Fleur de Lys

Marina. Right, we don’t want that. I’ll make you a Bloody Mary.

Sergey. Don’t spare vodka.

ACT II

Scene 5

One year later. Sergey Arkhipov’s Architectural Bureau.

Igor Frolov and Sergey are seated comfortably in armchairs at a solid oak desk. They are drinking Talisker Storm whisky and smoking cigars.

Sergey. You look smug.

Frolov. I’ve spent the night with someone.

Sergey. Your ass must still be hurting.

Frolov. Oh, fuck you! If only you could see her naked. Lithesome as a cat.

Sergey. You lucky bastard! Do I know her?

Frolov. Perhaps you do. Anna Sokolova’s Dancing School. Her girl students put on a performance for the president at the EXPO summit, you know.

Sergey. I don’t remember. I don’t remember.

Frolov. Here’s to wives and sweethearts! May they never, never meet.

Sergey. Amen. Now I’ll introduce you to my new girlfriend.

Sergey gets off the armchair, steps up to his weapons safe, and produces a Benelli M4 shotgun.

Frolov. Isn’t she gorgeous!

Sergey. An icon! It’s semi-automatic. Six-round magazine. I’m going to a firing range tomorrow. Wanna put it to use.

Frolov. Well, I also can be of use to you, Sergey.

Sergey. Go ahead.

Pause.

Frolov. As your lawyer, I insist that you and Marina should sign a marriage contract.

Sergey. Come on, Igor! I love her. I am indebted to her for everything I’ve achieved during the past year. She made me happy. Her connections with the city power players helped me get paying projects. I am prosperous and I’m doing my thing again.

Frolov. Marina is not a woman who would settle for crumbs from her ex. She is of the bulldog breed! If something goes wrong after your marriage and the birth of your child, she will rob you blind. You won’t have a rag to your back. Again.

Sergey. Marina is six months pregnant. Can you even imagine how stressful it is for her? The opening of her exhibition in the Main Avenue Gallery. Moving to a new house. Let alone the wedding. Her friends alone will amount to over a hundred guests. And fifty relatives, no less! And to top it all, you and your marriage contract. No way! End of story. Fill it up.

Frolov. How much do you want?

Sergey. Up to the brim! Cheers.

Frolov. Better belly burst than good liquor be lost!

Scene 6

One year later. July. Noon.

Fleur de Lys Art Studio.

In the middle of the room, there are easels with paintings on them. The paintings feature dancing girls in pretty dresses.

Marina, slightly inebriated Sergey.

Marina. Sergey, don’t overdrink. Lenka and her new boyf, a general from Moscow, are coming to visit us. You won’t miss your chance to get hammered, don’t worry.

Sergey. Uh-huh.

Marina. I will take Veronika to my parents for the night. They begged for a granddaughter, so they are welcome to baby her. God, I’m exhausted. The money came short again. If I don’t pay off, they will take away the office and I’ll be forced to close down my studio.

Sergey. Didn’t I tell you that taking credits is a bad idea? It’s a pyramid scheme!

Marina. Do you really have to remind me about that?

Sergey approaches Anna’s portrait and looks at it, silently.

Marina. This is Anna Sokolova. She’s our lawyer’s girlfriend.

Sergey. Girlfriend? Seems that I haven’t seen Igor for quite a while.

Marina. Anna commissioned me to paint some portraits of her dancing school’s students. She is supposed to get them today. Thanks for the reminder. There’s another painting waiting for her in the study. I’ll go and fetch it. [She goes to the study.]

Sergey. [He stares at Anna’s portrait as if trying to remember something.] You have Terpsichore’s eyes. I will catch a beam of sunlight and give it the shape of a golden lily. You are my muse.

Anna appears. She’s well-dressed and good-looking.

Anna. Hello.

Sergey. Greetings, magnificent Fleur de Lys.

Anna. Are you drunk?

Pause

Sergey. And yet you don’t have any boxer husband! The murderer is the gardener. Or rather, my own lawyer!

Anna. There is no gardener in «Cinderella».