The Third Day. Liudmila Maksimova

fitting her slender body at the waist and falling in a splendid semi-flare nearly down to her ankles. She has stylish overshoes on from which shoe edges peep out. She is also wearing a hat revealing the sleek hair that has been raised from the forehead and brushed back and the recently made permanent wave elegantly framing her slightly powdered plump cheeks. The mother’s face exposed to the sun reflects pure bliss. She is standing with her eyes closed and smiling happily.

      Auntie Nyura wearing a dark-grey overcoat, whose only stylish feature is its huge buttons, and a darned headscarf that has slipped down onto her shoulders, doesn’t notice the appearance of the girl since, at the moment, she is trying to convince herself loudly, with a nervous twitch to her cheek:

      – Mine has recently heard on the radio that the prices are to go down soon. Then I will be able to buy an overcoat for everyone in the family for the same amount (i.e. for the cost of one overcoat at the currently existing prices). And in the meanwhile, I will wear this one; after all it is practical and not easily soiled. What is the use in buying a beige one: it will show all the dirt.

      Saying “mine”, auntie Nyura means by it her husband who she is very proud of. He married her in a remote Russian village where he returned from war safe and sound, decorated with numerous orders – the only survivor from that village. Demobilization found Fyodor Ezhov in Moldavia. And now he was a minor party official. Every day, he would carefully read all the party newspapers from the first to the last line, understanding little or nothing of what he was reading but, unlike the girl’s father, never questioning a thing, including commas.

      And the girl’s father, who was quick-witted and about everything had an opinion of his own, preferred to keep it to himself in Ezhov’s company – just to be on the safe side.