ears, in immodest places, in the mouth, in their hair. Sometimes they were simply caught. For especially large-scale embezzlement, the death penalty was threatened, but even this did not stop desperate heads.

Apollo, still in his childhood, shoved bones from cherry into the nostril, when they made cherry wine at home. Parents were scared, took him to the doctor. The bone was pulled out, but soon a new object appeared in the nostril. Apollo had a decent nose and a desperate temper of character. In the sciences, he did not shine, but he had a cunning mind for non-standard solutions.

Traditionally, diamonds removed from the factory were hiding in the simplest clay and were fixed in any place for temporary storage with the help of clay. Everything was thought out at the factory: how to guard and how to handle. Those who sold stolen diamonds, sooner or later came across the eyes of the competent authorities, for which they received firing or grating.

Therefore, only honest people without bad habits were constantly working at the plant. Apollo – a bright man with a straight and beautiful nose, would immediately fall under the supervision of guards, and his life would be short. At the plant, after a new batch of diamonds came for orders, raids occurred behind raids, and yet they could not find diamonds removed from the factory. Some diamonds disappeared without a trace. The largest stones remained in place, did not find diamonds the size of a cherry pit.

Apollo came to the factory immediately after the army and training at the diamond face grinder. In the army, he became friends with Denis, his father once worked at the Diamond Plant. A year and a half of service at the border made friends guys. Apollo found everything related to diamonds from a friend. Even before coming to the plant, he knew about all the crime that surrounded the production of diamonds. He immediately decided that he would work well and would not steal diamonds. But he constantly trained his nostrils at home on the wearing of cherry seed.

Diamonds did not differ smoothness. They would hurt his nose. Therefore, Apollo shoved plasticine balls into his nostrils. The ball was fastened to a thin strong thread, the thread was fastened in the nostril with special glue to the hairs, and the ball itself went into the nostril deep enough so that it was not visible from the outside. Workouts and workouts every day to avoid unnecessary reflexes when inhaling and exhaling with foreign objects in the nose.

In early childhood, Apollo accidentally broke a glass ceiling on a lamp. A night lamp included his parents in the room so that he would not disturb them at night. The broken ceiling was glued together with glue, and the little boy noticed that the light around the room from the ceiling had become more disturbing.

After the army, he processed ordinary glass at home like real diamonds. From the glass diamonds Apollo made himself a nightlight. He was amused by the play of light around the room. He had a dream: to make a diamond lamp. The vein of the jeweler was sitting in it. And he set about implementing the plan. He carried the diamonds from the factory in his nostrils, at home he took them out of the bowels of the nose and said nothing to anyone. And glued a diamond lamp. Order made. Several diamonds disappeared without a trace.

Apollo remembered how he met his wife and made her a promise that he would give her diamonds. He brought the Agnessse diamond lamp for the show, saying that he made the lamp from glass. She felt the brilliant shine physically and could tell from the glass. She breathed on the diamond edges, and the steam instantly evaporated from their surface.

A night of mutual love – and Apollo went to the Diamond City, giving Agnes a diamond set: earrings and a ring. All three diamonds were cherry bones in size. Soon Apollo was very sorry about the gift Agnes made. He had a feeling that he donated diamonds in vain. But he really wanted to fulfill the old promise.

Agnes placed the ring and diamond earrings in a golden straw box. She and her husband lived in different cities: she was in the capital, and he was in the Diamond City. She told a friend at work about her diamonds. Women told their men and acquaintances.

Less than a week, a straw box with diamonds disappeared. Agnessa reviewed the entire contents of the cabinet and found an old newspaper with her portrait in which she touches the lips of a frozen rowan tree. Next to the newspaper portrait were earrings with tourmaline and an old Apollo camera.

– Tatiana, my diamonds are gone! Apollo gave them to me, and they disappeared, «Agnes told her friend on the phone.

«Agnessa, I didn’t even know that you had them!» Contact private investigation, it is located next to the Silver Hoof jewelry store. They will find your diamonds. For the money, of course, – said Tatiana.

Agnes quickly got dressed and went to the agency. Detective Musin looked great: blond, of medium height, of average fatness, young and perky. He said he would help find missing jewelry for a fee.

That is the great privilege of private investigation! Even the great Sherlock Holmes did not work for nothing and took payment for his work. Moreover, he hid a diamond or a black pearl in his safe just because he found them! The fact that Holmes returned to their owner, was not mentioned in the books.

Agnesse was sorry for the diamonds. She herself did not have time to put them on, and they have already disappeared! Sadness to a toothache encompassed her whole being. What will she tell the detective? And nothing to say. Diamonds lay in the box, which was in the closet with perfumery. Why? Agnes always looked in this closet five times a week, but there were no two days off because she was not beautiful! On weekends, when she went shopping, someone had tracked her down. Jewelry had its price, but she did not want to give out her husband.

