The Smart Girl

Nina explained the matter to her in a few words.

“So that’s it?” cried out Lydia Grigorievna. “All this horror is about that? Ah, Zhenya, Zhenya! Keeping me in the dark – how nice is that? …”

She was shaking her head, holding it in her hands.

“If only he had told me, I would’ve managed to talk him into it.”

Nina rather doubted that, but she was pleased to see that another soul was worried about her father as much as she was.

“But there’s no way we can take it up with him now,” said Lydia Grigorievna with conviction. “Do you agree, Nina?”

“I do,” Nina uttered mechanically. She was still having a headache, and every word took her a lot of effort to say.

“We wait. Things will get fixed somehow in time. The main thing now is to give him every care and attention. Right?”

“Yes, that’s right – except for the small matter of him losing the company and not getting a penny out of it,” Nina thought.

Aloud, she said, “Lydia Grigorievna, it is necessary that papa make out a power of attorney so that Nikolai Nikolayevich can conduct the current operations.”

“A power of attorney?” Lydia Grigorievna reflected. “Can Nikolai Nikolayevich use it to sell the company?”

“No. That would take a general power of attorney which papa will not give to anyone, I’m sure. What I am talking about is a limited power of attorney good for running the daily business of the company. Papa can give it to Nikolai Nikolayevich or to you, it does not matter. Somebody has to sign the payroll.”

“I’ll talk to him about that,” promised Lydia Grigorievna. “If you ask me, though, this damned company should better burn.”

During the next few days, Nina was not able to go to the hospital as she was up to her eyes in work preparing her quarterly report in the bank. She would very much like it to be her last report on that job, although she had not yet found herself a new one.

On the fourth day, she had a call from Lydia Grigorievna – the woman asked Nina to come to the hospital.

Nina got frightened. “Is something up?”

“Nothing’s up, God forbid,” reassured Lydia Grigorievna. “It’s just your presence is needed here. Can you make eleven o’clock tomorrow?”

When Nina arrived, Lydia Grigorievna caught her in the lobby.

“Don’t you be surprised, Nina. And please, say ‘yes’.”

“Say ‘yes’ to what?”

“You’ll know right away. Sorry for this secrecy, but papa wanted to tell you everything himself, and speaking on the phone is a bit hard for him yet.”

They entered the room. Besides Yevgeniy Borisovich and his bypassed neighbor, there was another man in there – dressed in a suit, with a briefcase in his hands, he was sitting in a corner, obviously waiting for them.

“Here, Nina, please meet our notary.” Lydia Grigorievna introduced the two of them to each other.

The notary suggested that they all get seated and then announced in an official tone, “Dear Nina Yevgenievna, I am entrusted by Yevgeniy Borisovich Kisel, who is present here, to execute a power of attorney authorizing you to exercise the management of the company.”

“Me? Why me? I thought it was going to be Nikolai Nikolayevich…”

Suddenly she heard her father’s voice which she had hardly ever heard in the past weeks.

“That’s decided, Nina. Of course, you should have the power of attorney, who else? You know the company’s affairs better than anyone. My Nikolai is just a technician; he doesn’t know anything outside his pipes and pumps. Same as me, though…”

Somehow it had never occurred to Nina that her father might entrust her with the management of the company. But now that she knew it, she had to admit that it was the right decision.

Lydia Grigorievna was nodding and smiling to her, signaling in every way that she approved of the idea.

Nina said that she did not mind.

The notary started reading out the document which gave Nina a power of attorney. It took a few minutes.

On finishing the reading, the notary said, “Well, if everything’s correct, may you please sign here.”

He handed the paper to Yevgeniy Borisovich. However, Nina’s father was lingering. Leaning back on the pillows, he was gazing at the ceiling in silence.

The pause hung heavily. Worried, Lydia Grigorievna touched his hand and looked into his face.

“Zhenya…”

Yevgeniy Borisovich stirred.

“No,” he said. “Not correct. It has to be a general power of attorney. I wish to give a general power of attorney to my daughter, Nina Yevgenievna Shuvalova.”

