The Lovers - стр. 15
Valya came from a village in the Vologda Oblast and could not get used to the big city even after four years. She spoke quietly, either because of her strict domestic upbringing, or because she was embarrassed by her country accent and provincial appearance, or maybe because of all of the above.
Once, Valya had asked Dina to work with her on grammar and pronunciation, flushing with embarrassment. Dina had written out a long list of Valya’s mistakes, which she had successfully fixed during the academic year. It was only the characteristic okanye>1 that seemed incurable.
“Yes. Everything,” said Dina. “But this is his favorite this term.”
Vera rushed over to the larger pile of cheat sheets and started rustling through it, looking for the right one.
“What did you get?” she asked.
Dina replied calmly:
“That’s what I got.” She added after a pause, “But he gave me five points automatically.”
Both girls stared at Dina in amazement. “Kokon?! Automatically?!”
Dina sat down on her bed and leaned back against the pillow. “Well, not quite, not automatically… semi-automatically.”
Vera and Valya again exclaimed almost at the same time, “Semi-automatically? What does that mean?”
“I took a question sheet, prepared my answer, approached the table and sat down, and then he said to me: ‘I don’t doubt your knowledge and won’t waste time asking you.’ He didn’t even look at my draft.”
Vera tsked. “What a beast! Why couldn’t he say so straight away?”
“That’s Kokon for you!” Added Valya.
“But do you know of any other teacher who loves his subject as much as he does?” asked Dina.
“He loves the ladies, not the subject,” interrupted Vera.
“Well, he’s not such a beast after all…” Valya interjected. “I remember how in the first lecture, he made it sound like I should just pack up and leave the university immediately, and then he ended up helping me on the exam.”
“What about his humor?” Dina suddenly wanted to discuss Konstantin Konstantinovich, for some reason. “Everyone at university quotes his jokes!”
“Oh yes!” Valya agreed. “Yet he never repeats himself… not like that man… who teaches scientific communism… when he makes a joke, you don’t know which way to look…”
Vera rolled her eyes up dreamily. “Yes, Kokon is not a man you’d forget even after university. He’s a ray of light in a dark realm!” Then she remembered where she was, and picked up a book again. “All right, enough chit-chat, I’d like to pass the final exam on first try!”
Dina stretched out on the bed and put her hands behind her head.
“Go ahead, I’ll have a rest. Let me know if you’d like some tea.”