Chapter 5 Section 5

Winter and spring came, and the family separated. Uncle Yakov was assigned to the city, Mikhail to the other side of the river. Grandpa bought a very interesting big house on Polevoi Street: there is a tavern downstairs, a loft above, and a valley beyond the back garden, full of willow trees. "See, these are good whips!" Grandpa said as he walked, stepping on the melting snow, pointing to the tree, he blinked slyly: "You will soon be taught to read and write. By then, the whip will be more useful." The house was full of tenants, and my grandfather kept only one upstairs for himself, while my grandmother and I lived on the top floor.

The windows on the top floor faced the street, and during festivals and nights of normal days, groups of drunks could be seen coming out of the tavern, swaying and shouting. Sometimes they are thrown out of the pavilion by others, they roll on the ground, get up and squeeze into the pavilion. Crash, squeak, squeak, "Ouch!" There was a messy sound, and they started fighting! It was so much fun to stand at the upstairs window and watch it all! Early every morning, grandpa would go to the dyeing workshop of the two sons to ask for help. When he comes back at night, he always looks tired and angry.

Grandma cooks at home, makes clothes, and plants in the garden. She is very busy every day. She took snuff, sneezed several times with relish, wiped the sweat from her face, and said: "Oh, thanks to Our Lady, everything has become so wonderful! "Alyosha, my dear, how peacefully we live!" peaceful? I don't feel any peace at all! All day long, the tenants came and went in the yard, and the neighbor's women often ran over, talking about this and that, and I didn't know what they were busy with. Someone always shouted: "Akulina Ivanovna!" Akulina Ivanovna was so kind to everyone, and cared for everyone in every possible way.

She stuffed the shredded tobacco into her nostrils with her thumb, carefully wiped her nose and fingers with a red checkered handkerchief, and said: "My wife, to prevent lice, take a bath frequently and take a peppermint steam bath! "It doesn't matter if you have ringworm and scabies, put a spoonful of clean goose oil, a little mercury, or two or three drops of mercury, put them in a plate, grind them with a piece of broken foreign magnet seven times, and rub them on your body! "Never use wood or bone for grinding, as the mercury will be destroyed; nor use copper or silver vessels, as it will damage the skin."

Sometimes, after a moment's pause, she said: "Auntie, go to Petroy and find Assaf, I can't answer your question." She delivered babies, mediated family disputes, treated children, and recited "The Dream of the Virgin" (it is said that women who can recite it can bring good luck!) Introduce some common sense of daily life: "When the king melon should be pickled, it will tell you by itself, that is, it will be fine if it loses its rustic temperament. "The kvass should be fermented enough to taste, so don't make it sweet, just add a little raisins. If you add sugar, sprinkle it in a barrel, and put half a tael of sugar at most.

"Kefir can be made in many ways: Spanish, Danubian, Caucasian..." I followed her around the yard all day long, and visited with her. Sometimes she sat in other people's homes for hours at a time, drinking tea and telling various stories. I always followed her, almost became her tail. In the diary of this period of life, except for this old lady who is busy all day long, my mind is blank. Once I asked my grandma: "Do you know witchcraft? She smiled, thought for a moment and said: "Witchcraft is a science, it's very difficult, I can't do it, I can't read!

"Look at your grandfather, how smart he is, he can read, the Holy Mother didn't make me smart!" Then she told her own story: "I was an orphan since I was a child, and my mother was poor and disabled! "When she was a daughter, the landlord frightened her, and at night she jumped out of the window and broke half of her body! "Her right hand was shriveled. It was a fatal blow for a lace girl! "The landowners drove her away. She wandered and begged for a living. People were richer in those days than they are now, and the carpenters and lace weavers in Barahana were good.

"When autumn comes every year, my mother and I stay in the city to beg for food, and when the Archangel Gavrilo drives away the winter with a wave of his sword, we continue to move forward, wherever we go. "I've been to Murom, I've been to Yulevets, I haven't walked up the Volga, I haven't walked up the Oka. "After spring and summer, it is really a beautiful thing to wander on the earth! The grass is lush, the flowers are in full bloom, and you can breathe the sweet and warm air freely! "Sometimes when mother closes her blue eyes and sings, the flowers, plants and trees prick up their ears and stop, and the earth hears her singing!