Lydia Grigorievna opened her mouth in surprise. Nina’s heart missed a beat. Only the notary who was accustomed to any whims of his clients, remained unperturbed. After some rummaging in his briefcase, he produced a standard form for a general power of attorney. It took him no more than a minute to write in the title of the company and the names of the parties.

Nina was peering at her father’s face. Without a word, Yevgeniy Borisovich started signing the document in silence. One could hear the soft scratching of the pen on the paper.

On signing everything, Nina’s father gave the paper back to the notary. The notary put his stamp on it and handed the document to Nina.

Her father moved his lips, but Nina could not catch anything.

“Did you say something?”

Without looking at her, Yevgeniy Borisovich uttered tonelessly, “You may sell, if you think it right.”

Then, leaning his head towards Lydia Grigorievna, he said, “Lyda, I’m feeling kind of tired.”

Lydia Grigorievna jumped up and, pouring excuses, shooed everyone out of the room.

Right from the hospital hall, Nina made a call to Gradstroiinvest. She was put through to Konstantin, and as soon as she identified herself, he invited her, without asking any questions, to have a meeting with him in his office.

Nina paid a visit to Gradstroiinvest the next day. She did not know what she expected to find there. It was her enemies’ headquarters – the very place where they had devised plots against her father which had nearly killed him. Did she expect to find some kind of pirates’ lair with competitors’ skulls hung on the walls? However, what she found was a nice, well-organized business outfit where everything, including the furniture, equipment, and employees impressed her as sound and efficient.

Konstantin came out to meet her and led her to his office. The office was good, too – light, spacious, decorated in high-tech style. On the wall hung an enlarged photo of two guys in a kayak going through rapids on a mountain stream. A medley of arms and paddles, a wall of water spray with a rainbow, cheerful young faces… In one of the kayakers, Konstantin could easily be recognized.

Konstantin asked Nina to sit down, offered her drinks, and then said, “Dear Nina Yevgenievna, we have heard of the disease of Yevgeniy Borisovich. Please accept our deepest sympathy. I hope Yevgeniy Borisovich will be better soon.”

Nina was unable to sort out her own feelings. In the recent months, Gradstroiinvest had been constantly on her mind – as a vicious, hostile force that had put inexorable pressure on her father and his company. Many times she sent curses at the address of Konstantin and those behind him. As she was going to his office, she was afraid that she would not be able to contain herself – that she would yell at the man, or worse still, scratch up his face. However, when she found herself face to face with Konstantin, she somehow could not focus her anger on him. The man she saw before her was not some kind of movie villain but quite the reverse, a decent person – intelligent, well-mannered man of business. He was a man of business – that was the main thing. He nourished no hostility towards Nina’s father, and the pressure campaign that he had organized was simply his current work. He might be genuinely upset by the misfortune that had befallen a man under whom he had once started his career. He sympathized with Yevgeniy Borisovich and Nina, but he was not going to give up his plans.

Without responding to Konstantin’s sympathies, Nina took out and laid before him the document giving her a general power of attorney.

Konstantin read it carefully and said, “I see.”

Nina decided not to beat about the bush. “You have my agreement to sell the company,” she said firmly.

Konstantin did not display any emotions. He only said again, “I see.” One might think that he had long expected Nina to arrive and say exactly that. He apologized, picked up the phone handset and said into it, “Get Revich to come down here. Let him bring the contract.”

Revich was the chief accountant whom Nina remembered from their meeting at the fair. Once in Konstantin’s office, the accountant put a thin file on the table before his boss and sat silently aside.

Konstantin handed the file to Nina, “This is a draft contract. Please acquaint yourself with it.”

Nina took the file. Her hands were shaking slightly.

Konstantin said, “Of course, we do not expect you to sign at once. You need to study everything carefully and consult a lawyer.”

“Yes, of course,” replied Nina. “But if you don’t mind, I’d rather have a first look at it now in order to get a general idea. Maybe I’ll have some questions to ask right away…”

“Very good,” said Konstantin and moved a table lamp closer to her.

Nina started leafing through the contract. She knew what she wanted to find, but she was not finding it. On turning the last page, she said trying not to betray her emotions, “On the whole, it seems all right. There is one obvious omission, though – I don’t see any mention here that Yevgeniy Borisovich is to remain the company’s director.”

