Imprint of Heart. Illumination with love. Elena Speranskaya

the heart.”

      Lucy’s parents were blind. They lost sight during the war, were brought up in a boarding school, and there they met. Together they entered the university, helped each other at school, graduated from high school, got married. Lucy was the second child in the family. Her brother Vladimir was seven years older. With him, Lucy had a good relationship, since Vladimir grew up independent and purposeful. He graduated from the geological department of the university, married a girl named Lucy, too; they had a son. Vladimir decently earned and, as soon as he married, went to his wife. Soon Vladimir received an apartment. His life was arranged as best as possible.

      3. Alexey

      After the completion of the State Examinations, a banquet was held in the restaurant, in a low circular room with sparkling walls. Glittering parquet. Glittering chandeliers. Glittering white tablecloth. Sparkling glasses.

      The whole day was unusual and full of adventure. So it stayed until the end… They will have dinner in a restaurant. In the restaurant! This one word caressed an ear. It was much more pleasant Lucy to think about the restaurant than to recall the worries experienced and realize that now the former students already graduated soon will part and perhaps forever.

      At the table, everyone was quiet and felt at first uncomfortable. But the girls were given absolutely new, specially tailored dresses and shoes that had never been worn before. The guys did not lag behind the girls. Smart, festive suits and shirts were very much corresponded towards their young and happy faces. Lucy was a bit scary… The atmosphere was solemn, as if in a temple!

      People were not enough in the beginning. Their table stood at all in sight, as on the stage, in the very center of the hall. Performed dignity waiters carried dishes and put drinks. At the beginning they brought ragout, and then served a meat assortment. On the table there were already sandwiches with black caviar and balyk – smoked fish, spring salads with fresh vegetables. Among the fruits there were grapefruits and apples. Separately there were served fried pieces of rabbit and chicken in oil. At the dessert – coffee with ice cream and candy.

      Everybody were satisfied with assortment, this was the merit of Lucy, as she had previously agreed on the arrangement of the banquet, so she worried more than others. But when everything went off as smoothly as possible, Lucy sighed with relief. Now everything would be okay if she knew how to behave, where to put her hands: to keep on her knees or lean on the edge of the table? Lucy was in the restaurant for the first time, so everything was new and unusual for her. Yuri never invited to a restaurant, and in general, Lucy was negative about alcohol, preferring only dry wines, which was not enough on the table: only six bottles of dry and two bottles of champagne. “Boys” ordered separately cognac for themselves.

      Several hours flew by unnoticed, as if someone had specially accelerated time. Dusk fell outside the windows. Lucy looked around the room. All the tables were occupied. On the stage musicians appeared, the hall came to life, the light of the chandeliers became less bright, multicolored lights jumped on the walls. Everyone cheered up. Stiffness disappeared somewhere, life seemed simple and carefree, as if there was only happiness ahead of all, and grieves and sorrows are the destiny of other people.

      Lucy danced almost all the dances, except those when she simply physically tired and could not get up from the chair; in this case she had to refuse.

      At one point, she thought that she saw Yuri when he appeared in the foyer of the restaurant with a girl. Apparently, they wanted to get into the hall, but they came too late. There were no more places. He also saw her, recognized and became doubly annoyed. She did not look the same as he used to see her, but surrounded by cute guys whose presence Lucy was not indifferent… She just sparkled with beauty and youth in a dark-maroon, tight-fitting figure, a dress with a white collar of lace, in white sandals. In the ears of Lucy were gold earrings with rubies gleamed. On the head there was a high hairstyle, done in advance at the hairdresser.

      Yuri immediately wanted to continue acquaintance with her, and he seemed to be ready to leave his companion, which was a burden to him, but it was too late. Lucy did not even pay attention to him.

      That night she was in shock, she laughed incessantly, talked a lot. She was very dizzy from the champagne, and she seemed to have forgotten all the hard things she had experienced: both her mother’s death and illness, and a forced break in her studies, and a break up with Yuri. She believed in tomorrow, in her future interesting work at the plant, where she received direction, in love, in happiness. That was great! Be able to overcome all adversity and come out victorious in a fight with life. This evening, she seemed to have realized and experienced all over again, so as not to repeat, perhaps, the mistakes made to her, but to go always with her head held high.

      At the height of the evening, a young man of pleasant appearance approached her, about twenty-seven years old, fair-haired, in a fashionable suit. He immediately liked Lucy. They met. The guy was called Alexey Izmailov. He worked at the plant as a programmer. About himself Alexey said that he graduated from college, left the army, and then returned to the plant.

      As it turned out, Alexey worked at the plant where Lucya received the direction for the distribution of vacant seats. This fact was very pleased a girl. Now it was not so terrible to appear in the new factory team, at least one familiar person. All subsequent dances Alexey did not depart from her, accompanied Lucy home in a taxi. On the road, he told her a lot about the plant. He found himself in a restaurant on the occasion of his friend’s birthday. Lucy felt that Alex liked her, but she did not want to stay ahead of the event, as she was afraid, he would not want to meet her if he realized that his presence was also not uninteresting to her.

      The evening was warm. After the heat of the day and the stuffiness of the restaurant it was pleasant to walk from the taxi to the house. Lucy realized that he was very fond of his country when he served in the army.

      “Why do not you want to continue studying at the Technical University?” Lucy asked insolently when they stopped near the entrance.

      “This is not the time,” Alexey said shortly and hesitated a little.

      Lucy did not ask why “not time” and when there will be time, as she feared that the friend was offended. They parted friends and agreed to meet on Saturday and go for a walk.

      Rising to her room on the fourth floor, Lucy immediately laid down her bed and lay down. Her father was already asleep. It was about midnight. Usually, returning from somewhere late, Lucy found her father waiting for her, but today he knew that his daughter had the final banquet and was calm. He completely trusted her. Lucy was a good daughter. She often shared her interests with her father, talked about her troubles and worries. Father morally could always support Lucy and calm her. She often read aloud or together they listened to a tape recorder with recordings of radio shows and performances.

      Lucy could not sleep for a long time, because she was very excited: the banquet, the appearance of Yuri, unexpected success, a new pleasant acquaintance with the man who immediately liked her. All this together for a long time swirled in the girl’s head and a loving heart pounded in rhythm.

      In the morning she did not want to get out of bed. Yes, in general, she could relax a little, because there was a lot of work to be done, and it was necessary to approach it with all thoroughness. Lucy had a two-month vacation after taking the exams. During August she had to start work. A good rest is necessary for a full-blooded work with the greatest impact. She wanted to stay a week in the city, and then go to the Crimea and from there to Moscow. But she did not want to go to the Crimea alone, therefore agreed in advance with my two friends – students of the medical institute – Olga and Irene, who studied in the same group, about the trip. They bought tickets beforehand, so could calmly gather and prepare for their departure. All three lived next door and often met with each other.

      Accidentally, Lucy ran into Alex twice. Once they went to the movies, and the second – just so walked along the street. He was not talkative on the last date. They met at the corner, near the trolleybus stop. There were many