Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thanks for that
for discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us at Facebook And In contact with
WITH scientific point view, the sun shines on us during the day continuously. Even beyond the clouds. But we are waiting for a truly bright sunlight, which brings back to life and brings cheerfulness.
But the inhabitants of some cities of the world already used to waiting for the sun rather rejoice in it unexpected appearance like a holiday. What to do if the cities are located in places where nature has not provided much sunny days. But here it has its own special charm, and not to say that it is always gloomy.
Birmingham, UK
Sees the sun approximately 62 days a year
One of the largest cities in the kingdom fully corresponds to the legend of Foggy Albion, a land where the sun is a rare visitor. The climate here is mild and humid, there are no sharp changes, but the sun too. 2 million local residents are accustomed to this state of affairs, but a sunny day becomes a real holiday and a good reason to go outside, postponing business.
Tourists are advised to prepare for the fact that the city is not too cold, but damp. But there is enough entertainment: numerous museums, monuments of medieval architecture, a botanical garden, music festivals- and there is no time to miss the sun.
Kiruna, Sweden
Sees the sun approximately 61 days a year
"White Bird" - this is how the name of the city is translated - a little magical place. It has always been associated with legends about alchemists, because the locals have been engaged in the mining industry for centuries, and it is there, somewhere in the depths of the earth, that the philosopher's stone is waiting. The "secret of darkness" of Kiruna is that it is very close to the Arctic Circle. Therefore, the sun is on schedule here - from May to July, and then twilight is getting closer until it turns into a polar night.
Reykjavik, Iceland
Sees the sun about 55 days a year
Getting into the bright and stylish capital of Iceland, you can’t say that the sun is such a rare guest here. Colorful houses, friendly people, plenty of entertainment, thermal pools open all year round. Almost like a resort! But the sun rarely shines here. No wonder, because Reykjavik is the northernmost state capital in the world. One of the main features of the city is incredible fresh air: there is no industry here, and houses are heated by water from hot thermal springs.
Murmansk, Russia
Sees the sun approximately 53 days a year
Murmansk is located beyond the Arctic Circle, so the night here can last a long time, but the polar day brings the long-awaited sun. From December to January, the sun does not rise above the horizon, so the joyful holidays “First Dawn” and “Hello, Sun” are celebrated by all citizens. Meeting " full sun' usually takes place on the last Sunday of January.
Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada
Sees the sun approximately 52 days a year
A gloomy town on Cayenne Island pacific ocean surrounded by mountains, and as a place of residence it will never be accepted by lovers of a dry and hot climate.
240 days a year here it's raining, and when it ends, the city is enveloped in thick fogs. The perfect place for thrillers. This is the ocean climate.
Nevertheless, it is a large and quite significant city for the Canadian economy, and you can get to the mainland from it by bridge.
Nikolskoe, Kamchatka, Russia
Sees the sun about 41 days a year
The harsh island of Bering is where this gloomy village is located. sunlight here it is an amazing and rare phenomenon, but otherwise the life of the 700 inhabitants who live there is not too different from the life of people in other Russian outbacks. In addition, the village even has its own airport for communication with major cities of Kamchatka. Nikolskoye - the only place in Russia, where the rare Aleut people live compactly. These are natives of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and it is not surprising that the cloudy climate does not particularly bother them.
Riddles with a trick - riddles with a simple question and a non-standard answer. At first glance, the answer may seem strange and wrong, but if you carefully read the riddle and think about the answer, it will turn out to be quite logical. Trick riddles are usually not without a sense of humor. They not only develop ingenuity and out of the box thinking but also provide fun. Tell riddles with a trick to your friends and relatives, have a fun and useful time.
On Soccer game the same person always came. Before the start of the game, he guessed the score. How did he do it?
Answer: Before the start of the game, the score is always 0:0
77798
More than an hour, less than a minute.
Answer: Second (hand of some watch models)
Tag. Anna
46732
What language is spoken silently?
Answer: sign language
133144
Why is the stopcock red on trains and blue on planes?
Answer: Many will say, "I don't know." Experienced will answer: "There is no stop valve on airplanes." In fact, the plane has a stopcock in the cockpit.
Makarova Valentina, Moscow
31329
The boy paid 11 rubles for a bottle with a cork. A bottle costs 10 rubles more than a cork. How much does a cork cost?
Answer: 50 cents
Orlov Maxim, Moscow
39807
One French writer terribly disliked the Eiffel Tower, but he constantly dined there (on the first level of the tower). How did he explain it?
Answer: This is the only place in all the vast Paris, from where it is not visible.
Borovitsky Vyacheslav, Kaliningrad
37300
What city are you hiding in? male name and side of the world?
Answer: Vladivostok
Mezhuleva Julia
43025
Seven sisters are in the country, where each is busy with some business. The first sister is reading a book, the second is cooking, the third is playing chess, the fourth is doing Sudoku, the fifth is doing the laundry, the sixth is taking care of the plants. And what does the seventh sister do?
Answer: plays chess
Gobozov Alexey, Sochi
43090
Why do they go often, but rarely go?
Answer: stairs
171629
It goes uphill, then downhill, but remains in place.
Answer: Road
133765
Which word has 5 "e" and no other vowels?
Answer: immigrant
Radaev Evgeny, Petrozavodsk
39440
Two people approach the river. Near the shore is a boat that can only support one. Both men crossed to the opposite bank. How?
Answer: They were on different shores
25 25, Vladivostok
29762
Vasily, Peter, Semyon and their wives Natalya, Irina, Anna have been together for 151 years. Every husband is 5 years older than his wife. Vasily is 1 year older than Irina. Natalya and Vasily together are 48 years old, Semyon and Natalya are together 52 years old. Who is married to whom, and how old is who? (Age must be expressed in whole numbers).
Answer: Vasily (26) - Anna (21); Peter (27) - Natalia (22); Semyon (30) - Irina (25).
Chelyadinskaya Victoria, Minsk
18248
Jackdaws flew, sat on sticks. They sit down one by one - the jackdaw is superfluous, they sit two by two - the stick is superfluous. How many sticks were there and how many jackdaws were there?
Answer: Three sticks and four jackdaws
Baranovsky Sergey, Polotsk
24815
Where is it found that a horse jumps over a horse?
Answer: Chess
)))))))) Renesmee, L.A
34730
Which table has no legs?
Answer: Diet
Boyko Sasha, Wolf
29339
Do not write anything or use a calculator. Take 1000. Add 40. Add another thousand. Add 30. Another 1000. Plus 20. Plus 1000. And plus 10. What happened?
Answer: 5000? Wrong. The correct answer is 4100. Try to recalculate on a calculator.
Ivanova Daria, Daria
32607
How can a person not sleep for 8 days?
Answer: sleep at night
Sone4ka0071, Sosnogorsk
33068
What animal do people walk on and cars pass by?
Answer: Zebra
Kostryukova Tanya, Saransk
25761
Which word "no" is used 100 times?
Answer: Groan
Muslimova Sabina, Dagestan (Derbent)
30697
What is an elephant without a nose?
Answer: Chess
Prokopyeva Xenia, Moscow
26630
Mr. Mark was found murdered in his office. The cause was a bullet wound to the head. Detective Robin, inspecting the scene of the murder, found a cassette recorder on the table. And when he turned it on, he heard the voice of Mr. Mark. He said, “This is Mark. Jones just called me and said that in ten minutes he would be here to shoot me. It's useless to run. I know this tape will help the police arrest Jones. I hear his footsteps on the stairs. Here the door opens... The assistant detective offered to arrest Jones on suspicion of murder. But the detective did not follow his assistant's advice. As it turned out, he was right. Jones wasn't the killer, as was said on the tape. Question: why did the detective have suspicions?
Answer: The cassette in the voice recorder was being revised at the start. Moreover, Jones would have taken the cassette.
Katarina, Moscow
10722
Sherlock Holmes was walking down the street. And suddenly he saw a dead woman lying on the ground. He walked over, opened her bag and took out her phone. In tel. book, he found her husband's number. He called. Speaks:
- Urgently come here. Your wife is dead. And after a while the husband arrives. He looks at his wife and says:
- Oh, honey, what happened to you?
