How does she know me?

In the 80s I worked as a department store manager. At that time it was in a very good position. We lived well. 4-room apartment in the center of the resort town, house outside the city, husband, beautiful daughter. Yes, yes, in that order. The material side of life interested me the most. I measured everything and everything in money. I even mistreated my mother. My mother lived in the village with her drunken husband.

She asked me to take her to her place, but I refused her. I was ashamed in front of my friends for the fact that my mother was rustic, uncultured.

One day my family and I went out of town for a weekend. Our house stood next to the forest, and there was a well in the forest, water was taken from there. I went to get water and met my grandmother there, who was trying to pull a bucket out of the well. I stand and wait for her to pull out the bucket. Grandma turned to me without even turning her head in my direction.

Well, Lena, aren't you also going to help me, an elderly woman? You see, I've become weak, I can't get the bucket out.

And you take half a bucket.

And then it comes to me: "How does she know me?"Grandma turned her head, it was my mother at an advanced age, all wrinkled. My mother was not even 50 years old at that time. And this grandmother looked like she was 90 years old. I stood there and couldn't believe my eyes! And my grandmother tells me:

Half a bucket, you say? Now, Lena, you will live half of your life!

Grandma pulled the rope with force and pulled out the bucket, and the water in the bucket was kind of muddy, gray. I stood rooted to the spot. Grandma went into the woods. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I was scared, I felt sorry for myself at that moment!

Without going into details, I will say that six months later I bought a car, borrowed money for it at interest from local bandits. Soon I was fired from my job, and on the same day my husband had an accident and crashed his car. There was nothing to pay the bandits, and the interest began to drip. I had to sell my house outside the city. But this money was not enough. My husband left me. I was looking for a decent job.

It was 1991. Anyone who remembers that time will understand how difficult it was to get a job, and, of course, I needed a decent job. In short, a year and a half later, my daughter and I were already living with my mother in the village. The bandits took my apartment away from me. I left the apartment with my daughter in what we were wearing, and that's it!

We didn't live with my mom for long, my stepfather beat me up, and my mother got me drunk and kicked me out of the house. His daughter stayed with them, he didn't touch her, he loved her, he didn't have children of his own, but he always dreamt of a daughter.

I came to my resort town with a truck driver.

For the next 7 years I lived in a landfill. Yes, yes, I lived in a landfill, ate what I found in piles of freshly prepared garbage. I remember with sadness that I once used only French cosmetics, wore silk robes and often dined in a restaurant. And now I eat bread with mold, walk around in someone's discarded underwear and rejoice when I manage to find whole underpants of my size, drink vodka from a mug with a broken handle. I still felt sorry for myself!

One day I went to a city where I was hit by a car. I spent 1.5 months in the hospital. Once a girl was brought to the hospital, she looked like my daughter. The girl needed a kidney transplant. I learned from the nurses that she had no relatives, those who could give her their kidneys. In general, now I have one kidney.

After the operation, I had a dream in which I was kneeling by a well in the forest. Grandma stood with her back to me and tried to pull the bucket out of the well. I offered to help her. She answered me:

Well, I'll manage on my own. That's who you are, look at you. How can you help me? and she laughed.

She pulled out the bucket with ease. She turned to face me, and her face was young. The most ordinary girl.

Veronica (the girl I gave the kidney to) helped me get back on my feet. I didn't go back to the dump anymore. At first I lived with Veronica, worked as a salesman in a store, then rented an apartment. When everything got better, I went to my mother in the village. Strangers lived in my mom's house, they told me that my mom died a year ago, and my stepfather died 5 years ago. My daughter got married, sold her house and went to the city with her husband.

I found my daughter 4 years ago. I came to her, I thought she wouldn't let me in. Let me in. We sat with her and talked. She doesn't hold a grudge against me. I asked her:

Maybe, daughter, what do you need? So tell me, and I'll do anything for you.

Well, I'll manage on my own. That's who you are, look at you. How can you help me?

The hair on my head was already moving from her answer.