The Gardener from Ochakov

by Andrey Kurkov

  But the gardener’s thin smile, which could easily have been mistaken for a grimace of pain, seemed to exude bitterness.

  ‘I’m going to go and lie down for a bit,’ whispered Igor.

  ‘Take it, take the suitcase. Don’t worry about the locks, I’ll fix those later.’

  Igor took the suitcase containing the police uniform and the gun and went out into the yard without another word.

  When his mother saw the suitcase, she clasped her hands together in surprise. ‘We used to have two like that at home, about fifty years ago. Did you buy it at a flea market?’

  ‘No, someone gave it to me,’ Igor answered curtly and slipped past her into his room.

  The autumn evening fell early and surprisingly quickly, catching Igor unawares. They’d only got back that morning, and they didn’t seem to have spent that long examining the contents of the suitcases, but it was already getting dark. His arms were aching and he felt like yawning.

  Without bothering to wait for the supper that his mother was already preparing, Igor made himself a sandwich. Then he went into his room and lay down on his bed. He was assaulted by exhaustion and thrown into a realm beyond normal sleep, a realm beyond dreams of any kind.

  When the beef and vegetable casserole was ready and the potatoes were boiled Elena Andreevna looked into her son’s bedroom, but she couldn’t bring herself to wake him up. Noticing the gold pocket watch lying on a handkerchief on Igor’s bedside table, she picked it up and examined it with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. She gave a deep sigh.

  Elena Andreevna didn’t want to sit and eat dinner by herself, so she decided to ask Stepan to join her. She put her shoes on and went out into the yard. She knocked a couple of times on the door to the shed and then opened it, coming face to face with a startled Stepan, who had clearly just got up from his bed.

  ‘I’ve made dinner, but Igor’s fallen asleep . . . Would you like to keep me company instead?’ she asked, looking directly into the gardener’s eyes.

  ‘Me?’ he asked, momentarily disconcerted, as though he’d been deep in thought and the invitation had been an unwelcome interruption. ‘Of course, it would be a pleasure. Thank you. I just need to lock up.’ He glanced around the room and his eyes fell on the shelf unit where he kept his things, and where all the tools were stored. He took a padlock from one of the shelves and put his jacket on.

  Elena Andreevna watched, intrigued, as he closed the door carefully and padlocked it. She’d never seen him lock it before.

  ‘So, did you find any family in Ochakov?’ she asked, putting a plate of casserole and boiled potatoes on the table in front of Stepan.

  ‘Not quite,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘But we found some people who remember them, which is something. And we found a few bits and pieces . . . things that used to belong to my father.’

  ‘You don’t say!’ exclaimed Elena Andreevna. ‘Someone kept them all that time?’

  ‘Indeed,’ nodded Stepan, wondering how best to change the subject. ‘So how are things here? What’s the latest?’

  ‘You’ve only been away for a couple of days.’ His landlady shrugged. ‘Nothing’s changed. Well, the kiosk near the station was robbed one night, and there was a fight near the Customs and Excise training academy, but that’s it really. Igor’s asleep . . . Should I wake him?’

  ‘No.’ Stepan waved his hand. ‘Let him sleep it off. Has he been out of work long?’

  ‘Yes,’ nodded Elena Andreevna.

  ‘Why? Can’t he find a job?’

  ‘He’s not even looking,’ sighed Elena Andreevna. ‘He had an accident when he was little. Five years old, he was. I told my husband to take him to the playground, but he met someone he knew and started chatting and Igor ran off towards the carousel. It was just slowing down, and one of the metal seats caught him on the head. He suffered what they call a closed head injury. He was in hospital for two months, and I never left his side. The doctor warned us to expect brain damage so we were prepared for the worst, but he ended up making a complete recovery . . . He just gets headaches every now and then. He was lucky. I spent years watching over him like a blade of grass, trying to protect him.

