Chapter 3 The Unexpected Gift

06:34

It was the beginning of October, autumn leaves were making themselves visible, absorbing the colors of the setting sun. Temperatures fell, forcing people to switch from T-shirts and shorts to anoraks, trench coats and jeans jackets.

His wife called him from Berlin to talk about the details of the divorce and assured him that she was taking the sole custody of girls, giving him a possibility to visit. So now he was to be attached to Berlin, as Lena Zaya was until September attached to Cracov.

His office work was busy as usual, but all of a sudden it wasn’t busy enough, for all his evenings were full of those nice moments of wine and book relaxation. But soon these moments were too many to be a pleasure, as they turned into a routine.

One evening, when he was reading a heavy volume of the 19th-century novel, sipping red wine and eating some Italian crunchy cookies, which he bought in the supermarket for discounted price, his mobile phone rang. Aunt Teresa flashed on the screen of the device, and Robert Rej was virtually surprised that the woman was still alive.

Aunt Teresa was eighty, possibly more than eighty. In the late sixties she emigrated to Canada and in Canada, she stayed. She bought a house there, started a little convenience store and was apparently living there until this day. Robert Rej helped her once with a tenant, who didn’t pay the rent and refused to leave the flat, which she owned in Warsaw. It was some years ago, seven, maybe eight. Aunt Teresa was grateful and she even came back from Canada for Robert’s wedding.

‘Darling,’ she started enthusiastically,’I have heard the news. I’m so sorry.You must be devastated. But to be really honest, she always looked like a bitch. You deserve better.’

‘So you’ve heard about the divorce.’Robert Rej was actually relieved that there was one person in the world who didn’t ignore his change of life status (his coworkers did so, indiscreetly, talking behind his back twice as often as face to face), ‘We’re currently in the process. She moved to Berlin. Girls are there as well.’

‘And where do you live?’

‘I rent a room. I couldn’t stay in the house. It belonged to her. Actually, it belonged to my father-in-law.’

‘Poor little orphan.’ aunt Teresa was literally crying over the phone.

Robert Rej’s parents both died when he was in his twenties, but he felt a little bit too pitied for his state of affairs.

‘So you’re homeless.’

‘No, the room is nice. I don’t really miss that place. I never felt welcomed.’

‘Oh, I believe that you didn’t. You must feel terrible, poor thing. But that’s actually fantastic! Not the divorce of course. Remember that flat I still own in Warsaw? And that terrible tenant? Well, since that time I haven’t rented it to anyone. It’s there on its own. It’s falling into ruin. I’m not strong enough to survive the flight. I cannot really check on it. I’d love you to live there. I don’t think I’m going to come back to Poland before my death. I don’t have any children. You might inherit it after my death. There’s the rent for the housing community, of course, and the bills. But it shouldn’t be much more than you pay for the room. It’s nicely heated. It’s really warm in winter. Sometimes even too warm. It’s old. And the standard... After that house it’s nothing. But over the years you can actually improve the conditions. You might renovate it, do something with it. For me, it’s such a nuisance. I don’t know what to do with it, to be honest. No one really wants to buy it, it’s too big and it requires a lot of work. And people who have money would rather buy something new. There are such nice blocks of flats built in Warsaw. And you know, the place is pre-war. My father bought the flat in 1936. It has original furniture. I really want you to live in it.’

Robert Rej remembered the flat, as he was years before to talk with the tenant. Since that time the flat stayed empty and the aunt regularly sent the money to cover the costs of maintenance.

‘But are you sure you want me to live there? It’s not a problem. It’s actually a great location. But it’s too big for me. I really just need a room.’

‘Gosh, kiddo. If you need people, you can find some roommates. I don’t expect you to be single forever. You were always my favorite cousin. You were such a pretty boy. There will be plenty of ladies waiting for the opportunity.’

Robert Rej doubted that he would ever have another relationship with a woman.

‘Fine. That’s really nice of you, aunt. I cannot rent this room for ever...’

‘I knew you’d come to your senses. You need to go to the caretaker of the building. She has the keys, she will let you in. Ask her all the necessary questions. If there’s any problem, just call me and I’d gladly be of use. I think you will like it there. The place is magical. It’s my childhood. When daddy was still alive, it was our family’s nest.’

Aunt Teresa might have been one of those creepy aunts, who put their hands on your knees in need of a physical contact and phoned you regularly when you were a child, but now Robert Rej appreciated her being there, since she was his only positive relative, the one who didn’t want anything but was eager to give.

The next day, he packed his books, clothes and the rest of things he cramped in the rented room, left the money for the next month, as he was leaving unexpectedly, and drove to aunt Teresa’s flat.