And then the police arrive. Sherlock points his finger at the woman's husband and says:
- Arrest this man. It was he who killed her. Q: Why did Sherlock think that?
Answer: Because Sherlock didn't tell her husband the address.
Tusupova Aruzhan
18773
Two fifth-graders Petya and Alyonka are walking from school and talking.
“When the day after tomorrow becomes yesterday,” one of them said, “today will be as far from Sunday as the day that was today when the day before yesterday was tomorrow.” What day of the week did they speak?
Answer: Sunday
Piggy, Ololoshkino
13869
There is a rich house and a poor one. They are on fire. Which house will the police put out?
Answer: Police don't put out fires, firefighters put out fires
77643
On what path has no one ever walked or traveled?
Answer: Milky Way
Tikhonova Inessa, Aktobe
22840
How many years in a year?
Answer: one (summer)
Maxim, Penza
27952
What kind of cork can not plug a single bottle?
Answer: road
Volchenkova Nastya, Moscow
23284
In what word is the drink and the natural phenomenon “hidden”?
Answer: grapes
anufrienko dasha, khabarovsk
22752
What sign must be put between 6 and 7 so that the result is less than 7 and greater than 6?
Answer: comma
Mironova Violetta, Saratov
20174
Without which nothing ever happens?
Answer: Untitled
Anyutka, Omsk
23565
Union, number then preposition -
That's the whole charade.
And so that you can find the answer,
We need to remember the rivers.
Answer: i-hundred-k
nazgulichka, ufa
16286
What is the strongest muscle in the human body?
Answer: The common opinion is the language. In fact, the calf and chewing muscles.
Anonymous
17864
You can tie, but you can't untie.
Answer: conversation
Dasha, Chelyabinsk
21810
To what mere mortal even the president takes off his hat?
Answer: hairdresser
Nastya Slesarchuk, Moscow
20548
How to put 2 liters of milk in a liter jar?
Answer: Turn it into curd
Anonymous
17932
Once upon a time there was one orphan girl in the thicket, she had only two kittens, two puppies, three parrots, a turtle and a hamster with a hamster that was supposed to give birth to 7 hamsters. The girl went for food. She goes through the forest, field, forest, field, field, forest, forest, field. She came to the store, but there was no food there. Goes on, forest, forest, field, field, forest, field, forest, field, forest, field, field, forest. And the girl fell into the hole. If she gets out, dad will die. If she stays there, her mother will die. The tunnel cannot be dug. What should she do?
Answer: She is an orphan
I'm Yulechka, Omsk
14039
They are metallic and liquid. What are we talking about?
Answer: nails
babicheva alena, moscow
14819
How to write "duck" in 2 cells?
Answer: In the 1st - the letter "y", in the 2nd - a dot.
Sigunova 10 years old Valeria, Zheleznogorsk
20395
Name a word in which one letter is a prefix, the second is a root, the third is a suffix, the fourth is an ending.
Answer: Gone: y (prefix), sh (root), l (suffix), a (ending).
Malec Daniel
14400
Guess the riddle: who has a heel behind his nose?
Answer: Shoes
lina, Donetsk
17334
There were 20 people on the bus. At the first stop, 2 people got off and 3 people got in, at the next one, 1 got off and 4 got in, at the next, 5 got off and 2 got in, at the next, 2 got off and 1 got in, at the next, 9 got off and no one got in, at the next - 2 more came out. Q: How many stops were there?
Answer: The answer to the riddle is not that important. This is a riddle with an unexpected question. While you are telling the riddle, the guesser begins to mentally count the number of people on the bus, and at the end of the riddle, you will confuse him with a question about the number of stops.
39405
Husband and wife lived. The husband had his own room in the house, which he forbade his wife to enter. The key to the room was in the bedroom dresser. So they lived for 10 years. And so the husband went on a business trip, and the wife decided to go into this room. She took the key, opened the room, turned on the light. The wife walked around the room, then saw a book on the table. She opened it and heard someone open the door. She closed the book, turned off the light and closed the room, putting the key in the chest of drawers. This is the husband. He took the key, opened the room, did something in it and asked his wife: “Why did you go there?”
How did the husband guess?
Answer: The husband touched the light bulb, it was hot.
SLEPTSOVA VIKUSIA, OMSK
11873
There were husband and wife, brother and sister, and husband and brother-in-law. How many people?
Answer: 3 people
Arkharov Mikhail, Orekhovo-Zuevo
14715
The full name is Danuta. How does it sound abbreviated?
Answer: Dana
Khanukova Danuta, Bryansk
12807
A river that "fits" in your mouth?
Answer: Gum
Bezusova Anastasia, Overyata village
In our world, most people tend to live in megacities, but life in small town has a lot of advantages. Yes, small towns are not as interesting and beautiful as large ones, but there is still something special and attractive in them. Every time you think about moving to a metropolis, it is worth remembering catchphrase: "Well, where we do not". Living in a small town, especially if you were born there and where you have family, friends, home, pets and favorite places, often helps to survive hard times. It is one thing to travel, explore new places, try new things, learn about other cultures, and quite another to constantly live in the epicenter of business and tourism.
Here are some reasons to live in a small town.
1. Lower cost of living
Probably the most obvious reason, inclining to living in a small city, is a lower cost of living than in a large city. Housing, food, clothing and many other things in small towns are cheaper. Buy or build own house it is cheaper and easier here, you can buy a car without a long period of savings, and you can eat without spending your entire salary on it. It is much easier to save money in a small town.
2. Easier to raise children
Since the cost of living in small towns is cheaper, it is much easier to raise a family here. Of course, children can be brought up anywhere and the big city opens up more opportunities for our children and offers a more comfortable lifestyle, but to be honest, most urban children are spoiled and selfish. And the reason for this is a wide range of temptations. Most of them do not want to work or study. Often, the purpose of their life is entertainment and pleasure.
3. Nature
Of course, nature is better in a small town. The air is clean and fresh, especially in the early morning and late evening. There is a lot of greenery, parks, ponds and rivers, breathtaking landscapes and living creatures, fewer factories and plants. Not surprisingly, people who live in small towns are healthier and live longer. Of course, it all depends on where you live. In some countries, factories and factories are built in small towns.
4. Easier to get around the city on foot
Communication in a big city requires either a private car or a large budget for public transport, while in a small city you can get to work on foot or by bike. Moreover, you can save not only time and money, but also improve your health and keep your weight under control. Hiking and cycling are ways to turn a routine process into a daily workout. In addition, you can forget about tiresome traffic jams.
5. locals more friendly
Many may disagree with this point, but often the people of the province are much more friendly and sociable than the ever-busy residents of metropolitan areas who do not have a minute of free time to talk with their neighbors. The problem with most people living in big cities is that they don't know their neighbors or the city itself. In small towns people know each other and help each other when needed.
6. Entertainment
IN major cities there are shopping centers, museums, cinemas, theaters, spas, cafes and restaurants for every taste and budget. It seems that in a big city it is never boring. But even small towns have more to offer than many think. It also has parks, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, shops and markets. Yes, they are not as big and luxurious as in big cities, but you definitely won't get bored here.
Living in a small town has its perks. The only drawback is limited labor opportunities. In a small town, it can be difficult to find a job and build a full-time career. But, again, it all depends on you. If you want to work, you will find a job. If you want to be healthy, then be sure to be. Finally, if you want to be happy, you will be happy no matter where you live. Do you agree with the benefits of living in a small town?
Know that there is no boat without a river,
Holiday - without a song, bread - ... (without flour),
Rain - without clouds, roses - ... (without thorns).
Fairy tales - without a beginning, forests - ... (without mushrooms).
Know that there is no sea without a wave,
Jokes - without a smile, March - ... (without spring),
Pilots - without the sky, armies - ... (without regiments),
Schools - no breaks, fights - ... (no bruises).
Know that there is no friendship without friends,
Stairs - no steps, houses - ... (no doors),
Mornings - without dawn, smoke - ... (without fire) ...
S. Marshak. Ball
My cheerful, sonorous ball, where did you rush to jump?
Yellow, red, blue, can't keep up with you!..
I clapped your hand. You jumped and stomped loudly.
You jumped into the corner and back fifteen times in a row.
I. Demyanov. skipping rope
Galochka loves a fast skipping rope very much.
