Galina Sergeevna tiredly put aside the last notebook of her pupil Gavrilov, an overachiever and an underachiever, which she always left for last. She spared no red ink for his essays, knowing ahead of time that there would be a sea of mistakes. What are they missing? They have all the conditions for studying now, they are dressed and shoeed to perfection, there is plenty of food in the supermarkets. Phones and tablets would be taken away from them, then they would have more time to study. Galina Sergeevna remembered her childhood. Fifty years ago, her only entertainment was books at home and a ball and jump rope in the street.
"It's time for me to retire," sighed the old teacher, "I'll graduate this class and go on vacation. Still, Galina Sergeevna loved children. She had no children of her own, somehow her personal life did not work out. There were hobbies, men, love - everything was... How come she did not create her own family? She was waiting for something, looking for something... She thought: if there was a possibility to return everything back, would she want to change something? I suppose so. To do what she had not done in time, or on the contrary, not to do what she should not have done.
When she was young, Galina often wondered what old age was and whether the soul ages together with the body. Over the years, she realized that the body, unfortunately, ages faster. She often went back in her mind, but strangely enough, she never wanted to relive any moments of her life. Perhaps because there were not so many joyful moments, and who would want to relive the sad ones? And one day Galina decided that old age is when you want to go back. So what, then, is it here, old age? Apparently it has.
"All right, enough self-pity, it's time to go to bed," Galina Sergeevna resolutely gathered her notebooks and put them in her briefcase. - Tomorrow we'll analyze the essays and work on the mistakes of 6 B." The teacher carefully checked if she had prepared everything for tomorrow's lessons and went to the bedroom. The time was half past one in the morning. She never went to bed early, knowing she wouldn't get any sleep. However, as soon as Galina Sergeyevna laid her head on the pillow, her eyelids grew heavy. "Indeed, I've gotten old," she barely had time to think and began to fall into a warm enveloping darkness.
It was a strange dream. Often in a dream you realize that it's a dream, and almost always you realize what's going on, no matter how incredible the dream was. Now Galina Sergeevna did not understand what was happening to her at all. She wasn't even sure it was a dream. For one thing, she wasn't breathing. No, she wasn't choking, she didn't have that horrible feeling when you open your mouth like a fish, trying to breathe, but you can't get air into your lungs. She felt as if she had no lungs at all, or that she had lungs but they weren't working. And strangest of all, she didn't need air, her body was free to do without the need to breathe.
But there was something else that frightened Galina Sergeevna: she was clamped like a vise, by something soft, warm and slippery, so dense that she could not move a single muscle. Yet, somehow, in some unfathomable way, her body moved through this dark tunnel, as if something was pushing it outward. In a panic, she tried to push off with her legs to get out quickly, but her feet found no footing. Suddenly, sounds were heard somewhere overhead. They were very distant and so muffled, as if her ears were tightly plugged with absorbent cotton. Gradually the sounds became clearer, and she thought she even heard a scream, so strained, so full of anguish. Suddenly the bright light so cut her eyes that panic increased even more: in the darkness it was not clear what was happening, because there was nothing to see, and the light penetrated into the very brain, which for a while turned off all reactions. But Galina Sergeyevna began to hear voices and sounds more clearly. Rattle of metal, footsteps, rustling of cloth, heavy breathing. Suddenly a woman's voice said satisfied: "You have the girl." And then she flew. It was so scary, like being on a merry-go-round that spins too fast. But she was held by someone's hands, the flight did not last long, she was put on something hard and cold, they began to pull her arms and legs, put something in her mouth and nose, turned her over and spanked her just below her back. Suddenly her lungs were desperate for air, her mouth opened on its own, the spanking intensified slightly. She resisted, gasping for air to scream, but all that came out of her mouth was a nasty squeak. She was sick of this dream and the unceremonious behavior of its participants.
Galina Sergeyevna began to try to remove them all, began to wave her hands, but they did not obey her, but flew in different directions, as if they belonged to another person. Finally, by an incredible effort of will, she forced her brain to send signals in the right direction, namely, to those cotton numb whips, which she wanted to consider as her hands, but found that she had already been tightly bound, and her arms and legs were no longer moving. At this time her eyes began to distinguish the vague outlines of objects, some faces flashed, but so quickly that she could not make out anything. Everything spun around again, flashes of light like light bulbs flashed overhead, and then the darkness and relative silence returned.
