5. Brother 9

At the lecture, she completely went into her memories and thoughts, not seeing or hearing anything around. A sweet, slightly twitchy woman-artist was telling the story of the costume. This was one of Martha favorite topics. But this time she was as if in a trance: her body rested on a chair in a warm, brightly lit auditorium, and her soul wandered through the back streets of yesterday's dreams.

It was just a dream, wasn't it? After all, how could they in reality, suddenly, for no reason, be so reckless?

“Martha! Please! Please!"
Now, in her memories, his choked voice and impulsive embrace touched her much more than in real. Slightly pushing the sleeve of her sweater, Martha examined the small bruises left by his fingers on her wrists - he held her so tightly. And the collar of the sweater was not accidentally raised to the very chin ‘cause her neck was covered with marks of his kisses.
No, not a dream!

In a break between two lectures, Nadezhda Petrovna unexpectedly appeared, called Martha aside, where some short, black-haired man was standing.

- Martha, I want to introduce you. This is Marian, the head of the Movie Preporation Service Center, where you will soon be working. Our props section belongs to this workshop - the workshop for shooting preparation.

“Yes, yes, they told us,” Martha nodded, holding out her hand in response to the hand extended to her.

- And now I want to tell you about what you were not told about, - Marian smiled.

Martha smiled back. For some reason, she was always unconditionally liked by such southern black-haired men.

She had very light skin and blue eyes, but with some incomprehensible sixth sense, they guessed in her something of their own, kindred, and invariably imbued with sympathy.

- You are at our studio recently, you still don't know what kind of work you have to do. Theory is one thing, but practice is quite another. You will have to travel a lot with different people throughout the country. I say bluntly: you need to be able to fight back, to be able to stand up for yourself. Again, the props are responsible for material values, yes. But you also need to be able to stand up for yourself. Is this clear?

She nodded. Clear, why not? For this very reason, Yuri Grigorievich three years ago refused to arrange her for a film studio in Alma-Ata, although she specially came to the capital of Kazakhstan because of this.

In the evening, Sasha and she went to Tarkovsky's “Nostalgia” - far away, to Kommunar, but the first tram could get there without a change from Otradnoye.

It was the same as yesterday, a very spring evening. It was drizzling slightly. But neither on the way, nor in the movies, Marta could not concentrate on the present.

- Sash, what is “wonderful”?

- Well, amazing, wonderful ... Why do you need it?

- So. I wanted to clarify.

- What, did you meet some foreigner?

Marta didn’t even show that she was surprised by Sasha’s shrewdness, although it was not at all so difficult for him to associate her return in the middle of the night, her swollen lips with today's question. And her whole appearance was mysterious, immersed in herself, with a smile suddenly flickering on her face ... No usual sociability, funny questions and jokes. How can he not ask?
But there was no answer.

After the movie, the conversation revived - they waited a long time for the tram and exchanged impressions that did not coincide: Sasha liked the film, but Martha did not. But as soon as the topic was settled, she again fell into her trance, fenced off from the whole world with an impenetrable wall. Only the heart was beating faster and whispering with each beat: “Tomorrow! Tomorrow!"

But if he tries again ... If he only wants this ...

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from novel WANDERER/ Роман "Пришелец"