The Poor Accountant

One Saturday afternoon they had their first date in the city centre. He was a tall, middle-aged and respectable man living not far from here, at Volkhonka Street.

She was a young, beautiful, brown-haired, exquisitely dressed woman who came here from a distant suburb where she lived with her parents, but wanted to live separately and well in the centre.

“Well, where do we go now?” she asked playfully, freed from his grasp.

“Let’s just take a walk around the city. Today is the wonderful weather. We get some fresh air to start. I had a rough week and I almost did not come out of the office.

Agree? Just go to the right, not to meet my wife accidentally. She loves window- shopping here,” he said to her.

They walked through the narrow streets of the centre with luxury shops and restaurants, and she thought: “Why did he never invite me to come in and did not buy me any presents? Really I do not like him! “

But she tried to enjoy by telling some funny stories. She laughed herself, but he only listened in silence, smiling and admiring her. From the side they looked more like an attractive couple – father and daughter, who have not seen each other for a long time, than lovers.

Sometimes she tried to engage him in conversation, asking his opinion, but he replied briefly and it seemed that he was preoccupied with something else.

“Why is he so glum?” she thought. “Probably a lot of problems in his life like many rich people or he is afraid to meet his wife there.”

Suddenly they came out into the square and there were several minibuses standing. “Let’s go away somewhere, far away from here,” all of a sudden she said, hoping that it would relax and get him happy.

They squeezed through the door of one of the minibuses, sat on the back seat and drove off in an unknown direction. They were so close huddled together, so he felt a strange, subtle and exhilarating smell coming from her hair. It was not only the scent of a fashionable perfume, but also the smell of a beautiful woman, who wanted caress and intimacy. He remembered the American film called “Scent of a Woman”, which they watched the other night with his wife. She did not like this movie because there were “blind dogs and fragrant twigs wait mating” – as she put it. And now he smelled of a young woman that it was intoxicating, maddening and exciting. She noticed his excitement and even more densely moved closer to him.

Her friend, who said to her that he was a very rich financier living in the centre, introduced them. She believed it and began to plan on how to capture and subdue him, relying on her beauty, youth and charm. But now it appeared some doubt, as his behaviour did not coincide with her plans. Minibus suddenly stopped and the driver announced that it was the final stop. She got out of the car and drew attention to how he paid the driver, slowly counted out the money and then waiting for change. “Grasping what! He does not give any tips, ” she thought, and sat on the stop bench. “I must invite him immediately to the hotel and check things out.”

Finally, he came out of the bus and looked around. There were old, shabby multistorey buildings all looked like twins, some boys, playing football in a playground in front of the school and a pack of homeless dogs near a bus stop, where sad and thoughtful she sat on the bench.

“What to do? The evening is already, ” he thought, and walked over to her. She feebly smiled at him and offered:

“Can we go to the hotel? I know one here – quite a decent and inexpensive”.

“It’s too late. Maybe we’ll do the next time. Let me accompany you to home”, he said. “No, thank. I live near by,” she said, quickly got up and went away.

“Call me, when you have time and the desire to see me again,” she cried, turning around.

“That’s it. She knew who was dealing with,” he thought, and began to catch a private car, as taxis rarely went there. Nearby an old Zhiguli car stood and he asked the unshaven driver how much he charged to bring him to the centre. The driver asked 2,000 roubles, but they bargained for 300 – (just as it was left in his pocket).

He sat in the back seat and sadly thought:

” What is this life! Stagnation and the lack of money! There were endemic corruption, no moral values and complete Americanisation of society. Some people rushed to the religion and become more passive in life. All are obsessed with money (or as they say – Bucks)! Even in families brothers and sisters are fighting for them, killing their parents and thrown or sell their children. Previously, this was not like this!” Parents brought up him in honesty and integrity, but left him only two privatised rooms in a communal apartment with five other neighbours.

He graduated with honours from the financial college, married, and became an accountant in a Russian production and research laboratory. Bosses quickly mastered the art of cutting and embezzling the budget, kickbacks, drifts up, brazenly plundered more funds and getting irresistibly enriched. As a result, the laboratory produced almost nothing and the workers and scientists received the minimum wages and ran slowly.

As an accountant and an honest man, he first tried to deal with all these violations and outrages, and even refused to carry out illegal financial transactions, but these bosses talked with him rude, intimidated him, added his salary and ordered to keep quiet and do what he is told. Otherwise, anything can happen to him, his wife or daughter.

He realised that these thieves is better not to get involved – they bought everything and everywhere under control. His new salary was enough to live on and to pay for his daughter study at a private college. His wife was often ill and never worked – so that the family lived from payday to payday, although he was able to count and save money.

The work became hard labour for him. He was not expelled, but tamed and he was forced to do things against their honour and conscience. He was in a deep depression, and therefore decided to meet with the beautiful lady in order to somehow remove the pressure, but she did smell divine much more. He realised after meeting her that behaves as a jerk, and needed to fight for his ideals and principles. It is necessary to buy the Austrian Glock pistol, put together a gang and steal the loot, as he knew where his bosses- thieves kept the big money.

