Chapter 4

Ugh, I shouldn’t have come here at all!

But I didn’t manage to leave. I gasped when I stepped on my bad leg, and the old woman spoke again:

“Don’t be offended, Angelina. Sometimes people need days like this. If you hadn’t tripped today, you would’ve kept running along someone else’s path after someone else’s happiness. But now, you could say, you’ve been given the chance to look around. To find your own happiness.”

I stared at the woman in confusion.

“I don’t understand… you know me, don’t you? Or are you trying to talk me in circles?”

“Both.”

“So you do know me. From where?!” I demanded. “And keep in mind, if you don’t confess, I’m calling the police. This is far too suspicious, ma’am!”

It was more than suspicious, and I did not like it one bit!

Especially the lady’s black cat, who was now sitting on the bench and brazenly studying me, as if he were taking part in the conversation.

“Fine, fine,” the old woman decided to surrender. “I’ll tell you.”

“I’m listening very carefully!”

And she told me…

 
It turned out the park worker had noticed me long ago. Not surprising, considering I lived nearby and appeared in the park regularly for runs. The surprising thing was that I had never noticed her before.

Though that was understandable too. Usually, during my runs, I thought through my work plan and listened to music. I was used to looking under my feet, not around me, which was probably why that day I hadn’t noticed the two men who were watching me closely…

“So there I am, cleaning up, sweeping these little leaves, when those two come whipping out from behind the kiosk. They sit down on this very bench and start whispering secrets! They looked suspicious to me right away, and they kept glancing at you. Even pointing!”

“Seriously?!” I was impressed. “Why suspicious?”

“Well, they looked different. One young and tall, the other short, old enough to be his father. One of them had eyes this big, like a little owl.” The old groundskeeper brought her fingers to her eyes and rounded them. “And the other had narrow little eyes, sly as anything!” She stretched the outer corners of her eyes, making them narrow. “And though the young one was a handsome thing, he kept pulling his cap down over his forehead. The second one spoke with an accent.”

Orlov and a Korean, definitely!

“So what were they saying?” I hurried the old woman along, lowering myself back onto the bench beside the cat.

Out of nerves, I stroked the creature’s soft fur, forgiving him for the stolen breakfast. I had left my mouth hanging open; the cat wasn’t to blame for that!

“Everything!” my interlocutor nodded importantly, waving a decisive hand in front of her face. “That you’re an upstart and a snob. That you popped up from who knows where. That your tongue’s like a stinger and your nose is like a goose’s!”

“Mine?!” I hurried to touch my nose, in case it had actually lengthened overnight. At this point, even that would not have surprised me.

“No, not like that. Stuck up in the air from pride,” the groundskeeper explained.

“Ah…”

“And the young, handsome one says: Don’t look at her appearance, sir. There’s nothing to her. A greedy, jealous shell! And as for advertising, she doesn’t understand a thing! If you get involved with someone like that, she’ll ruin your whole project one hundred percent. Kiss your money goodbye! Said you can’t trust her with serious business.”

“He said that?!” I gasped. There was no limit to my amazement and outrage.

“Word for word!” the old woman agreed. “But listen, I’ve been thinking, maybe he wasn’t talking about you?” She thoughtfully lifted an eyebrow darkened with pencil.

“Was the guy handsome, with a little ponytail?”

“Very handsome! Smart eyes, and dimples on his cheeks, like an actor. Oh, and those broad shoulders! Just like my old man in his youth. I’d press myself to him, and my soul would feel warm and good at once… If we’d made up, that is. If not,” she frowned, “I’d chase that parasite through the woods with a broom… until the third rooster crowed! The aspens wept from pity!”

“Stop!” I dragged the old woman out of her memories and back to reality. “This one is nothing like yours!” I declared confidently. “He’s farther from being a husband material than your broom is from the moon! And his shoulders aren’t broad, they’re normal. And he’s an unpleasant type! He uses those dimples only to mess with girls’ heads. That’s his hobby: starting up with a new fling every week so the previous one won’t feel left out!… No, he was talking about me to the Korean. I know it!”

“Well, if you know…”

“Orlov can’t stand me! We were the top competitors in all of Galaktika…” I rattled off, then caught myself. Leaning back, I sighed. “Were… until today.”

But the groundskeeper was already nodding along, narrowing her eyes.

“Exactly! That’s just what I suspected. Incompetent, unreliable spendthrift, she is, he says. Doesn’t understand fashion and has no taste! Don’t get mixed up with her. You’ll see, she’ll be fired soon anyway! For that, what’s it called… professional incompetence!”

I gasped and jumped up from the bench, forgetting about my leg.

“That ba-astard!” I drew out indignantly. “I’m professionally unfit? I’m incompetent?!”

“Well, who else?” the old woman shrugged. “You were planning to manage the Koreans’ money, weren’t you?”

“Actually, not exactly me, but I always keep strict track of project budgets! Or rather, kept track, because… Never mind why! I can’t believe,” I said, devastated, “that Max Orlov is capable of something like that. What else? Did he say anything else to that man, the shorter one?”

“Not much, really.” The old woman remembered diligently, trying to help. “I had to sweep the path, so I didn’t keep listening. Seems he promised to make him an ad campaign the likes of which the world had never seen, and advised him to forget about you. Oh, I remember!” She slapped herself on the forehead. “He was going to find himself a suitable secretary, poor thing, because it’s so hard for him to manage the team all by himself…” 

*** 

When the girl disappeared from sight and the crows flocked to their usual place, the cat jumped down from the bench and looked reproachfully at his companion. She was just taking the cigarette holder out of her case.

“Mmm-yes… You spun the girl quite a tale, Yadviga. How has your tongue not withered away? The bargain was different: point her toward her betrothed. Weave their paths together. And what are we supposed to do now… mrr-meow?”

Yadviga, whom very few of her friends called by her full name, placed the holder between her lips, struck a spark onto the cigarette with her fingernail, and drew in with pleasure.

Crossing one leg over the other, she released smoke and answered reasonably:

“You don’t know women, Bayun. First she needs to be pulled toward her betrothed, and then their hearts will tell them what to do. What do you expect from an old woman like me? Tall tales are the only thing I know how to spin.”

“Mmm-yes,” she sighed a minute later, smiling at her own thoughts. “A grown girl, and she still doesn’t know you can only half-trust old women in parks…”