Unlike her, Konstantin did not have to suppress quaver in his voice – he was absolutely calm as it was.

“It’s just as well that you’ve noticed that,” he said. “I don’t mean to hold anything back. We are not going to offer the position of director to Yevgeniy Borisovich. We can take him on as a consultant – if he is interested. Small issues like that are not usually included in the body of a contract, but if you insist…”

“But you promised! I remember what you said at the fair.”

“I remember it, too. I did not promise – I made Yevgeniy Borisovich a proposal. The proposal was not accepted. Things have changed since. I’m not making that kind of proposal today.”

“Things have changed how?” persisted Nina.

Konstantin hesitated.

“Nina Yevgenievna, I don’t mean to be rude. As a daughter, you may find it offensive…”

“Speak!” demanded Nina.

“All right,” yielded Konstantin. “For one thing, Yevnegiy Borisovich is ill and it’s not clear when he could get back to work…”

“He is recovering rapidly…” Nina argued, but Konstantin cut her short with a gesture.

“That’s not it. You see… We know that the company has had certain problems recently. It was a kind of test for Yevgeniy Borisovich. Unfortunately, he did not stand it – he did not solve his problems in an optimal way. We expect more efficient management of our director.”

It took Nina a lot of effort not to show her mental turmoil. She had taken it for granted that her father was going to remain director, and Konstantin’s words cut the ground from under her feet.

Conflicting thoughts were flashing across her mind. What could she say to counter Konstantin? Of course, she could start a row accusing him of all mortal sins, arguing that it was all his doing. But it was clear that Konstantin was not going to change his decision. And there was something else. Deep down, despite her burning indignation, Nina had to agree with him – her dear papa was not cut out to run his own business.

“To dot all the i’s, the price has changed, too,” added Konstantin. “It has come to our knowledge that the company has failed to get accepted its largest project and lost a few others. That makes the business far less attractive to the buyer. This is how much we are prepared to pay today.”

He took a leaf of paper, wrote a figure and showed it to Nina. Her heart was wrung with what she saw – the sum was three times less than what had been offered for the company initially.

Nina was unable to carry on that conversation. Barely containing herself, she grabbed the draft contract and said, rising, “Yevgeniy Borisovich and I will have to think it over.”

Konstantin and his accountant got up at once. Konstantin held out his hand.

“It was a pleasure seeing you, Nina Yevgenievna. I hope we will come to an agreement.”

He was a decent man, but he had to do his work.

Nina shook his hand and walked out, unsteady on her feet.

Nina could not – and would not – discuss the matter with either her father or Lydia Grigorievna. Instead, she called Ignatiy Savelievich and asked him to recommend a good lawyer. The old man gave her the name of one whom he knew from old times.

“Ninochka, I want to tell you something before saying goodbye,” added Ignatiy Savelievich. “Business, money – all this is nonsense, in the final account. The only thing that matters is love. Take care of those who you love and those who love you…”

Nina was alarmed by his tone.

“I don’t like your mood, Ignatiy Savelievich. If you don’t mind, I’ll come over one of these days – we’ll do some walking and chatting.”

“Yes, sure, I’ll be happy to see you,” replied Ignatiy Savelievich.

Nina intended honestly to do something for the old man – to show that she cared about him – but that intention remained unfulfilled as do most good, honest intentions.

By coincidence, she had delivered her quarterly report by that time and was able to take a few days off work. She needed that breathing space desperately.

The lawyer was of great help. His services, which Nina paid for from her own savings, were quite expensive, but it was worth it. The man had a lot of experience – he saw through all the legal consequences of each word, and even punctuation mark, in the contract. He and Nina revised the wording of many paragraphs and worked out a list of amendments that guaranteed the preservation of the company’s line of business and its cadre, as well as improving the terms of the deal.

“But if you mean to get a much larger sum, you’ll need financial and engineering substantiation,” explained the lawyer.

