"Mark will fix it," Eva thought briefly.
She knew that the broken cuckoo clock had not escaped her husband's attention. Nothing escapes a man's attention.
Eva appreciated that about him.
She carefully placed the soda bottles into the homemade, sturdier, red canvas bag and hurried toward the elevator with quick steps.
The elevator was rarely busy at this hour. The morning shift workers had already returned home, and the afternoon shift had gone to work. A few mothers working the morning shift were bringing their children home from the state daycare around this time.
These hours were quiet in the block of flats.
The elevator was free. The iron contraption screeched as it stopped on the fifth floor.
Eva waited impatiently for the doors to open. She wanted to catch the bus, and there was no time to waste.
She didn't know what time it was.
"I need to get a wristwatch."
The lift clicked and jolted. Eva reached the ground floor.
On the concrete pavement, the tar pressed into the potholes during the heatwave no longer stuck in the grooves of her shoe soles. The acrid smell of tar had vanished with the summer. Now, a lazy, patient drizzle fell, and there was mud. The mud was easier to clean. All summer, she had carefully avoided the tar-filled potholes.
A number of people lingered at the bus stop. Few held umbrellas over their heads in the light, sporadic drizzle. All of them looked in the same direction, eyes scanning the street from which the articulated bus painted with yellow stripes should arrive.
It arrived on time.
The bus slowed from afar and signaled a stop. Its lights were on, obedient to the dusk.
The nights had grown long. The dusk was the longest. It was no longer day, but not yet night.
The street lamps were still unlit. Light filtered through the curtained windows of the block flats.
Despite the drizzle, the streets were not deserted. Those without umbrellas pulled their necks in and turned up their coat collars, standing against the autumn drizzle.
Eva had no umbrella either. She would quicken her pace from the bus stop to reach Olga's workplace. It wasn't far.
By the time the bus reached the Main Square, the streetlights were switched on. It was easier to avoid the puddles collecting on the pavement.
It would have been unpleasant if her shoes got soaked.
She hurried up the stairs to Olga at the fabric department.
A large crowd had gathered in front of the fabrics and textiles. When new stock arrived, news traveled fast. People immediately informed one another.
Four forty. The smallest hand on the wall clock moved forward with merciless precision.
There was silence in the line. Everyone hoped to get some of the freshly arrived fabric.
Eva joined the line.
Olga noticed her.
Half-smile, then turned to the next customer.
Meanwhile, the store manager also appeared. He stood beside Olga. His eyes delighted in the abundance.
The line moved slowly.
"Check again, Olga, there must still be some," the store manager requested.
As if glancing at Eva out of the corner of his eye, Olga obligingly retrieved the very last piece of fabric.
"Thank you so much, Lucas."
The customer addressed the manager by name and left satisfied. Eva knew that Olga had just handed over the last piece of fabric.
It had been snatched up.
Those who had come for fabric slowly left the line. Two people remained. They hadn't come for fabric.
Eva smiled at Olga. As usual, they would wait in the nearby pastry shop, have a cake, and chat. It would do them both good. She hadn't come for nothing.
Olga's shift ended at five. Now it was five oh-five.
In the warm pastry shop, Eva looked at the wall decorations. Cheerful, colorful storybook characters waved from the wall. She hadn't even tasted the cake while waiting for her friend.
Olga arrived shortly. She tried twice to close her umbrella at the door.
Olga bought three pastries, having two of them wrapped separately.
"She'll probably stop by her grandparents on the way home," Eva thought.
Eva had Mark here. Her parents and grandparents lived far away. After university, she had been assigned to this city.
Olga sat at the table a little tired. No need to explain.
That customer knew the manager.
Next time.
They parted at the bus stop. Olga walked to her nearby grandparents' place.
After getting off the bus, Eva bought two bottles of soda water. The elevator waited empty on the ground floor.
Lucky.
Somewhere between the second and third floors, the iron contraption jolted and stopped.
Occasionally, unruly kids tried to stop the elevator between floors by forcing the doors on the upper levels.
She had to wait until someone noticed.
She didn't know what time it was.
Soon, she would have to get ready for the theater.