With difficulty looking around, as far as her tightly bound body allowed, Galina Sergeevna realized that she was in a room of some kind. Already something. Already something earthy and natural, without wild scenes from a horror movie. Most importantly, she had been left alone by those annoying hands that were tugging her, raising and lowering her, and shoving cotton swabs up her nose. It was relatively quiet, except for the occasional squeak and quack from various corners of the room. She turned her head slightly and squinted her eyes. To the right and to the left. On either side were carts, similar to the ones they give you in supermarkets for groceries, only wider and with low sides. In each cart lay... a baby. Live, real, moving or sleeping, silent or squeaking, but a baby! There were many of them!
Galina Sergeevna did not immediately notice that she herself was lying in a supermarket cart, and when she realized it, she forgot about the babies around her out of surprise. How did she fit in that cart? She tried to pull herself up, and of course she failed. Calmly, don't panic. It's a dream, though at first beyond all bounds of reality, but it's explainable enough now. She dreams of babies, what's so special about that? It's the kind of thing you dream about sometimes! She should just wake up, then she wouldn't have to explain how she'd ended up... Good God! Where did she end up? In the maternity ward!
It was as if Galina Sergeyevna's dream was being replayed backwards, like a movie. She was brought to this room on a cart, and before that she was swaddled, and even before that she was washed, made to scream, slapping her bottom. And before that, she was... born!!! Something hot flowed between Galina Sergeyevna's legs from this terrible confinement, and she felt that she was lying in wet diapers. This was just what she needed! What a shame! How good it was that it was only a dream. What if she woke up now and found that she had made a real mess in bed? With fear, she began to toss and turn with all her might, trying to either wake up or break free of the restraints on her arms and legs. She screamed in desperation, knowing that her own scream was the only thing that would help her escape from the nightmare.
Galina Sergeyevna's mouth squeaked again, only this time louder and more frightened. Immediately the door to the room opened and a girl in a nurse's robe entered. Approaching her, the girl said: "Well, don't scream, don't scream, I'll change the diaper now. Soon we will take you all to your mothers for feeding". The girl deftly picked up the pouch, which was Galina Sergeevna, put it on the table in the corner of the room, unfolded it, blotted it between her legs with a nice dry napkin and began to wrap it again in other diapers. Sleep did not end, and she could not wake up.
Not knowing what else to do, Galina tried to tell the girl who she was and that she shouldn't be here, to help her, after all, this was a hospital, they should help a person who couldn't wake up. But she couldn't do anything. Her tongue was not listening, her throat was squeezing spasms from despair, and then Galina Sergeyevna cried for real. She had cried in her sleep, and sometimes she did wake up in tears, but she woke up! Now she sobbed and sobbed, bitterly and tearfully, from helplessness and hopelessness. From her cry woke up other newborns, and a friendly roar, squeak and howl filled the children's ward.- Well, I got it, I got it! - said the girl. - You want to eat! Now we'll go to the moms. Valya! - she shouted, looking out into the corridor. - For feeding!
A minute later, a cart like the one the babies were on, but five times longer, rolled into the room. Valya immediately jumped back out into the corridor and rolled in another long cart. The two girls began to load the screaming babies onto them and picked up Galina Sergeevna, placing her next to someone's warm body. She was ashamed of her intemperance, pulled herself together and stopped crying. The carts rolled down the corridor, and little by little all the newborns calmed down. The girls stopped at each room, took two babies, brought them inside, came out empty-handed and the journey down the corridor continued. Finally, Valya picked up Galina Sergeevna and brought her into the next room, putting her down on something soft and warm. She looked up and saw her mother.
