“TALES OF GHOSTS”
about Love and Death from the Land of Mists
a collection of short stories
in the “Playing Another Reality” series
"LOVE ME NOW!"
3. A WHITE DANCE “LADIES’ CHOICE”
Ivan invited Inessa to a cafe. He was the CEO of a famous company, and she was just a fifth-year student, though, of one of the best universities in their country.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe you!” Ivan ended their conversation categorically. “Maybe in five or ten years…”
“And what then, in five or ten years?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, okay!” she grinned. “I’ll become CEO as well, to prove to you that I’m not about your money. And then, if you want, you will find me yourself…”
And in a bright red dress, so beautiful, daring, young, Inessa left him.
***
He saw the same snow and a grey, hopeless sky outside the window. It was very cold, although on TV they had promised a sharp warming. Ivan was out of any mood. That used to happen when the Sun disappeared, and life had made no pleasant surprise for a long time.
As usual, being late for work, Ivan started the car, drove through the archway to the exit to the embankment and turned on the signals, waiting for an opportunity to squeeze into the continuous flow. Yawning, he habitually glanced at the billboard and… couldn’t believe his eyes!
Ivan got out of the car, forgetting to turn off the signals, took out cigarettes and lit up one, staring at the poster “I LOVE YOU!” on the billboard – just that inscription and the familiar face of the girl in a bright red dress! He looked at her, and five years flashed back in the blink of an eye. Ivan had turned gray and was no longer the CEO of either that famous or any other company, meanwhile Inessa had blossomed…
He found her without any difficulty.
Inessa invited Ivan to a restaurant.
“That’s how I became the CEO,” she summed up, not without a sense of pride. “Now I have everything. Except for the man I love…”
Ivan couldn’t believe her incredible success story.
“Let’s get married!” Inessa said finally.
“And where are we going to live?” for some reason he asked, being dumbfounded.
“I was thinking of a flat with some veranda on the roof to buy. Do you remember tales about Carlson?”
“The haunted roof?” Ivan smiled.
“Surely, why not!” Inessa laughed. “Where do you want it, here or in Europe? Or… would you prefer a cottage?”
“An uninhabited island,” he smiled again. “And a private jet as a bonus!”
“Not bad for a start!” Inessa was full of enthusiasm and energy.
“Well done,” Ivan summed up and sighed heavily. “However, I’m no longer the boss, and I don’t have the funds to make your life beautiful. In a couple of years you’ll think, ‘What do I need him for?’ You’ll be still a young, successful, prosperous lady, and I…”
Ivan walked her to the car. The road became a skating rink. After a sharp warming in the morning, it got cold again in the evening.
Inessa was leaving, and he felt that they would never see each other, but at the same time he wanted to see her again and again.
That night Ivan was overcome by insomnia. Reflecting on whether he had been right allowing her to leave, he realized that, on the one hand, he certainly liked Inessa a lot, and he would like such a woman to be next to him. On the other hand… if some years before Ivan had looked at her from the top down, that day – from down up, just as at her billboard at the embankment…
“There is something wrong, unnatural about it. Although, perhaps, I simply wasn’t prepared for her crashing down on me as a sudden snowfall… I’ll call her. Tomorrow…” he decided.
Ivan didn’t want to give Inessa to anyone else. At the same time, he couldn’t overcome his fear and call. So ‘tomorrow’ was postponed for another three days. That night Inessa came to him in a dream, waved her hand with a bitter grin and silently disappeared into the mist.
In the morning, after listening to ‘The subscriber is temporarily blocked,’ Ivan dialed her office number, thinking about the best way to introduce himself to the secretary so that she would connect them instead of answering something like, ‘She is busy, call back later!’
However, the secretary’s answer was unexpected.
“She left us.”
“What do you mean? Did she change job?”
“A dead car crash three days ago.”
...She was gone, but for a long time, every morning and evening, when Ivan left for work and returned home, on that very poster on the billboard at the embankment, Inessa met Ivan and saw him off, smiling and repeating, “I LOVE YOU!”
He saw the same snow and a grey, hopeless sky outside the window. It was very cold, however, on TV they no longer promised any warming.
December 2003