The Lovers - стр. 36
Vera’s loud whisper broke the silence. “How was the evening?” She asked.
“It was good,” Dina replied softly.
“Where did you go?”
“Have a care!” Rimma’s tense voice rang out. “It’s night already!”
“We’re not yelling so why are you?” Vera snapped back.
Dina said softly, “Sorry, Rimma, we’ll keep quiet.”
Rimma threw back the blanket, put on her robe, and grabbing her cigarettes from the dresser, left the room, slamming the door.
Vera decided that now they could talk openly, and turned to Dina. “Well, tell us, then!”
Dina said calmly, without moving, “I am not going to tell you anything. All you do is gossip and annoy other people. Don’t you feel sorry for Rimma?”
Vera turned away and pulled a face, but so that Dina could not see it.
The more simple Valya did not know how to react to Vera’s tricks, so she simply looked down at her notebook, although she kept glancing at the other two.
Vera couldn’t keep quiet and pounced on Dina again. “You’re such a good girl but you still paint your nails and bleach your face.”
Dina didn’t reply.
Vera kept going. “Good girls don’t doll themselves up.”
Dina replied coolly, without opening her eyes, “Chekhov said ‘Everything should be first-rate in a person, their face, clothes, soul and thoughts.’ Have you heard that before?”
Vera pulled a face again. “Gee, you know everything, Turbina.”
“Every person knows what they want to know… what they need to know.”
“Why don’t you go off and be an actress then, Turbina?”
“Why’s that?” Dina smiled.
“So that we would have a second Dina Durbin,” Vera pointed out. “Turbina! You were named after her, weren’t you?”
“Yes, after her, but I am no good at acting.”
“Oh! That’s right! You’re incapable of lying. In the movies, if you can’t lie, you can’t act.”
“You’re wrong. Playing a role does not mean lying,” said Dina and began removing the cream from her face using cotton wool.
Rimma came back in. “I don’t know what you’ve been saying behind my back…” She started.
Dina interrupted her gently. “Rimma, we know about everything that’s happened, but it doesn’t mean that you’ve stopped being our friend.”
Valya, who had glanced up in surprise at Dina, immediately looked down at her books again, while Vera sat frozen in shock.
“Personally, I feel very sorry for you, Rimma,” said Dina. “But I wish that you could just forget everything and start a new life… Well, not forget, but not repeat your past mistakes.”
Dina stood up from her bed, came up to Rimma, and hugged her. Rimma unexpectedly burst into tears. She awkwardly hugged Dina back and continued to sob loudly.