Galina Sergeyevna was born in 1963, when her mother was twenty-two years old. As a rule, a child cannot remember anything that happened in the first years of its life. Galina Sergeyevna's first memories of her mom go back to about the late sixties, when her mom was about 26-27 years old. This girl was much younger, but this was her mom, there was no doubt about that. It was her mom, who was almost a granddaughter to her now. It was so strange and frightening that Galina Sergeyevna had another lump in her throat. She would have cried, but she was stopped by two circumstances. First, she was embarrassed to cry in front of this young girl, still flushed after childbirth, with slightly puffy eyes and badly combed hair. And second...
Mama looked at Galina Sergeyevna with such delighted eyes, endlessly adjusting her blanket, stroking her head, kissing her forehead. "My little one," whispered her mother, "I'll call you Galochka. Galchonok you are mine." Galina Sergeyevna forgot to cry and just closed her eyes tiredly. It would be nice to wake up now, to remember her mother like that, a girl with disheveled bangs. But when she opened her eyes, she saw before her a huge swollen mommy's breast, the nipple of which she tried to put to the lips of her newborn daughter. No, not again! Another terrible ordeal! Galina Sergeyevna twisted her head desperately, pressing her lips tightly together. Then Valya came into the room.
- She won't take the breast! - Mom told her sadly.
- Splash some milk on her lips," Valya entered the room and leaned over Galina Sergeevna, who felt the warm, slightly sweet liquid enter her mouth. She licked herself and only now realized how hungry she was. Her mother, taking advantage of the fact that her daughter opened her lips, quickly stuck her nipple there, and warm milk poured into Galina's mouth. She began to swallow it, seeing no other way out, and the satisfied mother looked happily at Valya, who nodded encouragingly. This was Galina Sergeyevna's final surrender, and the hopelessness and luscious taste of the milk made her nauseous. A warm wave rose from her stomach and surged outward.
- Oh, she regurgitated! - Mom screamed in fright.
- It's nothing, it's normal," said Valya. - Lift it up a little. Well, that's good. Now let me take her away, rest.
Galina Sergeevna was put back on the cart, and a few minutes later she was lying in silence, next to the sniffling, fed and contented babies. At last she could think in peace. Her stomach still rumbled unpleasantly, and the sweet taste of milk remained on her lips. What's going on? This nightmare was becoming less and less like a dream. Just a few hours ago, the high school literature teacher had checked her chumps' essays and gone to bed in her own bed, in her one-bedroom apartment, in the small town where she'd been born, raised, and lived all her life. No, before she went to bed, she did something else... Wished for her life back, to right her wrongs.
«Чушь какая-то, — подумала Галина Сергеевна, — уж чего-чего, а такого я себе ни за что бы не пожелала. Реинкарнация какая-то. С той разницей, что при реинкарнации не помнят свою прошлую жизнь, а я, шестидесятилетняя женщина, заслуженный учитель, оказалась заперта в теле младенца! Без возможности заявить о своем присутствии, позвать на помощь, сбежать из этой больницы, вернуться домой! И что самое интересное: долго ли это будет продолжаться?». Ей снова захотелось плакать, но от усталости, отчаяния и пережитых волнений незаметно для себя Галина Сергеевна заснула.***
Days stretched on after days. They were discharged from the hospital and the parents brought their daughter home. The faces of grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles, so young, smiling and fussy, flashed before my eyes every now and then. My mother's girlfriends and my father's friends came in, many of them Galina Sergeevna didn't even remember. She was unwrapped, her diapers were changed, she was bathed and fed that awful milk. When she first saw her hands, so naughty, fluttering up and down without any system, tiny and twitching like a paralytic, she let out such a desperate cry, full of pain and hopelessness that her mother took her in her arms and rocked and held her for a long time. Galina Sergeyevna felt sorry for this fragile girl and promised herself not to cry anymore.
Gathering all her will into a fist, the elderly woman, somehow unfathomably returned to her newborn body, began her life anew. She didn't know if she would have to live all sixty years again or if she would ever come back (or wake up?). She had absolutely no idea how she would live her life, transforming from infant to girl, then to teenager, to girl and woman. But she had to live somehow. She had to decide for herself whether to accept this new state as a punishment or to try to take the opportunity to live her life differently, better.
