2. An Acquaintance from the Youth
Stephan turned back to his recent past with pain. Everything used to be so tidy and free
of unneeded intellectual effort. One, second, and third marriage. A three-time widow. He
was sad that he did not have those wonderful women who used to feed his ego with
attention and almost flattering anymore. He and his children, in search for a peculiar
complacence, did not notice how they had somehow drifted apart.
The third widowing happened after a short, two-year marriage. With no suffering and
unnecessary complaints. The woman had wasted away and died. She was a petty
remain of the passed beauty and refinement. She remained grateful for their mutual
experience and left her property to him. That was what Stephan had wanted her to do.
At that moment he was growing older, too. Even faster than he thought. His vain
masculine nature was merciless in the mirror. An old man with a sunken chest was
looking at him there. The expensive suit was extending around his skinny figure. Faded
eyes. Humble look…
What could be done? Properties and bank account – full. Garages with good limos. He
needed just one if he wanted to drop by the sea residence that his last wife had left to
him… But what could he do there? To stare at the sea lonely and empty. Jewelries are
dinging in one beautiful box… They are easy to be sold. He wanted to sell, to sell… the
wallet is new. She was the one who bought it for him. There, in the middle of Rome, in
the Lui Vuton Boutique. Dusty pictures by painters famous in Bulgaria are hanging on
the walls… He has a beautiful cellphone that has been staying quiet for three months…
And winter outside does not sooth. It keeps emptying his soul… The evening press the
arms and the eyes… They have no job to do. He has not been out just like that for a
long time… The daughter and the son-in-law are skiing. The son is with his next
beloved on a warm trip…. Yes, indeed, he’d better walk around. He put on his stylish
neat overcoat. Bought also by Jhana. It turned out to be the most favorite one during the
whole two years of marriage. Going out is the salvation this evening… and he left.
There was a baked pumpkin stale on the pavement. He was about to buy a piece of it
when he remembered that he could have some stomach problems if the pumpkin was
old. The nearby trolley station seemed friendly to him… So many people. With their
bags, packs, and bouquets… He looked around. There was no person in the darkness.
What did he need a bouquet for? His legs fetched him to the café where he and Jhana
used to sit in every once in a while… He definitely missed that woman… And he is a bit
after his seventy. Who would look at him?
The thought of visiting a nice concert came into his mind. But Jhana was not there to
take care for the tickets. There were many smiling at each other people in the café… He
saw a seat available at the corner of the venue. It seemed cozy to him. He asked about
the place. The old woman who was sitting there turned around and just nodded. “Are
you sure I won’t bother you?” – he whispered. The woman was busy with the chicken
chops serving. She nodded again friendly. She was focused on her phone.
The woman turned to the phone screen: “OK, it’s a deal. Bring just a new flowerpot in
order to avoid a mold in the present one.” Stephen realized he was not interested in
flowers… He stared at the friendly audience. Jhana and he used to come here often.
They had something to eat and then went to their business… Usually it was going back
to their boring apartment…. “Well, and there is not a single flower at our place,” –
Stephen thought. He turned to the woman and asked her for the menu. She passed it to
him. А familiar gesture. She ate her meal and slowly took a sip of water. Mineral one.
She was ready for the bill. The waiter came and she paid her bill. The boy turned to
Stephen and along with the question for his order he asked him why he had not come
for a long time. And where the beautiful lady was. “She died a month ago” – Stephan
murmured. The woman turned around and startled. She shared her condolences and
went out immediately. Stephan could not even react. When the waiter brought his order,
Stephan noticed the beautiful phone on the table. There was no one whom to give it to.
The waiter was at the other end of the venue, laughing with the sitting nearby clients…
The phone is silent, the evening is growing older… he decided to take the beautiful
phone and to find a way to give it back to its owner. He was not sure what the sitting
around drunk people could do with it. He took his change and went out. Back on the
pavement, he decided to buy a piece of pumpkin. It was the right season for it. Then he
started for his home. He looked at the mailbox just out of habit. It was empty. The
elevator brought him to the fourth floor with a squeak.
Back in the hallway, he took the puffy overcoat of an expensive tweed off. An unknown
woman’s phone was rolling around its pocket… He slowly turned the TV news on, and
bile and bullshit passed through him… He turned the TV to some concert… Jhana
would have bought tickets… Buu-ut… He looked around. There was a photo of the last
wife who had passed away on the old sideboard. There was an empty candlestick by it
and he did not even remember to buy a flower and to put it in the little vase. There was
no a single flower in the whole apartment…
There was only a phone in his pocket. A phone of an unknown woman who was about
to plant some flower in a new flowerpot… Stephen sighed. Tomorrow he will decide how
to give the phone back to the silent stranger.
And this Stephen has been an acquaintance of mine since our youth…
