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GRADMA SHURA: So why are you asking me, you fool? Go, otherwise by the time you limp across to get home, she will sell your mother’s house. You’ll be a hobo, dearie!
Grandma Shura laughed. However, Nikolai didn’t find it funny. KOLYA (completely sobered up): Wait a minute, Grandma Shura. Are you sure? Is Mashka really here? She hasn’t come since we… well… since our mother was buried…
GRANDMA SHURA (with sympathy): Well, I know. Grandma Shura knows everything. I’m telling you, she has just arrived. I bet.
KOLYA: I don’t care a damn about your bets! Why did Masha come? Kolya seemed to ask this question not to Grandma Shura but to himself.
GRANDMA SHURA (pretending not to know about the bad relations between brother and sister): What’s wrong? Has she arrived or not – who cares?
KOLYA: Well, she and I, let’s say, don’t get along. Cos she slinked out to the city and left me with my sick mother. Alone. I can’t forgive her for this, Grandma Shura, I can’t!
GRANDMA SHURA (taking Nikolai’s palm into her hands): Why are you telling me this, Kolenka? I remember everything. The name of the disease is… foreign… pattypan, or what?
KOLYA (corrected her): Parkinson’s.
GRANDMA SHURA (didn’t catch): Parkisyan! Exactly. You went through much, sonny, one wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy. And what about Masha? Did she say anything in exuse?
KOLYA (smirking): She said it! “I wanted to find a cure for this parkinsonism,” said she. All the scientists in the world can’t come up with this, but she left to get it. A genius from the village!
The guy waved his hand expressively.
KOLYA: Grandma Shura, by heaven, I don’t even remember her. I don’t wanna see her. I won’t go home. I’ll sleep in the thicklets, if needed.
GRANDMA SHURA: Bad idea. You should go and have a look. She’s a city girl now, your Masha. Hell knows what they have in their heads, these city girls. She will sell the house and drain you dry. Go, Kolya, go.
KOLYA (nervously): The hell with you, Grandma Shura, I’ll go. Grandma SHURA: So go now.
And Kolya headed for his house. Grandma Shura continued her way, carefully looking around in order not to miss any significant events that could happen in the village that day.
Scene 5
Maria entered the empty house of her parents. The fact that the doors were wide open did not surprise the girl: her brother Kolya had not closed them for a long time. He wasn’t afraid of thieves because he had nothing valuable there for a long time. Perhaps except for the books in the closet that Masha and Kolya read from cover to cover in their troublefree childhood; and a CD collection with chess training sessions, which helped young Nikolai rise from a beginner to a regional champion in this sport. Masha looked at the old things and slowly plunged into memories of her childhood. Fragments of her life came to her.
She sees herself and Kolya sitting at the kitchen table. She is ten, he is even younger. While the mother stands with her back to them and finishes baking the pancakes, a serious battle breaks out between the children. Masha holds a large tablespoon in her hand; next to her is a bowl of apricot jam. Nikolay is armed with a teaspoon, his task is to reach for the bowl and get at least a spoonful of jam. But Masha carefully guards her wealth, so Kolya can do nothing. In despair, her brother produces a growing roar. The mother turns around, looks at what is happening, slaps Maria on the head, takes the jam from her and gives it to Kolya. Having completed the rescue mission, the mother continues frying pancakes. Masha gives Kolya a menacing gaze and intimidates him with a gesture: she runs the thumb of her right hand across her throat. After that, Kolya’s appetite disappears completely, and he silently moves the bowl of jam towards his senior sister.
In the next memory, Masha is a teenager. First, she sees herself in her room where a poster featuring Angelina Jolie hangs on the wall. It’s about the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Masha packs her clothes, placing them tightly in a hiking backpack.
Her mother and Kolya see her off at the bus station.
MOTHER: Maybe you’ll take your brother with you?
MASHA (speaks in her mother’s ear for Kolya not to hear): Great-grandfather told me to come alone. “I don’t have anything to talk about with this slobbering chess player,” said he.
Masha nods her head in her brother’s direction. Mother looks sadly at Kolya and sighs heavily.
An old bus arrived. Masha got into it, sat comfortably by the window and waved her hand to her mother and brother, smiling happily. They waved back, and, when the bus moved towards the city, slowly walked home.
In the next shot Masha saw the adult Kolya rushing around the house, kicking things on the floor and sweeping everything off the tables. She sat in a chair and silently watched her brother’s nervous breakdown. Maria broke the silence only when Nikolay noisily threw on the floor a rack of cups, diplomas and medals he had received during his career as a chess player.
MASHA: Stop it! What are you doing?! What do your cups have in common with it?
KOLYA: The fact that only they were dear to her! A fat lot you cared whether I succeeded or not, and my great-grandfather always made fun of me. Do you want to hear the truth? I hate chess! I played it only because my mother’s eyes shone with happiness when I brought home another piece of paper or medal. I was ready to do anything for her! And now she’s gone! I have nothing! And I have nobody beside me now!
