“Well, soldier,” the head of the department asked him in a cheerful voice during the next round, “how are we feeling?”
- Wonderful!
- Well, great, so great. Your pancreas is normal, so get ready tomorrow, we’ll discharge you.
- Great!
– Great, great, but you’ll have to take care. Follow a diet: no fatty foods, no spicy foods, no fried foods. Understand?
“Yeah, in the army I’ll be able to observe all this,” the warrior joked. “So I’ll say in the dining room: I want this, but this is too fatty, bring something else.”
We laughed. The doctor shook hands:
- Don't worry, soldier!
When the retinue accompanying the doctor left the room, Seryozha thought that this was the end of not just his stay in the hospital, but a whole, completely unexpected page in his life. Tomorrow it will turn over and remain only in memory. In the morning she and Tanya will see each other, perhaps for the last time. What should I say to her goodbye, should I try to get her address and phone number? Should we continue acquaintance, is there any point in such a relationship, if so, what is it? Questions, questions...
Seryozha definitely did not regret one thing: that the purity, purity, and chastity in their most likely mutual sympathy remained unsullied. They gave no reason to blame each other for anything, avoided the banal fleetingness of attraction, and did not squander themselves in unrealistic promises. Sergei had no doubt that all this was an answer to his prayers, in which he expressed a sincere desire to remain faithful to God. He had no doubt that the Almighty would decide the fate of a beautiful, pure girl, which, without any doubt, was Tatyana.
“Well, today you will become an ordinary soldier again,” Sergei thought, barely waking up. I put myself in order, returned the books that I had borrowed from the neighboring rooms, and collected toiletries in a bag. All that was left was to get a discharge and he could go downstairs - there the elder, the doctor of the medical unit, was already waiting for him.
“Well, guys, be there,” he said cheerfully to his neighbors, with whom he lived in the same room for two weeks. – Don’t get sick, get well!
- Come on, servant, no feather or fluff to you.
- What kind of fluff are you talking about? With God!
The door closed quietly behind me, the usual silence of the corridor, clean linoleum smelling of bleach. Nurses in snow-white coats. Reading room in the foyer. He walked away, saying goodbye to everyone. Here is her room. I knocked. Will you allow me?
Tanya was given a drip and cannot get up. The women in the ward urgently delved into their studies and hastily looked away: say goodbye, whatever.
“Well, that’s it, they cured me, I need to continue serving,” Seryozha walked to her bed and extended his hand.
Her eyes sparkled, her eyelashes blinked frequently, and she tried to smile:
- So quickly?.. Well, goodbye, soldier!.. - a beautiful, thin hand barely responded to the handshake.
“Anything else to say? – Sergei was tormented in thought. – Maybe we should at least ask for a phone number? No. All. She knows where I serve. This is a last resort. Bye-bye, Tatyana, goodbye!..”
