Cказки Призраков. Tales of Ghosts. Премия им. Эдгара По / Edgar Poe Award (Билингва: Rus/Eng). Александра Крючкова
я включила телефон, как раздался звонок, и Виталик обречённо произнёс:
– Лара… Меня вызывают на выходные в их офис… Но… я приеду к тебе завтра ночью… в Лондон, да?
Я променяла двухнедельный отпуск в раю на одну ночь с ним в Лондоне…
***
В субботу, где-то в обед, я с грустью смотрела на себя, рухнувшую в фонтан на Трафальгарской площади в +40С. Люди даже не сразу поняли, что мне стало плохо от жары… и что меня здесь больше нет… А я подумала: воистину, возвращаться – плохая примета!
Я променяла свою жизнь на… что?..
Можно ли считать, что это Виталик убил меня?..
***
Виталик разбился на машине в ночь с субботы на воскресенье, чуть-чуть не доехав до Лондона, – уснул за рулём…
Он променял свою жизнь на ночь со мной?..
Нет, не так: это я убила его…
***
В воскресенье мы долго сидели на берегу Темзы и составляли план, в какие страны полетим уже без загранпаспорта перед тем, как навсегда исчезнем отсюда…
12. On the banks of the Thames
London had been a childhood dream of mine ever since we were told about its sights in English classes at school. I studied the same sights at the preparatory courses of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then at the University. It seemed that even before visiting London, I already knew it better than any other city in the world. I had little chance of getting the UK visa, so I put off a trip to London to the last page of perhaps my last foreign passport. Nobody knows what turn of fate has already got the very brick that will suddenly fall on your head, or what else would happen to prevent your vacation abroad.
Everywhere I traveled alone. Vitaly threw up his hands, as he always had some reasons not to join me. However, on Christmas Eve, he vowed that we would definitely go somewhere together within the coming year.
I worked as the head of purchasing department, free of job for traveling three times a year: on May holidays, August and Christmas time; and there were just three pages left for visas in my passport.
Vitaly traditionally spent May and Christmas holidays with his wife (whom, like many husbands, he vowed to leave, but would have never done so, because he felt «pity for her», since «she won’t survive, and you are strong!»), therefore, for our joint trip only August remained.
Knowing my cherished childhood dream, Vitaly told me to go first to London, for May holidays, and suggested having a rest with him in August somewhere on paradise islands. Well, it made sense, didn’t it?
I really enjoyed London! I walked it up and down and returned home with a feeling of complete satisfaction. By the way, the British had released me a multi-entry visa for six months, but I didn’t see much point in going back with limited funds, it was much more pleasant to visit something yet unexplored!
There were clearly more wonders on Earth than the seven encyclopedic ones, and I was already dreaming of where I would go for Christmas after August in Paradise with Vitaly, as the boss urgently demanded to get me a German visa for our business trip to Munich. So, my travel bag got one wonder of the world less! And more, I had already traveled all over Germany, including Munich, in vacation and not during a business trip. Anyhow, my negativity reached the ears of the Universe: as soon as the Germans granted me a single-entry visa for five days in July, the business trip was immediately canceled by the very same boss! However, since the stamp in the passport couldn’t be canceled, the penultimate page turned out to be irretrievably damaged and wasted for nothing! My inner indignation from my own helplessness went off scale, but in the end, it never came out, because… every day brought me closer to the cherished islands with Vitaly in August!
I scoured the Internet, called all the travel agencies that dealt with islands to choose the best Paradise for us, and mentally I was already rather there than in my homeland. Having prepared a bunch of beautiful dresses and bought a couple of charming swimsuits, I signed an application for my vacation, which became more and more problematic every year, because the boss was mutating into a slave owner…
And so, a couple of days before departure, Vitaly called for me, beaming with anticipation of Paradise, to discuss our plans in a restaurant. He listened carefully to all my dreams and wishes for the main course, and «for dessert» he suddenly said,
«Lara, I’m leaving… for London.»
«What do you mean… London?!» I asked, still understanding nothing. «And when are you leaving?!»
«It’s a business trip to London for the whole of August.»
«Yesterday you said you had agreed your vacation! in August! with me! on the islands in Paradise!»
«Yes, but today… everything has changed… Maybe in September…»
«My boss won’t let me go in September!» I was about to die. «As well as in October and in November!!!»
«Go alone to Paradise in August.»
«What’s to do alone in Paradise?! It’s only for couples!»
«Then go somewhere else,» Vitaly suggested calmly, which made me furious.
«Somewhere else, where is that? I have no time to apply for a visa!»
«Go to visa-free Turkey.»
Oh, I wished he hadn’t even mentioned Turkey to me! I turned white with anger!
«Turkey? Where you have been relaxing with your wife for so many years? So that, lying alone on the beach, I couldn’t help imagining how sweet it was for you both there?!»
«Lara, darling! I could tell you to come and stay with me in London, but I will work from morning to night, and you’ll get bored. You’ve just returned from London! Besides, I will live not in London, but in a town about forty minutes away from London by train. In a single room at a local hotel with English breakfasts included only. I figured out how much your visit will cost. It’s very expensive for you to travel to London every day instead of waiting for me in a bare