The Samaritan

He watches her hesitate, realizes Dusek must have done something that was against the law, "It's okay," he says, "I'm not the police. You can tell me." She nods, then tells him about this 'courier' job Dusek had taken on. Some shady figures had approached him, knowing he was in a bind. They had offered him a lot of money, enough to get them back on their feet again. She hadn't wanted him to take the job, but he had insisted, and in the end she had said yes.

She looks up at him, "He insisted because of the alternative. I had been offered a job too, you see, but..." She doesn't finish the sentence, but her face tells it all."

He nods, "Someone offered you the opportunity to spread your legs for money, and your boyfriend didn't like that."

She nods, then starts to cry, "If I only had, then he would still be alive, and Mischka would still have a papochka."

The couch isn't that long, he slides over to her and pulls her against him, "You mustn't think like that Natasha."

After leaning into him for a minute, sobbing softly, she timidly slips from his arms and sits back again. He watches her wipe the tears from her pretty face before she continues her story. They were supposed to go on a short family holiday, a mid-week city trip to Paris, by train. The day before leaving they had received a sealed package containing money, with the explicit warning that they were both responsible for it from that moment on.

On the way to Paris Dusek had carried the package inside his rucksack, and everything had gone well. Upon arrival the hotel had proven to be rather nice and they had just had a fun holiday for a couple of days. Then the evening of the meeting had come; two men would be visiting them at their room at six o'clock, to switch the money package for one containing the drugs they were supposed to take back with them to Bratislava.

She hadn't wanted to meet these men, and Dusek had preferred to have Mischka and her out of the way too. So at half past five she had left the hotel, and taken Mischka to a nearby brasserie for an ice cream. She had initially planned to stay away for an hour, but in the end had returned a bit earlier, mainly because Mischka kept asking for her daddy.

After returning to the hotel they had been waiting inside the lobby for the lift to arrive, and when it did two men had come out. They were North Africans, wearing hoodies, and one of them had been carrying a sport bag. What had drawn her attention had been the sunglasses they wore. Why wear sunglasses, inside, after sundown? They had entered the lift after the pair got out, and going up she had realized they were probably the men who had visited Dusek.

The moment she opened the hotel room door Mischka had eagerly slipped inside, that had been a mistake. Dusek had been laying on the floor, covered in blood. She had screamed for Mischka to stay away, but the little girl hadn't listened. In horror she had watched Mischka look down on her clearly dead father, Królik, her cuddly toy, slipping from her little hands, ending up in the pool of blood surrounding Dusek's head.

She had ran over and picked her up, Dusek's throat had been slit, his lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. She had put Mischka on the bed, next to Dusek's rucksack, which was empty, the money gone. Sitting herself down on the bed too she had picked up Mischka and held her until they both had calmed a bit, then she had thought over her situation. Dusek was dead, so calling the police would only get her their attention, and difficult questions.

So she had taken Dusek's phone from his coat, called his contact in Slovakia, and told him what had happened. The man at the other end clearly hadn't been happy, and had told her to return to Bratislava immediately. She had asked him why, "Listen, you will just have to pay back your debt," he had answered, sounding agitated, "If you behave, nothing is going to happen to your little girl." She had then known for sure what awaited her, had told the man on the phone she would be coming back, and then had simply ended the call and switched off the phone.

It had been clear to her that if she didn't want to end up in one of Bratislava's brothels she had only one option left, she and Mischka had to disappear. She had gotten her own rucksack from beneath the bed, taken out the pack of wet wipes she had with her for Mischka, then used them to clean off all the contact surfaces in the room like she had seen done so often in the movies. She had then taken all the remaining cash from Dusek's wallet, closed his eyes and kissed him goodbye, crying softly.

Next she had picked up Mischka and headed for the door. When the sobbing little girl had realized they were leaving she had screamed for her cuddly toy, but it had been soaked in blood, so she had had no choice but to leave it behind. She had swiped the knob of the hotel room door and taken the elevator down, swiping the room key clean on the way. Turning in the key she had told the receptionist that her friend had been murdered by criminals in their room, and then she had simply left, leaving a stunned receptionist behind.