And then, if you think about it, what was so bad about her life? Galina Sergeevna gave all of herself to the school, where she herself studied, to the children, graduated many classes, and was a class teacher. She never did anything bad to anyone, never offended anyone. Was that the meaning of life? She wasn't sure even now, having lived so many years. Well, she had plenty of time to figure it out. In the meantime, she was discovering the world she didn't remember as a true newborn.
After a couple of months, Galina Sergeevna tried to turn over on her stomach. God, how hard it was! Her muscles did not obey at all, her limbs dangled around the crib like rubber. It seemed to her that an eternity passed before she managed to persuade her hand to accept the signal from the brain and serve as a support, then it was necessary to concentrate the strength of her naughty body and lean on her hand. Then I had to concentrate the strength of its disobedient body and lean on my hand. A push, a jerk, a blow of the forehead against the wall of the crib, and there she was on her stomach. How hard it was to hold her head up! It seemed to weigh ten times as much as her whole body! But back is not to turn around, what to do? Galina Sergeyevna let out a high-pitched shriek and in exhaustion pressed her nose into the pillow, risking suffocation.
- Galchonok! - At her scream, her mother ran into the room and, laughing, took her daughter in her arms. - You rolled over on your own! You're a big girl!
Galina Sergeyevna decided that she had to exercise her muscles, as former paraplegics who had somehow miraculously gotten back on their feet do, otherwise she risked lying in that idiotic crib for a long time. From nothing to do she began to turn over on her stomach every ten minutes, driving her mother into a panic, who even removed the pillow, so that her daughter did not suffocate. But Galina Sergeevna soon learned to turn her head to the side, so as not to poke her nose in the sheet, and soon and even hold her head on the canopy, shaking it like a Parkinson's patient. Gradually, her muscles became so strong that in a couple of months she was on all fours, and a few weeks later - on her feet, grasping the back of the crib with her hands.- Seryozha, Galya is developing too fast for a six-month-old child, - Galina Sergeevna once heard her parents talking.
- Come on, Svetika, she's just a big, strong girl. You should be proud, not scared.
They started putting her on the floor with toys on the carpet so she could crawl. At last she could move freely around the house! Galina Sergeyevna began to examine the furniture, which she remembered very well, as everything in her parents' apartment had remained unchanged for many years. What interested her was her father's desk, always piled with sheets of paper, notebooks, pens and rulers. It was a long way to get to it across the apartment, but here, at last, were the cherished drawers where her mother used to put Dad's drafting supplies when she dusted his desk.
Galina struggled to pull out the middle drawer, which she knew contained blank sheets of paper. She could not pick up one sheet with her tiny fingers, so she picked up twenty of them at once, took them out of the drawer and put them on the floor. Then she pulled out the top drawer, knelt down and picked up a ballpoint pen. Tired of such physical exertion, Galina Sergeyevna flopped down on her butt and got ready to write a message on paper to her parents about what had happened to her. What naivety!
Her fingers absolutely refused to hold the pen as she had done some seven months ago. After struggling for about five minutes, Galina finally clenched the pen in her fist and began to scribble on a piece of paper the kind of scribbles for which she would have sent any of her students to a boarding school for the mentally retarded. Although, perhaps, at the Expressionist exhibition her words "Dear Mom and Dad!" would have been a success, but only if no one understood what was written. In her opinion, not even an expert on ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics would have figured it out. Galina Sergeyevna was distracted from her penmanship lessons by the frightened cry of her mother, who entered the room:
- Seryozha! You must remove all sharp objects from the desk immediately! Galya took a pen! Can you imagine what will happen if she finds a circular!
- Oh, Galchonok! - her father took her in his arms and carried her to the crib, and then returned to his desk, took a cardboard box and began to collect in it all the dangerous objects for a seven-month-old child, intending to put it higher on the closet.
- Seryozha, look," Galina Sergeyevna heard her mother say in a surprised voice, "did Galya draw this? What is it?
- Can't you see that? Children's scribbles! - replied the father mockingly. - What did you expect her to do, "Sunlit Pines"?
- Still, it's too early for her to draw, even if it's a doodle.
- Svetika, you're exaggerating. The child took a pen in his hands, scattered sheets of paper on the floor and started playing. Do you know that if you put a monkey at a typewriter, in a million years it will write "War and Peace"?
