Six-year-old Anouchka was abandoned in a cold house for two days. One afternoon after her mother left, she was forbidden to go outside. Even though the stove kept the house somewhat warm throughout the first night, it was already cold in the morning.
Anouchka, hungry, found two potatoes that had been cooked the day before, peeled them, seasoned them with salt, and ate them while drinking water from a nearly full pail. A cold air blew in from the basement, pushing her back under her cover. She waited for her mother to come back, hoping to light the stove and prepare hot meals.
But night fell without her mother coming back. Wrapped in an old hoodie that had belonged to her mother, Anouchka huddled under the duvet, shivering. The house was considerably colder the next morning, and there was nothing left to eat.
She went to get some logs, climbed up on a stool to open the hatch, and tried to fire the stove the way her mother had done, determined to do it. After several attempts, she managed to light the fire. She washed a few raw potatoes, filled the cast-iron pot with water, and placed it on the burner to cook them.
Anouchka remembered that her father had relocated to the city when her mother started to go missing more often. After the death of her grandmother, who had previously cared for the little child, she was left alone with her unstable mother.
After learning of the mother’s prolonged absence, the neighbors subsequently came over to check on them. They discovered the mother’s frozen body close to the woodpile. Grandmother Masha took in Anouchka, gave her food, clean clothes, and did the laundry.
Anouchka’s father came to take her away after finding out about the situation. He brought her to live with him and Valentina, his new lover, who, despite never showing affection, looked after Anouchka’s food and cleanliness.
Anouchka learned to sew and helped out around the house as she grew up. When she turned eighteen, she decided to return to her hometown. She resumed sewing, got a job at the post office, and, with the assistance of her neighbors, fixed up the old house. She had married Grandmother Masha’s grandson, Zakhar, and they were expecting their first child together.
Anouchka had found her purpose, transforming a life of abandonment into one of resiliency and tranquility.
