Margarita and Luca, book 1
Шрифт:
“Good morning!
Don’t worry – me too! You have to enlighten me about Russia.
I live close to Bologna, at the bottom of Apennines. It’s a quiet place, but “civilization” is close as well. Everything here is marked by history…
Now the answer to your question.
Depending on where you are: the north is more industrial than the south. Most people live in blocks of flats, but there is also a great deal of detached houses, especially in the suburbs. The situation is not the best: we are getting too many meanwhile the territory is rather small.
And now a surprise: I live under a bridge!”
Sipping fresh-ground coffee the girl was trying to fancy the place, but finally decided: “Seeing is believing! I will ask him to take a picture!” Curiosity engrossed Margaret for the following days of pending.
Her mail to him
“I like the surprise about the bridge, though that's not that unusual for people to live under bridges in my city too. The only thing would make me worry: aren't U afraid of floods?
And to live not far from a mountain range – seems a great deal exotic to me. Could you send me some photos?”
His mail
“Ciao,
here are the pictures of the surroundings and the river not far from my house. The mountains are really close, I see them every morning driving to work.
Margo, I want to know more about you.
Do you have sisters or brothers, or are you an only child?”
Margot:
“Ciao!
Thanks for the beautiful photos! Wow! The Apennines are gorgeous!
Considering your question: there are no more kids in my family, only me. But I have a brother-in-law, my father’s son from the previous marriage. I hadn’t known about it for many years until I met him at a disco. We had a passionate attachment and then parents told us that we were brother and sister…
Everybody in my family had at least two marriages, and I’m not an exception ;) I have been married 3 times.
Do you have brothers or sisters?”
His mail
“I have a brother and numerous relatives, cousins and nephews… When all of them gather together at table on holidays it’s quite a crowd!
Sorry, I didn’t understand, may be because of my English… Have you been married or are you still married?”
Realizing that he was not indifferent to her, Greta grinned. That meant he was in the mood for serious relationship.
Her letter
“Ciao!
How is the weather there?
Wow, I’ve always dreamt of a huge family like yours! My great grandma had eleven children… We all used to gather together on Sundays, at a groaning board: all dishes piping hot. I loved her home-made bread the most! All the meals had a special taste ‘cause of being made in the furnace, stoked with wood.
When the great grandma died, everybody started quarrelling about inheritance and the family broke down.
No, I’m not married now”.
His mail.
“But three times? When I saw you on the plane you seemed 23-25… Kids?
And the Pope?
Are you such a complicated girl?”
Her mail
“Yes, though I’m so young, I’ve had much experience already.
It's not the same with marriage in Russia, as the Pope has no power here :)
No! I'm not complicated at all. I'm just stupid and a hopeless optimist. I blindly believe that every person rules his life and is really able to change it for the better, especially having enough support, no matter what kind of unpleasant things have happened to him. And I don't accept weakness of spirit. Of cause we all have chinks in our armours and let them be there until they don't ruin our lives.
For example, my first husband had midlife crisis(when he was only 30!And I was 18). I supported him in everything and things started going great with work, he became a politician and financial director of a large-scale construction firm and so on. But still couldn't give up drinking, smoking marihuana badly (he had started doing this stuff being depressed). I like to have fun too, but everything has it's borders. So, when he started running around the house with a long sabre catching green devils with long bushy tails…
It's my fault – I always consider people better than they really are. Besides I'm too kind and long to help people. I guess I should not, I have already tried to get rid of this pernicious quality, and have been cherishing that illusion, then I realized – that's next to impossible for me to become indifferent to people.
And my optimism makes me fight till the very end, never give up! I'm highly disappointed when people destroy their lives by their own hands, being immensely lazy to make a single effort to set things right. It's like a sniper shot right into my heart.
There is a fairy tale, you probably know, about 2 mice which got into a basket with milk. One of them sank because it didn't want to labor to save itself, didn't make a tiny movement by its paws. The other mouse, in the opposite, kept moving it's legs so fast, that the milk turned to sour cream and the mouse survived.
That all is a bit shocking for you, the fact is that I was obliged to leave home when I was 14, I had no choice. My adult life started early…
I hope I didn’t load you too much…”
She has never checked her mail so often before: ten times a day. Nothing from him. A month passed and no letters. She was getting sadder and sadder every day.