Nina realized that herself. As an acting boss of the company, she ordered that Nikolai Nikolayevich dump all the operations on his staff, and spent a whole week with him in the office, arriving there every morning and sitting all day through. The two of them examined, one by one, all the asset and revenue items of the company, trying to prove in each case that those should be given a higher evaluation. After the engineer left for home, Nina went on poring over the papers until midnight. Hard work was not something new to her, but during that week, she really pushed herself to the limit. She was aware that she had no time to waste as the company’s position was deteriorating every day.

For the execution of the sale of the company, detailed financial statements and a substantiation of the price were prepared. Nina’s price was much higher than that suggested by Konstantin at their latest meeting, although it was still lower than the initial one.

After ten days, Nina crossed the threshold of Gradstroiinvest again. Konstantin and his accountant were expecting her. Nina was strung-up for battle, her cheeks burning in anticipation. She was ready to fight for every word in the contract and every ruble in the price.

Konstantin asked Nina to sit down and set to reading her version of the contract. After finishing each page, he passed it to Revich who was sitting by his side. That was going on in complete silence, only occasionally Konstantin would use a pencil to point out something to the accountant, and the other man would nod. Once the accountant pointed out something to his chief, and Konstantin nodded.

Finally, the reading was over. Konstantin kept silent for a while, looking at Nina with a new expression.

“You have done some impressive work, Nina Yevgenievna,” he uttered.

Nina gave no reply to that, but against her will, she felt pleased by Konstantin’s praise.

“Would you like some coffee or tea?” suggested Konstantin. He obviously hesitated, deciding something for himself.

“No, thank you,” refused Nina. She was all mobilized for a fierce argument and did not wish to lose her fighting spirit.

“Well, let us decide then,” said Konstantin. “Let me tell you again that you have done some impressive work. Your position is clear. Let me state our position now. We are ready to accept almost all your amendments. In particular, I don’t see any problem in signing contracts with all the employees that you listed – that could be executed as a supplement to the contract. But regarding the price…”

Nina held her breath.

“We can agree to the price that you put forth on one condition.”

He paused.

“On what condition?”

“On the condition that you, Nina Yevgenievna, become the new director of the company.”

Nina felt as if somebody had struck her on the head with a large pillow.

“Are you joking?”

“I can’t afford joking,” said Konstantin gravely. “A change of ownership is a serious shock for any company. This particular business is not very stable as it is, either, as it has accumulated some serious problems under Yevgeniy Borisovich. We need somebody to support the company and put it on the right track. At the moment, we do not have any other suitable candidate.”

“But I don’t know the first thing about construction!” exclaimed Nina.

“That’s not a problem; you can get the necessary assistance from…” He consulted the list of employees and said the name of Nikolai Nikolayevich. “The main thing now is competency in financial matters, and that’s what you have.” He nodded towards the papers that Nina had prepared. “So, the bottom line is this – the company is worth the money that you ask, if you take it over. But not otherwise.”

That was logical – as a good businessman, Konstantin identified precisely the right solution. There was only one ‘but’ – for Nina, becoming director of the company that had been snatched from her father was out of the question.

“That’s impossible,” said Nina.

Konstantin gazed at her silently for some time and then asked, “Is that your final word?”

“Yes,” Nina replied without hesitation.

Konstantin said, “I see.”

He lowered his eyes and started leafing through Nina’s papers again, stopping at particular fragments. On one of the pages, he pointed out something else to the accountant.      Then Konstantin got up.

“If you’ll excuse us, we need to deliberate.”

Nina rose readily. “I can wait in the reception…”

“Absolutely not!” Konstantin checked her with a gesture as he and Revich were leaving the office. “Please stay here. We’ll be back soon.”

However, that was far from soon. Nina had to sit in the office of Gradstroiinvest’s leader for a good hour and a half trying to anticipate what arguments Konstantin was going to use to put pressure on her. Konstantin’s secretary looked in to ask if Nina wanted something to drink. To give herself an occupation, Nina asked for a coffee, but when the coffee was brought, she was unable to drink it – so great was her tension.

At last, the door opened and the men were back.

“You win,” said Konstantin. “We accept your terms without any reservations.”