Skok yes hop ... Hop yes hop ... Checkmark does not feel sorry for the legs,
And sometimes it’s a pity for a fast jump rope.
Relax, jumper! - Galochka barely whispers.
A cheerful friend is my ball! I roll the doll Natasha in a stroller,
Everywhere, everywhere he is with me! I'll go to sleep and my eyes will close.
One two three four five! How quickly the breeze lulled her to sleep!
It's good to play with the ball! Wheelchair rides are good for
I. Gamazkova. We are drawing. Paints
We sit at the table and draw a Christmas tree, I will draw strawberries
Next to the Christmas tree - a house, And I'll paint it red.
Near the house - a heifer. I collected it in the forest
Here a bird flies, here a fox runs. Last summer...
The fox has red fur. draw our river
Whose drawing is the best? And I'll color it in blue:
I knew a fishing spot
Black night black cat Last summer...
Jumped into the black chimney. I draw oak on the edge,
Blackness in the chimney. I paint oak green.
Find a cat there! I made it to the top
Last summer...
colorful arc
If it's a red tomato, then it's ripe, obviously.
If the traffic light is red, then it is dangerous to go.
Well, if the nose is red, it means that it is frosty in the yard.
Yellow lemon looks like a chicken
Only you can't find his legs.
Yellow chicken looks like a lemon
It just doesn't grow on a tree.
Like Nastya blue paint:
Blue dresses, blue eyes
Blueberries in the forests, gave blue,
Blue wonders - choose any.
Very sour - lemon color.
Very white - the color of acacias.
Very sad - window color
At the hour when it starts to get dark.
The blue river color is cool
On a hot summer afternoon.
My favorite is chocolate
There is simply no better color!
M A S T E R A M S O R O G O V O R K I
Alyosha gives a signal to Ulyana,
Ulyana will hear - she will find Alyosha.
Egor played with Igor -
Rolled down the hill somersault.
Makar gave Roman caramel,
And Roman Makar is a pencil.
Margarita collected daisies on the mountain.
Margarita lost daisies in the yard.
Lyalya has a Lelya doll.
Lelya is made of linen -
Lala likes her.
Lara plays the piano at Valya's.
Lenya climbed the ladder, plucked Lenya peaches.
With songs, with peaches, Lenya rolled down the stairs!
S H I T A L K
We shared an orange, there are many of us, and he is alone.
This slice is for the hedgehog, this slice is for the swift,
This slice is for ducklings, this slice is for kittens,
This slice is for the beaver. And for a wolf ... peel.
He is angry with us - trouble!!! Run away in all directions.
Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si! The cat is in a taxi.
And the kittens clung and swept for free!
Hedgehog-hedgehog, an eccentric, sewed a prickly jacket.
Once upon a time, whether I, whether you, there was a dispute between us.
Who started, forgot and are not friends until now.
What if the game will be able to reconcile us this time?
Tomorrow, a blue-blue-blue whale will fly from the sky.
If you believe, stand and wait, if you don't believe, come out!
We twist jump ropes faster - we run out more fun.
You count your jumps, hooked - fly out!
The counting rhyme begins: on the oak - a starling and a jackdaw.
The starling flew home. And the countdown is over.
The sun is in the sky, salt is on bread,
Cherry is in the garden, and you are in plain sight:
No matter how you hide, I will find you! I'm on my way!
FAVORITE BOOKS
Organization of auditing
Georgy Ladonshchikov. Best friend
If you buy a book - do not throw it on the shelf -
She won't make any sense.
From it you learn about everything in the world,
She will easily answer any question.
Reading aloud to yourself is beneficial for everyone.
The book is the most faithful, the most best friend!
It contains poems and fairy tales... Everything is at your service!
Take care of the book! Become her friend too!
Elena Mogilyanskaya. good friend
Sasha had a friend. Kind, wise and funny. He told Sasha fascinating history, amused him. But he taught mind-reason more.
It cannot be said that Sasha did not love his friend. But he loved him in a strange way. Here listen.
Sasha almost never parted with a friend. He often wore it on himself, under his belt. The friend was not too comfortable, but he did not complain.
Once Sashka was making an airplane, and his mother asked him to cover the pan with a lid. Not finding the lid, he entrusted this matter to his friend. True, the friend was slightly scalded. His side even twisted, but he coped with the task.
Another time a treacherous nail came out of Sashka's heel and prevented him from even taking a step. The friend was again called to help and gave Sasha part of his shirt. What if the friend's clothes became short and uneven, but Sasha, running a race, took first place.
At football, when I had to climb a tree with Sasha in order to better see the whole match, a friend resignedly lay down on prickly knots. So Sasha could sit as if on the podium. But it was terribly disappointing when a satisfied fan descended to the ground, leaving a friend high on the branches. Even the birds kept aloof, not understanding what kind of curiosity appeared on the tree. For a long time the mischievous wind ruffled Sashka's friend. Then he plucked and scattered around the wide world and his kindness, and wisdom, and fun.
Who was this friend? You didn't guess? It's hard to believe it was a book.
METHODS OF VERBAL CHECKING UNDERSTANDING PERCEIVED BY HEARING:
- Remember how the story began.
organization of speaking
Games for attention
"Guess a riddle"
“Why are you always fiddling with something in your hands, do you want to be ... like these, well, who catch burning torches in the circus?” He was almost certain that his mother would have said so when she saw in his fingers a yellow plastic egg from Kinder Surprise, which he alternately tossed to the height of his own nose, then gently shook, as if to make sure that a hidden dinosaur or a dude with a small helmet on his head. But no, he won't open the shell. It doesn't contain anything interesting.
He sensed its emptiness by the lightness of its weight and the absence of the clatter that a toy hidden in it usually makes. And this is for the best, because if he took some toy out of the egg, he would not stand it, and he would have to climb for a handkerchief, and his eyes were in Lately and so on constantly wet place. Trying to appease the tears that were about to rise, the boy hid the yellow shell in the drawer of his desk and averted his eyes from the bookshelves - now it is empty there, as empty as in his soul, from where something very important has gone, with which he did not want, not at all wanted to leave. Yes, you need to occupy yourself with something in order not to think, not to think about anything, and most importantly - not to worry.
He sat down at the computer and began to pursue a gang of criminals, closely following the gray ribbon of the road flashing on the screen. The game quickly got boring, and he glanced at the phone. At least they called. The phone was silent, and he himself did not want to dial the number of someone else's apartment, where his brother and sister, five-year-old Antosha and eight-year-old Katya, now lived. There, he lived with them and new husband mother, and with him independent Gromov - such was the boy's surname - did not want to talk.
It was boring. And there was a longing in my soul that had not passed since habitual life collapsed like a house of cards. Mom, whom he adored, took and went to a stranger, leaving him, Gromov, alone with his grief.
He walked aimlessly around the apartment, trying to drive bad thoughts away from him, but, as if on purpose, they climbed into his head, leading some memories, conversations, images, scenes, tightly twisted into an unraveled knot of insoluble problems. He remembered how mother, before leaving, said to Gromov: “It is up to you to decide with whom you will live ...” The door had not yet slammed behind her, and Gromov stood in the cramped hallway between father and mother and felt that his heart breaks. In his mind, mom and dad were inseparable, and their family, so good, friendly, seemed to him indestructible and not subject to any external blows. And suddenly everything collapsed. And Gromov was to perform a very important act for the first time in his life. Pictures flashed through his mind that simply could not have occurred to him before. He imagined how he would stand before the judges, and they would torture him: “Who do you want to live with?”
With whom, with whom, - of course with both. How will he say “with mom”, if by doing so he betrays his father and goes over to the side of the hated Khmyr. To express another solution: “with dad” means to separate yourself from the kids and betray mom. So think about how to be here. Nevertheless, Gromov solved this difficult task. At the same time, he proceeded from the unwillingness to change something in his life. After all, this is his home, he has a separate room, and here is his father, whom he will not leave alone. After all, mom now has this Khmyr, she is not alone, but dad ... Dad will be completely ill alone. Having made such a decision, Gromov felt that he had grown wiser in his own eyes, he even grew two centimeters, and the new sneakers bought last summer suddenly became small for him.