It was an old building, which he remembered from his previous visit, about ten minutes drive to the center. The walls were thick, the windows had arches, the ceilings reached over four meters high. Staircases were spacious and the inner square of the building looked like a large, closed secret garden.The inhabitants were in majority living there since the childhood of aunt Teresa, so their age was more or less comparable. Some inherited flats from their parents and started the second and third generation of owners. Some - driven by a pure fascination with old architecture - paid a significant amount of money for the possibility of living in such a district and they were proud of the purchase. And, as it was impossible for Robert Rej to buy the house which his father in law built over the years, he definitely couldn’t afford to buy a flat in this area.

There was no lift and he had to climb five staircases up to reach the door after he had received the keys from the building’s caretaker.

The flat was spacious. It covered more than one hundred square meters. There was one spacious living room and three smaller rooms. A kitchen, a separate toilet, a bathroom and a long windy corridor added to space and completed the apartment. Floors were original wooden floors, which remembered times of flat’s first days of glory. All rooms were furnished with old furniture, old wardrobes, old wobbly tables, old sofas and old carpets. The kitchen was somewhat disastrous. The taps were leaking, the color of the sink didn’t resemble anything recognizable. The smell was suffocating and Robert Rej had to open all windows to walk from room to room without any discomfort.

He put all his things in the biggest room, one side of which was also formed in an arch. There, he had a big round dinner table and chairs, a comfortable sofa, a bookshelf and a big red carpet, a wardrobe and an old chandelier. Sitting there, having opened a bottle of wine, playing his favorite music, he felt like the character from a period drama; he only lacked appropriate clothes. The first night was loud, as the flat was situated near one of the busiest streets of Warsaw. The following nights brought him nothing but peace and quiet as he got used to the traffic.

It took him a while to clean the flat. He hired a plumber to change the taps, he got rid of some of the completely broken furniture. He managed to say hello to neighbors. He felt welcomed. Elderly ladies looked at him with the same enthusiasm as aunt Teresa used to share through all his years of childhood and adolescence. He changed the water closet, he cleaned windows, he bought a fridge and some groceries.

After a couple of weeks he felt better than ever, and even though the flat was old and it badly needed renovation, he felt better there than during all those years spent in the luxury house of his soon-to-be ex-wife.

There was a sense of relief in putting a roof over his head. The money exceeded the money he paid for renting the room, but he had space for himself and he felt independent. It didn’t take him a long time to get up on his feet and manage his vocational and private life.

It was worse to go to Berlin and start comparisons. His wife’s partner was a businessman and he lived, to compare, in a far different apartment. He owned three hundred square meters of space for himself in a better district of Unter der Linden. Everything inside was new, shining and breath-taking, and every piece of furniture was designed by some extravagant fashion designer. And while not long before he had actually felt that he had won a lottery ticket, now he felt like a poor Polish policeman in a poor dilapidated apartment, giving his wife as a gift to a richer, more successful neighbor.

The man was very manly and very bossy. It was something which Robert Rej lacked, especially with the bossy aspect. They spoke in German for a while. He seemed friendly, but clearly stated that they wanted to settle down in Berlin and it would be great if Robert Rej didn’t pose any problems when visiting the girls, and, most conveniently, he resorted to rare occasions.

Once the girls made him feel aware that the second daddy was a far better daddy, Robert Rej left the flat with a terrible feeling of life collapse. Everyone kindly informed him that he was a terrible husband, a terrible father and a not really industrious, poorly career-oriented man. His self-esteem dropped a few levels. But the fatigue of travel and legal matters took its toll on him because he actually fainted on his way to the car, and when he finally regained his consciousness, he found himself in the hospital room.

The staff kindly informed him that he was well taken care of and he was currently under observation. And when they got to know that he was actually from Poland, they asked him to call a family member to take him back to Warsaw, since they didn’t want to release him on his own.

The only friendly phone numbers he was in possession of were the numbers of Lena Zaya and aunt Teresa. As aunt Teresa couldn’t actually come from Canada to save his butt, he made use of the former one.

‘Hi, this is Robert. The crazy guy who took you to Cracov and destroyed your love life. Can I ask you a favor? I’m in a hospital. I need someone who would take me home. I need assistance.’

‘Which hospital?’

‘St Hedwig-Krankenhaus. I’m in Berlin.’

‘Berlin? And how am I supposed to get there? I don’t have a car.’

‘You can go by train. You’d be here in five hours. There is something from the Central Station. I will give you the money back.’

Robert Rej heard Lena’s gasp of irritation.

‘Fine. Give me an hour to get to the station. I’ll call you how the train situation looks like.’

She hung up and Robert Rej looked at a German nurse sitting nearby.

‘There will be someone coming for me.’

The nurse smiled. She was fond of Robert’s appearance and his deep voice with a peculiar German accent, which made him seem even sexier.

Robert Rej kindly reciprocated the smile.