Outside she had headed for the metro, and taken it to Gare du Nord. The reason behind that choice had been that she spoke three languages; Slovakian, Russian, and English. And while she didn't dare take a train to the UK, now it was outside the EU, she did know there was another country where almost everyone spoke English, the Netherlands. So after a short look at the railway route map she had bought a ticket to Brussels, and twenty minutes later they were on their way.

Two connections and close to four hours later, just before midnight, she had arrived at the Belgian capital, an exhausted Mischka sleeping on her lap. She had been dog-tired, and emotionally exhausted, too, and as there hadn't been any outbound trains at that time anyway, she had left the station. Outside she had asked a couple of cab drivers for some information, and had thus found a reasonably cheap hotel nearby to stay the night.

The next day they had traveled further on by train to Utrecht in the Netherlands, where she had found a very cheap hotel close to the station. The rooms were called 'pods', basically nothing more than a private bunk, and the showers were communal, but staying there was dirt cheap. Still she had run out of money fast, and finding a job had proven difficult, basically because she wasn't prepared to drop her knickers.

So a good week later the bottom of her wallet had come in sight, she had spent her last cash on a good sleeping bag and they had, from that point on, slept outside. Soon after that she had found herself begging, just for money to eat. From there on it had all gone further downhill, and today, when he had met her, she had been truly at her end.

At that point she slides over to him, hugs him and kisses his cheek, "When you picked us up, I was so numb and exhausted I couldn't even think straight anymore. You saved my Mischka, I will never forget that, never ever."

He feels himself blush, "It was just my good deed for the day, we boy scouts have to do a good deed every day you know." She leans back and locks eyes with him, her face slowly starts to smile, and then she laughs, it hits him straight in his heart.

The laugh floats away, her eyes are clearly taking him in, then they soften, "How old are you Michael?" she asks.

He grins, "Thirty three, nearly a fossil by young people's standards probably." She says nothing for a while, then, "I don't know the time, but I'm dead tired, would it be okay for me to go to bed?"

He smiles, "Of course. No problem." She gets up, then leans over him and pecks his cheek, "Good night Michael, and again, thank you for everything." He watches her leave the room, then starts making a list in his head, things he'll have to do tomorrow, things to make the lives of a couple of girls who just experienced a really rough time a bit happier.

Michael wakes slowly, and looks at his alarm clock, half past seven. He groans softly, he hadn't set the alarm, but his internal alarm, used to getting up at this time, wakes him nevertheless. You're in serious need of a good vacation, he thinks, then he remembers what happened the night before. He's fully awake in a flash, listening intently, the house is silent as always. They are still sleeping, he concludes, Good, let them, they need it.

He lays thinking for a couple of minutes, rehearsing his plans for the day, then stretches and gets out of bed. The en-suite bathroom is located about as far away from the guestroom they are using as the size of the house allows for. He walks inside and takes a shower, being careful not to make too much of a racket. By the time he has finished breakfast a clatter coming from the hallway announces the arrival of the Saturday morning paper.

He's already halfway through it when noise on the stairs announces his guests have finally returned to the land of the living too. He watches them enter the kitchen, standing to lift Mischka onto her chair. "Good morning," Natasha says, smiling beautifully.

He smiles back at her, "The two of you slept well?"

She nods, sitting herself down at the table too, "Yes, best night since, well, forever."

He looks at Mischka, "Would you like pancakes for breakfast?"

The little girl looks back at him uncertain, "palacinky?" her mother asks. That does get a positive reaction, a big one.

"You too?" he asks Natasha, who gives him a smile.

"Sure, I'm still a little girl too, you know..." So pancakes it is, he gets out the frying pan and pancake mix, then gets busy baking. They prove to have a good appetite, making him wonder how long they haven't been eating well. While they're busy munching down the 'last round', he gets them their clean clothes, fresh from the dryer.

Natasha checks them, they are still warm, it gets him another smile, "Thank you, I had forgotten all about them."

He shrugs, "No thanks, but the two of you'd better get dressed, it's Saturday, so there's some shopping on the to-do list." She nods, then goes upstairs again with Mischka, ten minutes later they are back downstairs again, dressed in their slightly worn but now clean clothes. "Alright," he smiles, "let's go." She walks over to where her rucksack is standing against the wall and starts packing their freshly washed spare clothes.

