Between two mountains - страница 9

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Jannah Agafovna Gubanova worked as a ticket-seller in a booking-office. They met when Jannah’s son killed some guy. He was a member of operational group. Jannah was taken to the department as a murderer’s mother. He felt sorry for a stout woman waiting in the corridor for her investigation for hours. He called her to his office and offered her a seat. Jannah was crestfallen and revealed the story of her life to him. When Masud brought up the subject of India he felt how attentively this large woman was listening to him, what only increased his sympathy to her. He didn’t allow other policemen to hurt somehow her feelings. After one month Jannah called him at his work place:– Masud, help me. My darned daughter deceived me and made me sell my house. She told me, let’s sell it and move to Rostov, and so I did and went to Rostov. Over there coupled with her husband drunkard they took my money and ditched me on the street, telling me to scram back to the place where I came from. Masud, the booking-office is also closed. Who would lend money to anyone nowadays. God forbid, should I beg on the streets?

This is Jannah’s life. What can she do? Then he brought Jannah to his house and told her that she can stay here for awhile. “I am also alone. You can tidy up the room. Later we would figure something out”. Since that time Jannah lives with him. Everyday she leaves in the morning and returns back in the evening. “Masud, I am seeking for a job”. “Let me go have a look if the booking-office is open”. “Masud, do you maybe have 3 manats? As soon as I find a job I will pay everything back…”

Oh well, at least from time to time Jannah cooked a borsch or something else. Plus, no one listened to his story of India as attentively as Jannah did. In fact, Masud started to like her initially because of this. Everyone has heard his story of India. Some, as their chief used to do, were telling him that they were fed up with his stories of India and if he doesn’t want to work, why doesn’t he move to his beloved India. His colleague who sat with him in the same room would leave the room immediately as Masud started talking about India saying: “I will come back in a second”. Zibeyde in these cases used to increase the volume of TV or would quickly start dialing her sisters. Sabina would smile and say: – “Father, you have said this already. Arsham is there, Taj- Mahal is there, there are the monuments of Buddha” – and would quickly leave to her room. At times some of his joker friends would ask him: “Masud, how are your relatives in India?” and burst out laughing after this – “Ha, ha, ha…”

But when a young employee who graduated from the Police Academy was appointed to the Criminal Investigation Department, Masud was happy. That young employee was attached to him, he had to teach him the secrets of work. The trainees whom he taught are either a major or a colonel. When the young employee was assigned to him in between teachings of subtleties of work Masud also used to tell him about India. Masud talked about India in such a way that young man the relative of some authoritative man started to believe that India is better than the places like New York, London, Dubai and Venice which he has visited numerous times. But after some time the employees who sat in the next room stared to ask the young boy whether the talks of Masud bored him or not: “We respect your father a lot…Masud has lost his mind…Only once in his life he traveled India, since that time…Well, don’t pay much attention. We know that you won’t stay here for long anyway… You will be either transferred to the Passport Registration department or become deputy of the head of the department. It is temporary inconvenience.” Maybe the reason of why the employees who were assigned to Masud would quickly rise to a higher pillar was that on the example of captain Ibrahimzade they would learned how not to work, and would advance to a higher rank earlier.