DAVID'S LAST WORDS, A SHORT STORY TO RELAX WITH

As promised, I'll soon be posting chapters from my mystery stories set in Hastings. But today, I'm going to give you a story for adults. so sit back, relax and enjoy it. It's in simplified English, so it won't tax your brain (= stretch your intellect). I'll tax your brain another time.
the story is called DAVID'S LAST WORDS.

The young woman on the plane seat beside Nadya was wearing expensive clothes and lots of make-up. Her short hair was brown and shiny. There was a man beside her. He was holding a baby. He was feeding the baby from a bottle.

The young woman wasn’t looking at the man and the baby. She was putting on more lipstick.

The baby’s bottle was empty now. The man put the bottle in his bag and touched the woman’s right hand gently.

‘Hey, Masha,’ he said. ‘Shall we put our rings on our left hands? They don’t wear wedding rings on the right hand in England.’

His wife smiled at him. ‘OK,’ she said.

Nadya watched as they moved their rings from their right hands to their left hands. They looked so calm and happy.

Nadya wanted to be happy. She wanted to be part of a family. And she wanted to have money to buy things.

‘I need to go to the loo,’ the man said to the woman called Masha. ‘Hold Sasha a moment, Darling.’

‘OK,’ said Masha. She put her lipstick in her bag and took the baby from him. The man got up and walked down the plane to the loo.

Sasha was looking at Nadya. Nadya smiled at him.

‘You’re smiling because you haven’t got a baby,’ said Masha in Russian. ‘Babies make you tired. You can’t put your lipstick on with a baby. You don’t get time to look in a mirror when you’ve got a baby. Everyone else on this plane can put their lipstick on or enjoy a drink. David and I are the only passengers with a baby.’

‘You think you’ve got problems,’ thought Nadya. But she didn’t say it.

She said, ‘I’m glad we’re sitting by the emergency door.’

‘Yes, there’s a bit more leg room,’ said Masha.

‘Are you going to England on holiday?’ Nadya asked.

‘No. We’re going to live there. We’re going to live in my husband’s flat. He’s English.’

‘Yes, I know. I heard him speak.’

‘He lives in the same town as his parents.’ She smiled.

‘You look happy about that,’ said Nadya.

‘Yes, I am. If his parents live near us, they can look after the baby,’ said Masha.

‘What, all the time?’’ asked Nadya.

‘Well, not all the time…’

‘Have you met his parents before?’

‘No, but we’ve talked a lot on the phone. They’ll do anything for David. And he’ll do anything for me. I smile at him and he does what I want.’

‘Were you sad to leave Russia?’

‘Yes, a bit. But I won’t miss anyone there. My parents are dead, and I haven’t got any real friends. Women don’t usually like me, so they don’t stay friends with me for long. How about you?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe I’ll miss Russia. But my mother died last year, and my father works on a factory ship, so he’s away most of the time.’

‘A factory ship?’

‘Yes. He cleans fish. It’s a horrible job. And I couldn’t get a job at home in Volgograd. But I speak English, and I’m going to work in England. I went for an interview with an agency in Volgograd, and they gave me a job. They’re going to wait for me at Heathrow Airport. But at Passport Control I have to say I’m going to stay with my uncle.’

‘You’re crazy. Do you know what kind of job it is?’

‘Well…’

‘Oh, no!’ Masha said. ‘Look! My favourite jumper! David gave the baby too much milk, and now it’s all over my favourite jumper!’

‘It’s only a jumper,’ Nadya wanted to say. But she didn’t say it.

‘I need to go to the loo and clean my jumper,’ Masha said.

‘Shall I hold Sasha?’ asked Nadya.

‘Oh, yes, please. I won’t be long,’ said Masha.

Nadya took the baby from her.

Masha got up and went to join the queue for the loo.

Sasha held one of Nadya’s fingers and looked at Nadya. Nadya felt happy with the baby.

But suddenly, Nadya’s stomach jumped and the plane started going down fast. The lights went off, and the pilot spoke over the loudspeaker:

‘This is your captain speaking. We are making an emergency landing on the English Channel. Please put on your lifejacket. Do not inflate your lifejacket until you leave the plane.’

Some people screamed. The people in the queue for the loo pushed and shouted and tried to get back to their seats.

With her right hand, Nadya held the baby close to her. The baby’s head was on her shoulder. She put her left hand under the seat and pulled out her lifejacket.

She stood up and put the lifejacket over her head and the baby’s. She pulled it down over them. She pulled the emergency door, but it didn’t open. Two stewards came to help her. Some people behind the stewards were shouting and screaming. They pushed the stewards because they wanted to get out first.

Nadya was holding the handle of the heavy emergency door when the plane crashed into the sea. The stewards and the people behind them fell down on the floor of the plane. The heavy emergency door opened. Nadya climbed through the door and saw an escape chute. She pulled the cord of her lifejacket.  The lifejacket inflated and pushed the baby very close to Nadya.

Nadya held the baby’s head close to her shoulder as they fell down into the cold sea. When they hit the water, the baby began to cry.

‘It’s OK, Sasha,’ Nadya said into his ear. ‘Look, I’ll lie on my back and then you’ll be out of the cold sea.’

But Nadya couldn’t lie on her back. Because of the lifejacket, she had to stand up in the water. The baby’s head was still close to Nadya’s shoulder.

Nadya turned round in the water and saw the plane. It was going down into the sea. She also saw a very big wing lying on the water.

‘Sasha,’ said Nadya. ‘There’s no-one here. It’s just you and me. They’re all in the plane. They can’t get out.’

Nadya’s hands were very cold, but the water inside her clothes was warm. She moved her legs and feet. She wanted to stay warm.