Michael frowns at her, "What are you doing?"

She looks back a bit dumbfounded, "You said you needed to go, so I'm getting my rucksack ready."

It slowly dawns on him, "You don't need to pack Natasha, your rucksack is going nowhere, and your spare clothes are better kept in your bedroom closet anyway."

She looks confused for a moment, then her eyes widen, "We.., we can stay?"

He nods, "Of course, the two of you can stay as long as you need."

She's on him in a flash, hugging him close, she starts to cry, "I.., I.., I don't know.., I..."

At six feet and a bit he has not far off a foot on her, he shushes her, then drops his head and pecks her on the forehead, "It's okay Natasha, the two of you had a rough time, we're going to change that." Something is tugging at him, when he looks down Mischka is looking up at him, hugging his leg, she's blonde, but has the stunning deep blue eyes of her mother. He reaches down and ruffles her hair, then looks at Natasha again, who's looking at him too.

He smiles, "The two of you deserve a fresh start in life, and you're going to get it, no strings attached, okay?"

She nods, her eyes softening, he gets a peck on the cheek again, then she lets go and stands back. "I don't know what to say. I'll never be able to make this up to you."

He grins, "You don't have too, I'm just using the opportunity to score me some positive karma." He bends over and picks Mischka up, lands a peck on the end of her stubby little nose, "Time to do some serious shopping little girl."

Ten minutes later they're in the car, on their way into town. First stop is at a large car parts shop, where he picks up a nice car seat for Mischka, so he'll be able to buckle her up safely. Next he drives over to the biggest local mall and parks the car. They first visit a children's clothing store and get Mischka some new underwear and a couple of sets of clothing. Next Natasha gets the same treatment at a women's fashion store.

He keeps Mischka busy while the stores lady helps Natasha picking some new underwear, but when it's time for her to choose new outer clothing she calls him over. He gets a fashion show, with Mischka sitting on his lap, Natasha proves to have a perfect figure. After leaving the women's fashion store he directs them to a toy store specialized in toys for young children. Inside he picks Mischka up and takes her over to the rack with cuddly toys; the little girl's eyes grow big.

"Now listen carefully," he addresses her in a firm tone, "having at least one proper cuddly toy is a little girl's god given right. So it's high time we addressed that situation." Natasha translates smiling, while he walks up and down along the rack a couple of times. The little girl is clearly overwhelmed, then suddenly points at a big and fluffy brown and beige bear wearing a huge smile. He picks it from the rack for her, and watches her hugging it close. "Yes?" he asks, Mischka nods enthusiastically.

He carries her over to the cash register, "No need to pack it up," he says to the grinning girl behind the register, "It's for the road." The girl leans over and removes the tag, after which he puts Mischka down on the floor again. She immediately starts to bounce around madly, hugging her new best friend close. He pays for the bear and when he turns to leave he gets a big hug too. He grins down at Natasha, "You want a cuddly toy too? There was this big hairy ape in the rack you might like..."

She lets go of him, still smiling, "No, thank you, one big ape to hug once in a while is more than enough..."

As it's now about lunch time; he takes them to a nearby diner. Once seated he asks Mischka what she would like to eat, the answer comes with a big smile, "Palacinky."

Her mother laughs, "No no, you're not going to get pancakes twice a day." Mischka ends up with a slice of pizza, which she loves too. They both order a sandwich, and once Mischka has downed her slice of pizza she and mister Medved, her bear, bumble over to the kids playing corner. When she's gone playing Natasha addresses him, "You just spent a lot of money on the two of us Michael, for which I'm very grateful. But at the same time I don't feel comfortable: it feels like we're abusing your generosity."

He nods, "I already expected that." He hesitates for a moment, "Listen, I already thought about this, I'm living alone so there are some things you could do for me." She looks down, and blushes. He shakes his head, "No, not like that, I promised you I wouldn't try to get you into bed with me, didn't I?"