"Wandering life is really fun, but as I grew up, my mother felt a little embarrassed to lead me to beg for food. "So, we stayed in the city of Barahana, and every day she went to the street to beg from door to door, and on festivals, she went to the door of the church to wait for people's alms. "And I, sitting at home learning to weave lace, I worked my ass off, trying to learn it so I could help my mother. "In more than two years, I have learned that everything is famous, and people know that they come to me for handicrafts: 'Hey, Akulia, knit something for me!' I am very happy, like It's like Chinese New Year!

"Of course this is all taught by my mother. Although she has only one hand and can't operate it, she is very good at giving pointers. You must know that a good teacher is more important than anything else! "I couldn't help biting him. I said: 'Mom, you don't have to beg for food anymore, I can feed you now!' She said, shut up, you know, this is saving money for your dowry Yes!' "Later, your grandfather appeared. He was a young man on a business trip. He was only 22 years old, and he became the foreman of a big ship! "Her mother examined me carefully, and she thought I was quite dexterous, a beggar's daughter, and very honest.

"She is a bread seller, she is very fierce..." Oh, don't recall this, why should you recall the bad guys?God knows best. " Speaking of which, she smiled.The nose quivered absurdly, and the eyes sparkled, which made me feel particularly dear. I still remember that on a quiet night, my grandma and I drank tea in my grandpa's house. Grandpa is not in good health, and he is sitting on the bed without a shirt on, with a towel on his shoulders, and he has to wipe his sweat every once in a while. His voice was hoarse, his breathing was rapid, his eyes were dark and green, and Kong Zi was swollen purple, and his ears were terribly red! He went to get the teacup, his hands trembling. At this time, others also become docile. "Why don't you add sugar to me?" His tone was like a coquettish child. Grandma told him gently but firmly: "You should drink honey!" He was panting, drinking hot tea with a sip: "Look at me carefully, don't let me die!" "Okay, I'll be careful!" "Well, if I die now, I'll feel as if I've never lived!" "Okay, just lie down and stop thinking about it." He closed his eyes and was silent for a long time.Suddenly it seems that a needle prick can make the children calm down, what do you think? " So, he began to criticize whose girls in the city were suitable. Grandma sat there without saying a word, drinking black tea cup by cup. I sat by the window, looking up at the sunset in the sky - at that time, it seemed that because of some mistake I made, my grandpa forbade me to play outside the house. In the garden, beetles buzzed around the birch trees. In the next yard the cooper was at work, clanging loudly. There is also the sound of sharpening knives. In the valley outside the garden, children ran about in the bushes, and there was a constant noise. A kind of melancholy at dusk welled up in my heart, and I really wanted to go outside to play. Suddenly, grandpa patted me and was very interested in teaching me how to read.In his hand was a small new book, which he had come from nowhere. "Come on, kid, you guy with high cheekbones, what word is this?" I answered. "Ah, yes! What about this one?" I answered again. "No, bastard!" His roar resounded incessantly in the room: "By the way, what about this? "No, bastard! "By the way, what about this"? "By the way, what about this? "No, bastard!" Grandma interjected: "Old man, can you just lie down for a while?" "Leave me alone! I'll teach him how to read to make him feel comfortable, otherwise he'll just keep thinking wildly! "Well, read on, Alexei!" Grandpa hooked my neck with his hot arm. The book was placed in front of me. He crossed my shoulder and pointed at the letters with his finger. The smell of sourness, sweat, and roasted onions on his body made me breathless. But he just kept yelling those letters one by one! "3eMJI" is like a worm, "" is like Gregory the Hunchback, "" is like Grandma and me, and Grandpa has something in common with all the letters of the alphabet. He read his mother's watch upside down, asked backwards, reversed, and confused. I also got excited, my head was sweating, but I shouted loudly. He may have thought it was ridiculous, coughed, patted his chest, crumpled the book, and said in a hoarse voice: "Old woman, listen to how loud this kid's voice is! "Hey, hey, you Astrakhan swinger, what's your name? Well, what are you shouting for? " "Didn't you yell..." I looked at grandma again and felt very happy. Grandma propped up the table with her ribs, put her fist against Li Bangzi, and said with a smile: "Okay, stop shouting!" Grandpa said gently: "I'm yelling because I'm