Now I had to learn not to become limp, not to succumb to melancholy and despondency. And Gromov achieved something. He inspired himself that it could be worse, that the main thing is that everyone is alive and well ...
In addition, dad and he will not be left unattended and a woman’s hand, because grandmother Lina moved in with them, who, with her presence and selfless standing at the stove, creates an atmosphere of warmth and comfort. In fact, she manages in a wonderful way: cups break, porridge burns, electric bulbs burn out as soon as she touches them, the hinges on the cabinets fall off, as soon as she pulls the doors slightly towards herself to open them. Pala teases her grandmother, and she says that her energy is higher than that of others, because of this everything breaks down. As far as energy is concerned, that's true.
Grandmother is fidgety, spinning all the time, doing something, washing, cleaning, otherwise she will suddenly bury herself in a book - do not tear it off - and the porridge burns.
The worst thing is that it doesn’t get worse, Gromov continued to think that mother didn’t leave alone, but took Antoshka and Katya with her. Gromov is used to messing around with them, and he lacks "small" ones - as he called them. He cannot understand at all how it is possible - to take and cut the family into pieces. Hmm... He heard his mother talking to his father; "This is Love!" At her age ... Hmm ... So, there is no love for him and dad, but she is for someone else's uncle ... This thought makes Gromov uneasy. She stopped loving her... Well, he, too, would stop loving her. Although this is wrong. All wrong! They are abandoned with their dad, they are orphans. They didn't get what that damned Khmyr got. Poor dad, he still doesn't seem to believe that mom is gone. "Well, all this women things, he said in a cheerful voice. “He will come to his senses and come running.” What is it like for him to be in the role of a loser loser and understand that he was preferred to another - taller, richer and richer ... Of course, richer ...
Gromov cannot even imagine what is going on in his father's soul and how he endures it all: he gets up, goes to work, returns home... A handkerchief.. Where is the handkerchief? If my mother knew what she had done, if she had even for a moment looked into his, Gromov's, soul... Didn't she have any pity left? Why did she trample everything, destroy everything, destroy everything ... What will happen to dad, how will they both endure the grief that has fallen on them?
From these questions, from his own throwing around the apartment, Gromov fell into a state close to insanity.
Not wanting to endure the unbearable mental pain anymore, he rushed to the phone, dialed the hated number and, hearing his mother's voice, shouted hoarsely: - I hate you! You ruined everything! You killed your dad, and I... I'm going to kill your Khmyr!
She babbled something into the receiver, but Gromov did not hear her and continued to scream and cry until the end signals were heard in the receiver ...
Half an hour later there was a pounding on the door. Gromov let his mother in and began to watch how she pulled off her boots with trembling hands, looking for slippers. She had a paper-white face.
- Do not come to me! shouted Gromov, stepping back. At that moment, grandmother appeared on the threshold and, without hesitation, attacked the unexpected guest.
- You are rubbish! - grandmother's exclamations flew to Gromov. You are not a man, but a monster. You are a moral freak. You're worse than the maniac Chikatilo! He killed his victims with a knife, and you cut without blood with your meanness. And who are your victims - the people closest to you. Your husband is the most honest, crystal clear, kind, decent, beautiful family man. You didn't count on anything. Ruined the nest for the sake of... Get out of here, you scoundrel, otherwise I will push you down the stairs..
And then a bad word escaped from my grandmother's lips, which Gromov sometimes heard from the "cool" guys. For some reason, he cheered up and mentally approved of his grandmother for throwing her mother’s boots and jacket out the door and threatening to let her down the stairs if she didn’t leave the apartment right away. The offended mother followed her boots, and
Gromov and his grandmother, inspired by the victory, went to the kitchen to have tea. But they rejoiced in vain.
When dad found out what happened, he got angry and started scolding grandma.
Why are you interfering where you don't have to! With you, as always, the tongue runs ahead of the deeds. Think before you fight.
- Gromov felt funny: he imagined a long grandmother's tongue running along the road, and behind him - a car trying to catch up with him.
“And in general,” dad continued, “you behave like a girl ...
Grandma really looked like a delinquent schoolgirl. She dropped her spoonfuls in the kitchen sink and sank into a chair, her hands resting her cheeks, which must have burned with shame.
“And you stopped shaving,” Gromov remarked, glancing over his father’s overgrown face, and was surprised at how instructive his voice turned out to be - exactly like teacher Vera Maksimovna: “Again you didn’t complete the task.”
Father grimaced, as if from the smell of herring, which always drove him out of the kitchen.
"I'm growing a beard," he muttered, and turned back to his grandmother.
- I don't understand: an old man, but you don’t think anything. After all, you actually slammed the door in front of .. (here he stuttered, it’s stupid to say “wife”, and the name of the guilty mother got stuck in his throat) .. in front of the children, he finally said.
“Come-e-hali,” the grandmother, sitting miserably, sang, “it means that you are hoping for something, you are afraid to offend the traitor.
Father grimaced again, this time as if from the smell of grated radish, which he could not stand.
- None of your business! he said.
- I earnestly ask you: keep neutrality.
Gromov felt sorry for his grandmother. She blinked her eyes to keep from crying and became even more like a girl. And Gromov had to make one more remark to his father.
“Actually,” he said loosely, “grandmothers are not scolded in front of children.
After these words, the grandmother sniffed and wandered into the room allotted to her.
- Bab Lin, come on, - as a consolation, he threw after her.
Eh, grandmother, grandmother, you always get into trouble because of your indefatigable character. Perhaps my father is right. You don't have to kick your mom out. After all, anything can happen. Gromov cheered up at this thought. Grandma will have to change her behavior. After all, she, well, yes, she is not at all like the grandmothers who are drawn in children's books: such a plump little bun with a gray knot on the back of her head, in long skirt and in a blouse with flowers. No, Baba Lina is completely different: in her youth she jumped with a parachute, walked in the mountains, ran 400 meters and is still running somewhere with her long tongue. This allows her, as she says, to keep in shape. Each lesson begins with her weighing. Noticing that the arrow of the scales goes off scale for seventy, she is horrified: - She overate! And he begins to fight with his healthy appetite. Yes, nothing from the "kolobok", wears jeans and short haircut, paints hair and a little face. From a good salary in the "old, good times" she had "lordly manners" and sparkling pebbles in her ears. And also an apartment that had to be changed when dad got married.
Adults keep something back, and Gromov has to be cunning in order to find out the true state of affairs. When Aunt Olya showed up to them in person and dad began to help her take off her coat, Gromov was once again convinced how different they were, unlike each other. Dad is light and compact, like a folding penknife, and Aunt Olya is fat and slow, with a big belly and the same size mind, which is of course necessary for the invention of rocket engines. She wears a wig to keep her hair out of the way and wide trousers to hide her fullness. Having briefly greeted Gromov, Aunt Olya went to the kitchen, where important conversations usually take place with the door not tightly closed. However, they seemed to have forgotten about the existence of Gromov and began to vigorously discuss what "cannot be described" and "does not fit in the head."
Gromov hung around the door all the time, pretending that he, once again, needed to go to the toilet. He heard Aunt Olya repeating in a solid voice the word "cardinally", taken by her, probably, from Dumas' Three Musketeers.
- What is cardinal? - nervous father. - Deprive her of ma¬terinskih rights?
Gromov went into the kitchen to pour milk, although he did not want to drink.
- In any case, - Aunt Olya said, - you need to consult with a lawyer. I have one example.
Gromov took the cup to his room and decided to record the conversation that took place in the kitchen on a dictaphone.
Creeping up to the doors, he held out his hand with the recording machine and held his breath. The voices sounded louder, then quieter, and suddenly Aunt Olya issued her “cardinal” question:
- Have you talked to the children, explained to them what happened?
Dad's answer sounded rather weak: - Is it really necessary? She did not consider it necessary, but I did. I was against it.
- How did she justify her wild act? - asked Aunt Olya.
Oh, well, that's another question, - interrupted her dad. - Now she says that we should remain friends and raise children together.
- The devil knows what! Home blow. - Father bleeds
he is offered friendship!