- Seryozha, Galya is not a monkey. It's a little girl who drew a picture at seven months old!
- Well, we have a child prodigy. Do you feel better? - After these words Galina Sergeyevna saw from her crib how her father, putting his arm around her mother's shoulders, took her to the kitchen. - Feed Galchonka and let's have lunch. Galina Sergeyevna decided that she should be more careful. It was a bad idea to write a letter to her parents. They would probably start taking her to child psychologists. And even if she "grew up" and continued in the same way, she might not end up in a mental institution. That's not why she started her life over, to spend it in a nuthouse. What story would she tell there? Her sixty-year-old soul transported into her own body, reborn? The asylum would blow the roof off all Napoleons. The former teacher grinned: she'd picked up a lot of words from her cocksuckers at school!
***
Galina Sergeyevna celebrated the first year spent in her little body, and then the second. On the one hand, she got a little used to her new life, or rather, to her old one. That is, to the past. Anyway, whatever, she was used to it. She didn't really have a choice anyway. But on the other hand, she missed terribly the usual things that everyone had in the twenty-first century: a color TV, a computer, her favorite books. In front of her parents, she pretended to be a little girl, sitting with skinny dolls with synthetic hair on the carpet in front of the TV. Pretending to comb the dolls' hair, she would sneakily watch the pudgy television with a tiny screen showing only two programs. Sometimes she was lucky and managed to watch a good theater production of Ostrovsky's play or a concert dedicated to Radio Day, where a young Kobzon competed with an equally young Zykina to see who would stick out his chest more. But most of the time, the television was telling us how much grain the country had harvested or in which village the local ensemble had won the rural song and dance contest.
When her parents went to the kitchen or guests came to the house, Galina Sergeevna would sneak to her father's bookcase and pull out old novels from the lower shelves. The trouble was that all the most interesting things were kept on the top shelves, and she could not reach there. She didn't want to risk getting up on a chair, because she had to keep her reading a secret. She managed to reread only the old tattered "Uncle Vanya" by Chekhov and "The Overcoat" by Gogol. Everything else belonged to my father's ancient engineering collections. As soon as the parents came out of the kitchen, their daughter put the books back in their place and began diligently coloring her princess dresses, lying on the floor on her stomach and with her legs up. They were accustomed to her playing in her father's room, where all dangerous objects had long since been out of sight.
Tomorrow was a terrible day for Galina Sergeevna - she had to go to kindergarten for the first time. She didn't like kindergarten very much, but she liked her teacher, Ekaterina Ivanovna. The girl was shy and a little withdrawn, and Ekaterina Ivanovna tried not to involve her in noisy social games, but to occupy her with drawing, cutting snowflakes or modeling. She remembered the teacher well, but how to withstand four years of kindergarten, she had no idea. A brilliant idea struck Galina Sergeyevna on the very first day.
- Well, meet your new friend, Galya Sizova," Ekaterina Ivanovna announced to the children, taking the girl's hand and waving frantically at Galina's mother, who was standing behind her back: go away while I distract her. Galina Sergeyevna did not have to be distracted. The first thing she did was to go to the fish tank to check if they had food. Then she stuck her finger into one of the flower pots - dry as always. She remembered where the nanny kept the watering can and headed for the kitchen sink. A surprised Ekaterina Ivanovna followed her with her gaze. Galya pulled the watering can out from under the sink, but immediately faced a serious problem: she couldn't reach it, let alone fill it with water and drag it to the window sill where the pots with indoor plants stood.
- Please help me to water the flowers, Ekaterina Ivanovna," the girl appealed to the teacher.
- Well, let's water them," muttered the astonished Ekaterina Ivanovna.
I can't stand it that long," Galina Sergeevna decided, "we have to do something. We could try to save at least a year and go to school earlier, but six-year-olds will be accepted only from 1984, and now it's 1966!". Galina Sergeevna, strangely enough, remembered well the premises of her kindergarten group. Here was Catherine Ivanovna's corner with an old desk, similar to a wooden school desk, which had been used before she was born. Above her desk hung timetables, schedules of nannies and cleaners and various small posters. The purpose of all this little Galya Sizova, the one from the past, had never understood, but now... "That's what we should do!", - an idea came to her mind and she went to the teacher's desk.