Nikoly continued to destroy everything around him.
Masha returned to reality. She brushed away tears that gathered at the corners of her eyes and slowly flowed down her cheeks.
Blinking energetically to remove the liquid accumulated in her eyes, Maria began cleaning. She started by sorting the things lying in the middle of the hall. Among them, the girl discovered a heap of empty vodka bottles. After that, Maria found a broom, wrapped a rag around it and began to remove the cobwebs that enveloped every corner and chandelier in the house. Having finished this stage of cleaning, Maria sat down to rest. She still had a lot of work ahead, so the girl decided to save her strength.
Scene 6
Shifting feet near his house door, Kolya didn’t dare enter it. He decided to gain time in the hope that Maria would not wait for him and leave for the city. So Nikolai left the village borders and found himself in a private plot that belonged to eighty-nine-year-old Stepan Fyodorovich, where his pretty granddaughter Alina lived with him.
Stopping at the gate, Kolya felt exhausted. Leaning on one of the pillars, he attracted the owner’s attention.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (quite severely): Good day to you, Nikolai! As far as I remember, during our previous meeting, someone promised to quit this whole matter. Or maybe there was nothing like that?
KOLYA: Yes it was, it was, Stepan Fyodorovich. I remember everything. But doctors say you can’t quit quickly: your body will suffer an enormous shock.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (with a grin): I see! Well, since the doctors said this, don’t hurry. You can quit like that for fifty years! That’s fine: you quit and drink. It’s a dream, not a cure!
KOLYA (massaging his temples with his fingers): Stop kidding, old man!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (seriously): I’m not making fun of you, Nikolai. You’re a good guy, but drinking will ruin you.
Kolya treated Stepan Fyodorovich with respect, so his words and stern tone made the guy come to his senses and feel a little better.
KOLYA: I know, Stepan Fyodorovich. Yes, I’ll quit… I’ll definitely quit!… Only let me come to my senses. You know how my mother died… Well, you know.
Kolya fell silent and thought. Stepan Fyodorovich was also silent.
KOLYA: You better tell me how are things with you. Any news? Haven’t seen you for ages.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (upset): Alas, I have a rough time too, Nikolai. The bourgeoisie are putting pressure on me. They are putting pressure!
KOLYA (fussy, clenching his fists): Who is putting pressure on you? Why are they putting pressure?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (upset): Well, you know why, I told you.
KOLYA: Sorry, grandfather, I don’t remember.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (in a mocking tone): Of course you don’t remember! You need to drink more, you see, and you won’t even remember yourself.
KOLYA: That’s enough, grandfather. I said, I’ll quit! Let me know everything, maybe I can help you a little bit.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: It’s highly unlikely. There is a spring on my land, you might have heard about it?
KOLYA (with a grin): Of course, I heard. Who in our village hasn’t heard about it?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: The village is a trifle, but they in the capital found out about it, and now they are putting pressure on me through our chairman. They told me: “Sell the land”. How can I sell it? It’s the most precious thing I have… Well, after my granddaughter, of course…
KOLYA: tell them to go to hell!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: I’ve told them!
KOLYA: So what?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: “You’ll end up in a bad way”, old guy, they said.
KOLYA: Do you think they won’t get off your back?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: These sort of guys won’t. The deal smells like money, and these phizes love money, it shows.
KOLYA (patting the old man on the shoulder): Don’t be down. If hack and slash begin, my guys and I will stand up for you as one. You know it!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: I know, but how can you compete with these bulls? They have money, they will buy everything and everyone with it. What’s behind you?
KOLYA (hitting his palm with his fist): The truth is behind us, grandfather. Do you remember what the guy in the movie said: Truth is strength? It’s about us!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: Thank you, Kolya. You’re a good guy. But I’ll probably do it myself. I don’t want to put you in trouble.
At that moment Alina appeared on the porch. She was a slender, pretty girl about twenty-five with long curly light brown hair. She was wearing a light summer dress, showing the girl’s figure and making her bright appearance even more impressive.
Alina greeted Kolya with a nod. Nikolai didn’t nod back. He was struck by the girl’s beauty and didn’t hear what Stepan Fyodorovich was telling him.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (pulling Nikolai’s forearm): … Isn’t it true, Kolya?
KOLYA (comes to his senses, blinking): No fear, old man, we defeated the Germans, and we’ll cope with these ghouls!
Looked like Kolya’s final phrase hit the mark, because the old man nodded with satisfaction and squeezed the guy’s hand tightly. After that, Stepan Fyodorovich turned his back on Nikolai and slowly walked towards the house. Nikolai stood at the gate for a while, watching Alina gracefully cross the yard. He stood frozen until the girl disappeared behind one of the buildings in her grandfather’s large yard. Nikolai sighed sadly, straightened his tousled hair, and headed for his house, looking back now and then in hope of seeing Alina again.