There was the sound of a chair being pushed back, and Gromov jumped back from the door with his voice recorder. A wheel of fire spun in his head. Really, why didn't they talk? He is already an adult, and they continue to feed him with semolina. At this thought, something broke inside him, and he felt a chilly surge of calmness. Now I will go to them and tell them everything. he thought. And, indeed, he went to them, flung open the door and said: - there is nothing to dissolve nurses here. Here. I have not been a child for a long time.
Papa raised his head and looked at Gromov in surprise.
- Through the mouth of a baby ... - Aunt Olya said and commanded: - Let's drink tea.
... Days dragged on after days, Gromov, as usual, sat over his lessons, leafing through the pages of books, but his eyes glided over the lines absently, and it began to seem to him that nothing, even Moby Dick, could captivate him. Thoughts about his mother and her incomprehensible act were constantly circling in his head. With his immature mind, not burdened by experience, he tried to understand what caused the collapse of the family. One day, he heard his grandmother, with all her straightforwardness, make an assumption in which the word “bed” was present ... While talking on the phone with one of her “dandelions”, she apparently forgot about the presence Gromov in the next room. And Gromov immediately imagined what he once saw in a furniture store, where he and dad looked in the hope of buying a bedside table under the TV, a very beautiful white bed covered with pink silk in frills. Yes, of course, they don’t have such a bed in their apartment, and if mother is seduced by another, then she is simply stupid. Do they leave the family because of the furniture? Some kind of hidden knowledge - dark, shameful, living in the depths of his consciousness, as if by itself, without any prompts, usually received in the company of omniscient boys, gradually took possession of him and made him think about the secret side of life. which both confused and disturbed him. Apparently, in the word "bed" grandmother did not put at all a furniture meaning. But the grandmother can be too harsh, and her judgments, in relation to her mother in any case, speak of a desire to hurt her as painfully as possible. No, no, he will not think badly about his mother. She is a serious person, she has a mathematical mind, her articles are published in scientific journals. Gromov is trying to understand how mind and stupidity coexist in a person. It pops into my head again damn word"Love". And after him, the red caps of the boletus slip out. The parents have a discord, and they sort things out, sitting on the terrace in front of a pile of mushrooms. A pile of forest debris, the remains of leaves and needles, peeled off from strong redheads, has already grown on the table. Both have knives in their hands, on the floor is a bucket of water, where peeled mushrooms fly along with irritated words.
- So, then, I have no right to happiness, and my feelings can be ignored? So, you can trample on me, not let me breathe, not consider me a person? - says mom, throwing a boletus into a bucket. Dad is silent, and mom repeats the same thing:
- I fell in love, it's stronger than me.
Gromov did not listen to the further conversation. Nonsense! he decided then. What else is love, if there is dad and we, there are four of us, who else to love? Bullshit... Mom just went crazy.
Since then summer day It's been five whole months. "Small" sometimes come to visit him, Gromov, and dad. Gromov learned from them that they lived in a very large apartment, so big that one could ride a bicycle there. Imagining this skating, Gromov felt a pang of jealousy. Will the “small ones” really wean themselves from him and from dad, riding a bicycle on the varnished floor of someone else’s house? From this thought, he began to feel sick .. Yes, this is not a Mexican series for you with its toy experiences. This is what really happened in his life. He felt an unbearable pain in his chest, as if someone with an invisible hand, using a harsh thread, which is used to cut cheese, cuts his heart into pieces. His heart, it seemed to him, really hurt, and he thought about dad, who more and more often takes a vial and drops medicine that smells of valerian into a glass. It's already six, soon he will come home from work, they will sit at the table and think about how it was before. These thoughts envelop them like fog, and seem especially heavy if there is no grandmother nearby, who now lives, as she says, in two houses. Dad will joke, tell an anecdote, and Gromov will notice how he has changed lately, how deeply his eyes have sunken, what a haggard, lost face he has. Then, perhaps, the bell will ring and Antoshka's voice will be heard in the receiver: "Dad, take me to you." Dad will begin to promise something, console Antoshka, his voice will break.
Well, what are you, dad? Do something. Take a gun and kill the hated Khmyr and return mom and kids home. If you do not do this, then I myself ... Having finished the conversation, dad calls Aunt Olya. Gromov hopes that dad will ask her to get him a "gun", but dad tediously explains that "taking away children is impossible - such an inhuman law in our country: the father has no rights." Gromov immediately grasps the "legal issue" and tries to find its solution in his own way. If the country does not want to think about such “little things” as the fate of children, and nothing can be changed in a good way, then it is necessary to act in a bad way. And Gromov began to mentally spin the operation of "taking children away." Dad waits for them on the street, puts them in a car and takes them to another city where no one knows them. No, it is even better to go to another country altogether. And let mom be furious, begging the police to find the stolen children - they won’t even scratch themselves for such a trifling matter. They have more important things to do: houses explode, cars fly into the air, there are pools of blood all around. And don't catch anyone. Are there children here? And even better - Gromov continues to think, hire riot police and let them shoot Khmyr.
In the end, Gromov ceases to imagine scenes of abductions, bloody reprisals against the culprit of their misfortune, because he is overcome by fatigue. Out of the corner of his ear, he hears his father talking on the phone. Annoyed words reach Gromov: “What should I do? Who to talk to? She doesn't hear me... The lawyer thinks nothing will come of it. Mother works, doesn't drink, brings up children... But don't give a damn about father, let him die in a psychiatric hospital... Yes, I know, I know... But where to get the money? Do you know how much a session with a psychoanalyst costs? All this is nonsense. There is only one thing left for me - to jump out of the window ... "
Gromov covered his ears with his hands. He is tired. I'm tired of thinking, I'm tired of hating my mother, I'm tired of pitying my father... That's it. He's had enough. He needs to sleep and go to school in the morning. For another two.
He can't fall asleep right away. He again recalls the summer in the village, where they were with their grandmother, and no one thought then what clouds were gathering over their heads. Gromov rode his bike for hours. The kids were playing in the fence. And suddenly the postwoman appears and hands her grandmother a strange telegram: “Take care of the children, don’t let them out of the house period I’ll explain when I arrive”
Grandmother immediately dragged everyone into the hut, began to close all the doors and windows with bolts. The kids did not understand anything and asked to go outside. It was scary. Gromov climbed into the attic and asked one boy to tell Sevka to come. Sevka immediately appeared from the side of the garden and began to attach a ladder to the attic. The two of us became more cheerful, and we took up an observation post to watch the passing cars. After a while the postman came again and began to shout out to Grandmother. She went out, took the telegram and, after reading it, slipped it into her trouser pocket.
- What's happened? shouted Gromov from the attic.
“Father will come and explain everything,” Grandmother replied.
Here Gromov jumped down.
- Show the telegram.
Grandmother held out a crumpled piece of paper on which it was written in ink: “Be on the lookout. Grandfather".
Goosebumps ran down Gromov's back. That's it. Something bad is being prepared ... Having assessed the complexity of the situation, Gromov decided to take responsibility and ordered:
- Everyone stay where you are. And wait.
The hushed kids took up drawing, and Gromov and Sevka went to their observation post.
“Listen,” said Sevka, “your parents are bazaaring like
divide the children, who will get who.
Gromov said: "You have glitches." And there was a stone in my soul. Is it really true?
Well, after that, on Friday, the comedy began. Gromov was the first to see the car in which his father and mother were sitting. Both smiled as if nothing had happened and everything between them was perfect.
I didn't understand anything. But what about the telegram, grandmother's screams, sitting locked up, fright at the sight of passing cars? .. Some kind of nonsense. Well, let them figure it out for themselves ... And he will go fishing ...
Before Gromov's eyes, pond water overgrown with duckweed was cloudy black. He sat motionless, watching the float, and thought about events to which he had not attached importance before, but which, it turns out, were not at all accidental. Here, for example, my mother's late returns home .. She entered some courses and entrusted the care of the family to her grandmother, whom she could not stand. Now it was clear to him why she had suddenly “become kinder” to her grandmother - she needed her help. And well, it turns out that her grandmother helped her hide something from her dad, go somewhere, return home late, explaining her lateness either by courses or urgent work, now think what you want. Either they have reconciled or something very bad is being prepared ... He imagined how a fat man in striped swimming trunks was walking along the path leading to the pond and looking around everything with the air of a master. Gromov even jumped up as if he had been bitten by a wasp. If this scoundrel appears here, everything will be over, goodbye Privalovka, where he grew up, where every path, every pebble is familiar to him ... Gromov sniffed and, picking up a short branch from the ground, began to plan it with a penknife. He pressed the blade on the wood so hard that he cut his finger, blood gushed out, and Gromov was glad of this pain - it distracted him from terrible thoughts. Steps were heard, Gromov looked around and saw his little sister.
