Figures sometimes play a mysterious, unknown role in our life.
Zhenya hated March 12. She never thought that numbers could play such a cruel joke with her, the daughter of a communist, an atheist and an optimist.
She was already many years old, closer to 70, but everyone called her Zhenya. It only made her happy: youth continued to be with her, despite the wrinkles. And she really needed youth, strength and efficiency. because she is the only one with Sasha.
It seemed that God gave his wife everything that was possible: beauty, intelligence, light character, bright temperament, charm and endurance. Her father, a former military man, raised her in the spirit of communism and even named her daughter of commander Aleksandrov in honor of the main character of Gaidar's story "Timur and his team" Zhenya. Zhenya adored Gaidar, having read each of his stories more than once. She wanted to be just as honest, loyal, sincere and fearless. And everything in her life turned out exactly like this: light and clean.
In the summer, Zhenya went to see her grandmother, to the village of Travniki, forgotten in the woods. Old Believer grandmother tried to teach her pioneer granddaughter various folk tricks: healing conspiracies, herbal treatment, omens, prayers, nonrandom coincidences, unlucky numbers. Zhenya laughed at her grandmother:
The old kind grandmother just smiled sadly, listening to her granddaughter's judgments, and did not try to tell her that even in her atheistic speeches she remembers God, even in such a weedy expression as "by God." She was scared for Zhenya and with all her might she tried to ward off trouble from her granddaughter's head.
The grandmother secretly baptized the unlucky little girl “on the path”, piously believing that her prayer and the cross drawn in the air after the leaving baby would save Zhenya from troubles. And then she prayed for a long time in front of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. And it helped while my grandmother was alive. Before her death, she left her only granddaughter a legacy of old church books, a handwritten notebook with conspiracies, prayers and non-random numbers and her most beloved icon of the Kazan Mother of God. Zhenya did not go to the village for such a ridiculous inheritance. She was not up to that: the twins, Masha and Vera, had just been born, she had to do everything. Grandma's books, notebook and icon were lost forever. Nobody missed them.
But it was not easy to live with Zhenya. Vitka's beloved husband once did not come home to spend the night on March 8. Zhenya rushed between the twins and the eldest five-year-old daughter Nastya, tried to find a husband, but no one knew him. He returned a few days after the holiday and told her that he loved another.
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Zhenya could not fit these two simple words in her head: he fell in love with another. How can you fall in love with another when they are so connected? What kind of other should it be that her dunce Vitka decided to leave them with the girls? What kind of person could do that? Only a traitor, rubbish, Judas - grandmother's word came to her mind. For a couple of days, Zhenya thought that it was all a stupid joke or a bad dream, but on March 12 Vitka took his things and left forever. They never saw him again with the girls.
Of course, the Soviet homeland did not let Zhenya die. The twins were taken to a 24-hour nursery, Nastya - to a kindergarten. And Zhenya went to work. She worked simultaneously in several industries, succeeding everywhere. The heavy workload did not give her time to be sad, but she did not have free evenings in order to establish her personal life.
The trouble came as usual, unexpectedly and unexpectedly. The teacher, who had not quite come to her senses after the celebration of International Women's Day, accidentally knocked over a kettle of boiling water on little Vera. The baby suffered for several days in intensive care and died in terrible pain. Zhenya was not allowed to see her daughter.
Since then, March 8 has become the most hated holiday. Zhenya crookedly accepted congratulations on him and was in a hurry to avoid feasts. Every year, all five days from the moment of the accident until Vera's death, she wore black, not smiling. Then Zhenya the optimist became herself again.
The years went by. Zhenya did not arrange her personal life anymore, not trusting male traitors. She was courted, but she rejected applicants. Despite her diligence, her career did not go well. However, Zhenya never thought about a career.
The girls were already adults when the Soviet Union collapsed. Empty shops, collapse and devastation have become familiar to the former communists. It hurt, just like when Vitka chose another one over her. Zhenya did not understand how to do this with her country. Who could have done this? Only a traitor, rubbish and Judas.
Masha, a single twin, was returning from the institute late at night through the park. She would have walked around him along the bright streets, but she was worried about Zhenya, she, for sure, was already worried.
