Эльза Мы ехали втроем. У Джона сломалась машина,...

Elsa

The three of us rode. John had a car breakdown, and so Henry offered to give him a ride. Moreover, we lived in only a few houses from each other. John was in the second front seat, so it was very convenient for me to watch them from the back.
We reached the very intersection of 4th Street and General Lin Avenue. Seeing that Henry was not rebuilding to turn, John told him:
- Now left.
He said that he was a driving instructor. Henry still turned on the 4th and answered John:
- I forgot how to go home.
- It is OK, it happens. He answered calmly and evenly. It seems he did not understand that Henry was joking. Unpleasant all the same, this type of John.
4th street was built up as follows. At first there were only private houses. Each of them had its own small garden. Then, when the city began to grow in this direction, these houses began to be demolished, and new multi-apartment and office buildings began to be built right on the road. Sometimes these old houses were not even demolished, but simply forced into new ones.
When such a house is surrounded by apple trees, then a look at it gives some reverence, and when it is the same, but locked on all sides in a box of new buildings, then some completely different feelings come. You look at him, and it seems that he himself tells you: “Nobody needs me here. I do not belong here. Take me down. ”
One of these houses we just drive along this street. Before, Henry and I drove home all the way this way, and now we always make a small detour. Always, except today.
It's hard to be a man. A woman is much easier. She may be afraid, she may cry, she may be weak, but men cannot, but must. Must be strong, must be courageous. This is something everyone needs. They themselves do not know to whom. I do not demand from Henry even half what he requires of himself.
I felt Henry stiffen, but he tried not to show. I also tensed. It seems that something began to bother John. He rubbed his palms convulsively and turned around first. I also turned in the same direction.
The house peeped from behind an empty eight-story office building with its black menacing windows. He was all the same. Abandoned, lonely and absolutely superfluous in this place. We looked at him, and he looked at us intently, without blinking.
Henry turned onto another street. He never turned around. The three of us did not utter a word to John’s house.
After we dropped him off, I wanted to somehow calmly calm Henry. He caught my eye and said:
“It's all right, honey.”
I decided not to touch him.
As soon as we arrived home, he immediately went to the shower. I understood that he would stay there for at least forty minutes.
We have not thought about this house for a long time. Somehow, on the way from work, they made a small detour all the time, and gradually its outlines in memory became somehow distant, somehow not touching us.
I made inquiries a year ago. A certain Elsa Lewandowski (nee Smith) used to live in this house. She died more than 40 years ago. Since then, no one has lived in this house.
I tried to tell Henry about her, but he didn’t want to listen. Instead, he became annoyed and tried to change the subject.
I was sure that she was looking at him from those windows.
Elsa Lewandowski.
For a spiritualistic session you need: a large mirror, a candle and another smaller mirror. Instead of a small mirror, I took a large knife. He had a rather large mirror surface and I decided that he was quite suitable. I took the knife in my right hand and the candle in my left. She herself stood in front of her dressing table. In order for everything to work out, it is necessary that the fire of all the candles in the reflections coincides.
“Elsa Lewandowski, I'm calling you.”
Of course, a knife is a very bad mirror. You can look into it, but when you look into the reflection, which is in the reflection of reflection, then everything becomes cloudy and indistinguishable.
“Elsa, why are you following my husband?”
I can’t say that I was very afraid of something at this moment, rather, there was something more like indignation in me.
- Elsa, can you hear me?
My hand somehow involuntarily gripped the knife.
- Elsa, show yourself! You are afraid? Are you not afraid to stare? What do you need? Show yourself! You are too old for him. What are you doing now? You are like you were when you were dying or you became even older during this time. Let me see you. Are you shy of your appearance? Maybe you don’t have clothes on? Or what? In what clothes do people come from the other world? In the one that was dying? Was something supposed to stay on you? If at least you have panties, then show yourself. Although they are probably not very fresh. How many years have you not changed them.
Something in her eyes seemed to switch. She took a deep, deep breath. Somewhere far outside the window a car drove. After these words, she somehow suddenly calmed down. His gaze went somewhere far through the mirrors and walls. The body relaxed. She took another deep breath and blew out the candle. Her hands also fell heavily down. A little literally from the edge of her lips she smiled sadly at herself.
“Why is it interesting, my dear, you so wanted to know about my underwear?”

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