Translated by Ekaterina Korobtsova

Characters:
Ruslana
Ulyana

Ruslana's apartment.
ULYANA. Ruslana...
RUSLANA. Listening.
ULYANA. There's...
RUSLANA. What happened?
ULYANA. There's...
RUSLANA. Take it easy...
ULYANA. There's...
RUSLANA. Stay calm, don't worry...
ULYANA. Can't you hear it?
RUSLANA. I can hear you pretty well. Keep going.
ULYANA. Not me.
RUSLANA. I don't understand.
ULYANA. There.
RUSLANA. What's there?
ULYANA. Explosions.
RUSLANA. No, no. There are no explosions there, it’s quiet.
ULYANA. You really can’t hear it?
RUSLANA. Go to bed.
ULYANA. To bed? It’s daytime.
RUSLANA. Do it anyway, you need to.
ULYANA. I can’t sleep during the day.
RUSLANA. The doctor told you so.
ULYANA. I am not sleepy.
RUSLANA. Go to bed!
ULYANA. No, I don’t want to, I won’t...
RUSLANA. I am your sister, a cousin.
ULYANA. Yes.
RUSLANA. I am older than you.
ULYANA. Yes.
RUSLANA. You gotta listen to me.
ULYANA. But I don’t want to sleep.
RUSLANA. You need to. And the doctor said so.
ULYANA. I don’t care.
RUSLANA. All right. If you don’t go to bed immediately, I... don’t know... I will punish you somehow.
ULYANA. I am not going to bed.
RUSLANA. I will not sit here with you, I will go to the kitchen.
ULYANA. I can hardly sleep at night, and you tell me to sleep during the day...
RUSLANA. I will not talk to you then.
ULYANA. I cannot sleep during the day!
RUSLANA. I won’t feed you then.
ULYANA. Whatever.
RUSLANA. Ok. Just remember that you agreed to this.
Pause. During the pause each sister is busy with her own things.
ULYANA. There it is again. My ears!.. It is killing me!.. That horrible rumble!.. The explosions! My kids!.. Their ears hurt!.. Their hearts are shaken by those awful explosions!.. Ruslana!
RUSLANA. You don’t have any kids.
ULYANA. I do.
RUSLANA. And ‘ve never had.
ULYANA. I did and I do!
RUSLANA. Neither have there been any explosions.
ULYANA. There are kids and there are the explosions.
RUSLANA. No, Ulyana, it’s an illusion; it’s quiet here, very quiet. And you’ve never had any kids, you just imagine them.
ULYANA. One cannot imagine kids.
RUSLANA. You’ve managed to.
ULYANA. Why are you like that?
RUSLANA. Like what?
ULYANA. Harsh.
RUSLANA. On the contrary. I am very kind with you. And patient. Am I not? Don’t say a word, I know I am.
ULYANA. Not true.
RUSLANA. You have no idea what harsh is, or even cruel. And you won’t know. I will always be kind and thoughtful with you.
Ulyana screams.
RUSLANA. What are you doing? Why are you screaming?
ULYANA. Explosion!
RUSLANA. There you go again!..
ULYANA. There are kids, women and the elderly there!..
RUSLANA. I am so tired of your explosions and your kids that you don’t really have!
ULYANA. They are crying.
RUSLANA. Was it a powerful explosion?
ULYANA. Very.
RUSLANA. So, they aren’t crying any more.
ULYANA. You!.. you!.. you are!..
RUSLANA. Just joking. Come on... I was just joking... clumsily, ok. That was a bad joke. Sorry, forgive me please.
ULYANA. You are my sister, aren’t you?
RUSLANA. Cousin.
ULYANA. I hate explosions so much. My ears hurt. And... I am very scared, Ruslana! You are really not afraid? At all?
RUSLANA. What do you think I am supposed to be afraid of? Of something that’s not real? Yes, I am not afraid of that. And you shouldn’t be.
ULYANA. And I start shaking. First my fingers start to shake, then the hands, then the entire body… but the worst thing is when I start shaking from within. Do you understand? Everything inside of me starts to shake. It is so, so horrible! At such times I don’t know what to do...
RUSLANA. Just don’t think about it, that’s all.
ULYANA. And my soul... it starts pounding and thrashing about like mad, it wants to jump out of my body!.. I feel it! Then I scream to it: my poor soul, my dear, please, don’t do it, I am begging you!.. calm down!..
RUSLANA. And what happens?
ULYANA. It is trying to escape from inside of me.
RUSLANA. Whay are you telling me all this?
ULYANA. Because you are my sister... elder sister...
RUSLANA. It isn’t interesting to me.
ULYANA. Ruslana, do you have a soul?
RUSLANA. Why are you asking such a weird question?
ULYANA. Do you?
RUSLANA. It’s a stupid conversation. And you questions are stupid. I shouldn’t have picked you up. Should’ve just left you where you were.