not well. What about you? Why?" He didn't wait for my answer, shook his head and said to grandma: "Dead Natalia says he has a bad memory, but that's not true! Look, he remembers his way like a horse! "Okay, stick your nose up, and keep reading!" I read it aloud again. Finally he pushed me off the bed with a smile. "Okay, take this book away! "Tomorrow, you must read all the letters to me, and I will give you five kopecks if you read them correctly!" I reach for the book. But he pulled me into his arms and said gloomily: "Oh, your mother abandoned you to suffer in this world, you brat!" Grandma trembled all over: "Old man, why are you mentioning this?" "I really don't want to say it, but I feel so uncomfortable! What a girl, you have walked on such a road..." He pushed me suddenly and said: "Go and play, don't go to the street, just in the yard, in the garden..." I ran into the garden as if flying, and climbed up the hill. The wild boys threw stones at me from the valley, and I threw them back with excitement. "Oh, that boy is coming, skin him!" They shouted when they saw me from a distance. It was a great pleasure to have a large group, and especially to be able to win a large group, and the stones thrown hit them so hard that they ran away to the bushes. No one has any malice in this kind of war, and there will be no enmity left. I learned to read and write very quickly, and my grandfather cared more and more about me, and rarely beat me. According to the previous standards, he should actually hit me more often: because as I grew up day by day, I began to break more and more rules of behavior set by my grandfather, but he often just scolded me twice. I thought, he must have hit me wrong before, and it didn't make sense. I told him the idea. He lifted my chin, lifted my head, blinked, and asked in a long voice: "W-what?" Then he laughed: "You heretic! How do you know how many times I've hit you? Get lost!" But he grabbed my shoulder again and stared into my eyes: "Oh, I said, are you smart or stupid?" "I have no idea……" "have no idea? "Okay, let me tell you. You have to learn to be smart. Stupid is stupid, karma is smart! Sheep are stupid, monkeys are smart! "Okay, remember! Let's play..." Soon I was able to spell out poems, and I usually read the hymns after evening tea. I pointed at the book with the word stick, moved it, read it, it was very boring. "The saint is Uncle Yakov, right?" Give you a neck crutch, let you understand who is a saint! "Grandpa blows his nostrils angrily. I'm used to his angry look, and I think it's a bit fake. Look, am I right? After a while, he forgot about the pleasure just now: "When he sings he's like King David, but when he acts he's like a wicked Absalom! ---------------- ----------- ① See "Old Testament" for the code: King David was the king of Israel. Absalom was his son. He killed his brother and took the throne from his father. Afterwards, he was defeated and died. "Ah, I can sing and dance at the same time, I can talk sweetly, dance and dance, how far can I jump?" I stopped reading poems and listened carefully, looking at his gloomy face. He squinted and looked over my head, looking out the window, his eyes were sad and quivering. "Grandpa!" "what?" "Tell me a story!" "Slacker, read it!" He rubbed his eyes, as if he had just woken up. But I think he prefers jokes to poetry.But he remembered almost all the psalms, and he swore to say a few verses aloud every day before going to bed, like a deacon in church. I begged him repeatedly, and he finally gave in. "Okay, okay! The Psalms are always with me, and I'm about to go to God to be judged..." As he spoke, he leaned back on the rustic flower back of the ancient Anton chair, looked at the ceiling, and talked about old things: "A long time ago, a band of bandits came. My grandfather's father went to call the police, and the bandits caught up with him, hacked him to death with a saber, and threw him under the big clock. "At that time, I was very young. "I remember in 1812, when I was just twelve years old. More than thirty French prisoners came to Baragina. "They were all short, in tattered clothes, not even as good as beggars, and they were all so froze that they couldn't even stand up. "Old people surrounded them, trying to beat them to death, but the soldiers who escorted them refused to let them go, and drove the ordinary people back home. "But afterward, everyone got to know these Frenchmen, and they were happy people who sang a lot. "Later, a great company of gentlemen came from Nijni, all in three sets of carriages. Some of them beat and scolded the French very badly, while others talked to them kindly in French, gave them clothes, and gave them money back. "An elderly Frenchman cried: 'Napoleon has made the French suffer! Look at how good the Russians are, even the gentlemen have