She looks up, "Yes, you did, but that was before you offered for us to stay longer than just the night, that was before you bought both Mischka and me a whole new wardrobe."

He shakes his head again, "What I had in mind was for you to become my housekeeper, until you find yourself a job that is. You clean the house and cook and such. I currently employ a cleaning service, which costs me a ton of money, and I eat a lot of takeaway food, which also costs me a ton of money, and isn't very healthy to boot."

Her face lightens, "Of course I would be willing to clean and cook for you!"

He sighs relieved, "Okay, that's settled then."

She smiles, "I still think you're a very generous employer."

He grins, "Ah yes, but I have to be, otherwise I'll always have to be afraid you'll spit in my food behind my back."

She laughs, "Don't worry, if I'm not happy with something I'll just tell you."

They spend the next couple of hours shopping for food and things Mischka and Natasha need, things like toothbrushes and hygiene products for women.

Once home again Mischka remembers Finding Nemo and he puts it on again for her. By the time the movie is finished it's almost dinner time. He had planned to take them out, to a restaurant, but Natasha isn't having any of it, she's going to cook for them, or else...

When they were shopping he had watched a lot of rather unfamiliar foodstuff end up in the shopping cart, with rather mixed feelings. Soon his worst fears are being negated by the smells coming from the kitchen. He sniffs, Mischka, playing with her bear on the couch next to him, looks up at him, "Mama varí mňam mňam." He doesn't know if she's speaking Slovakian or Russian, still he gets the point. When dinner arrives the dishes look unfamiliar, but they taste awesome, Fuck, the girl can cook!

After dinner he puts on another movie for Mischka, and after it's finished, and Natasha has put her to bed, he puts on a movie for the both of them. Natasha proves to be a beer and not a wine girl, and she likes the 2003 Hulk movie, how awesome is that. Halfway through the movie he remembers his original plans for the Saturday night. His eyes drift slowly to the other end of the couch, as absorbed by the movie as she is she doesn't notice.

He takes her in once again, with their arrangement he could just go out if he wanted to, even bring home some girl to warm his bed for the night. Looking at her he realizes doing so wouldn't just feel awkward, it would also end in disappointment, because the girl he would be bringing home would never be as nice or good looking as the one currently sitting on his couch. But you are ten years older than she is, she's still mourning, and you promised not to make her go to bed with you.

After Hulk has finished he lets Natasha choose the next movie, she comes up with Alien, which for some reason she has never seen before. He warns her it's a science fiction horror movie, which doesn't scare her. It proves a good choice, she spends the rest of the evening on his side of the couch, trying to hide behind him. When the movie has finished Natasha decides it's bed time, and confesses that, in the future, she's going to heed his warnings concerning scary movies.

Sunday turns out to be a bad weather day, he largely spends it going through boxes in the attic containing stuff from his childhood, looking for toys for Mischka, and finding plenty to make the little girl happy. And then he watches some more movies with Natasha while Mischka plays with her new old toys, thinking he sure could get used to a life like this.

Two months pass, the house gets cleaner than it has ever been before, the food gets better than it has ever been before, the three of them become best friends, and he falls madly in love with his new housekeeper. It is the day of his monthly visit to headquarters again. Tom had bailed out of their monthly lunch meeting, some emergency at work, and it has been a rather unpleasant day on the whole. By the time he gets home it's past eight, but seeing Natasha again really lightens his mood.

He looks around the living room, "Mischka?"

Natasha smiles, and points at the ceiling, "I just put her to bed, she missed you..." The little girl has become really dear to him, Natasha winks, "I don't think she'll be sleeping yet."

He gets the hint, and sneaks up the stairs, Mischka proves pleasantly surprised. After kissing her goodnight he finds Natasha in the kitchen, warming his dinner for him. She keeps him company while he eats; they talk about Mischka.

The little girl will turn four in a couple of months, which means she should go to kindergarten, which will make everything a bit more complicated. "If Mischka goes to school here she'll have to learn Dutch. Alternatively she could go to an international school, there is one in Maastricht, if I remember correctly, which isn't too far away, but then she'll have to learn English I presume. It would be easiest for her if you returned to Slovakia..." he says with pain in his heart.