  ‘Then when he finished school I sent him out to find a job. One day he came home and said that he’d found one in a furniture factory, here in Irpen. He started leaving the house every morning, and he told me all about the job itself, what his friends were like, that kind of thing. He even brought some stools home once, said he’d been given them because they were slightly damaged. We’re sitting on them right now, in fact.’ Elena Andreevna paused and looked down at her stool. ‘About three months later, I needed to find him urgently during the day so I went to the address he’d mentioned, but there was no furniture factory there. Well, at first I wanted to challenge him about it, and then I decided I ought to take him to see a doctor, to a psychiatrist . . . In the end I just told him I hadn’t managed to find the factory, and he immediately stopped going. So, here we are. Things aren’t so bad – I get my pension money, and we manage to make ends meet . . .’ Elena Andreevna trailed off, lowering her eyes.

  Now Stepan felt awkward too because the change in his landlady’s mood had been caused directly by his curiosity. But Elena Andreevna’s sadness didn’t last for long. She licked her dry lips, and when she looked up at the gardener her eyes were alive again.

  ‘Is the town pretty?’ she asked.

  ‘Ochakov? Not particularly. It was quite grey. It’s probably nice in the summer, but not now.’

  Elena Andreevna offered Stepan a shot of vodka, but he politely declined.

  ‘Elena Andreevna, I’m going away this evening for a couple of days,’ he said after a pause. ‘It’s nothing to worry about – I’m just going to see some friends who live not far from here, on the way to Kiev. I’ll sort everything out in the garden and the vegetable patch as soon as I get back. We’ve got plenty of time to prepare for winter.’

  ‘Yes, there’s plenty of time,’ agreed Elena Andreevna.

  She had the impression that something was bothering Stepan. He’d seemed tense over dinner. Elena Andreevna was pleased with her casserole – the meat and vegetables were particularly tender – but the gardener hadn’t said a word. On the other hand, he’d eaten everything on his plate and even scooped up the last of the gravy with his bread . . . Maybe he was the kind of man whose actions spoke louder than his words.

  7

  IGOR WOKE UP at about 3 a.m. He switched his light on and sat on the bed for a while, just thinking. Then he decided to go out into the yard.

  As he approached the shed, he was astonished to see the padlock on the door. It occurred to him that Stepan might have gone for good, taking his treasure with him. He very much hoped that wasn’t the case. Igor couldn’t for the life of him remember where they kept the spare keys.

  His mood ruined, Igor went back to the house and tiptoed into the living room. The house was surprisingly quiet. His mother was asleep, and the mice hadn’t started rustling about under the floorboards yet. They only came into the house in the winter, when it got really cold, and the first frosts wouldn’t arrive for at least another two months.

  As Igor opened the top cupboard of the dresser he remembered that a bottle of walnut liqueur had been lurking in there for some time. He extracted the bottle carefully, selected a small shot glass and walked over to the table. He sat on one of the chairs, which had a knitted rag cushion tied to the back with a couple of ribbons, poured himself a shot and started thinking. He thought about the trip to Ochakov and the nocturnal ‘treasure hunt’. Whichever way you looked at it, they had definitely broken the law. But then again, wasn’t everyone breaking the law these days in one way or another? With the possible exception of his mother. Actually, he’d never done anything illegal before the trip to Ochakov. It had simply never occurred to him. Something had been holding him back in Ochakov too, whereas Stepan didn’t show even a moment’s hesitation. He’d known exactly what he was doing when he
took Igor to the hardware shop to buy a crowbar. And he’d known exactly how to use it too, to open doors and smash padlocks. He’d said that his father had been in prison three times . . . Maybe Stepan had too? Yes, that was it. He must have been in prison, and when he came out he hadn’t been allowed home! That would certainly explain the vagabond lifestyle.

  Igor sipped his liqueur. It was strong and viscous, bitter but sweet. The pleasant assault on his senses distracted him from his thoughts. He stopped thinking altogether and simply sat there, without moving. Suddenly he ran his hand over his naked thighs, realising for the first time how cold he was. He wondered whether he ought to get dressed. Yet he finished his drink slowly, returned the bottle to the dresser and tiptoed back to his bedroom.