Nina left the office walking on air. Victory! She accomplished what had seemed impossible – netted a sum on the sale of the company which hardly any buyer would have paid even before all those recent troubles. Her father was rescued from poverty. In fact, he had never had a fraction of the money that was going to be credited to his account now. Nina imagined him recovering completely from his illness and becoming a free man: he and Lydia Grigorievna could travel, pursue any hobbies – do whatever they liked. If he wished, her father could find an application for his professional skills, too, – such an experienced engineer would easily get employment on any project. Only he should not try starting his own business again…

She was flattered by the thought that she had fulfilled her duty. Once she had promised her mother not to leave her father but help him through the hard times. She lived up to her promise.

Nina called Lydia Grigorievna to break the big news and let the woman know that she was coming to the hospital the next day to tell everything to Yevgeniy Borisovich. Nina even started giving some details to Lydia Grigorievna on the phone but stopped short. Her father’s wife did not appear to share Nina’s joy – the woman did not display any great interest in the news at all, but said simply, “It’s just as well. I’ve always thought that we’d be better off without that company.”

On her way to the hospital, Nina was no longer in such high spirits. How was her father going to take the deal? It was not in Nina’s character to boast, neither was she going to put herself on a pedestal now, but after all, he had to understand that she had worked a miracle…

As on some previous occasions, Nina was intercepted in the hall by Lydia Grigorievna. This time the woman actually blocked Nina’s way.

“Sorry, Ninochka, you can’t see papa now.”

“What’s up?” asked Nina worriedly.

“Nothing, it’s simply… He’s just a bit tired and is having a rest now.”

Nina did not understand. “But, Lydia Grigorievna, I’m just going to drop in for a minute. I’ll give him the very gist of it – after all, he needs to know what…”

Still, her father’s wife did not budge.

“No, Ninochka, sorry. Some other time,” she said, averting her eyes.

It came home to Nina at last that her father did not wish to see her.

She was dumbfounded. After all that she had done for him he would not let her, his daughter, into his hospital room!

Nina had almost never cried – not even in her childhood – but this time two tears slid uncontrollably down her cheeks.

“There, there, Ninochka, don’t take it to heart so,” Lydia Grigorievna said hastily, trying to quiet her down. “You know what temper he has, and his condition doesn’t help either… Just give it time, and everything will sort out. I’ll call you.”

Lydia Grigorievna was not a bad woman and she meant well, but Nina had no use for her soothing talk.

“Here, give it to him.”

Nina shoved the documents into the woman’s hands, turned round and left.

Lydia Grigorievna did not call – either the next day, or the day after, or even after a month. Clearly, Nina’s father would not let her do that. So, after all the heroic deeds that Nina had worked he bore her a grudge – believed that she had done him wrong. What was her fault exactly? Saving him?

Nina was badly wounded by the injustice. But there was something else. Deep down she had another disturbing feeling which she could never quite figure out – being in the right by any reasonable judgment, she still felt a traitress. What exactly her treason was she could not define, but the feeling filled her with emptiness and cold.

Over the twenty-six years of her life, Nina had not had a blacker streak. Everything that had been her life before was over now. She had lost her only family. She was probably going to restore some contact with her father eventually, but their relationship would never be the same again – that much was clear.

Nina was taking a sad inventory of her life. She had no family of her own. She had no boyfriend, and all her experience with the other sex did not provide any reason for optimism. She had some achievements in her profession, but she did not have a decent job. She had a one-room apartment, a good computer with high-speed Internet, a case of work-related books, and a pile of English detective stories on the bedside table. There were some good clothes in her wardrobe. On the upper shelf of the closet were her tennis things and a pair of male trainers left behind by a former lover.

Also, she had hatred. She was full of hatred – not any longer towards Konstantin, who had finally proved to be a decent person, but towards the unattainable Gradbank and its director Samsonov who, while not being aware of the existence of her father or herself, had destroyed their life by one of his decisions. She hated the mean, heartless world of business which crushed people like ants.

Nina remained in a kind of permanent stupor, unable to do anything or plan anything. She hardly noticed the passing of days and quite often could not say how she had spent the previous day – whether she had gone to work or stayed at home.