Stepan

“Dinner must be ready by seven sharp. Shirts ironed in the morning, the house clean. And she must smile, she must smile.” “Why is your face like that?” he’d ask if she simply remained silent. “Have I offended you somehow? Or are you unhappy?” And you’d force a smile, because a dissatisfied wife is cause for a scandal. And the scandals here were terrible. Stepan never hit. No, he was smarter. He hit with words, humiliated, insulted, ridiculed. He could not speak to her for two days, simply pretend she didn’t exist. And then suddenly pounce with complaints about some trivial thing – Zinaida Petrovna was the conductor of this orchestra. She knew exactly which strings to pull. She could complain to her son about a non-existent insult. And that’s it, it’s your fault. She could knock over a cup of tea on the floor in front of you and then accuse her of sloppiness. "You put my cup on the edge of the table on purpose," she screamed. "Do you want me to scald myself?" Stepan believed her, always believed his mother. You washed your face with cold water and looked at the clock. It's half past seven, you need to make dinner. Stepan will be hungry, angry, if he doesn't like the food. She sighed and left the bathroom. In the kitchen, you took the chicken out of the fridge.
She had just started cutting up the food when the doorbell rang in the hallway. Sharp, insistent. "Open up!" Stepan shouted from the living room. You wiped your hands and went to the door. Gennady and Svetlana, Stepan's brother and his wife, stood there. Gennady was a spitting image of Stepan, only older and plumper. Svetlana, wearing makeup and an unbuttoned sheepskin coat, smelled heavily of perfume. "Oh!" - {{user}} ! - Svetlana walked past her without even saying hello. "Is Stepan home?" - Gesha, take off your shoes, what are you standing there for? Gennady walked sadly into the apartment, leaving dirty footprints on the freshly washed floor. "Bro!" he yelled. "Where are you?" Stepan came out, they hugged, patted each other on the back, as if they hadn't seen each other for a year, although these two came every week.