Reunited After 25 Years 48: Rainy Day

Anton and Andrea arrived back in Gloucester in mid-afternoon on a brisk, cool February day. Denny picked them up from the train station and drove them home. Then Anton went next door to pick Malinka up from Sally and Rick's house.

He returned a few minutes later to find his wife sitting on the sofa watching a gardening program. He sat beside her and put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Quite a change in the weather between New Orleans and here, isn't it?" she remarked.

"You think it is cold here." He laughed. "It is not cold here."

"No, not compared to Siberia." They both laughed. Another gardening program followed the one they were watching, and then a wildlife program came on after that. Then it was dinnertime.

"If you like, I will get ingredients and make stroganoff again," Anton offered.

"Sounds yummy," Andrea replied.

It started raining about thirty minutes after he'd left. Andrea turned the TV off and turned the radio to a jazz and soft rock station. She sang along with Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis while she did crafts and lost all track of time as the storm raged outside. After awhile, she noticed that almost an hour had passed and Anton still wasn't home.

Anxious, she put the crafts aside and went to stand beside the window, staring out into the storm. A shiver went through her as she heard thunder. Mentally she prepared herself for another telephone call from the hospital saying that her husband had been in another wreck.

At last she heard the key turn in the lock and, dizzy with relief, ran to open the door. Anton stood there dripping wet, holding several plastic bags. "Let me get dry first." He laughed as she tried to embrace him. "I do not want you to get wet as well."

He set the bags on the table and went into the bathroom to change clothes. When he emerged she ran to him and embraced him. "I was so worried!"

"No need to be worried." He chuckled and kissed her forehead. "The store did not have everything I need. I had to go to three different stores to find everything I need. Then it started to rain. That did not help, of course."

"Well, did you finally find everything you needed?"

"At last I found everything. Now I can make you a meal you will not forget." He waved Andrea away, and she went back into the living room to watch TV. Soon delicious smells wafted from the kitchen.

"The stroganoff is ready," Anton announced after awhile. By that time Andrea was starving and began to eat very quickly.

"Save room for dessert," Anton laughed.

"You mean you made dessert too?"

"Of course I made dessert!"

After they'd finished eating and cleaned up, Anton proudly bore a clear glass dish containing a white substance with a chocolate covering to the table. He sliced the substance into squares and placed one square onto a plate for Andrea. It had the consistency of gelatin. It tasted very creamy, sweet, and smooth, with just a subtle hint of sourness.

"It's very nice!" she exclaimed. "What is it?"

"Ptichye Moloko. Bird's milk."

By now it was very late, so they cleaned up, watched an hour or two of TV, then went to bed, where they made love and then drifted off to sleep wrapped in one another's arms.

The first weekend in March was unseasonably cold, and there was even snow, which canceled out Anton and Andrea's plans to visit the flea market.

"I probably wouldn't have felt like going anyway," Andrea said. "I've got a splitting headache."

"Poor baby." Anton massaged his wife's temples.

"That feels so nice," she moaned. He chuckled.

An hour or two later Andrea's headache finally eased, and she got up, dressed, and ate a light breakfast.

"I may as well get some housework done," she said. Some of the decorations along the wall were too high up for her to reach, so she had to climb on a ladder to dust them.

While doing so she suddenly felt very dizzy. She clung to the ladder but lost her grip, and Anton caught her just before she hit the floor.