- Ekaterina Ivanovna, what letter is this? - Galina Sergeyevna asked, pointing her finger at a small poster attached by buttons to the bulletin board, on which was a solemn reminder for the kindergarten staff to participate in the demonstration dedicated to the October Revolution on November 7.
The teacher, still reeling from her surprise after the ritual of watering the flowers, stared at the girl and, after a moment's hesitation, replied:
- "С".
- What about this one?
- "L", "A", "C".....
- So it's "Glory"?
"A gifted child has been brought in," Yekaterina Ivanovna was horrified. - Just what I needed! What am I going to do with her?"
- What letter is this one? - Meanwhile, Galina Sergeyevna persisted.
Thus, having squeezed all the information she needed from the teacher and deliberately loudly recited "Glory to October!", she moved on to another poster and began to run her finger over the letters again, occasionally asking questions of the astonished teacher. The goal was achieved: Galina Sergeevna "learned" to read. The next step in her plan was to get her parents to allow her to avoid this ridiculous visit to the preschool and quietly spend her days at home reading. Then it would be possible to go to school, because it would be impossible not to go at all, and to pass through a grade or two, having passed 8 grades in three or four years. And there it will be seen.
When my mother came for Galina Sergeyevna, Ekaterina Ivanovna came out to meet her and said:
- Svetlana Nikolayevna, before you take Galya away, can I talk to you?
- Yes, of course. What happened? - Sveta was frightened. - Don't worry, don't worry, come this way, - the teacher led her into a small hall for music lessons. - Sit down.
Not knowing where to begin, Ekaterina Ivanovna cautiously asked Sveta:
- Svetlana Nikolayevna, tell me, Galya is growing up to be an overdeveloped girl, isn't she?
- We didn't notice anything special about her," the young woman said worriedly, "but what happened?
Ekaterina Ivanovna wrinkled her nose a little and went on:
-Today Galya learned to read. She couldn't read, could she? She asked me for letters.
-Reading? She is not yet three years old! - Sveta was scared again. - It had never occurred to me to teach her... What did she read?
-Anything I could find.
Sveta rose from her chair, clutching her purse tightly in her hands, saying quickly and nervously:
- I'll take her now," she headed for the exit from the hall almost running, remembering some of the times when her daughter had started drawing at seven months old, or when she had caught her at the bookcase with books in her hands. "After all, I told Seryozha that something was wrong with our girl, and he didn't listen to me! Children do not draw at seven months and do not read novels at two years old! What to do now?".
Ekaterina Ivanovna tried to say something to Sveta, but she only smiled nervously, frantically slipping her daughter's hands into the sleeves of her jacket. All the way home they almost ran, and Galina Sergeyevna was completely out of breath. She had already realized what had caused the commotion and was afraid whether she had overdone it. As soon as they came home, her parents closed themselves in the bedroom, and for some time there were muffled voices: her mother's worried, panicked voice, and her father's calm, trying to reassure his wife. Galina Sergeyevna decided that she had overdone it again and that from now on she should be very careful and not rush to get out of this terrible kindergarten. Finally, the parents came out of their room, the father took her in his arms and put her on his lap, and the mother stooped down in front of them, squatting, took her daughter's hands in hers and asked affectionately:
- Galchonok, did you enjoy your day at preschool today?
- Well... yes," Galina Sergeyevna answered cautiously.
- Did you like the teacher?
- Yes," she said, already realizing what her mother was getting at. - She showed me the letters.
The parents looked at each other.
- Did she show them to you herself or did you ask her? - Father asked.
Galina Sergeevna realized that she had fallen into a trap and decided to get out of it, even though she hated lying to her parents:
- I asked what it said, and she told me. Then I asked what letter it was.....
- What did it say?
- I don't remember...
The husband looked at Sveta and asked:
- Are you sure this teacher has everything at home? Children are always asking questions that they forget the answers to after a minute. Stop panicking and tell the teacher tomorrow to keep a better eye on the children and keep them out of the adults' business.
