Forty Rooms by Grushin Olga

Author:Grushin, Olga [Grushin, Olga]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-01-27T08:00:00+00:00

20. Bedroom

Conversation in the Dark at the Age of Thirty

“Paul, it’s your turn to get up.”

“Mmm . . .”

“Do you hear me? She is crying. It’s your turn.”

“Mmm . . .”

“Paul? Paul! Oh, never mind . . . The floor is so cold, I need slippers—or maybe a rug, maybe we should buy a rug—”

“Did you say something, honey?”

“Yes, half an hour ago. She wanted her bottle.”

“I slept through it again, did I? Sorry, you know how it is . . . Are you just now getting back into bed? What time is it?”

“A quarter past four.”

“Your feet are like ice. All of a sudden I’m wide awake. Hey, I can warm you up if you like—”

“I need to get some sleep, Paul.”

“You’re not mad at me, are you? You can nap with the kids during the day, you know. I have to go to work in the morning.”

“I’m not mad. I’m just exhausted. They don’t nap at the same time. Genie hardly naps at all now. Can we go back to sleep, please?”

“All right, all right . . . Hey, are you still awake?”

“I am.”

“Listen, I’ve been thinking. The other day in the city I saw this girl walking along the street, she was pushing a stroller and she had a greyhound on a leash. She was wearing a little round fur hat, and she looked beautiful. Not as beautiful as you, of course.”

“So?”

“So maybe we should get a dog.”

“What?”

“Don’t laugh. A dog. You know. A pet? People have pets. The kids would love it.”

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s such a good idea right now.”

“Do you ever wonder if you resist any kind of change so much because of all that preconditioning in your Evil Empire childhood?”

“Look, I’m not saying we can’t ever have a dog. Maybe when the kids get a bit older . . . It would have to be a very small dog, though. We don’t have enough yard for a big dog.”

“And that’s another thing. This house has gotten too tight for us, I think . . . Hey, are you asleep?”

“No.”

“You’ve been silent for a while. Did you hear what I said? I think we should move to a bigger house.”

“Paul. We just bought this house. I’m only now beginning to get used to it.”

“So if you aren’t used to it yet, you won’t miss it. I mean, it’s nice enough, but it has only two bedrooms, Emma can’t even have her own room. With her constant crying right next to us, it’s impossible to get a good night’s sleep.”

“You seem to manage with no trouble.”

“You know how it is . . . Anyway, about the house—”

“Paul, this house is fine.”

“You thought my one-bedroom rental was fine too.”

“And it was. People don’t just hop about from place to place every couple of years.”

“Actually, that’s exactly what they do. Did you know that an average American moves eleven or twelve times in his life?”

“Really? How terrible for the average American! That’s, what, something like sixty

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