I loved my Mummy and cranberries in the swamp, and Masha adored Lapland deer fillets and French snails in a cafe on Rublyovka. How had I not guessed right away that nothing good would come of it again?
I was ten years older than her, not a bad age difference to make a girl obedient to me in everything, but I was awfully mistaken! Masha didnt consider me a genius, and, even worse, she turned out to be completely unlike Mummy, although I checked their birthdays in advance before going on the offensive, that is, to get acquainted!
Why not? At that time, I was an enviable groom! a free man, unburdened by children and alimony, with real estate in a swamp! A handsome man in his prime! Mummy had just died, so the meeting with Masha seemed very appropriate to me!
As for my ex-wife, everything immediately had gone wrong, because my parents, especially Mummy, didnt like her. However, we had lived together for several years. Yes, we had got a son, but I never considered him as my child! Not because I was not his father (unimaginable!), I just didnt feel anything for him: what he was, what he was not.
Thank God, I quickly got rid of them both, my wife and that son, and life returned to its previous course with Mummy! Well, with dad also.
I lived in the swamp and picked cranberries. And when there were no cranberries in swamps, I got them out of our fridges, picked in season. If you eat cranberries all the time, you will never get sick! Thats what Mummy said. Its an axiom! What is life without cranberries?
Masha seemed to be so quiet, so obedient, so like Mummy! But for some reason, she loved Lapland deer fillet and French snails! I couldnt understand why then! And, apparently, I will never understand. Why should I sponsor a cafe on Rublyovka? After all, you need, at least, to work for this. And am I a fool, or what, to work? I have never worked. As soon as I graduated from the institute, or rather dropped out, I never worked! Are you still plowing?
Here I am, a free artist. I create pictures and poems. Like Mummy! Yes, she always wrote something at night in her diary. I used to show her my poems. And she liked them. She always praised me. And once she said that I became a poet. So, I am a poet. Did Pushkin really work? No, he was creating! And so do I! And to create poetry, one needs peace. And no other work. Therefore, I quit the aviation institute as soon as Mummy considered me as a poet, and bought myself a disability!
My ex-wife, like most people, plowed for her boss, while I wondered, Why does the Muse visit me so rarely? However, its a sin to complain! In thirty-odd years I have written as many as 200 poems, but, of course, thats nothing compared to how much cranberries I collected, measured in kilograms or in fridges where they are stored off-season.
So, one day I met Masha. In the swamp. Picking cranberries. I have a house in the swamp. There, you know, it is a huge no ones land. Well not no ones land, but not wanted by anyone. Mummy was born in those swamps, however, their house hadnt survived. I decided to make a gift to Mummy, so I built a small house on the no ones land, almost a hut, but with a stove! For my Mummy and me. Well, for dad also. And when Mummy died, a place for Masha was vacated in the hut. Or rather, for someone who would be like Mummy and love cranberries. So, one day I was picking cranberries and noticed Masha.
I can see through people and immediately realized that Masha was also a poet. She was looking for her Muse in my swamp! And I went up to her. And we got talking. I suggested us picking cranberries together. In cranberry season. And in the off-season, getting it from my fridge. Rather, I have several refrigerators, hidden in the swamp, I think Ive already told you, I bought them specifically for cranberries.
Masha laughed for some reason. Did I say something funny?! It was the first sign from Heaven that she was not like Mummy! Mummy had never laughed at me! Okay, I supposed that Masha was flirting with me like that and forgave her for the first time.
However, Masha really wrote poetry! I told you I can see right through people! And she gave me her book. About ghosts! Wow! And I immediately passed it to my dad for verification whether he would like her poetry or not. As a result, dad blessed me, and I went on the offensive!
Masha lived in the city. Sometimes in summer she stopped by a cafe on Rublyovka to eat a fillet of Lapland deer or French snails, and she came to my swamp by chance, while visiting distant relatives.
So I accomplished a feat! I had to come to the city from my swamp in order to walk Masha along Tverskaya street in the evening. You see, in winter, Masha was plowing for her boss in a bookstore to eat Lapland deer fillets and French snails occasionally in summer!
I remember we walked from Mayakovskaya to the Kremlin, discussing many details important to me. I asked where her mother had been buried and told about Mummys funeral. On the stretch from Mayakovskaya to Pushkinskaya, we discussed cemeteries, where the Muses are found, like in swamps, and from Pushkinskaya to the Kremlin, we talked about cranberries.