Boomerang of Happiness - 16

Anna honestly tried her hand at home making. Since her mother never taught her any house-keeping skills, Anna tried to simply replicate what her mother did around the apartment: cleaning, keeping things in places, and decorating with little nick-nacks. However, because she was neither invested nor really interested in this, everything Anna did was half-hazard and slipshod. Even when things were in their places, the apartment did not look orderly or well-organized. When Anna swept the floors (vacuum cleaners were a prohibitive luxury in the Soviet Union, especially for a young couple), she simply swept everything under the rugs and never washed the floors. The dishes she washed were as greasy and slippery as if they were never washed, just rinsed off sloppily. Whenever she decided to do laundry after they nearly ran out of everything they had clean, Anna would wash laundry by hand and then spread it for drying right in the apartment on chair backs, doors and other surfaces on which she could hang things. Alex was mostly oblivious to this, for him it was important that Anna was doing at least something. He tried not to argue with her about anything, especially because she continued complaining about everything.

Anna still pretended to be looking for a job, reporting to Alex almost every day how fruitless her efforts were. Until one day, when she heard a phone ring in their apartment while she was dreamily looking through the pages of the Burda fashion magazine she had received from her mother in the mail. She picked up the phone, hoping that it would be her mother, with her almost daily call.

“Good afternoon, this is Colonel Grushevsky with the Border Guards,” a deep and low commanding male voice said on the other side. “Am I speaking with Anna?”

“Yes,” she said feebly, trying to figure out what it could be about.

“Our accountant just announced that she will be taking an early maternal leave in a week. Morning sickness and all, you know…”

“A-ha,” Anna said, mostly to support the conversation.

“She is only four months pregnant, but the pregnancy is really hard on her, as she said, the doctor recommended bed rest, so she will be leaving us soon.”

“A-ha,” Anna said again.

“So, your husband Alex told me you are an accountant looking for a job?”

“Did he now?” Anna said, finally putting things together.

“Yes,” the male voice confirmed authoritatively. “Would you be interested in stepping into this job? Obviously, it’s only temporary, until our accountant comes back after the child is born. By law, we must keep this position for her, as you know.”

“Yes, I understand,” Anna said. She indeed knew all the intricacies of the Soviet labor laws as she had to deal with them often. But she didn’t really know if she wanted to work. She waited for the colonel to continue. The pause was getting a little too long. He obviously expected some reaction from her, but Anna made an enormous effort not to speak, just thinking through the options in her head.

“Alex told me you are a good accountant,” the colonel added. “We would really appreciate your help.”

“A-ha,” Anna said again. “Tell me honestly, did my husband put you up to this?”

“What do you mean?” the colonel said, surprised.

“He has been nagging me to get a job ever since we moved here,” Anna said casually, as if she was speaking with her mother or a girlfriend she never had. “Did he ask you to do this, to call me with this offer?”

“No, of course not,” he said firmly. “He just mentioned that you were a good accountant looking for a job and we now have this situation where we need one…”

“Like it’s a total coincidence,” Anna said.

“Absolutely,” the colonel confirmed. “We were happy with our accountant, but someone has to keep the books and inventory in order…”

“How did you get my number?” Anna asked suspiciously, still thinking Alex had something to do with the call.

“You are living in the Border Guards institutional housing, dear,” the colonels said in a tone suggesting no further explanation was needed, but added just in case, “I was the one who ordered your phone re-installed. So, are you interested or not?”

Anna thought she heard a slight note of irritation in his voice, but nevertheless asked, “May I think about it a little?”

“What’s there to think about?” the colonel said, now not hiding his irritation. “It’s a temporary job, not a major career decision. But sure, if you need time you can think about it. But keep in mind, if I don’t hear from you in two days, we will have to announce this job vacancy.”

“Alright,” Anna replied, “I will definitely let you know before then.”

After he hung up, Anna thought about this call until Alex came home from work. The first thing she asked him was, “So, I got this call from some Border Guards colonel about a job. Do you know anything about it?”

Alex looked genuinely surprised, “No. What kind of a job?”

“Apparently, their accountant is pregnant and will be taking an early leave because of the severe morning sickness and problems with her pregnancy. They need a substitute.”

“That’s great news!” Alex said excitedly. Anna doubted he could fake his enthusiasm like this. “That is, it’s bad news for her, with the problematic pregnancy and all. But good for you, right?”

“I really don’t know,” Anna said, still probing. “It’s temporary. I’ll have to vacate it once their accountant decides to return to work. It can be just months but it can also be a couple of years.”

“Even so, a temporary job is better than no job at all,” Alex said. “Did you say yes?”

“I said I’d think about it,” Anna replied.

“What’s there to think about?” Alex said. Anna immediately thought how all men think in similar ways. “It’s better than sitting at home doing nothing. You can make new friends and do something you know how to do. Maybe you’ll be a little happier here then.”

“All right, I’ll call him back tomorrow to say yes,” Anna said. She was not particularly excited but she knew it would be difficult to simply refuse it, Alex would not understand.

Next morning, Anna called colonel Grushevsky and said she is ready to take on the job. He said dryly that he was glad to hear that and instructed her to get in touch with the human resources. For some reason, she thought he was colder and more matter-of-fact with her than on the initial call. But then she called the human resources and made arrangement to go to work in a week. She was not looking forward to it and for the rest of the week did nothing around the apartment chores or cooking, as if gasping her last draws of freedom.

To Part 17

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