"Honey, I'm home! You'll never believe what I just contributed to!"
Having put the plate back on the bottom of the sink but leaving the water stream still running from the faucet, Liera turned her sight in the direction of the hall, from where the mysteriously cheerful announcement of her husband came. It didn't matter that between him in the hall and her in the kitchen there was a whole other room — she could see every expression on his face without the need to visually observe it. "Should I be worried?""Why worried? You should celebrate! Your man made history today!"
"I count that as «yes»"
"Huh?"
Hennadiy had a terribly irritating habit of making her repeat herself every time she considered the sentence to be repeated a bit too aggressive towards a person in his position. Was it really that he didn't manage to hear her or that he just wanted her to say that again? Whichever was true, Liera recalled what she'd heard from some psychologist on YouTube — that sometimes deafness is not about being unable to hear, but rather about not wanting to.
"I'm all ears, honey" was her only reply.
Hennadiy made a few steps towards the kitchen, but soon realised he was still wearing street shoes, and thus retreated back to the hall. However, he had already announced his story, and, as any good storyteller, realised delaying it would cost him momentum, so he continued despite this new obstacle.
"So, as usual on Thursdays, I'd been walking around Kontraktova Square," he began, landing on the little bench near the entrance, "when some guy approached me. Looked nice 'n smart, a fine young man, not like those weirdos from Mohylanka. Little did I know that he's also a man of great civic-mindedness..." The laces on the second shoe were not eager to cooperate. "He introduced himself to me as a representative of a civil movement to ban China's Communist Party."
"What do we have to do with China's Communist Party?" Liera heard herself say. She new damn well that her brother got an injury in the early days of the full-scale invasion when a Chinese Mavic hit their blindage, but that was irrelevant.
"What do you mean? They help Russia and stuff..." Trying to deal with the laces, Hennadiy tangled them completely.
"And how is that guy of help?"
"It's simple, love. He and his friends, they collect signatures. For a petition. To ban China's Communist Party."
The plate appeared perfectly clean already, but Liera went on scratching it vigorously. "Why would the Chinese care for some Ukrainian petition?"
"That's exactly what I thought!" Having given up untangling the laces, Hennadiy was just trying to get out of his shoe now. "But that guy told me it's actually an international organisation that collects signatures! They're gonna give it in to the European Court of Human Rights... or to the Hague Tribunal... not sure which one exactly... but after some legal shenanigans the Chinese will have no other choice but to disband their government and then..."
Liera finally set the plate aside. "Honey, that's bullshit."
"Why? No! I tell you, they have it all figured out!"
"What they wanted from you? Just a signature?"
"The guy asked me for a small donation too..."
"Hena..."
"What?"
"...they robbed you in broad daylight."
"No, they didn't."
"Then what was it? They took advantage of a person in your state..."
"What's wrong with my state?"
"Well, "wrong" is not the best word, it's just that..."
"Go on and say it!"
"Hena..."
"Yeah, say it! Let's fuckin' say it! That I'm a crazy one!" In one sudden movement Hennadiy ripped off his shoe and tossed it across the hall.
Liera, of course, couldn't see it. After hearing the shoe slamming into a wall, she closed her eyes and froze for a few seconds; then, having collected herself, she took off her apron, hung it on a chair a left the kitchen. To reach her room, she had to cross the hall. "Your new pill pack is on the table," she said, not looking in Hennadiy's direction. She almost closed her door, when a sudden impulse made her pause for a bit, and not knowing what else is there to add, she just said in quiet, almost detached tone: "I'm sorry he's gone."
It was only after she closed the door, that Hennadiy whispered: "I'm sorry they all are gone."
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