Paper Doll. Tetiana Tikhovska

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      One day Stas came home high-spirited.

      – Honey, would you mind moving to Warsaw? I was made a proposal to enter High School of Railway Engineers.

      Agatha had never left her home town before. It was there that her parents, brothers, sisters lived. Panya and Katya used to come around now and then. They would play with the little niece that began exploring all the rooms crawling backwards. Agatha knew the town as the palm of her hand. And her aunt and her family lived nearby, right across the street; and her grandmother was buried at the town cemetery – she died very young just after giving birth to her baby, and the hills here are so beautiful, and…

      – Sure, sweetheart, when are we leaving? That will be great.

      Soon afterwards, they were ready to set off. Agatha saw a railway station for the first time in her life. But how much she had heard of it! They were to travel by the “St Petersburg – Warsaw” train. All Agatha’s family came to see her off. First they heard a long rumbling noise as if some pre-historic monster was calling its friend. Then a big black train pulled in. It had begun braking beforehand in order to stop just opposite the station. And then multi-colored carriages rushed past: blue, yellow, and green. The magnificent Russian coat-of-arms was imprinted on the carriage; giving it an air of ominous solemnity.

      When the locomotive stopped, all the passengers hurried out on the platform, and the train was being delivered to the spare railway to have its wheels replaced for the ones of European standard[20]. The departure ceremony was repeated once again. Danya was wandering round the station, obviously bored with all those cries and weeping. He longed to rush somewhere far and not to be with the remaining lot.

      Stas and his family were to travel in a blue carriage, that is – by the first class. Due to high prices the carriages were half-empty, but it was not the question of money with Stas. He earned quite enough to travel comfortably.

      Agatha kissed her Mum and sisters for the last time and cautiously got onto the train. It looked unexpectedly cozy inside: two soft sofas, velvet curtains with fringes, and a carpet. There was a snow-white napkin on the table.

      The train started. Its first movements incomprehensible, then faster and faster, and the home town was left behind: the platform, relatives, Agatha’s childhood and young years fading, vanishing, dissolving in the surrounding scenery.

      2

      When Poland became part of the Russian Empire, it acquired the new and ambiguous status. It was seen both as a mysterious foreign capital city and a province of a mighty superpower. Warsaw was spoken of as Paris of the East.

      The year was 1907. Napoleon’s wars were nearly forgotten, as well as the time when Warsaw was captured by the French Emperor. But the connoisseurs[21] who were lucky to have visited Warsaw years ago, would say that the city was not the same as it had used to be. It was not the case of it being dirtier or less exciting, but of Russia’s hasty and thoughtless introduction of Orthodox classicism into that purely west-oriented city.

      The train arrived at St. Petersburg Station. Though Polish was not welcomed under Russian rule, you could hear the phrases that can’t be mistaken for any other language. “Przepraszam” (Excuse me), “Pociąg przybywana platformę …” (The train arrives at platform), “Czypanowie chcąodwiedzić rynek?” (Would you like to visit the market?).

      It was here that “hurmans”[22] were looking for the customers – all of them clean-shaved and well-dressed as it was common of Polish grooms in those times.

      The houses were made of stones. The streets were cobbled. There were even asphalt roads. The streets were lit by gas lamps at night. You could come across cafes now and then. Anybody could drop in and have a cup of coffee with cream.

      The Polish had always been zealous Catholics, so that was the reason that there were a plenty of catholic churches, all of them superb!

      When the young family had settled in the new place, Stas and Agatha got used to wander in the suburbs. Agatha, who had never been abroad before, was literally a stranger in Warsaw. She no longer missed her relatives – new impressions excelled her childish reminiscences: all those crowded squares, noisy streets, trams’ bells and “konka”[23] honking, and numerous shops with polite salesmen…

      The Vistula river divided Warsaw into two uneven parts. The left bank was home to the so-called Old Town, which was the whole city someday. But it was steadily growing, then a piece of the right bank emerged into it, and it was the place where a village called Prague had always been. The name Prague was derived from “prazhity” that is “burn out wood”. Once there was a big market there. Prague was joined to Warsaw, but the village remained a big market mostly occupied by the Jewish. They made up to one third of Warsaw’s population.

      Agatha was nearly devouring everything with her eyes. They hadn’t had all that at home. She noticed at once that the women of Warsaw were dressed much better than her friends from Ratne. You couldn’t come across a woman bareheaded! Exclusive accessories were used in order to decorate the hats. The feathers of ostriches and paradise birds were considered to be a chic! The most essential about the hats was the way they were attached to your head – they should hardly touch your hair and for the outside observers it was a puzzle, how they could ever stick to one’s head. Of course bands and ribbons were also welcomed but only light as a feather, made from chiffon or satin. Dresses accentuated feminine beauty: the waist was tightened up to extremity while the breast and hips were artificially enlarged whatever means it involved. Teenage girls were to wear dresses with wide skirts.The skirt should reach farther than one or two inches below the knee, and “redingot”[24] served as an overcoat. It was designed to match a particular season. That clothing fastened at the waist, and only a small part of the dress was to be seen.

      But what struck Agatha most of all was the women’s footwear. In her home town everybody was wearing boots or galoshes whatever the season was. Even at the beginning of a summer morning there could be so much dew that you couldn’t manage to go through the long grass if you weren’t wearing strong boots.

      And during demi-season whoever lost one of a couple of galoshes (a child or an old man) would stop and save the precious thing from the mud – it was the essential part of your garment. But in Warsaw every woman was wearing stylish high-heeled buttoned shoes; as for colors – you could see any color imaginable. Actually, Warsaw was the queen of shoe fashion.

      Shortly afterwards Stas began his studies.

      He used to close the bedroom door cautiously and lean over his sketches and drafts, and Agatha didn’t miss the chance to pray to God for being so generous and giving her such a caring, intelligent and kind husband. But her prayers became even more ardent when she asked God to send her a son. She wanted to please her husband. But she gave birth to a girl. That time it was Vira, then Nadiya was born. Boys wouldn’t appear in the family.

      It was a custom with Orthodox families to give daughters the names of Vira, Nadiya (Nadya for short) and Lubov (Lyuba). They meant Faith, Hope and Love and were supposed to bring the family good luck.

      There’s an old belief that if boys are born in large numbers there would be a war. In such a way the Nature compensates the discrepancies in male-female balance which is sure to follow a war. But that 1914 year the Nature overlooked the war approaching. That war absorbed as many as thirty-eight СКАЧАТЬ