Above our heads

Part 6

In autumn it was our birthday with Xania. Valerka, Irishin's husband, was supposed to come. I talked a lot about him and I couldn't wait to introduce them.

Our friends have arrived: Angel with Svetka, Trofimych.

Val was the last to arrive. He hugged me tightly, slapped me on the shoulder:

- Well, good, he looked like a hipster! How are you, dear?

I laughed. The hair has grown below the shoulders. She suddenly liked it and I decided not to cut them.

- Slowly. And you?

Val closed his eyes wearily:

- Yes, the troubles are back at work... The gangsters have already got it.

The birthday party was in full swing. The angel sang non-stop. Svetka looked at him with loving eyes. Trofimych, as always, entertained the respectable audience with his tales. Dad happily drank a glass of vodka, some kind of utter vulgarity came out of him, and Valery and I put him to bed. The girls were hanging out in the kitchen.

And everything was fine except for one thing: I really wanted to smoke. The doctors forbade it, but I still escaped for one puff with Val.

I lit a cigarette with pleasure. The long break immediately made my head spin. Valerka, with his eyes closed, stood against the wall and smoked.

- Val, are the troubles at work?

- yes..

He thoughtfully patted his pockets in search of a lighter:

- Bandits are climbing... Got it already!

Val graduated from MAI like all of us. I also met Irishka there. They got married very young: they were 18 years old. Parents, of course, were categorically against it at first, but Valery was able to win people over and after a couple of years, his parents doted on him. I adored him. What he just did not know how to do! And he carved fancy candlesticks out of wood and burned huge paintings. The furniture in his apartment he completely made himself in conditions of a wild shortage.

In general, he worked for Sukhoi for a while. Then, realizing that there was no money to be made there, he began to sew jeans at home. I bought denim from resellers and sewed fashionable rags myself on a typewriter. Customers were lining up. Later he began to carry a pastry from Egypt. They were strange coconut completely non-kissing candies. He changed the directors in the office every 2 months: everyone considered it his duty to steal. I also worked there for a while, but then I left to work at the department.

At some point, it got to him and she began to carry computers. For half a year, they have developed steeply. Val bought his first Audi "barrel" car, although he always said that he would never get behind the wheel.

His father died in a car accident when he was 16. He then began to "screw up" and stuck on it for a long time, even after the wedding with Irishka.

In the car, he forced everyone to fasten up, even those who were sitting in the back seat.

Periodically, cops or gangsters came and everyone wanted one thing: money! Val had good connections. He himself was seriously engaged in martial arts and was sure that he could cope without a "roof". He rejected them, but after a while others appeared. He hardly ever came home. Irishka was very worried. He was threatened and Irishka and her daughter Yana even lived with us for a while.

He was all about work and I've only seen him 3 times in the last year. I adored him. He was like an older brother to me. He could always advise something sensible.

- You have a good girl! It will be necessary to make friends with her, if I find the time, of course!

- Yeah, but Irishka doesn't think so...