Two men came out from behind the bushes. First, they pulled the golden earrings from Masha's ears - the girl's only precious thing, and then threw him to the ground and raped. How long Masha lay unconscious, she did not know. The spring night was cold, the snow that had melted during the day turned into an ice crust. Masha woke up and looked around. Blood oozed from above - from the ears, and from below. She lay back exhausted, wanting only one thing: to die. But the light jacket did not warm at all and the girl got up, pulled on her blue, frozen legs, soiled nylon tights and wandered towards the house.
There she fell ill with a fever. Masha was treated for a week, but the pneumonia could not be overcome. Or maybe the girl simply did not want to live on this earth anymore. On March 12, she was gone.
Zhenya could not understand why she was cursed. March 12 is the scariest day in the world. Can it not be so that all the misfortunes rained down on her on this date? Each time, Zhenya, with bated breath, expected trouble at the beginning of spring.
But nothing terrible happened anymore. Rather the opposite. The eldest daughter Nastya got married and gave birth to a boy. The grandson was named after his grandfather, Sasha. True, the daughter's family life also did not work out, but Zhenya, somewhere in her soul, was even glad of this. All three of them lived: Zhenya, Nastya and Sasha, and there were no people happier than them.
Sasha grew up as a clever and beautiful boy, in whom his grandmother didted. Looking at him, she even began to think that perhaps not all men are traitors to Judas.
Nastya came back from the medical examination earlier than usual.
“They found a lump in my chest,” she told her mother.
It was November in the yard, and therefore Zhenya did not suspect anything terrible, it was far from the damned March.
- The accountant at work said that this is because I have no intimate life and a lot of grievances, - Nastya said thoughtfully, - there is something in this.
-Nastya, don't believe in these prejudices and superstitions! - Zhenya hoped for the strength and skills of doctors. - And then just like my grandmother. Maybe you still believe in fate and coincidence?
- Maybe I do … As your beloved Einstein said: "Coincidences are one of the ways in which God preserves his anonymity" … - Nastya was thoughtful and suddenly roused herself. - And what, by the way, grandmother?
Zhenya told her a story about a naive Old Believer.
- You shouldn't have offended your grandmother and didn't accept her inheritance, mom, - the daughter shook her head sadly.
Offended? For the first time, Zhenya thought about it. But then she threw the stupid thoughts out of my head. The world is material, there is no grandmother, superstitions are silly women’s tales, coincidences are accidents that sometimes seem not accidental.
Nastya was ill for six months. She was treated with the latest methods, but there was no result. On March 12, a 40-year-old woman died of breast cancer.
Probably Zhenya would not have recovered from this blow of fate if not for Sasha. The boy was in his first year of university, and he really needed his grandmother. Zhenya directed all her strength to her grandson. It was high time for her to retire, but Zhenya could not afford such a luxury. I worked hard for three and did not ask for a raise. The main thing is to keep the job and help the grandson.
When two years after Nastya's death she received a call from the hospital, Zhenya did not expect anything good. And so it turned out: Sasha was severely beaten by hooligans.
She sobbed loudly and there was no consolation for her. The world turned out to be tough and evil, not pure and bright. And no matter how hard she tried to be good, he did not spare her and her family. Zhenya did not know that March 12 was not an accidental date, her father never told her about that terrible day when, in his hungry military youth, he carried out the command of the commander, killing hundreds of people begging for mercy. He did not attach importance to this day, believing that all means are good in war, and did not live to see the time when misfortunes began to haunt his only daughter.
Suddenly Zhenya abruptly calmed down and began to dress. She knew what to do. The nearby church was almost empty and dark. Only in the depths were a few candles glowing. Zhenya herself did not understand how she found the icon of the Kazan Mother of God and fell on her knees in front of her. She prayed fervently and passionately, believing her grandmother and her stories with all her soul. And suddenly, as if something let her go … The prayer was heard. Sasha came to his senses.
Now Zhenya does not expect trouble on March 12. On this day, she buys a treat for her colleagues to commemorate the souls of her children. And he goes to church, to pray at the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. And when she washes her little granddaughter, Evgenia Aleksandrovna, she invariably repeats all her grandmother's whispers and prayers. And he baptizes the baby when the grandson Sasha and his wife Marina take little Zhenya home to bed in the evening. She no longer cares why March 12 was the damned day for her. Now she knows how to protect herself from him.
Tatiana Goncharova