" You don't give me enough time, " the girl said capriciously.
" I work, " Dimitri was naturally surprised.
" At night?"
It became clear to me that he was talking to his wife. It seems that their family life was marred by his inattention. By the way, there is such a peculiarity in Dimitri's behavior. At the beginning of the relationship, he was very attentive. Sometimes it seemed to me that he read my mind. But when our relationship became strong and stable, and I couldn't breathe without him, he became distant. No, in the moments he spent with me, even if only on the phone he was so gentle.....
" I've gotten a job, I don't want people to say I married you for a career. I will achieve everything on my own."
Dimitri spoke in a confident and unbending voice. Just a couple weeks ago I would have believed in his words unconditionally, but now it was funny. The girl whispered something fervently. I didn't eavesdrop any further and went back to the waiting room. The more I learned about him, the more disgusted I became. How could I love him?
The interesting thing was that I couldn't find a decent excuse. Betrayal killed love, and the brain kicked in. But so far he'd only wondered how blind I'd been.
I spent the whole day thinking about the stupid things I'd done in my life. Secretarial work was the most boring job in the world. The phone didn't ring very often, the visitors were mostly couriers who dropped by a couple times. And the boss seemed to have decided to sleep in, since he only called me once all day to let me know he was leaving.
***
I was home by eight o'clock, exhausted by the road, I walked up to our house without looking around. So I didn't notice the festivities right away. Neighbors, who jumped out of their houses, were frantically putting out the fire. I rushed to us and almost crashed into Ramila, who had come out of the house in a tiny robe, but with a huge bucket of water.
" What happened?"
" Idiots surrounded us!"
Ramila ran to the neighboring plot, and I rushed after her. The picture I saw was more pathetic than scary. A huge fire was burning in the middle of the neighbor's plot. When I looked closer, I realized that it was firewood prepared for the winter, but unused. A man in underpants, an alcoholic T-shirt and rubber boots was running around the fire. He didn't even try to put anything out, the neighbors were doing it. The curiosity of the situation was that the fire could spread to any house standing nearby. A strong gust of wind was enough to carry the spark.
Ramila splashed a bucket of water on the fire. The flames, hissing mockingly, continued.
" Damn fool! " The friend fawned over the man and ran back.
I agreed with her wholeheartedly, rushing back, going to join our rescue.
Following me, a burly woman flew into our plot, in whom I could hardly identify my neighbor on the right. This time she was wearing a plush bathrobe and carrying a huge skein of rubber in her hands. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a hose, just catastrophically wide in diameter.
" Come on, help me!"
The two of us quickly unwound the hose. I with one end stood in a fighting stance at the fence, going to water the fire. My neighbor hooked the other end to the faucet and opened the water.
The hose shuddered and hummed suspiciously. I was alarmed; I had never heard water make such a sound before. Seconds passed, and still no pressure.
