In the morning, Nadya called “Trust” and asked the duty officer to call Svetlana to the phone. Even if she is sleeping, let her wake up: there is no point in sleeping when your little daughter is lying alone in the hospital. However, having run to the appropriate ward, the attendant returned with nothing: the missing mother never returned to the center.

Dear readers, don’t be angry with the main character, he’s just in a panic;)

Such things sometimes happened in “Trust”: mothers from not the most prosperous segment of society lived there, and sometimes they disappeared for a longer or shorter period of time. Some returned, some did not. Nadya was unsettled by the message that Svetlana had disappeared: she did not give the impression of being completely dysfunctional, she led a sober lifestyle and worked a lot. And Varya was a gentle, homely child – how is she, poor, alone in the hospital? Nadya called the head teacher and asked for a day off for at least a couple of lessons, but she flatly refused. Everyone who could be asked to visit the baby was also busy – we had to postpone the visit until the afternoon.

Nadya spent the entire school day on pins and needles, but when she burst into the right room, flushed and out of breath, she saw a completely peaceful picture: Varechka was sitting on the lap of a teenage boy, and he was showing her letters in a large children’s book. The two seem to have hit it off. Noticing Nadya, both smiled joyfully and rushed towards her. First of all, Nadya hugged and kissed the girl – she even sobbed, emotional that she saw a familiar face. Then it was the boy's turn. Nadya patted his shaggy head with her hand – it was awkward to hug the young man whom she had seen for the second time, and in person for the first time. But the guy himself clung to her as if he were his own and buried his head in her shoulder. He turned out to be tall, although thin.

“I see you have become friends,” Nadya smiled, leaning towards the bag of gifts she had brought. – What is your name?

– Peter. And Aunt Nadya, Varya told me about you. Is it true that you are not her mother?

– Is it true. I’m not related to her, I’m just helping her while her mom is… busy.

– When will mom arrive? – Varya immediately became sad.

“He’ll come, he’ll definitely come…” Nadya stammered, afraid to even add “soon” and thereby deceive the girl once again. But to tell her that mom is nowhere to be found and it is not known whether she will appear – this would be too cruel to the child’s psyche.

Varya still burst into tears from such uncertainty, and Petya began to console her:

– Do not Cry. My mother actually went to America, to the other side of the world, can you imagine?

Varya stopped crying and stared at him with wide eyes:

– And how will she return to you from there?

– He will arrive by plane. But only in a week.

Varya’s eyes almost popped out of her sockets:

– It will take a week to fly on a plane!

Petya laughed:

– Not really! It’s just that she bought the tickets a long time ago, she didn’t change them because of me, because it’s very expensive.

Then Varya also burst into tears for Petya: waiting a whole week for mom is too long!

Nadya did her best to distract the children from gloomy thoughts, treating them to yoghurts and fruits:

“But your dad is here,” she tried to console Petya, and at the same time Varya, who sympathized with him.

But the guy shook his head negatively:

– I don’t have a father. More precisely, there is, but he lives in another city. We hardly see each other.