– You have reached the Missing Persons Unit.
If the person missing is a child, press one.
If the person missing is an adult, press two.
Please stay on the line.
– Hello. My name is Maryna.
How can I help you?
– I’m looking for my mum. Last time I saw her?
Before the war. But I did hear her voice last week.
She called from the factory. Up on the fifth floor
they still get coverage.
No, all the other relatives had left, Grandma died.
I’ve called the neighbor, he doesn’t pick up.
His wife Nadya answers the phone,
but all she can do is curse.
You see, she suffered a stroke not so long ago
when shrapnel hit their backyard.
Yes, under occupation. She’s in Luhansk.
No, nothing unusual. She went to work, armed
with a long stick to scare off the strays.
Anyway, she clocked in, began her shift, then called me.
It was evening, around 7pm.
What did she say? That instead of snowfall they got
a delivery of cocaine. That’s her way of making fun of
their so-called news.
Also, that she saw Lenka the dipsomaniac
with a new goon. She was all in pink, he all in blue.
Like twins, she said, straight out of a delivery room.
Two machine guns with them.
No artillery shelling these past few days, so she sleeps
like the dead, she says.
Maryna, are you still on the line?
Sleeps like the dead….
– You have reached the Missing Persons Unit.
If the person missing is a child, press one.
If the person missing is an adult, press two.
If you are calling about a missing animal, press three.
Make your selection now.
To listen to these options again, press star.
Lyuba Yakimchuk
translated by Oksana Maksymchuk