Chapter 3 - Stefania's Walk Home

This story is a loose adaption of "Cyrano de Bergerac," a play written by Edmond Rostand in 1897.

She was done with her shopping, and Stefania Toporov did not feel like waiting for the bus that could safely bring her to the house where she lived with her grandmother and two adult brothers. Her grandmother had always warned her about the streets she would now walk. They were dark, isolated, and in an abandoned warehouse district where there would be no one to hear her screams if she were ever attacked. This was a Russian industrial town that had been riddled with unemployment ever since the abrupt end of the Cold War, and many of its men behaved like animals, even when in public places.

 

In this neighborhood the girls were so fearful of being attacked that they would often cut their hair short so they could appear as boys when walking its streets. But Stefania would not cut her long auburn hair or even tuck it inside her jacket. Her grandmother had often pleaded with her to at least wear jeans when she went out, but Stefania always insisted on wearing her standard outfit that included a skirt with leggings, although she never left the house without her black leather boots. Her brothers used to joke that she looked like the Daria cartoon character.

Stefania never worried about taking this shortcut because her brothers had taught her how to defend herself, and she had often discouraged aggressive men on dates. One time a man even tried to rape her. He had caught her off-guard, punched her in the nose, and assumed she would submit. Stefania appeared to give in, pretended to cry, and huddled up while turning her back to the attacker. But all of a sudden she quickly turned and came back at him with a wine bottle across his face. After he went down, she hit him a second time, and he was never the same.

 

Unfortunately the attempted rape had also changed Stefania: his punch was so powerful that it badly shattered her nose. But instead of having the nose fixed, Stefania decided to wear its battered bones as a badge of honor. Now with the nose of a boxer, she thought, any man would think twice about trying to push her around.

The sun had set hours ago, the streets were dark, and the neighborhood's few corner stores had all closed. After first removing a container of pepper spray from her bag, Stefania placed her purse into a small knapsack.

    

The first part of the walk went without incident, and it seemed like she would not be approached or even seen by anyone. But as she crossed a corner and turned down a side street, she thought she heard something; however Stefania continued to walk between the brick buildings with their boarded windows. In fact she now crossed the street and stepped into an alleyway that was even more isolated. Again she heard a noise, but it only turned out to be the sound of a scared cat that leapt from a garbage can.

But as she walked still further, she thought she heard footsteps. Then all of a sudden, two men appeared from a darkened doorway. They seemed to be in their thirties and wore shabby clothes. One man was short with clean cropped hair while the other was tall, skinny, and had long stringy black hair.

 

"Hello, baby. Where ya going? Would you like to party?"

At first, Stefania thought she would ignore them but then decided verbal confrontation might be the best way to nip the situation in the bud.

 

"I'm not your baby, and I don't need a party!"

  

She picked up her pace, but they persisted with their taunts while they walked behind her.

 

"Come on... this is a very scary neighborhood, and we could protect you."

"Funny you should say that," replied Stefania, "I was just thinking to myself... who's going to protect you guys?" The two thugs snickered.

 

"Hey, I like this one. She's even got a sense of humor. Come on baby, let's go back to our place, and we can have some more laughs."

Stefania was tired of playing games. She snarled: "Fu*k you!"

The one with the short hair was now behind her and put his hand on her shoulder as he tried to grab her from behind. But Stefania quickly stomped downward with the heel of her boot upon his instep and heard the bone crack in his foot. He doubled up in pain, stumbled, fell downward, and clutched his foot as he shouted.

"Why you little b***h! Now we're gonna cut your face."

By now the one with the long hair had put his arms around her and tried to get her into a chokehold from the rear. But Stefania quickly raised the hand that held the pepper spray, shot its mist backward over her shoulder, and hit the thug squarely in the face. It was a good dose, and he was temporarily blinded and screaming in pain.

"You maced me -- you little as*hole."

Rather than run away, Stefania turned and kicked the longhaired thug between the legs, and he too doubled up and fell to the ground alongside his friend. The short man with the broken foot now pulled out a knife and was struggling to get back on his feet. But he was too slow, and Stefania kicked him in the face with her boot. He fell backward; hit the pavement hard, and the knife bounced from his hand.

 

"Aw, now this isn't fair. You didn't get any pepper spray, but your buddy did." And with that, she held the pepper spray up to the short man's face and casually delivered its mist like she was killing a bug in her bathroom.

Stefania then slowly turned, took a step, and bent over to pick up the knife. Now it would be her turn to taunt.

"All of a sudden, it is I who feels romantic. You guys have been so handsome and chivalrous, that now I'll compose a little love poem for you. And just to make things a little challenging, it will be in the form of an English limerick. Then as I end the final phrase, thrust the knife home. Okay, here we go."

She looked upward and paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. And then with the flourish of an actor, Stefania held the knife upward in her outstretched arm as she began to recite her poem.

Two rapists thought they'd have their fun

with a small girl pretty and young.

But imagine their fright

when the bit*h gave a fight

with pepper spray ready to stun.

And with the completion of the final rhyme, she strolled over to the longhaired thug who was still on the ground and struggling to remove the stinging pepper spray from his eyes. Stefania moved very close to his face and began to speak in a monotone.

"Notice how I am doing this without anger. Just giving you a little reminder why you should never f**k with the Toporov family."

"The Toporov family?  Ah... we did not know. Look, we won't bother you again."

 

They had apparently heard of her brothers' reputation and now pondered the gravity of their mistake.

        

"If I ever see or hear of you as*holes again in this neighborhood, my brothers will pay you a visit and finish the job I've started."

With that, she gave them each a good poke in the abdomen with their knife. Not deep enough to kill them, but deep enough so they wouldn't have a normal bowel movement for months. She calmly wiped the knife clean of her fingerprints, rubbed its handle against one of their hands, laid it down next to them, and continued on the walk home to her grandmother's house.