A Recollection of a Rural Encounter in Transcarpathia

In Transcarpathia. I still remember that peasant girl.

Maybe once every ten years, I felt a healthy sexual desire.

In the morning, they put slaughtered chickens and hares on the table, their peasant food.

But it was healthy because there was lots of meat, pork, vegetables. And, as was customary, he set out cognac.

I had never drunk at all in the morning.

But there was cognac in the morning. The old man, the old woman, and the daughter- in- law.

Her husband was away working somewhere. That was everyone. Then we drank too, had a bite.

And I was still comparatively younger than I am now. It was about 20 years ago.

It was my first summer in Transcarpathia.

I walked to the village. No buses ran. I loved the freedom, there was no one around, Moscow was far away.

I walked along calmly, alone, by myself. And then I found that address. That was it, we got acquainted.

So I spent the night there, and in the morning, there was this peasant breakfast.

He says, “Have breakfast.” So I think, there’ll be some cottage cheese, an egg, that’s all.

He piled all kinds of food on the table and even put out cognac, but he himself doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink. He’s an old man already.

I had nothing else to do. I ate and drank.

Then they went out into the yard, and the daughter- in- law cleared the table.

She was clearing up right next to me. I could feel it.

I took her hand, got bold, felt it. She was right there beside me, clearing the cups and everything.

She was clearing up. Rough, peasant-like skin, but a woman’s skin.

She was wearing just a dress. I drank some more, got brazen, and started feeling her all over.

She had only a dress on. There was nothing underneath, no bra, no panties— nothing.

And it was hot, summer somehow. A strange house, everything strange.

I asked where, where to, what. And the old folks were busy there, chasing chickens, doing all sorts of things, they left, and no one was around.

There isn't any. A peasant hut. And so I was aroused by that peasant smell, so to speak, on her skin, so to speak, and no cosmetics anywhere near her.

She doesn't know what that is. Maybe she would like to, she just doesn't know how.

They simply don't have that. So I enjoyed it precisely because there was something like that, that I'm a man, she's a girl, and she's silent, she doesn't resist.

There was no, "What are you doing? It's my first time, how could I?" City girls start with that.

Because she too, apparently, has been without a husband for a long time.

You can't fool around in the village, there's nobody there, and he's been away earning money for a long time.

Maybe he shows up once a year.