pity on us...'" There was a moment of silence.He touched his head with his hand, trying to recall the past years: "In winter, the city swept by the blizzard is so cold that it is freezing to death! "The French captives would run under the windows of our house, jump, make noise, knock on the glass, and they would ask my mother for hot bread. "My mother sold bread. She passed the bread through the window, and the Frenchman grabbed it and put it in his arms. It was fresh from the oven!They actually stuck to the meat all at once! "Many French people just froze to death, they are not used to such cold weather. "We have a bathroom in the garden, and in it live two Frenchmen, an officer and an orderly, the orderly's name being Miran. "The officer is very thin, skinny to the bone, and wears a women's coat that comes up to his knees. He's a very nice guy, and he's a bigot. "My mother secretly brewed beer and sold it, and he always bought it, drank it, and sang after drinking it. "He learned a little Russian and used to say: 'Oh, you are not white here, but black and evil!' We can understand him. "Yeah, our place can't go down the Volga River, it's much warmer there, after the Caspian Sea, there's no snow all year round. "There is no mention of snow or winter in the Gospel or Acts, where Jesus lived..."Okay, after reading the poems, let's read the Gospel book! " He fell silent, as if he had fallen asleep, squinting his eyes and staring out of the window, making him look even smaller. "Speak!" I said carefully. "Ah, good!" He shook, and continued: French!They are also human beings, and they are no less than us.They called my mother 'Madam,' which means 'Mrs.' Oh, madam, madam, but our lady could carry five poods of flour at a time. Her unstoppable energy is a bit of a film. When I was 20 years old, she couldn't grab my hair and shake it a few times effortlessly. "Milang, an orderly soldier, is very fond of horses, he often goes to the yards of various households, gesturing to wash their horses! "At first everyone was afraid of his bad ideas, but then the common people took the initiative to find him: Mi Lang, wash the horse! "At this time, he would smile, lower his head and follow along. "He's a red-haired, big-nosed fellow with very thick lips. He's good at horses, and he's great at treating them. "Later, he worked as a horse doctor in Nijni, and soon he went mad and was beaten to death. "The following spring, the officer also fell ill, and on the anniversary of the god of spring, Nicholas, he sat pensively by the window, stuck his head out, and died. "I cried secretly because he was so kind to me. He used to grab my ear and speak kindly in French that I didn't understand. "The closeness between people cannot be bought with money. I wanted to learn French from him, but my mother refused. She took me to the priest, who beat me up and sued the officer. . "Oh, baby, it was so hard back then, you caught up, and someone else took the pain on your behalf..." It was completely dark. Grandpa seemed to suddenly grow bigger in the dark, his eyes were shining like a cat, his tone was fierce and fanatical, and he spoke much faster. This is how he talked about his affairs, contrary to his usual cautious and pensive state. I don't like him very much. I don't remember it intentionally, but it is imprinted in my memory indelibly. He blindly recalls the past, there are no fairy tales or stories in his mind, only the past, he doesn't like people asking him, asking questions, but I want to ask him: "Ah, which do you prefer, the French or the Russians?" "Then who knows? I haven't seen how the French live in their own homes!" "Well, how are the Russians?" "There's good and there's not bad." "Maybe people were not so good in the slave era, when people were tied with ropes. "It's good now, I'm free, but I'm so poor that I don't even have bread and salt. "Of course, the gentlemen are not very charitable, but they are all very smart. Of course, there are also fools. Their heads are like pockets. Whatever you put in them, they will walk around." "Are the Russians strong?" "There are many strong men, but only strength is useless, and agility is also needed, because no matter how strong you are, you can't beat a horse!" "The French why are we attacking?" "That's the business of the emperors, we don't know." "What does Napoleon do?" He is an ambitious man, he wants to conquer the whole world, and then let everyone live the same life, there is no master or servant, no rank, everyone is equal, just with different names. "Of course there is only one belief. This is nonsense! Let's talk about the things in the sea, only lobsters look the same, there is no way to distinguish them, but there are all kinds of fish: trout and catfish don't get along, sturgeon A fish and a herring cannot be friends either. "We also had