Her hands were yellow, like a dead person’s hands. And the top of her head began to feel very cold. But the baby was warm.

‘It’s OK, Sasha,’ she said.

Sasha stopped crying. He was listening to her. She talked to him for a long time.

Then she saw a boat. She blew the whistle on her lifejacket.

The baby began to cry again.

‘Sorry, Sasha,’ she said. And she blew the whistle again.

The boat came near them and stopped.

‘It’s all right, love,’ a voice shouted.

Two fishermen leaned over and took her arms. They pulled her into the boat.

‘Where are we?’ asked Nadya.

‘This is the English Channel, love,’ said one of the fisherman. ‘You’re all right now. We’ll take you to the town we’ve come from - Hastings. And we’ll call an ambulance for you.’

‘What’s your name, love?’ the other one asked.

‘Nad … Masha,’ said Nadya. ‘And my baby’s name is Sasha.’

They kept Nadya and Sasha in hospital that night. The nurse wasn’t surprised when Nadya didn’t know how to change a nappy.

‘Nappy?’ said Nadya.

‘Yes, you know, these.’ The nurse held up a packet of nappies.

‘Oh, yes. Sorry about my English.’

‘Your poor hands got very cold in that sea,’ she said. ‘And then, of course, maybe you use real nappies in Russia. Not these paper nappies.’

In the morning, Sasha’s English grandparents came to the hospital. Sasha’s grandmother was crying. She put her arms around Nadya and Sasha.

‘Masha, my dear. You know me from the photos we sent you, don’t you? I’m Martha, David’s mother.’

‘Yes, hello, Martha.’

‘Hello, Masha,’ said the baby’s grandfather to Nadya. ‘I’m John.’

‘Hello, John,’ said Nadya.

‘If you’re ready, we’ll drive you home,’ said John.

Nadya and Sasha slept in the car all the way to Martha and John Green’s house.

When they arrived at the house, they all had soup and bread.

‘Sasha loves your soup,’ said Nadya.

‘Good,’ said Martha. ‘I’ll show you your room now. You look very tired.’

‘Yes, I am,’ said Nadya. She followed Martha upstairs.

There was a double bed in the room.

‘I’m sorry there isn’t a cot for Sasha,’ said Marta.

‘A cot?’

‘Yes, a child’s bed.’

‘Oh, I see. Sorry my English isn’t very good.’

‘Oh, but it is good,’ said Martha. ‘And your accent is nice. Just like when we spoke all those times on the phone. Only…’

‘Only what?’

‘Oh, nothing. It’s … well, your voice is so gentle. On the phone it was different. Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes, the cot, the baby’s bed. We put a cot for Sasha in David’s flat. Well, it’s your flat now. But you stay here with us as long as you want.’

‘Thank you,’ said Nadya.

‘Now, I’ll leave you and Sasha to rest. I’m going shopping.’

When she was alone with Sasha, Nadya held the baby close to her and danced around the bedroom. Then she sat on the bed and spoke to the baby in Russian.

‘Thank you, Sasha. I had nothing. And now I’ve got everything. I’ve got a family. I’ve got a flat. And I’ve got YOU! I’m so HAPPY. But I must try to look sad, because they must think I’ve lost my husband.’

When Martha came back from the shops that afternoon, John was in the living room holding Sasha. Nadya was in the kitchen making tea. Martha was carrying lots of bags of new clothes for Nadya and the baby.

‘I tried to buy the kind of clothes you were wearing in the photos you sent us. And I bought you some make-up. You look so different from the photos. You’re the same slim woman, and you’ve got the same short brown hair. But you’re very pale. But all you need is a bit of make-up.’

‘She’s pale because she misses David,’ said John.

‘Yes. Yes, of course. I’m sorry,’ said Martha. ‘Excuse me. I’ll make some more tea.’

She put the bags of clothes and make-up on an armchair. Then she went to the kitchen and closed the door.

‘Sasha looks like David already,’ John to Nadya. ‘Those big blue eyes. And his nose…’

‘Yes, and he doesn’t look a bit like me,’ thought Nadya. But all she said  was, ‘Yes, you’re right.’

‘You don’t wear your ring, my dear,’ said John as he gave the baby back to Nadya.

‘No. I think it came off in the sea. My hands were so cold.’

‘Ah, yes, of course. Now, Masha, I need to tell you something. Some newspaper and TV people phoned when you were upstairs. They wanted to ask you about the plane crash. I told them that you can’t speak to them at the moment.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Not at all. But, my dear, I want you to know that you’re not alone. You have us. I mean, it’s not only because you are … er, because you are our son’s widow.’

‘No?’ 

‘No. You saved our grandson’s life. We will never forget that. You didn’t jump off that plane alone. You took Sasha with you.’

‘You know, don’t you, John? You know I’m not …’

‘Yes, my dear, I know. Ah, here’s our next cup of tea.’

Martha put a tray of tea and biscuits on the table. Her eyes were red.

‘You haven’t looked at your new clothes, Masha,’ said Martha.

‘Oh, sorry.’

‘No, no, my dear, don’t be sorry,’ said John. ‘Martha is only surprised because you were so different on the phone. You talked about clothes a lot … And about shopping and clubbing.’

Nadya held Sasha close to her.

‘It’s all right, Masha,’ said John. ‘We’re very happy that you are as you are.’

‘Yes, on the phone you never talked about the baby. But now we can see that you are a wonderful mother,’ said Martha.

 ‘Masha, can I ask you something?’ said John.

 ‘Of course.’

‘What were David’s last words?’

‘His last words were, ‘Hold Sasha a moment, Darling,’ said Nadya.