Scene 7
Deciding that she had rested enough, Maria got up from the sofa, put on rubber gloves, took a bucket in one hand, a mop in another hand and headed to the bathroom. She heard the sound of the front door opening and closing with a bang, then footsteps, and a cough right behind her back. Maria stopped and froze, not daring to turn to the man who entered. Although she knew for sure, of course, that it was her brother Nikolai.
KOLYA (with schadenfreude): I wonder, I wonder, what is Your Excellency doing on our farters’ land? Have they really kicked you out of the institute?
MARIA (without turning around, looks out the window with wide eyes): Kolya, can we talk normally, like a brother and a sister? KOLYA: Hi there, don’t be my scare! You want to talk? So you should have come when our mother… well… was alive. There were so many topic points: medicines, and doctors, and “nobody needs me, Kolenka.” Why didn’t you come? We could talk a lot at the family table!
MARIA (calmly, but sternly): Kolya, I explained it to you a thousand times. I drove away because I wanted to help our mother. Living in the city, all I thought about was how to create this damn medicine to cure her. All the while I thought only about her. Isn’t it clear?
KOLYA (sadly, almost crying): Tell me this for the thousandth and first time. Probably mom will feel better. (He pointed his finger upward). Even on the death bed she repeated: “Masha, my Mashenka will come, and I will immediately feel better!” Mashenka didn’t come. She has arrived now. But she is five years late…
Maria still stood with her back to Kolya. Her eyes immediately filled with tears, and they rolled down her cheeks in large drops. After standing there for a few seconds, the girl moved to the bathroom, still not turning to face her brother.
Kolya was totally exhausted. Memories of his mother seemed to have taken most of his energy. He sat down heavily on the sofa, put his hands on the knees of his long legs, and gazed at something on the floor. Maria returned with a bucket of water, placed it in the center of the room and began sweeping out litter from the corners, using a homemade broom she had found in the entrance hall.
KOLYA (with squinty eyes): What are you doing?
MARIA (surprised): What do you mean? I’m cleaning the house!
KOLYA (with a drunken grin and disgusting voice): “I’m cleaning the house!” It’s the right word! It’s like I told you: “clear the house”, and you misheard me.
Kolya burst out laughing. Maria stared blankly at him. Kolya abruptly came up to the bucket of water, put his foot on the rim, and in one sharp movement dropped the bucket on its side, so all the water poured out onto the floor.
KOLYA (sarcastically): Clean the house, and then clear the house. I repeat for the slow-witted: clear the house means “get away from the house”!
And Kolya, looking at his sister with contempt, showed her the following gesture: with the help of the index and middle fingers of his right hand, he imitated steps. After these words, he left the house and walked towards the gate with his signature gait: slightly bending his legs at the knees and swinging his long arms.
MARIA (raising the bucket): I hate you! Dipso! Cocky mug! Scum! Pig! No, you’re even worse than a pig: it would be offended now! You should be the subject of our experiments. It’s you who must be chipped. Maybe you can come to your senses this way only?!
Suddenly it dawned on Maria. She straightened her back abruptly and dropped the bucket onto the floor again. Maria thought there were many candidates in the village who had nothing to lose, take at least Kolya’s friends, or rather his drinking buddies. This is a great fund for scientific experiments!
The girl hurried to look for her purse. Having discovered it, Maria took out her phone and selected Fyodor’s number. He picked up the phone almost immediately.
FYODOR (a surprised voice comes from the phone): Hello?!
MARIA: Hello, partner. You’d be surprised, but I need your help. I have an idea of how we can continue our research!
Scene 8
The intense quarrel with Nikolai did no good for Maria’s working spirits. For a long time, she paced back and forth, not knowing which way to turn. Finally, the girl sat down on the sofa again. Looking around the living room, she remembered what it looked like long ago, in her childhood. A scene from that time recurred to her again.
Masha is twelve. She stands in the living room. Everything around her is spotlessly clean, every subject is in its place. Mother comes in.
MOTHER (looks around, putting her palms together at chest level): My God, Mashenka! Did you do it all?
Maria nods, looking pleased.
MOTHER: That’s fine! Good for you! What about the kid’s room? Is it clean too?
Mother turns and goes to the children’s room. Maria’s face suddenly changes, and she runs to intercept her mother and prevent her from entering the room.
MASHA: Stop, mom. There… uh… it’s not done yet.
But mother had already pushed the door and saw that the nursery was a terrible mess.
Mother frowned and looked sternly at her daughter.
MASHA (avoiding her eyes, getting angry): Why are you looking like that? Kolya did this. He was meant to clean the nursery and I was meant to clean the living room. As you can see, he hasn’t even started.
MOTHER: And where is he?
MASHA: Where, where…somewhere! He had escaped to the street with his friend.
MOTHER: What Mityai do you mean?
MASHA: Sure, he’s with him. (Sighs.) Mom, after all, it’s all your fault!