Napoleonists in Russia, such as Racine Stepan, Timofeev, Bugach, Yemilian, Ivanov..." He stared at me silently, his eyes wide open, as if seeing me for the first time. That's a little off-putting. He never talked to me about my father and mother. Grandma used to walk in when we were talking. She sat in the corner and didn't say a word for a long time, as if she was not there. But she would suddenly and softly interject: "Old man, don't you remember, let's go to Murom Chaoshan, how good it is? What year was that? " Grandpa thought for a while and answered seriously: "Yes, before the mildew epidemic, the year when the Oranets were caught in the woods?" "That's right, that's right!" "That's right!" I asked again: "What do the Oronets do? Why do they flee into the woods?" Grandpa said patiently: "They are all ordinary people who escaped from the rural materials in the factory." "How to catch them?" "It's like a child playing hide-and-seek. Some people run away while others chase them." If they are caught, they will be whipped with tree sticks, beaten with a whip, their noses will be broken, and a mark will be placed on their foreheads as a mark of punishment. " "why?" "It's hard to say, it's not something we want to understand." Grandma said again: "Old man, do you remember? After the fire..." Grandpa asked very seriously: "Which fire?" They started reminiscing about the past together and forgot about me. They recalled each sentence in a low voice, as if they were singing, and they were all unhappy songs: disease, sudden death, fire, fight, beggar, master... "You have seen it all! " Grandpa muttered. "Don't forget anything! "Do you still remember the spring after the birth of Hunchalia?" "Oh, that was 1848, the year of the Hungarian expedition. On the second day of Christmas, Godfather Tikhon was taken to fight as a young man... "There will be no more news about him..." Grandma sighed. "Isn't it! However, since that year, God's favor has continued to visit our family. "Oh, Varvara..." "All right, old man!" Grandpa grimaced: "What can we do? Our hard work is in vain. None of these children are promising!" He yelled uncontrollably, scolded his daughter, and waved his thin fist at grandma: "It's you! You've spoiled them, old woman!" Howling, he ran to the icon and beat his chest: "God, are my sins as deep as they are? Why?" He burst into tears, with a fierce look in his eyes. Grandma crossed herself and comforted him in a low voice: "Don't be like this! God knows why! You see, there are not many people who are better than our children! "Old man, it's like this in every house, it's noisy, it's a mess, all parents are suffering from the same pain, not just you..." These words seemed to stabilize his mood, and he sat on the bed as if falling asleep. If it was the same as usual, I would be fine if I went back to the top floor to sleep with my grandma, but this time my grandma wanted to comfort him a few more words, so she walked to the bedside. Grandpa turned over suddenly, raised his fist and slapped grandma on the face. Grandma staggered and almost fell down. She pressed her hand to the bleeding wound on her lips and said in a low voice: You little fool! " Then spat into the front of his feet. He roared and raised his hand: "I beat you to death!" "Big fool!" Grandma said another word, and then walked to the door in a calm manner. Grandpa rushed towards her, she opened the door casually, and the door almost hit him in the face. "Smelly old woman!" Grandpa held the door frame with his hands and scratched vigorously. I couldn't believe what I saw. This was the first time he hit my grandma in front of me. I felt extremely humiliated! He was still scratching the door frame, and after a long, long time, he turned around in pain, walked slowly to the middle of the room, knelt down, leaned forward, straightened his upper body again, and beat his chest: "My God, my God..." I ran out immediately. Grandma was rinsing her mouth on the attic. "Does it hurt?" She spat the water into the dirty bucket and said quietly: "It's okay, it's just a broken lip!" Why is he like this? " She looked out the window and said: He always felt that everything was not going his way, and he always lost his temper. ... "Go to sleep, don't think about these..." I asked her again, and she said sternly: "Why are you disobedient, go to sleep!" She sat down by the window, sucked her lips, and kept spitting into the handkerchief. I got into bed, undressed, and watched her. Stars shone through the blue windows above her head. The street was quiet and the house was dark. She came over and patted my head: "Go to sleep. I'll go and see him..." Don't be too close to me, maybe I'm wrong too... Go to sleep! " She kissed me and left. I was very sad.Jumped off the bed, walked to the window, and looked at the cold street outside.