Ruby Chef. Prose in English. Natalia Patratskaya
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his piercing black eyes piercing the eyes of the girls.
– Both sit down! The lame man shouted loudly.
The girls sat in the back seat of the car. Between the driver and the girlfriends, the glass slowly crawled upward. The girls shook hands, beginning to vibrate nervously from elementary fear. On the side windows dark windows slowly rose, not transmitting light.
Girlfriends were in a moving car in total darkness. The rear window was tightly closed with a dark cloth. Easy friends felt that they have nothing to inhale. Suddenly, a roof opened above them. Big stars looked into the car. The car stopped abruptly. A heavy face appeared in the roof hatch.
– How do you feel, girlfriends? He asked, sarcastically lame.
“Well, Mr. Admiral,” Olga replied.
– We came to the red fortress.
The doors of the car opened. The girls were in the woods in front of a red brick wall. The door slid aside.
Creak. Knock. Creak. Knock.
Next to them was walking lame. There was a large round table in the courtyard. Ten women sat around the table.
– Women, your regiment has arrived! There are two more girls. Now you are twelve people. Live together. Invite us to the table.
The man sat on a chair like a throne decorated with a trident, in front of him twelve women sat in a circle. Thirteen plates were on the table. Two women served food on the table. Revitalization at the table was not observed. I felt the general lady’s fear.
– Stand up! Sit down! Get up! Sit down! The man shouted imperiously and began to eat.
The girls carried out his command, took the spoons in their hands. There were no sharp forks and knives on the table. All dishes were made of pure aluminum.
Rimma involuntarily looked at the red brick buildings. She was both sad and curious.
– In my department there are thirteen rooms, one by one. The dining room is on the street, the kitchen is in front of you. Products purchased for thirteen days, thirteen days the doors of the fortress will not open. You will not be fired at your job, you are all on vacation for two weeks. You are twelve – I’m alone. Walls under current. Break up!
On the table in front of each girl lay a memo, on which stood the room number, the daily routine was written, but the duties of the girls were not written. The girls came from the table. Two girls began to collect dirty dishes. One of them was Rimma. She did not understand that this is all a reality, and not a joke. Rimma made the only wise decision: to be closer to the kitchen, to cook, to clean, to wash dishes, to be silent and to listen.
“Begin ear to all, voice only to few,” she remembered the words of Shakespeare.
On the first morning, one place was left empty.
Rimma was cooking for thirteen people. The aluminum device remained empty, one girl did not come for lunch and dinner. What was this girl, Rimma did not have time to remember. Now she tried to remember everyone.
The second day was rainy. The man did not come out. Two seats at the table were free. Ten girls ate in the rain. Someone sneezed, their clothes were the one in which they were brought here.
Olga whispered Rimma to a riot in a whisper, she called to see those rooms from which no one had left. Rimma decided to survive and did not agree to revolt. In her free time, she swept the yard. Olga found a friend, and they vigorously discussed the situation.
The third day was blinding by sunshine. Warmly enveloped girls from head to toe. They thought where they would wash.
Creak. Knock. Creak. Knock.
Rimme came up lame, looked into her eyes and left.
Creak. Knock. Creak. Knock.
So five days passed.
On the sixth day, Olga did not appear at the table. Rimma’s heart sank. Asking a man was pointless. The table was quiet. He did not even command. The food was getting smaller, the food was disappearing before our eyes. Rimma decided to cook more economically, taking into account the girls leaving every day.
On the eighth evening, steps were heard in her room.
Creak. Knock. Creak. Knock.
Rimma fell silent. There was nowhere to hide, next to the room was a combined bathroom, but without windows and a bath. There was a bed in the room and nothing else. He went lame, he quietly went to Rimma. The creaking was no longer audible. Rimma lay and looked at the man…
His heavy gaze was unexpectedly kinder.
– Rimma… Do you want to live? Are you not afraid of my leg?
– I did not see her, I saw one, not the second.
– You do not ask where seven women?
– Are they alive?
– They are at home.
“Are the others in awe or know they’ll let them go?”
– No, the rest do not know anything.
– I have a choice?
“You can go home or you can stay with me.”
– The girls went home?
– Do you want to pass them dear?
– I do not know, they did not pass across the street.
– And you will not leave this yard anymore, a broom will not help you anymore, you held on to it.
– Yes you are right. What should I do?
– Two options: love me or go home.
– What did they choose? Did they sleep with you?
– Not. All went home. I did not feel them. Through them, the current did not go, the current goes through the wires, and they were not in love with me even on pain of death. I feel you.
– And where is Olga?
– Doctor, or what? I thought I could do it, but I didn’t want her. She left.
– Olga gone from life or home?
– For me, this is the same thing.
“They will bring the police here!”
– No, no one will.
Suddenly the room plunged into total darkness. The hand of Rimma was reached by a light, quivering touch. She involuntarily pulled herself up to that hand. Flashed light. Nearby lay a gray mouse. Rimma looked around the room, she did not find a single door. Four flat walls. She shouted, but the sound drowned in the soft fabric of the walls. The bed jerked sharply. Rimma fell into another darkness. She abruptly jumped to her feet, felt in one leg a strong pain and palm at the elbow.
– Rimma…
– Is it still you?! – Gritting her teeth in pain, Rimma said, looking into the eerie eyes of a man.
– I’m unfit.
– What do you allow yourself?! Why are you kidding girls? Did you have women?
– I do not know what to do with them, so I collected a harem, looked at everyone and let him go.
They stood in the basement with red brick walls. Dim light burned in one corner. The man sat on a black leather sofa. Rimma, limping, followed him.
– All the girls tried to do something with me. I did not understand what they wanted from me. I let everyone out at that door, – and he pointed to the door in front of the sofa.
– Are you a normal person?
– I’m trying to remember why a man needs a woman, and I can not.
“Where did you get this red fortress?”
– This