  In the morning he was woken by his mother’s quiet, reproachful voice. ‘So, drinking vodka in the middle of the night now, are you?’ she asked, glancing into his room. ‘You should take a leaf out of Stepan’s book – he doesn’t drink at all!’

  ‘That’s right, he’s already drunk his fair share!’ answered Igor, still half asleep. He opened his eyes and looked at his watch. It was 7.30 a.m. ‘Is Stepan back then?’

  ‘I haven’t seen him. Get up, if you want some breakfast. Look, people are already on their way to work,’ she said, glancing pointedly out of the window.

  Igor sighed. Now she’s going to start on about me getting a job.

  ‘We manage all right, don’t we?’ asked Igor, getting out of bed.

  ‘What if we didn’t have my pension?’ His mother’s voice sounded louder than usual.

  ‘What difference does your pension make? It’s only one thousand five hundred hryvnas! I get the equivalent of two hundred dollars from the bank every month in interest. ‘Isn’t that enough?’

  ‘But you’re not earning it, are you? You’re a parasite,’ his mother continued, lowering her voice. She was worried that any disagreement about the importance of work would lead, as it usually did, to a full-blown argument and two days of sulking. ‘You’d have been arrested for it in Soviet times!’

  ‘It’s no wonder the Soviet Union collapsed then, is it?’ countered Igor, although his tone of voice had also changed. ‘Seriously, it’s not like we’re struggling financially, is it? If something interesting comes up, of course I’ll apply for it.’

  It was true – after they’d sold their apartment in Kiev and bought the house in Irpen, they’d put the rest of the money into a savings account and were now living off the interest. Igor went to the bank once a month to withdraw it. He would bring it home and put it on the kitchen table; then he would take half for himself, leaving the rest for his mother. He’d already grown so accustomed to this way of life that he’d come to think of the trips to the bank in Kiev as his job.

  Elena Andreevna soon calmed down. She ladled hot buckwheat into a bowl for her son, placing a knob of butter on top. The butter immediately began to melt, seeping down through the grains. Igor picked up a large spoon and ate his buckwheat slowly, looking out of the window.

  ‘I’ll ask around,’ he promised suddenly, glancing apologetically at his mother. ‘Maybe something’ll turn up here in Irpen . . . I’m bored too, you know, just sitting around all day.’

  Elena Andreevna nodded.

  ‘Prices keep going up,’ she said. ‘Cheese is already sixty hryvnas a kilo, for example . . . But they never increase my pension, and our interest rate hasn’t gone up either.’

  Igor had no desire to prolong this depressing conversation. After finishing his buckwheat he poured himself a mug of tea and started thinking about what sort of job he could get, but his thoughts soon turned to Stepan – or, rather, to his absence. He thought about the antique suitcase containing the police uniform and the Soviet roubles. He thought about the gun. Stepan’s ‘generous’ gifts. To be fair, some tourist would pay good money for a vintage Soviet uniform at the flea market in Kiev. Maybe he should take it into town and try his luck.

  Igor sighed and went into his bedroom. He opened the suitcase, took the uniform out and checked the pockets. In one of them he discovered an ID pass belonging to a certain Lieutenant I.I. Zotov.

  ‘Maybe his name was Igor too.’ Igor smiled, looking at the small black-and-white photo. The young man in the photo was no more than twenty-five years old.

  Igor picked up the two bundles of Soviet hundred-rouble notes. They felt heavy. What did he really know about the era when this money, which was no longer of any practical use, had circulated around a country that no longer existed? Almost nothing, despite the fact that he’d been born in that era himself – during the last Soviet five-year plan, as his mother liked to say.

  Igor didn’t understand what the big deal was about five-year plans. What was the point of them? He pulled a face. School had been a ten-year plan, one he’d had to endure personally! But why were five years significant? He shrugged and threw the useless currency back into the suitcase.

  ‘Are you going to the shops today?’ called his mother from the kitchen.

  ‘Yes, I was just on my way out,’ replied Igor.

  He put the police uniform neatly back into the suitcase, placing I.I. Zotov’s identification on top. Then he closed the suitcase and pushed it under the bed.