Musin, looking with steel eyes at the metal doors in the apartment of Agnes, came to the conclusion that he worked professionally. Everything was clean and in place. He asked to show the keys. One key can not be fake.

– Agnessa, who came to you lately? Have you noticed anything suspicious? Who of your friends could take them? – Musin asked.

– Movers brought upholstered furniture. One mover out of the apartment. The second loader with a shaved head did not go anywhere until he set the furniture in place.

«Agnessa, did you leave the room?» Loaders disappeared from your sight?

– Yes, I opened the door to the first loader when he returned.

– And what was the second mover doing in the room?

– He jerked at my appearance from the cabinet and put his hand in his pocket.

«The loader can be found in the furniture store,» Musin said, walking to the door.

– Are you leaving already? Asked Agnes nervously. – So you will not find diamonds?

«I promised to take Zoya’s assistant for one thing, I have to pick her up,» Musin replied evasively.

Detective Musin looked into a furniture store. He asked about the loaders who brought the furniture to Agnes. The loaders he needed were away. The furniture seller replied that a shaven-headed man named Georges was working in the store, his fate with a raid of transgressions. He is a strong man, works well, so they keep him. He, in turn, promised not to misbehave.

Agnes had a void in her soul. Diamonds were for her pocket monument to her husband. She lived with him a little. More and more apart lived. She practically did not know her husband’s relatives. It cannot be said that the years of loneliness always complacently influence a woman.

The female organism of Agnes continued to work and demand physical love. Sometimes she was twisted in such a way that even climb the wall, to such an extent her body needed a man. She reviewed the newspapers, they offered women’s services. Men were not offered to women. One evening an interview with a brisk journalist with an older woman was shown on TV. The question of the journalist sounded like this:

– Please tell me what to do to live long?

– Need to love yourself! I repeat, we must learn to love yourself!

Agnes remembered the answer of an intelligent elderly woman: «You must love yourself.»

The woman’s answer shook her. She thought for a long time how to understand him? In what way to love yourself? But I did not understand.

Musin met Georges with the skinhead loader and asked him:

– Georges, did you take diamonds from a client?

Georges hesitated and rustled in his pocket.

«Show the contents of your pocket,» Musin said emphatically.

The man took off his jacket, shook the straw out of his pocket. Diamonds in the dust was not.

– Georges, where are the diamonds? Ring and earrings?! Cried Musin involuntarily.

– It would be better if I did not get involved with this straw, – answered Georges with sadness in his voice. – The box stood in a conspicuous place, apparently the hostess forgot to remove her. I took the straw box in my hands, but my paws are strong. In his hand, the straw crumbled. And then the hostess returned from the hallway. I did not throw the dust, put the garbage in my pocket. And at home I found a ring and diamond earrings in the dust.

– Georges, where are the diamonds? – Musin asked with anguish in his voice, his eyes gleaming with anger.

– Diamonds are at home. What am I going to carry with them to work? Still losing, – muttered Georges.

– What do we do? We are going for diamonds immediately! – raised the voice of Musin.

– Do not give me away in the store! Fired How will I live? – the skinhead loader whined.

– Good. We will go to the mistress of the diamonds. You will repent to her, pay for the broken casket, give away the diamonds, – suggested Musin after a minute of silence.

– Oh, how I liked her! – with enthusiasm exclaimed Georges. – The mistress of the ring and earrings I really liked! She’s beautiful!

Musin looked at him in surprise, but his choice was approved.

Musin, Zoe and Georges arrived to Agnessa.

– Forgive me, be my wife! – Georges blurted out unexpectedly for everyone and handed Agnes the ring and earrings.

In his huge palm diamonds looked like small stars. Agnes broke out: she liked a cool man.

Zoe looked at the diamonds. Mussin looked surprised at the new couple. He had a suspicion about the origin of the Agnes diamonds.

Musin asked Zoe:

«Zoe, did you see the Agnes diamonds?» Did you see them well? Anything strange noticed in earrings or ring?

– Yes, I have well considered diamonds, such rarely come across. You know, they look like handicrafts, they are not real.

– And I thought so. The shops sell diamonds no larger than a grain of wheat or poppy dew in general. And she has three stones of the same size like cherry stones. Suspiciously, where could Agnes take such luxury? She lives alone. My husband went to the army, so no one else saw him. She, truth, said that he came.

– It is necessary to check the husband of Agnes.

– Do we need this? – Musin replied indifferently and mockingly looked at Zoya.

– But we need to know more than necessary! – Zoya was indignant. – We may need this knowledge to justify private activity in front of the state.

– Zoe, and you are a smart woman! Well, we will check Apollo Arkin. We must find his way out of the army. What was with him in the army is unknown, but he did not return home from the army. Where has he been all this time?

– Well, I will try to talk to Agnes. And we need to take money for work on finding diamonds.