Doctor Gavrilov Read Free

his pale, round face.
    A long shaft of sunlight came in through the tall windows, lay in a bar across the floor, and illuminated the fuzz of hair on Sasha’s head like a little halo. Katie sat there, savouring the silence and the sudden peacefulness in the room. She did not have enough of these moments. For a moment she was able to push all her worries to one side. Everything was getting easier. Her husband had some work, Sasha was sleeping better, and Anna seemed happier at school. In a few months she would be able to find some childcare and try to get back to work.
    Consciously, she drew in deep breaths, unclenched her fingers, tried to shrug the tension from her shoulders and relax her limbs. Sitting here, in the bright warm sunlight, the memory of his crying was just a distant dream.
    Her eye travelled around the room, fell on a letter on the table next to the jar of daffodils. Immediately her bright mood receded. Katie knew the letter was bad news. She had held the envelope up to the light and managed to read, I am sorry to inform you. That was all she had needed to see. He had not got the translating job he had applied for. Another rejection might be too much for him. They wouldn’t be able to pay the bills.
    It wasn’t meant to be like this. She had been so independent, once, had worked in radio journalism, a job full of challenge and excitement. She could get back, when the children were a bit older, but it would be difficult, she’d lost most of her contacts. And she loved the children, she had wanted them so much, and she wanted to do her best for them.
    She glanced at her watch. She stood up and gently placed the baby in the pram in the hallway; as soon as he touched the mattress he woke and started to whimper. She locked up and pushed the pram out into the street; once she was walking along his crying mercifully ceased. As she approached the school gates, she saw two mothers, Jenny, the mother of Anna’s friend Charlotte, and another she didn’t know the name of. They were talking about local schools. Katie wondered whether to stop and join in the conversation, but this subject irritated her. Jenny smiled at her, and she stepped forward, thinking of asking Charlotte round for tea, but then Anna came running towards her. Her face was bright, flushed with excitement. ‘Mitya said he’d take me to the park.’
    Katie saw Dmitry standing behind Anna, holding her coat and lunch-box. She turned and went towards him at once. Anna had been told she could call him Daddy but she never did. Perhaps she reserved a hidden place for her father in her heart, though she never mentioned him and never seemed to want to. Katie was both relieved and upset by Dmitry’s offer. If Dmitry took Anna to the park, it would delay him knowing about the letter. But for her it meant another hour at home alone with the baby; it was too cold for her to go with them and sit and feed him in the open air.
    She stood in the street, watching her husband. She could see from the stiffness in his neck, from the frozen expression of his face and its whiteness, that he had a migraine. She felt sorry for him, asked gently, ‘Why don’t you come home first and lie down?’
    He looked up at the sky, over which grey clouds now formed a thin blanket. ‘I don’t want to lie down, I shall only feel worse. Don’t worry, I’ve taken a pain-killer. I’d rather take Anna.’

    Anna let go of Dmitry’s hand and ran ahead of him into the playground, her long, dark hair streaming behind her, her coat flapping. Dmitry followed more slowly and sat down on the bench. It was getting cold now and the sky had darkened; it was dreary, damp and bitter. Dmitry thrust his hands deep into his pocket and waited, his head throbbing distantly through the numbness the painkillers caused.
    After a short while another man came into the park. He was alone, and stood there, watching the children play. After a few