A bottle of tap water. From the diary by Lena Like

A bottle of tap water. From the diary by Lena Likeeva.



October 30, 2024 23:12


This afternoon, a girl came to my pharmacy and asked if there was water on sale.

At first I didn't understand: what kind of water does she need?

She said she was very thirsty.

I offered her several options of a healing water from mountain springs, but it was expensive for her.

I asked her: what happened?

She said that about a year ago she worked as a night waitress in our city.

I looked at her: she gives a rather vague impression. It seems to be a young girl, but not to say that healthy. Besides, it seemed to me that waitresses should be graceful, they shoud to move quickly.

But still, she has medium-length hair, which is - in general - beautiful, although it seems to be dyed.

So, when she worked as a waitress, she came to her working place in the evening, according to the established schedule.

One day she saw that she was late for work, and so that she would not be scolded for being late, she sat down on a bench in the playground to put on her lips.

There were various kinds of sports equipment nearby, including a horizontal bar of sufficient height.

While she was applying lipstick, a man of considerable age came to this playground, put a huge shopping bag on a bench (apparently he was coming from the store) and began to make attempts to pull himself up on the horizontal bar.

Then he jumped down, took his shopping bag and walked on.

When he passed by her, he said that she had beautiful eyes.

It was getting dark, but he managed to see her eyes.

She smiled and said she was very pleased.

He slowed down and said: "Do you allow me to say to you another compliment?"

Something in his intonation alerted her, and she, out of caution, simply repeated: "Yes, yes, very nice!"

He smiled and, continuing to walk, said, "Thus, there is enough compliments, so far?"

She smiled back and repeated, "Very nice!"

In her opinion, he looked strange: people are having fun in the evening, and not are carrying huge shopping bags. And she would have liked a gymnast (who turns the "sun" on a horizontal bar) more than a man of considerable age who returns from the store with purchases in the evenings and makes attempts to pull himself up.

She put on lipstick and went to work. Everyone was busy, and no one noticed her tardiness.

Soon, a group of football players came into her entertainment organization, who had fun there until the morning.

Since she wasn't moving very fast, one of the muscular football players several times caught her by the middle part of her body and tried to put her on his lap.

She tried to dodge, but a couple of times his attempts were successful, and she was sitting on his lap for a few seconds with some pleasure.

The morning came, the players were about to leave. Her working shift was ending.

She did not refuse to keep the muscular football player company.

Soon they were alone together, and she expected them to have a good time.

He, at one point, spoke positively about the middle part of her body. Then, unexpectedly, she felt the touch of his teeth on her skin (in the area of the middle part of her body).

This was not what she expected at all!

She began to protest loudly.

They were in some apartment, her loud voice was heard through the wall by neighbors and they called police. The proceedings began, attention was also directed at the period when he was putting her on his lap.

The football player was in trouble. But she was fired after a while, and was no longer accepted anywhere as a night waitress.

She went back to her home, to the village of Sredny Ovrag, and got stuck there.

Sometimes she worked part-time, where she could and how she could, but mostly she was bored.

When she got extremely, really bored, she would go out for a drink with a few muscular guys. These guys in past, some years ago, performed an important and responsible mission, and then they had returned back to the Sredny Ovrag. They had enough money for drinks.

After a communication with them, she was receiving a boost of energy, although she did not like to drink alcoholic beverages in large volumes.

After all, it's boring there, in the Sredny Ovrag, and what to do there?

She came to our city again. Again she is looking for a job as a night waitress.

I sympathized with her and gave her the phone number and the address of our Main Office.

In a pharmacy, you need to move fast, but not as fast as (for) a night waitress serving customers.

In addition, visitors will not hug a pharmacy employee by the middle part of the body and put her on their lap - although this may be pleasant for someone - in some cases.

She was about to leave. I took an empty bottle - one of the visitors drank from it a life-giving water from a mountain spring right in the pharmacy - and I poured a tap water into this bottle.

She thanked me.

I don't know what are her prospects about her finding job.

If she will come into my pharmacy again, I'll ask her if she managed to get a job as a night waitress - or at one of our pharmacies.


{ 26. Бутылка воды из-под крана. Из дневника Лены Ликеевой. - 14 мая 2024 г.
XXVI. A bottle of tap water. From the diary by Lena Likeeva. - May 14, 2024.

Zalessky and I Залесский и я }