Igor Yevtishenkov - Collection of Stories

For me this picture conjured upa series of crazy events. I was the only girl in the group and when I got my diploma I was on cloud nine and wanted everyone to see how happy I was. So when going out in the corridor after the graduation I couldn’t hold-back my feelings any longer and started jumping like a child. Little wonder I didn’t notice the steps on my way and fell down. As I fell, I grabbed another boy’s gown and he came down on top of me. Then we both were taken to hospital with a broken wrist and foot. Guess what happened next! We got to know one another and eventually married. It’s amazing how one picture can call upan event in such detail. When I look at it, my thoughts always flash backimmediately to that moment. Sometimes I ask him “Does it ring a bell?”

“Not just one – a thousand bells!” he usually replies, smiling.

Eric was a reliable colleague and excellent employee. He was not greedy and never had money to burn, but he managed to get by. However he always said he felt uneasy in our corporation and wanted to try something else. He was content, and never worried about promotion or a great career. To me he was the odd man outbecause he even didn’t have a girlfriend. So I wasn’t surprised when he said he was going to get a new lease on life. As the big day arrived, all folks were incredulous saying, “How can you throw all you’ve worked for down the drain?” However, Eric was ready for adventure. He left the office and never looked back. I’ve never met him since then but I’m sure he’s happy, if not wealthy.

It was the first time I had a week off and we set offfor a lovely hotel which was tucked awayin a deep forest. Our room on the first floor opened ontoa balcony with lovely view of a charming lake. Woods stretched awayto the horizon. Early morning I could see a few fishermen who were spread outover the lakeshore. My wife and I went out onto the balcony wrapping ourselves up in tweed blankets, drank frothy coffee and felt we werecompletely cut offfrom the crazy modern world!

“Come in, mate. Do you like it?”

“What a great room!”

“Well, I like it too. I rented it at a knockdown price. The landlady was kind. The room was a bit dim and dull when we moved in, but my girlfriend bought these nice curtains, which helped to brightenit up. In fact, I like it so much here that I’d rather stay in than go out most evenings while she’s working in the cafe.”

“You’re a lucky, man! The cave I rent is so miserable. I hate it. I stay outas long as I can! I even stayed onat college tonight until it closed!”

“You may need to find a girlfriend too.”

“No, thanks! They all are ‘high maintenance’, you know. Too expensive for me by far. Well, I’ve come to bring you your powerbank with the cable – you leftit behindat the lecture this morning.”

“Oh, thanks! How stupid of me! I owe you big time.”

“Never mind, I stayed behindto ask the girls about a revision and then saw the powerbank lying there.”

“I see. Thank you very much. So, interested in girls, are you? Well, take it easy and remain calm!

“I’m OK. Just hate talking about it.”

“No problem, understand. Would you like a coffee now you’re here?”

“I am in a hurry. Gotta be off. But I’d love to call backanother time, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure. Let me know when you’re free. It’d be great to get together with the others tomorrow evening. Feel free to drop in.”

Now I’m sitting and dreading Luisa coming back. I am wondering if it’s really her flat and I am the one staying here as a guest. It all started so easily and innocently and looked like a favour to a friend. Luisa called and asked to just put her up for a couple of nights… Now, more than three months on, Luisa is still here, in my flat and shows no sign of keeping her word to leave.

The thing is, I can’t bring myself to tell her. She’s taken advantage and treats the place as her own, even borrowing my clothes to go out or for interviews. Of course, she always asks me first, saying her clothes seem really boring and when she sees mine, they all look great. She even wants to look like me at interviews. “People judge you by what you wear, you know!” that kind of thing. So if I said “no’, it would sound like I didn’t want to help her in a friendly way. Of course, she always washes all the clothes before giving them back, but my blood is starting to boil. The truth is, I’m scared Luisa will take offence, accuse me of being selfish and not caring about her situation because she is in trouble. I vividly imagined her crying and saying I’m throwing her out while she has no job, no money and no other place to stay.

I tried to think up some excuses in order to get Luisa to leave, but it was unfair. So I decided to make my feelings clear to her and bring the subject up this evening. I realise I will sound selfish, saying that I value my own privacy and don’t want to live with her on a permanent basis and that our arrangement was meant to be temporary but it has gone on far too long and has taken advantage of my good nature.

It will be hard to say that but I know I’ll be honest. Sometimes friends are OK when they don’t get in the way.

The factory closed, we were laid off and the number of problems started to increase. I asked my friends to get together in a café. I was afraid no-one would come but it was filling upgradually. Things got worse last week, we got no reply from the city council and the situation is obviously now not looking good. After the owners started moving production to the Far East at the beginning of the year, all business in our area was down, but the mayor says it is picking upnow. I think our discontent is heating upand we can no longer stay calm. The city authorities have been ignoring us for ten months and even the most patient and long-suffering agreed to sue them. So the governor and the district attorney eventually woke up to what’s happening.

I’d been working in the IT department for 7 years until a total changeoverhappened. A new CEO was appointed and he decided to make most staff as mobile as possible. I could not makemy mind upwhat to start with but he said I would be in charge of moving all data and applications to some cloud platforms as well as developing and supporting the new infrastructure. So I was promoted. It was not so bad.

On the other hand, it didn’t make my life easier, though. I had to commute to the office and an avalanche of problems didn’t make me and my colleagues in the IT department mobile and flexible either. “The bodies were out but the minds were in’. We had a year from hell – we have phased outall the old computers and phased in completely new ones – mostly servers. We didn’t have to workit outfrom scratch and to come up with a new idea. We implemented the existing mobile network solution. My colleagues weren’t sure how things would pan outat first and we faced a few problems with securing data and online traffic. However, the arguments about the new system blew overquite quickly. Our management, sales and marketing staff started appearing in the office once a week and now I may not see some of them for months. Yet I can watch them emailing, chatting and meeting online around the clock. They have a chance to plan their life and work according to the result they have to achieve, but sometimes I wonder where the border between their private lives and office responsibilities lie. My wife says it is “a power button’ problem – as you switch your mobile or laptop off, the border is crossed.