Galina Sergeevna was fed dinner and put to bed. Her mother stood at her bedside for a long time, stroking her head and adjusting the blanket, as if she were afraid to leave her daughter alone. Finally, she went out and quietly closed the door of the room of Galina Sergeyevna, who pretended to be asleep. As soon as her mother came out, she immediately opened her eyes. This time, it seemed to have passed. She would have to think about what to do next, so as not to attract too much attention from outsiders, and she would deal with her parents somehow. Galina Sergeyevna thought about it, turning over in her head the three years that she had lived in her own small body, going back sixty years in time. Suddenly she remembered that tomorrow was her birthday. In the hustle and bustle of today, no one had mentioned it, although for the past few days her parents had been actively preparing for the celebration, inviting grandparents and a couple of friends with small children over for dinner. Exactly three years ago, Galina Sergeevna went to bed in the apartment where she had lived all her life, somehow incomprehensibly transported to the past, to the maternity hospital where her mother had been pushing all night to bring her into the world!
Only now Galina Sergeevna noticed that the crib on which she was lying was in the same place as the bed of that Galina Sergeevna from the past... that is, from the future... She was completely confused, but clearly remembered that a few days before she had moved to the past she had rearranged her bedroom and moved the bed to the opposite wall, not remembering at all which wall she had slept by as a child. Well, now she found herself in the same spot she had been that night of the move. Galina Sergeyevna's little body was tired from the worries of a hard day, the child's eyes closed, and she sank into a dreamless sleep. Although, at first it seemed to her that it was dreamless. After falling into the soft, soothing darkness that only children feel when they fall asleep, Galina Sergeevna first felt some tension in her dream, as if it had become thicker and denser, almost viscous. Then something began to push her with force into this viscous space, she even began to help herself with her hands, as if she were swimming in a sticky dark gray sour cream, as it happens when you try to escape from the depths and do not have enough air to float to the surface.
It began to seem to Galina that she had been in the "sour" for an eternity, when suddenly, as if someone had forcefully pushed her body into the bright light and light fresh air. It took her a few minutes to realize where she was. It was her room, the one from which a sixty-year-old woman had 'disappeared three years ago to become a newborn girl and live for three years in her body. So how old was she now? Sixty-three? Galina Sergeyevna struggled to rise, getting used to her old body anew, and tried to walk across the room. On a chair stood her briefcase. With trembling hands, the woman opened it and took out a stack of student notebooks from there, which she had put there... How long? Three years ago or yesterday? Or maybe she had dreamed the whole thing? To keep from going crazy, she decided not to think about it. Barely reaching the kitchen, where "yesterday" she had dinner with her mother and father, Galina Sergeevna looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Half past seven. Morning? Judging by the sounds coming from the street, yes. It was at this hour that she used to get up, eat breakfast, and start getting ready for school, so that she could get to her first class by eight o'clock. How on earth would she be able to appear before the students in such a state? The poor woman frantically ran her hand over her face. Something sticky remained on her lips, and Galina Sergeevna remembered that "yesterday" for dinner her mother had made her pancakes with condensed milk. "So I didn't dream it," the teacher thought with horror. But how could that be possible? The mere fact that her consciousness had somehow unfathomably traveled back sixty years and spent three years in the body of a little girl was so incredible that it would take a long time to lose one's mind. But how had the condensed milk on her lips managed to return with her from the past?
Galina Sergeyevna sat on a chair in the kitchen for a good hour and a half before she was able to put her thoughts in order. She would still have time to think about her adventures when she retired, when she planned to live in a sane state of mind. And for that to happen, she must do the following: Galina Sergeevna picked up the phone, found the school principal's number, called and said she was sick. Then she took the coffee maker and spent two minutes trying to remember how to use it. When she finally managed to brew the coffee that Galina Sergeevna hadn't drunk in three years, the clock on the kitchen wall showed half past nine. She drank the bitter drink, even forgetting to put sugar in it, and began to sort through the notebooks of her students, trying to remember their names and faces, not thinking clearly whether they were still in the 6th "B" or had already finished school. But judging by the fact that the principal was not surprised to hear her voice, nothing had changed in the world that Galina Sergeyevna had left three years ago.