Nina Zarachnaya was twenty four and since being a little girl she had wanted more than anything to be an actress. She needed to move to Moscow from her town of Luknovo to fulfill this dream but it had still not happened.
Yet as she trudged home in the fading heat of a summer day she felt a burgeoning hope in her breast.
For the last two years she had been secretly scrimping and saving enough money to make the move to Moscow. She had to do it secretly because her boyfriend Konstantin Treplev was a useless, although talented, writer who wasted all their money. Time and again she had been forced to spend her savings to bail them both out of some financial difficulty he had embroiled them in but at last she had enough money saved up to fulfill her dream.
Konstantin was lazy and petulant. He hardly worked and Nina had to support him with the little money she earned as a waitress at a coffee shop and the weekend shifts she put in at a bottle factory. She loved Konstantin and he was gorgeous but Nina needed more than a pretty face or an exciting lover. She needed a man who would help out financially and support her emotionally.
Nina ignored the whistling and cat-calling men on the street trying to get her attention. As they called out to her about how beautiful she was she contemplated telling Konstantin to move out of their apartment. He had not contributed to paying rent in months.
Sorin their landlord liked Nina. He always flirted with her even though he was old enough to be her father. Maybe he would help her out somehow. Nina's own father was no help. He had remarried and started a new family after her mother died. Since then he never called or written and she had given up trying. Essentially Nina was without family.
Nina's anger toward Konstantin grew fierce as she walked on sore feet past the garage where her scooter sat waiting to be repaired. Konstantin had gotten drunk and crashed it and Nina had to choose either to pay for the repairs or postpone her journey. It sat forlorn in a locked compound behind the garage... fueling her frustration.
As she reached her block she saw reminders of all the money Konstantin owed.
There was Dr. Dorn the man who had given Konstantin antibiotics last winter and who had still not been paid for his medicine or time. Nina waved sheepishly and the older man nodded perfunctorily, clearly not happy with the debt still pending.
There was Ilya Shamrayev the building maintenance man who helped Nina fix an earlier breakdown of the scooter. She owed him money for the parts. He wasn't upset at all though. Ilya had a crush on Nina and thought she was going to be famous one day. He had come to see her in an amateur production last year and raved about it.
Konstantin had missed the play. The whole week long run of it.
Nina gave Ilya a hug and the big man squeezed her hard and kissed both her cheeks. His warm lips lingered on her skin a bit too long for comfort but she pretended to like it and smiled sweetly at him.
Then just as she was saying goodbye to Ilya, Semyon Medvedenko came out of their building. Medvedenko was a teacher and Nina owed him money as well. He had helped her learn English, etiquette and poise in order to play a high class women in the play. He loved Nina but she abhorred his boring and constant complaints about his poverty. She owed him a lot of money from various lessons he had given her.
Medvedenko saw her being kissed by Ilya and his face lit up.
"Hello Nina!" He cried out in his false good cheer. "Not such a bad day huh?" He came down the steps of the building and wrapped himself around her in a hug that was more a dry hump. His mouth found hers and he kissed her deeply as she pressed her lips tightly together to resist his hesitantly invading tongue.
"Not a bad day. But I'm pretty beat." She said as Medvedenko squeezed her. "They ran me ragged at work today."
"I bet. It could be worse though. You could be as poor as me. Who respects a teacher? No-one? We don't matter unless someone's horrible kid flunks a class. Then we are the scourge of the land!"
"I bet none of your kids flunk Medvedenko. You're too great a teacher."
Momentarily stunning Medvedenko with her rare compliment Nina took the opportunity to wrench herself from his grasp and flee up the stairs. "I have to go in. Have a wonderful evening gentlemen."
In the dark of the stairs she ran up the three flights to her own door and rushed inside to avoid any other debtors seeing her.
And she came face to face with Sorin the landlord.
"Hello Nina." He said.
Anxiety bloomed in the pit of her stomach. Sorin never came inside the apartment. He looked nervous and guilty and so did Konstantin. Something bad was happening here.
"Hello Sorin, what a surprise." Nina hugged him and kissed his cheeks but his hug back was less kindly than usual.
"I was just having a talk with Konstantin, but I must be off. I'll see you later though, I hope. Shall we say eight Konstantin?"
"Yes, fine." Konstantin was sulking and Nina grew worried.
Sorin left and Nina stared at her lover watching his behaviour and seeing shame and fear in every line of his body. Something very bad was happening.
"What?" Konstantin snarled when he noticed Nina staring at him.
"Was he here for this month's rent?"
"Yes. And last months."
"What? I left that on the mantel last month. It was right there. All of it! Why didn't you give it to him?"
'For Christ's sake Nina I don't know what happened to it. You should have given it to him personally."
"So this is my fault? All that money disappears and I'm to blame? "
Konstantin avoided her gaze.
"Look I know you took it. There are only two of us here. No-one visits because you are such a downer, so you tell me... who took it?'
"I did." He mumbled.
"For what? We need a place to live!" she tried not to scream. Any time she got emotional Konstantin accused her of being a dramatic actress and refused to accept that she might just be a person entitled to be angry.
"I needed some supplies..." He murmured. "Look I found a way to pacify Sorin. He will make an exchange for the rent, both months.
"Really?" Is he going to buy your book when it comes out?" she didn't add "Whenever that is." It was too early to escalate things and she was tired of fighting day after day.
"Y'know he really likes you."
"Sure, I'm nice to him and I pay my rent on time. Usually!"
"No. I mean he finds you attractive."
"So what. Lots of men do. I can't help it. So now you're jealous of an old man?"
"So he's old. He is pretty fit and has a nice beard. You like beards."
"What are you talking about? I told you I don't care if you can't grow a beard. I love your pretty face."
"I'm just saying that he isn't too bad looking. He has probably had a few lovers in his day. I bet he knows how to please a woman."
Something in the way Konstantin was talking set off alarm bells in Nina's head.
"What the fuck is going on here?'
"We owe him a lot of money."
"I have my half of this month's rent. I'm guessing you don't?"
Konstantin shook his head no.
"Fucking great! So now I'm supposed to come up with a month and half more rent? Where am I supposed to find that kind of money?" She had it stashed away for her acting career but she was loath to part with it. It was her future, her only hope to escape the drabness of her life.
"Wait, you don't have to find the money. I found a solution. I worked it out."
"How?"
"I made him a deal. An exchange."
"What kind of exchange?" Then she remembered what Sorin had said. "He said he is coming back tonight... at eight. Why?" Nina knew she wasn't going to like it but Konstantin still stunned her with his answer.
"I told him he could fuck you."
Konstantin said it matter-of-factually, flat and unemotionally so Nina didn't actually comprehend what he had said at first. It might as well have been "I told him he could have a whale." It just would not compute.
"Nina?" His voice penetrated the fog that blanketed her mind. Was this shock?
"Did you hear what I said?"
Then the anger began. He didn't ask if she was alright, he didn't apologize, or beg forgiveness, he asked about himself.
"Nina, answer me."
"Say it again?" she whispered.
"Say what?"
"Tell me what you told Sorin."
"Don't be upset. This is the only way."
"Say it again!" This time she did yell.
"I knew you were going to get all dramatic about it."
"I am reacting the way any reasonable human being would react when informed that their lover has sold their body for RENT!"
"It's the only way!"
"You suck the old pervert off then!"
"He doesn't want me!"
"How very fucking convenient for you then isn't it!" Her anger was clear and white hot. She spoke in a fierce but quiet tone, indignant to the very core of her being. "How could you do this to me? How?!"