“Live like a slave! – I wished I had been a bit younger!” thought he, and suddenly tears flowed from his eyes.

He silently cried in frustration and bitterness that compromised his principles, and with shame and cowardice that plagued him in recent years. The driver saw in the rear view mirror of his wet face and asked:

” Father, are you all right? What do you pour tears for?”

“It’s okay, son. No worries. Everything will be all right!” he said, took out a handkerchief and wiped his tears.

A few days later he quit his job and disappeared somewhere.

A few months later his bosses found that many millions of dollars disappeared from their offshore foreign accounts. They raised the alarm and foreign banks reported that their accounts have undergone a massive hacker attacks resulting in almost all of the money were transferred to other accounts and disappeared. Banks promised to conduct their own investigation, but without any guarantee of compensation, because, in their opinion, the money was “dirty” and laundered through their banks.

Bosses- thieves were furious! They did not report to the police, but hired private detectives to find and punish the perpetrators and, of course, to return the money. The detectives immediately suspected the former accountant, and they have launched an investigation.

Firstly, they came to Volkhonka, his former place of residence and thoroughly interviewed neighbours. It turned out that the communal apartment where the accountant lived in with his family and five other neighbours had been resettled. After renovation it was sold and it now belongs to the Englishman by the name of Robin Hood. He does not live in it and have been seen only once.

Investigators have found all of these former neighbours living in the apartment, but they did not want to talk to them. Only one talkative old woman said to them that her former neighbour – a decent and educated man, swapped her room in the communal apartment in return for this beautiful one-bedroom flat with all amenities in a good area. After that, she had not seen him and do not know anything about him, but always remembers him and prays for his health.

Investigators also found that two months ago the man who looked like an accountant bought a Glock pistol made in Austria and has shot dead a stray and evil dog that attacked him somewhere in distant suburb. The police drew up a report, but let him go. What he did there – it was not clear.

Also, detectives discovered that his daughter was studying at a university somewhere in England, and his wife was alive and being treated in Germany. They reported to their clients the results of their investigations with the conclusion that the object of their search (the accountant) was somewhere abroad.

They also informed the bosses that were ready to continue the investigation, but their fees should grow in times, as they had to travel often abroad and that the suspect was armed and very dangerous (he instantly grabs the pistol Glock and fired without warning).

And bosses-thieves decided to just watch him at Volkhonka and asked to set the all around o’clock surveillance for an apartment of Robin Hood.

It took another few months. The private museum “Life in the Soviet Union” was opened in the apartment at Volkhonka and many visitors only complicated a detective surveillance.

Bosses-thieves got ultimatum letter signed by a certain Robin Hood with the requirement to give back money stolen, including overseas property in favour of the state, otherwise they would face severe punishment.

The wealthy elite were frightened! A rumour was spread that there was a gang of expropriators led by Robin Hood hunting for the thieves and oligarchs. The police announced the operation Interception after one of these bosses who refused to give back his property and was found dead in the country with a bullet hole in his forehead from a Glock pistol. The other two gave all their possessions acquired by illegal means. Rich men began to read the classical literature about Robin Hood and hid the ends of their businesses.

Meanwhile, in a luxury high-rise building in the Dairy Lane, in the heart of the city the very beautiful, brown-haired woman moved into and settled in a three-bedroom apartment on the 5th floor. Every morning she went out of the house, sat in the foreign car and was leaving for the day. It turned out that she was making a fashion magazine for women, led a solitary life, and as if waiting for someone. It was said that she was rich and happy and wealth allegedly fallen on her from the sky.

In fact, it was in that day when someone killed a stray evil dog. An elder and handsome man with a neat beard and moustache came in her old apartment, and asked about her. Parents responded that she was not at home. Then he asked to leave a note. With their permission, he walked into the kitchen, wrote something and then gave them an envelope addressed to their daughter.

In the evening, brown-haired woman opened the envelope and found a check for her name in the sum of several million dollars and a small note, signed by someone with the name of Robin Hood. In the note the man wrote that only one meeting with her turned his whole life. He still remembers it and the divine smell of her hair. He gives her the check and sure she uses it to deal with. He really wants to meet her, just do not know when it will happen, since involved in an important project, and wants to bring it to the end. And then he will be with her always!

She knew immediately who the Robin Hood and decided to wait for him. And she waited, as they can only wait bred, grateful, Russian women. She gave herself entirely to her magazine. Sometimes her parents came and lived a long time with her, shearing her loneliness. In the evenings they often remembered this gentleman Robin Hood and also wanted him to appear here as soon as possible.

And he came unexpectedly…

One evening a concierge called and said that a man of pleasant appearance wanted to see her.

“This is he!” she cried and got fainted…

But they were happy just for few days. One late night the policy arrived and arrested the New Robin Hood. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for crime against rich and corrupted people.

By Alex Jones from Australia