Anna the Russian Widow

Today, I give you a story, after all, I am a storyteller.

The story was written because I found a lonely piece of furniture on a dry lake bed. That was my prompt.

I hope you will enjoy my story. Here it is.

***

Anyone walks around Anna like she’s a cup of fine china. She is tiny and with a full head of shiny silver hair. That silver that makes you think of wisdom and knowledge.

The wrinkles get together at the corner of her eyes because she always smiles, and whoever locks eyes with her, finds themselves smiling back. Inadvertently.

Anna lost her husband about a year ago, and she goes to his grave every morning. Then she comes to the soup kitchen at the homeless hub. Every day of the week, without fail.

At about 8 o’clock she comes in. By then morning rush is gone and there is no queue at the breakfast counter. She first takes her seat. Always the same seat in the middle of the cafeteria where she has a full view of the kitchen and the office. The best view in the house is to know where are the main pawns.

Her black beady eyes check the office. She watches the staff to see who is on duty, then the kitchen. She greets everybody with her smile with chapped lips. She fumbles in her black purse, a cheap leather imitation that had seen better days.

Then she gets up and makes her coffee. Always black and very sweet — two tablespoons of sugar. With arthritic hands, she searches in the cutlery tray for a narrow spoon that she can hold easily in her crooked knuckles. Her hand tests the spoons while her chin lifts to check if any cakes or sweets are out for breakfast, but she still smiles, into her coffee, to the volunteers, in the air, as if fairies are dancing atop the counter.

Most of the kitchen volunteers know her. The crying voice whenever she begs for a banana, the harsh accent from her native Russian language, and the gentle tilt of her head when she is asking what is for lunch.

I’ve heard a lot about her. Only in spring though, I’ve seen her using her amazing talent for the first time. Jay, a young man who just started to come to the hub, joined Anna at her table one day.

They spoke for a while, Anna in soft tones, Jay with anger. And then he started to cry. Anna stood and went around the table and put her hand on his shoulder and she stood there whispering comforting words until Jay stopped crying. With the back of his hand, he wiped his eyes, and like a child ready to please a parent he ate his breakfast while Anna went to speak with one of the staff.

Jay had been sleeping on a park bench for the past weeks. They chatted with him in one of the cubicles, they helped him with his application for government help, they registered his details for a shelter and job search, and gave him clothes, and a red sleeping bag.

'Are you OK?' I asked him.

'I lost my job a month ago and I couldn’t afford the rent anymore.' He swallowed hard but he could talk about it now with less anger. And he pointed to Anna. 'She told me about her husband. She is very lonely. Do you know the story?'

I nodded. A homeless bashed Anna’s husband in the head with a beer bottle. He died in the street.

'Yes, I heard about it. Fortunately, she found here at the hub another family.'

'She said that she knows a nice place where she usually goes when she is sad. It is so peaceful and quiet that you can feel the pain seeping out through your skin.'

'Oh, did she say that? It’s so poetic.'

'I thought so too. She said she would show it to me one day.'

His eyes followed Anna as she went to the veggie box and started to search for something to take home.

'I mean look at her, she also smiles at the vegetables!'

In an eerie way, she lived in a different world, and yet with her kindness, she was there every day, befriending every hurt soul. The homeless were embarrassed to ask for help from the staff at the hub, and it was easier to open up to Anna. The staff were grateful for that. Anna was one of those clients who wanted to give something back.

In winter they found Jay a job. Jay stopped coming to the hub, and for a few weeks, Anna waited to hear from him.

They usually don’t like to come back to be reminded of how bad it was. Maybe he found a place to stay somewhere.

Anna was sad and she refused to believe that Jay could be so forgetful. He is a good lad, he will come to see us, I know he will.

Time flew and pretty soon Anna forgot about Jay as she was occupied with another protégé. In a few months, he also stopped coming.

Everybody was abandoning Anna and we did our best to take her mind off it, but we could see her usual smile fading.