The elevator was occupied. It was moving upward. Eva pressed the call button. On the panel beside the door, the reddish light first glowed next to the seventh-floor button, then the eighth.
Ninth.
Tenth.
Someone had called it to the top floor.
Then the metal mechanism started moving downward.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
The doors opened. The elevator wasn't empty. Roza was on her way to pick up her little daughter from the state daycare.
With a mysterious expression, she said they would be visiting a relative who lived in a nearby settlement that afternoon—her husband's brother.
They always came home heavily laden with produce.
Eva often bought flour, potatoes, fruit, and vegetables from them.
This time too, she asked Roza to bring everything that was in surplus in the village.
She unzipped her bag, searching for her wallet.
It wasn't there.
By now the elevator had stopped on the ground floor. Roza didn't wait for Eva to go back and find her wallet.
She would pay on Sunday evening when she picked up the goods.
Until then, Roza would cover the missing amount.
Eva hadn't even looked inside her bag today. She kept her bus pass in the front pocket.
Yesterday, yes. Yesterday she had bought two bottles of soda water—and then hadn't put the wallet back in the bag.
While packing the bottles into the shopping bag, she had set the wallet down on the counter.
She would find it at the grocery store.
There was time before the bus arrived.
Eva's memory didn't fail her. After buying the two bottles of soda water, she hadn't put the wallet back in the bag. That evening, the shop assistant handed the wallet over to the storekeeper. They had looked inside first and counted. It was returned intact to its owner.
What did the storekeeper have to do with it?
Everyone did it this way.
In a small town, people know each other. In the neighborhood, people know each other. No need to complicate things. No report necessary.
Later she would come back and bring pancakes for the storekeeper comrade and the shop assistant comrade.
Eva didn't miss the bus either.
She went to Olga first. She bought red yarn for her pillow. Lucas, the store manager, appeared too, as if he had sensed the pancakes.
He made two remarks—about the diligent comrades, friendship, and delicacies—then moved on with his prize: two jam-filled pancakes.
She left the good comrades to chat.
"Is your tomorrow afternoon free?" Olga asked.
Márk and Paul would be leaving tomorrow afternoon.
Eva was free in the afternoon. She hadn't planned anything yet.
She and Olga would go to the swimming pool. Tomorrow she would also get the porcelain plate back.
She returned home proudly with her new wristwatch. It was manufactured in the Soviet Union. She fastened it to her wrist right there.
In the kitchen, Márk and Paul were talking quietly. Tomorrow's trip was the topic. In front of them, tea steamed in porcelain cups, and they nibbled ground biscuits from a small plate. Paul had brought some for Eva as well.
The pancakes appeared too.
Eva set the red yarn down in the living room, on the round table. The cuckoo clock lay there, disassembled. Inside it, the bug.
She couldn't show the bug to Márk now.
She put pancakes on a small plate and added a few ground biscuits. She didn't take out the bulky brown wrapping paper. A paper napkin would suffice for the grocery trip.
One napkin had to be set aside for Roza's daughter. She already had a colorful collection. Tomorrow, when she picked up the produce, Eva would give the napkin to the little girl.
She still had to write her weekly letters. If she had written them yesterday, the post would have taken them today.
She was glad the unruly kids hadn't made prank calls today. They had gotten bored of that pointless amusement in two days.
At the grocery store, the storekeeper said the canned goods were expected by Monday.
Eva would buy eight as well.
By the time she got home, Paul had already left. Márk was sitting in the living room on Eva's chair, repairing the clock. Eva stepped closer. She looked straight at the bug.
Márk calmly put the cuckoo clock back on the wall.
Then he swept Eva into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.
"Sometimes it's enough just to know about it, Eva."