- Oh, you have blood, - she said frightened, - I'll bring iodine. - and ran to the house - thin, in a light sundress, with pigtails peeking out from under a straw hat.
Gromov began to cry, tears dripped onto his cut finger, he tore off a plantain leaf, pulled it out along with the long threads of the stem and applied it to the wound. At that moment, he was seized with horror: he might never see not only Privalovka, but also his sister and brother. Forgetting about the fishing rod that lay on the slingshot, he looked in the direction in which his sister ran. And here she is, and not alone, but with her mother. Both are in a hurry to pour iodine on his wounded finger as soon as possible. Gromov looked at the approaching mother, and it seemed to him that he was not seeing her, but some strange woman. It suddenly seemed to him that a wide knife flashed in her hand, with which in a second she would cut off his head. Gromov was keenly waiting for this moment, he wanted strong pain muffled another that tormented his soul.
The woman, out of breath, stopped near Gromov and convulsively opened a vial of iodine.
- Fuck me this iodine! Gromov shouted in an unexpectedly hoarse voice. I don't want anything from people like you.
Smearing tears on his face, he quickly walked towards the house.
- It's all over, I know what you're thinking.
His voice, interrupted by hoarseness interspersed with childish falsetto, carried through the garden and neighboring yards and was heard by his father. He embraced his son, saying:
- Well, calm down, you don't have to...
They retired behind the stove, where their father's cot stood, and Gromov absorbed, along with the warmth radiated from his father's shirt, his mutterings that everything would be fine, that these telegrams were a misunderstanding, grandfather mixed everything up.
Pushing back the curtain separating the oven corner from the rest of the room, Katya looked in at them.
- What are you whispering about?
Thank God, she does not guess anything and still does not understand anything at her seven years.
Gromov looked at her as if he had seen her for the first time. What a lovely face she has - she cannot be compared with any girl. The eyebrows are velvety, beautiful, the forehead is open, and the eyes are of an unusual gray-blue color. She looks like a girl with old postcard. Or a little poetess. However, this is not an exaggeration. Katya really writes poetry. And this extraordinary creature, which Gromov knew from infancy, when they bathed her in a bath, putting her hand under her head, taught her to walk, wiped her tears, this creature, so closely connected with his, Gromov's, life, is taken away from him. No, It is Immpossible! Who will he wake up in the morning, secretly admiring her curls scattered over the pillow, her thin arm hugging Mishka, whom dad used to play in childhood ... With whom will he quarrel, put up? Whom will he bring up with slaps or a formidable expression on his face? .. He will not agree, he will never agree to part with Katya. Therefore, my mother will not agree to part with him, with Gromov - she loves him ... So, all this is nonsense. They will be together, and dad is right in saying that everything will work out. Throwing back the curtain, Antoshka ran up to the cot.
- Ah, there you are...
A small heap formed, fuss and laughter washed away everything bad from Gromov's heart. And he felt the relief that he lacked so much.
All these events took place during the summer. And now it was winter. The house is empty. Mother's dresses, fur coats, boots and various women's nonsense have disappeared from it. thinned out bookshelves. Children's toys are gone. Gromov cannot get used to this ruin, and his mother's frequent phone calls (she has a mobile device) do not calm him down at all. Mom asks what he does and how he eats. He doesn't need her care. He answers with barely clenched teeth. She gets angry: “Why are you talking to me like that?”. "It's her own fault," he mutters sullenly. A voice mixed with tears is heard in the receiver: “You will understand everything when you grow up.” And he, Gromov, is not going to understand her. Mom betrayed him, that's the main thing. She took Katya and Antoshka away from him and from dad. And now he gives out babies, as if on cards, in scanty doses - only on weekends, and even then not always. When kids are brought to a ruined house, Gromov does not know whether to cry or rejoice. He understands that children have lost the concept of a normal life. They, like young bushes, were pulled out of their native soil and transplanted into another. Their consciousness is fragmented, and they act up, wanting to find in themselves what was taken from them. Dad is having a hard time with them. He does not want to punish them - why, they are not to blame for anything, but it is also wrong to dismiss them. Grandmother is silent and tries to save the day with freshly baked buns, which children love very much. In the end, the atmosphere of the home brings the children back to a good mood. They still have friends here - several plush animals, the kids habitually settle down on the carpet and build castles with gates and towers from cubes. Gromov watches Antoshka play. He puts the wooden cubes - the longest - on the priest, not far from them he attaches the “Kinderovsky” little man and gently pushes the extreme cube. He falls on the previous one, on the next and, in the end, the whole structure collapses on the innocent "dude".
“The Khmyr was crushed,” Antoshka says with the air of a winner.
- I want too! - Katya perks up and begins to arrange the cubes in a row. Khmyr is under the rubble for the next time. Gromov offers to bury him. They build something like a sarcophagus and put the crushed body of their enemy into it.
Everyone is having fun. They finished with the one who got into their family and ruined it. The illusion of a fair reprisal unites them together, and it seems to the children that no one will take them away from here, and that they will live as before, in this house, with their beloved dad and Gromov. Only Katya remembers her mother. Looking at the buried Khmyr, she suddenly says: - But in America, they explain to children from childhood that divorce is a common thing, one girl even shed a tear because she has only one dad, and not two, like some her girlfriends...
“What a fool your America is,” Gromov interrupted her. - There is never more than one dad, remember. And all these fairy tales about divorce were invented by adults to justify their crimes.
After listening to this tirade, Antoshka brushed off the construction of cubes and offered to build a garage.
Nothing so darkens the heart as the suffering of children, whose eyes are turned to you with a silent question; "Can't you help me too?" Catching the gaze of her grandson directed at her face, as if he were estimating in his mind the ability of an adult to fight for a just cause, Polina Antonovna, immediately, switching Gromov’s attention to the despondent need to sit down for lessons, rattled the dishes with such force, as if there were not enough in the sink. dinner plates and cups, and at least iron knightly armor. “That's it,” she said to herself, “stop being silly and playing nobility, leaving events to unfold as they please. It's time to start taking action. It is useless to explain to Sergei - he is morally depressed and is not even fit to express to his faithful, now ex, the words that she deserved. He asked me not to interfere in anything. And I stepped aside and took the position of an observer. But it didn't lead to anything. Having received complete freedom of action, the former daughter-in-law, biting the bit, started creating a new family on a “civilized” basis. We are open-mouthed and do not want to believe that this is possible. There is only one explanation for all this whistling: she went crazy. She got carried away. She wants to prove to someone her originality, her right to do as she pleases - they call this extravagance. Yes, you will spread your arms, as you imagine how she managed to grab some ... no, not some, but, according to rumors, a wealthy man. Well, okay, let's not delve into this dark story. There is an antidote against every poison, so let's look for it ... "
With this decision, Polina Antonovna bought newspapers with virtual content and began to research them, of course, secretly from the household. There were many announcements. A whole swarm of clairvoyants, removing spoilage and returning husbands to the bosom of the family, flaunted on the pages of printed publications. From the photographs, the physiognomies of ordinary people looked, proclaiming their amazing magical abilities inherited from their grandmothers.
“Mura,” thought Polina Antonovna, “having studied advertising tricks. However, something attracted her close attention. Quiet, in a modest frame, the announcement read: "An Orthodox grandmother will help unite divorced spouses, with prayers and faith she will strengthen the shaky foundations of the family." Oh, this seems to fit. Having copied the phone number on a piece of paper so that it could be easily read, Polina Antonovna called the mentioned grandmother and arranged a meeting with her.
And now she enters the abode of the owner of a miraculous gift and sees in front of her a not yet old sultry brunette, on whose chest, in time with breathing, an unusually large golden cross rises and falls. A golden chain snakes through a sparkling fabric that shimmers with glittering threads, large ring-shaped earrings sway when a woman bows or raises her head over a table where a magic crystal ball is set.
