English / 05.03.2020 / 5561

Queen of the spoken word...

Nikolay Mokhov, author from the Dark Side of Business

Tanya’s mother beat her weekly. She tried to restrain herself, and not hit her child every day, but it didn't always work out. It was all thanks to her daughter being so different with her fantastical stupidity and incredible self-confidence.

“You realize that you can't even work as a janitor? Today, even they have a higher education... And you can't even string three words together," shouted the fat math teacher.

“I'll be a queen," replied Tanya. In class, they made fun of her dream. In an impoverished school in the nineties, girls might’ve wanted to marry a bandit. The Prince Charming of that era was a jumpy dude in leather with a jeep and a gun. For romantic women – Danila Bagrov – he’ll make a shotgun with his own hands. He’ll also restore justice and help prostitutes in a foreign country. And, well, if you want to be a queen... you’ll need a king. And in the province, there's only a vodka king. By the way, there was talk that the local king had his own test…

However, Tanya wouldn't accept him as a candidate for husband anyway. The girl knew exactly who she wanted to be. She was supposed to have a title and a castle. The lack of a title and a castle is a terrible mistake, which is why she ended up in this strange family and in this provincial town. For hours she’d think, what kind of royal family was she from? Maybe an English one? Tanya was twelve when Lady Dee died. The girl was reading about the Princess of Wales...

Tanya wasn't stupid; she just used her intellectual power sparingly

- She's like a bunny... energizer, damn it... except there's nothing to talk about with her," the men said to each other. They weren't right. Tatyana had various subjects that she’d talk about:

“Honey, I was in an accident!” “Sweetheart, I wasn't accepted to university!” “Dear, I got expelled!”

The girl believed in the division of duties. Her job was to take care of her appearance and gossip with her friends, while the man’s task was to solve her many problems. Few have done it.

“That foolish girl is driving me insane! Yesterday, she almost got me killed. She made eyes at some Caucasians at a cafe, and then she called me, saying, ‘Honey, save me, I could get raped...’ And today I have to go to the dean's office to decide on her expulsion... That's it. I can't," said another knight who never became king, giving up halfway through.

Tanya wasn't worried about the disappearance of her lovers. The spot next to her was never empty. The girl was more afraid of the quality of the candidates. No one could meet her needs. Not sexual, but financial. Until he showed up. Or how she liked to write - He...

From the heading

The roads of childhood

— I remember myself from the age of three...

— But I have memories since I was two.

Friends were arguing about who had the earliest memories. And I realized that I don’t remember myself in childhood... Not that I don’t remember anything at all. I don’t remember winter. I only remember summer and the moment when that summer of my childhood ended.

Brasileiro

His fingers were freezing from the cold. Gauntlets over the gloves, winter boots… None of this protected him from the harsh wind. The arctic ocean is nearby. Is that where the wind is blowing from?

— Brasileiro, why did you get distracted? Hook it up... — commanded the crew chief. He was making sure that the workers were quick at hanging the fish to dry.

Brasileiro looked at the cod with hatred. Cod, cod, cod... Those who never lived in northern Europe would not understand the significance of this fish. It would be shocking to find out that in the second half of the 20th century, there were three times when Iceland was ready to start a war with England over codfish.

Brasileiro. Chapter II

Part I. Vaeroy
Chapter II. The travelers’ club

In the times of Father

My father played a mean joke on me. Our discussions, though rare, always left me in a state of slight to heavy confusion. For example, when I was five years old, he told me: “A man could never imagine two things: infinity and eternity”. My mind, young and inquisitive as it was, decided to test that statement. I sat down in my room and tried to imagine the supposedly unimaginable entities. This led to intense drooling.