  It was drizzling outside, so Igor took an umbrella. For some reason he had a song from an old Christmas film going round and round inside his head.

  When he reached the first kiosk, Igor bought a packet of cigarettes and lit one straight away. Just at that moment a young lad appeared at his elbow. He didn’t have an umbrella, and his wet hair was plastered to his forehead. He was wearing a canvas jacket and heavy army boots.

  ‘Hey man, can you spare a cigarette?’

  Igor held the open packet out to him, looking at the lad with amusement.

  ‘Cover it up with your hand, at least, or the rain will put it out.’

  ‘I’ll smoke it here, under the roof,’ the boy replied calmly. He lit his cigarette using the tip of Igor’s, then sheltered under the roof of the kiosk to the left of the window.

  ‘Where on earth did you get those boots?’ asked Igor. ‘They don’t make them like that any more.’

  ‘I found them in my dad’s shed. They’re army boots,’ the boy replied earnestly, not noticing the irony in Igor’s voice.

  ‘Lucky you! They knew how to make boots in the old days. Not like now.’ Igor looked down at his cheap Romanian boots, which he’d already had fixed twice.

  ‘They don’t really fit me,’ grumbled the boy. ‘My dad’s feet were bigger than mine . . . Could you spare another one?’

  Igor took a cigarette out of the packet and held it out to the boy. Then he walked off, without saying goodbye. When he reached the bus station he stopped and took a moment to look around. He walked over to the noticeboard and scanned the handwritten and photocopied adverts stuck to the wall. They were all ‘For Sale’ or ‘Wanted’.

  Maybe I should join the police, thought Igor. I’ve already got a gun! He smiled. Then he thought about the uniform and sighed.

  He felt like a coffee, but after a cigarette you need a real coffee and instant was the only option anywhere near the station. Deciding that it would be better than nothing, Igor went into a little shop, ordered one and drank it right there, next to a glass counter that was showcasing several varieties of sliced sausage and smoked chicken. Igor suddenly remembered the shopping his mother had asked him to get. He checked his pockets then asked for a fresh loaf of bread, half a kilo of sliced sausage, some butter and a tin of sprats. Poverty was certainly not an issue. Unable to control this burst of purchasing zeal, Igor looked directly at the young sales assistant and declared in a firm, confident voice, ‘And a bottle of Koktebel brandy. No, not that one – the one with five stars!’

  He was feeling happier now. It was nearly lunchtime, and hunger was gently tickling his insides. On the way home, he reflected on something that had only just occurred to him: he drank more brandy, or felt like doing so, when it was raining.


  Igor and his mother had lunch sitting opposite one another in the kitchen, next to the rain-streaked window. Elena Andreevna was happy to partake of the brandy, although Igor was on his third glass before she had even finished her first.

  ‘I wonder where Stepan’s got to,’ mused Igor.

  ‘He’s a grown man,’ his mother replied with a shrug. ‘And besides, he’s not officially registered here. So what if he’s decided to move on? He’s got no one to answer to but himself.’

  ‘Mmm, not officially registered anywhere,’ nodded Igor. ‘People like that are usually wanted by the police.’

  ‘Hold your tongue!’ exclaimed Elena Andreevna. ‘You never know what life is going to throw at you. It’s only by the grace of God that you’re not in his situation. He’s clearly an honest and reliable man. And he thinks before he speaks. Unlike you!’

  Igor said nothing. He glanced at the scales on the windowsill. He poured himself a fourth glass of brandy, still thinking about the gardener.

  Later that afternoon, his mobile phone rang. It was Kolyan, brimming with his usual enthusiasm.

  ‘Hi! What are you up to?’

  ‘Nothing much. I’m at home.’

  ‘Aren’t you coming to my birthday party?’

  ‘Oh, is it today?’

  ‘Yes, that’s why I’m calling. Come to the Petrovich club in a few hours’ time. You know, the Retro Party place. Just make sure you wear a Young Pioneers’ neck scarf or something like that, in keeping with the theme. They love all that Soviet stuff. The owner’s probably a former Komsomol activist.’