“Orthodox, but she wears a cross on her dress,” thought Polina Antonovna and realized that she had fallen into a trap. It was not interesting to retreat, and Polina Antonovna decided to see what would happen next.
- Sit down, - she heard the brunette's voice, - and calm down.
It was dim in the room, an icon hung in the right corner. Holy Mother of God in a rich silver setting. Lighted candles crackled a little in a high candlestick, set in front of the icon. Polina Antonovna glanced at the icon and lowered her eyes. She felt uncomfortable, wanted to get up and leave, but she nevertheless overcame her confusion and asked, putting into her voice all the intelligence that she was capable of:
- What is your name?
- Iraida, - the brunette answered and immediately added. Your name doesn't interest me. Although its sound somehow affects the fate of a person. There has been a tragedy in your family. But if you look into the past, it turns out that? And what you started, and your daughter-in-law multiplied your sin three times. Polina Antonovna was dumbfounded when she heard this.
- What does it mean?
- You seem to have forgotten that you yourself committed a sin by leaving your husband and thereby depriving your child of a father.
- No, I didn’t forget, - Polina Antonovna began to justify herself, - but it was completely different with me. I didn’t go to another, but just left ... To no one ... And I had one child, not three.
Muttering these words, Polina Antonovna felt that her face turned red and that drops of sweat appeared on her forehead. It was only then that she gave vent to her amazement.
- You didn't ask me anything, but you already know everything.
The woman did not react to her remark and, peering intently into the depths of the sparkling ball, continued.
- The child grew up without a father through your fault, and you expect from him, who has become an adult, some decisive action. You are guilty before him. And he did not forget his orphanhood. There was no normal family - you were looking for another father for him - and you did not find anything. Through your fault, it contains the lot of loneliness.
Polina Antonovna covered her face with her hands, pressing them tightly to her eyes.
- So, the son is paying for my mistakes ...
- Mistakes? - asked the brunette.
“Yes, mistakes,” Polina Antonovna repeated passionately. “After my marriage, I fell in love with married man and for this reason she separated from her husband. Of course, now, in my old age, I understand everything, but you can’t return the former and you can’t fix anything.
- You came for help, - the brunette's voice sounded with a certain degree of solemnity, - but help should come from you.
- What should I do? Polina Antonovna interrupted.
- Remember everything and repent.
- But I will not be able to atone for my sin for the lack of time allotted to me.
Her voice broke off, she fixed her eyes on the face of the "sorceress" sitting in front of her and was frightened by her deep, all-seeing eyes.
“Judge not, lest you be judged,” came Polina Antonovna’s ears.
And she, unable to withstand the test that the brunette pretending to be an "Orthodox grandmother" subjected her to, finally threw her trump card:
- Why don't you have a cross on your body?
The woman chuckled.
- Through this cross, I receive the knowledge that is not available to you.
- Is there nothing to fix? - said Polina Antonovna, opening her purse to get a handkerchief.
“I am ready to die for the children,” she said through her tears.
- Death does not justify sin, but shifts it to posterity.
- My God! exclaimed Polina Antonovna. - And this chain has no end?
Polina Antonovna's heart was pounding so hard that it seemed to her that in another second she would need an ambulance.
- Consolation, - she heard the impassive voice of her interlocutor. - God not only punishes, but also has mercy.
Polina Antonovna continued to cry, her tears flowed so profusely that she could not even remember when last time wept so bitterly.
“Now you calm down,” the brunette said monotonously. - And go home to your son and grandchildren. The heart will tell you how to behave in difficult times for your family ...
Polina Antonovna made a movement to pull out and open her purse, but the brunette stopped her...
- Go...
Polina Antonovna did not immediately go home, but for some time wandered about the streets. Struck by how easily and simply the sorceress "bited" her, she asked herself the same question: "How did she know? How is it possible to see a stranger for the first time and turn out the secrets deeply hidden in him, his past delusions, which the person himself does not want to remember. Does the sultry brunette really have a unique gift of clairvoyance? Is she really given an extraordinary vision that allows her to feel the flow of time in its length and volume. Be that as it may, believe it or not, but the sorceress opened up an old, unhealed wound and presented a severe accusation to Polina Antonovna. “My God, my God,” grandmother Lina repeated mentally, shocked by the revelations of the “sorceress”. “After all, there is indeed a grave sin on me, but I did not think about it.”
It was so long ago. She made a mistake by marrying a school friend, and then she realized that there was no love in her heart - this irreplaceable secret that holds the bonds of marriage together. A man appeared who, not wanting this, destroyed the family. She left her husband and achieved nothing but the bitterness of loneliness. Her life is rolling towards sunset, with her ex-husband - now the legal grandfather of their common grandchildren - she supports good relations. Why did it never occur to her that the cause of the misfortune that fell on her son should be sought in herself, in her youth, when she obeyed her feelings, contrary to the understanding of the upcoming tragedies ...
Polina Antonovna believed that something good and pleasant was bound to happen in the spring. Her short forays to the dacha, where a small piece of land with a house, somehow knocked together by hacks, all in cracks, with a stove that took up too much space, with an unfinished attic, awaited her, brought her incomparable peace. Every now and then she broke away from earthly, earthworks and fixed her eyes on the sky - very beautiful, constantly changing its shades - from pearl gray to bright turquoise and scarlet at sunset.
The ground is still cold and the house is damp. With difficulty, firewood flares up, having absorbed the gloomy moisture that has accumulated under the house where it was stored. Polina Antonovna suffers for a long time, slipping either crumpled paper or rags soaked in kerosene under the logs. Finally, somehow, the firewood begins to flare up and little by little turn into red-hot coals. Polina Antonovna opens the stove door, looks at the fire and remembers the time when she was young.
Happiness is a capricious thing. It is not ordered and does not always reward those who are waiting. Why did what happened to her happen?
She turned 23. She did not want to stay in the girls and accepted the offer school friend who had been in love with her since the fifth grade. Fear is no small matter. Of course, it cannot be compared with the feeling of a climber hanging over an abyss in the mountains. But who said that in the most ordinary life, sometimes referred to as philistine, there are no dangerous moments, fierce battles, failures, accidents from which the building of life collapses.
Fear of loneliness - that was the inner spring that made Lina take the wrong step. Marriage, even unsuccessful, still gives a feeling of confidence.
After the divorce, Lina, of course, tried to find new family. But, alas, the “romances” that sometimes dragged on for years did not justify her expectations and brought her nothing but disappointment.
Thank God, she has grandchildren, adored creatures with whom her son made her happy - the brainchild of her unsuccessful marriage.
Bab Lin! - shouts Gromov, flying into the kitchen, - Do you have thirty rubles?
- Why do you?
- I need to buy a book.
- What?
- "Secret materials".
- God, what nonsense you are fond of!
- You do not understand anything. Because you are... an African zusul...
- Nice to hear. But maybe a Zulu?
- Nu, old you - understood?
- And you explain what I do not understand in your classified materials.
- Well, there are different horrors, the dead, or vice versa, they live, and they won’t die in any way.
- That's a shame, - the grandmother dropped, making some movements over the stove and kitchen sink.
- Why? - retorted the grandson. - On the contrary, it's cool to live all the time.
- So tired.
- Nope, that's interesting.
- Okay, I'll give you thirty, but on the condition that you learn twenty English words.
- All right, swept up ...
The grandson runs away, and the grandmother, with cautious joy, notes to herself that the boy has become calmer and has somehow adapted to the family trouble. Of course, it would not be necessary to encourage his passion for all sorts of horrors, but in order for him to be at least somehow distracted, it is worth sacrificing educational work.
Oh, Polina Antonovna would give dearly so that this whole nightmare would end and the family would be restored. Is it possible that her heart (Polina Antonovna meant her daughter-in-law) is so cruel that she is indifferent to the fate of her children!
Days went by, Gromov began to get used to his new existence and even found for himself some advantages of physical distance from his mother. Now he can watch TV whenever he wants, his grandmother has become completely “tame” and allows him to sit at the computer longer than the time allotted to him by his father.
However, the silence that followed was deceptive. Phone call pissed off my dad. He shouted that it was vile, disgusting that he could not bear such a disgrace that it would kill him.
