Max

Olga, a passenger train conductor, lived alone in her small apartment on the outskirts of the city. Her son Max had long since grown up and moved out, arranged his life, although after his divorce from his wife he felt lost. Olga always tried to be strong - both at work and at home.

One night, on the train, a young woman with her little daughter came into her carriage. The woman was pale, her hands were shaking, her eyes were constantly darting from side to side. Olga immediately realized that she was running from someone.

She didn't ask for his name. She just said:

• Follow me.

The woman and her child sat in the service compartment the entire journey. When the train arrived at its final destination, Olga couldn't just let them go outside. She'd seen too many stories to leave these two to their fate.

“Come to my place,” she said, and there was no doubt in her voice.

Her house was quiet and warm. The girl fell asleep right on the sofa, and her mother sat in the kitchen for a long time without saying a word. Olga only put a mug of hot tea in front of her.

So new tenants appeared in her life. The girl quickly got used to her grandmother's care, and her mother increasingly helped with the housework, sometimes silently sitting by the window and looking into space.

Olga called her son:

• Max, come over. I want you to meet someone.

Max came over for the weekend. When he saw the woman and her daughter, he felt as if the world had opened a crack of light for him again. He understood her silence, her fear, because he himself had lost his family.

Over time, they began to talk. First in short sentences, then longer ones. Max taught the girl to ride a bike, and her mother smiled for the first time in a long time.

And Olga quietly watched from the side and thought: "Maybe fate itself brought them to me. So that my son could find a new family, and this woman - protection and a home."