Then Gromov listened to what they were fighting again, and suddenly it dawned on him: a child! Here is the number! In addition to the three of them, my mother will have a fourth. Oh, very interesting. Who will he have to be? Some kind of crazy brother: mom is the same, and dads are different ... Wow! Gromov's eyes darkened. He imagined his mother with a huge belly, which she had when she was preparing to give birth to Antoshka ... And with such a big belly, she would come here to please Gromov with a pleasant prospect - finding a new slider. Just let him come, - Gromov thinks, holding back his angry sniffling. Who gave her the right, so old, someone else .. well, it’s on his head to bring into the world. Let him come, he will tell her something that dad will never say: “Get out of our house! Your place is with your Khmyr, to whom you are preparing a gift.
Thinking over his future speech, he turned some pieces of paper in his hands and automatically tore them to pieces. Then he went to his father's room. He kept handset in his hand, although the conversation was already over. Gromov was frightened by his appearance, his eyes fixed on emptiness.
"C'mon, dad," he said casually. - She won’t give birth to a damn thing ... At that age ...
Dad woke up, the words of his son reached his consciousness.
- You think? - he asked.
- I don't think, but I know.
- Yes, yes, yes, - dad spoke, - maybe ... But ... this one is her ...
- Khmyr, - prompted Gromov ...
- Yes, Khmyr, he is ...
And he didn't agree. And he went to whisper with his grandmother.
- Nu and that, that gynecologist? Gromov heard her unrestrained voice. “Forty-five is not eighteen.
While they were discussing their diapers there, Gromov put on his headphones and plunged into world music... "As I said, so be it," he whispered to the music. And if it does, I'll kick it out."
While waiting for Papa, Gromov boiled potatoes and hid the pot under the pillow, covering it with a cotton blanket to be sure. Dad was delayed, the potatoes were waiting, Gromov was also waiting and even began to get nervous - suddenly something happened. Bad thoughts, when dad was late for some reason, increasingly climbed into his head, because the bad, if it happens, pulls another bad one. It happened with Gromov: you grab a couple by unlearned lesson, so this will not seem enough, even your neck will be wrinkled in a childish brawl or the controller in the subway will cling: “show your ticket”, and the ticket remained in another jacket. And when such a big bad thing falls down, like they had with dad, then be on the alert, something else will certainly happen. Gromov felt pain in the stomach, the hands of the clock showed nine, but dad was still gone. It occurred to him to call the police, they would give a phone number about accidents. This is what the overactive grandmother Lina sometimes did, frightened by the long absence of her family who had disappeared somewhere.
When uncertainty and fear reached such a vibrating force that pictures of road accidents, gang wars, malicious explosions and even, God forbid, theft of a child, began to spin in my grandmother’s head, grandmother grabbed the phone and began torturing the police about incidents. However, as soon as she sounded the alarm, the “missing ones” were immediately announced, cheerful and not suspecting anything about the grandmother’s fears.
And now Gromov decided what to do... Wait or dial the police number. Of course, one could ask Aunt Olya for advice, but can you get through to her - she, as usual, is on the run. There is no grandmother either - she left for her plot "to take a sip fresh air", as she put it. While he was thinking, looking first at his watch, then at the telephone receiver, the bell rang. With one jump, Gromov reached the hallway and, without looking into the peephole (he was sure it was dad), pulled the door latch.
- Where were you, why did you stay? - he fell asleep with his father's questions.
“In the hospital,” he answered, taking off his black leather jacket.
- In the hospital? Gromov asked in surprise.
- Yes. Mom's, - explained the father, pulling off his shoes.
- What, has it already begun? Gromov suggested cautiously.
- Just the opposite, - it ended, - sharply, as it seemed to Gromov, his father answered.
Gromov suppressed an indecent feeling of jubilation and politely reminded:
“I told you, she’s old…”
- What do you understand! father exploded. “Soothsayer, favorite of the gods.
- And why are you? - suddenly dawned on Gromov. - You, not Khmyr, he is supposed to sit there, not you.
- It’s supposed to, it’s not supposed to, but they called me because .., in general, he was not there ...
“Good job,” Gromov muttered, following his father into the kitchen.
- I cooked potatoes for you, will you?
- Will. What else besides potatoes?
- There are cutlets, my grandmother cooked.
While his father ate, Gromov sat at the table, opposite him, and, as was his wont, twirled some rubbish with his fingers.
- What do you have? the father asked nervously, glancing at his son's hands.
- Yes, nothing, a wire from a children's phone ...
- You're twirling everything, twirling, - father mumbled, - do your hands itch?
- This is on my nerves, - Gromov said pointedly.
And the father fell silent, as if believing in his son's explanation.
“Still, it’s strange,” Gromov, who did not understand anything, began his song again, “you broke up, she’s nobody to you, and you stick around in the hospital like your own husband ...
“Yes, we parted,” said the father, pushing the plate away. - But we remain your parents, do you understand that, garden head?
- Understand. But I wouldn't go for anything. Now it's their problem, not yours, let them sort it out themselves.
- And you don't feel sorry for her? - Sergei Petrovich asked, looking his son in the eyes.
- W-well. Of course, as a person, it's a pity ...
And Gromov imagined his mother lying in a hospital bed. If you look at what happened abstractly, as if everything that happens does not concern you, then you can probably regret it .. And if all this concerns you personally, then there is nothing to worry about, and everything is so confusing, but with this child in general everyone would have gone crazy .... That's it, it came to general insanity. Here he is, for example, Gromov, what was he thinking about recently? What speech was he preparing and what was he going to say to his mother? And now, when he sees a shocked father in front of him, so inhumanly kind, what is he, Gromov, thinking about? That everyone went crazy. The divorce turns out not to be true, the departure of the mother is a window dressing and a misunderstanding, Khmyr looms somewhere in the distance, who is always absent when he is needed, and the kids ... Yes, with whom are the kids now? Dad, do you hear?
- While with my mother's friend, Sasha - you know her - and tomorrow they will be with us. So you will pick up Katya from school,
and Antoshka from the kindergarten - me.
Gromov was delighted because he missed his sister and brother. And he looked at his watch - it showed 11. Hurry up to bed, sleep well, - tomorrow is a happy day.
Sergei Petrovich frequented the St. Danilov Monastery. There he talked for a long time with the monks, seeking their strength to overcome adversity. The monks advised to reconcile and accept what happened as God's will.
Sergei Petrovich was returning home, trying not to lose the acquired knowledge of humility along the way.
- Well, how are you here? he asked his son cheerfully.
- You must kill him, - said Gromov, fiddling with a toy gun in his hands. - There is no other way to return everything.
"That's not true," said the father. Even if this person...
- Reptile, - corrected Gromov.
- ..He will die, - continued the father, - mother will not return, because she does not love me.
- Why then did you give birth to us? - boiled Gromov.
- Well, that's another question.
- They broke firewood, and we have to deal with it ..
"We must put up with it," Sergei Petrovich repeated the monk's advice.
- There is something in the world that cannot be done! - Gromov almost shouted the last word. - People - live. And loves - does not love - it's up to us to light bulbs. You parents should be with us as long as we are alive. It's clear?
- Okay, what should I do? Cut your own throat? The father turned pale and fell silent.
"Daddy," Gromov whispered. - Just not this. Then I... You don't have to...
It was somehow uncomfortable without my grandmother, who ran about her business. If only someone would scold them or cheer them up with something.
“Don’t slouch,” said the father, surprised at how quickly his son stretched.
“The jacket has already become too small for me,” Gromov replied.
“Nothing, the younger ones will do,” the father reassured.
And this was said very opportunely, because both needed to
to feel again that they are inseparable, that there is no one to give from one’s shoulder, not even a thing, but a feeling of kinship and the warmth of one’s blood.
And then the bell rang, and grandmother appeared at the door. Without wasting time on "hello", she inquired: - well, how are you here? (meaning "without me...")
“He’s in the hospital,” Gromov said, confident that clarifications were unnecessary, and added with a touch of pride
- Dad took it.
Grandmother pursed her lips to sing her “Arrival-come-if ...”, but changed her mind and left the two near the hanger. They looked at the empty hooks and they saw the little ones' jackets hanging on them. And it was a sign that everything in their lives would work out.
