Chapter 12 The eve of Lent

The eve of Lent① "Pavel Vasilyitch!" Pilageya Ivanovna called to her husband. "Pavel Vasilyitch! Go and help Stebavin with his homework, he's sitting there crying over his books! There's something he doesn't understand!" Pavel Vasilyitch sat up, yawned, crossed himself, and said softly: "I'll go, darling!" A cat that had been sleeping next to him also stood up, straightened its tail, arched its back, and narrowed its eyes.It was very quiet all around. ...mice can be heard running around inside the wallpaper.Pavel Vasiliich put on his boots and pajamas, half asleep, listless, frowning, and went from the bedroom into the dining-room.As soon as he walked in, the other cat, who was sniffing a plate of fish jelly on the windowsill, jumped down and hid behind the cabinet.

"Who told you to smell this dish!" He said angrily, taking a newspaper and covering the fish jelly. "You deserve to be called a pig, not a cat..." There was a door in the dining room leading to the nursery.In the nursery, at a table covered with stains and deep knife marks, sat Steba, a second-grader at the high school, with a grumpy face and teary eyes.He pushed his knees almost up to his chin, put his hands around his knees, and swayed like a Chinese tumbler.He looked angrily at an arithmetic problem-book. "Are you studying?" asked Pavel Vasilyitch, sitting down at the table and yawning. "By the way, my child... I have played and slept, and I have eaten pancakes. Tomorrow I will have a vegetarian meal, confess, and work.

Every time has boundaries for every time.Why are your eyes watery?Can't memorize it anymore?Maybe after eating pancakes, there is no room for learning, right?That's it. " "Why are you making fun of the baby?" Pilageya called from another room. "Instead of making fun of him, you might as well point him out! Otherwise, he will score another point tomorrow, and I'm so worried!" "What don't you understand?" Pavel Vasilyitch asked Steba. "Here, ... division of fractions!" the boy replied angrily. "Dividing fractions. . . . " "Hmph, .

Just memorize the rules. ... To divide a fraction by a fraction, multiply the denominator of the second fraction by the numerator of the first fraction, and that is the numerator of the quotient. ...Okay, then the denominator of the first fraction...""I don't need you to tell me this! "Steba interrupted him and flicked a walnut shell off the table with his fingers." Give me an example! " "Example? Well, here's a pencil. Listen. Let's say we're going to divide two-fifths by seven-eighths. Okay. The problem here, my boy, is to divide the two fractions." ...is the samovar ready?"

"I have no idea." "It's time for tea. . . . It's past seven o'clock. . . . Well, listen now. Let's deduce it this way. Let's say instead of dividing two-fifths by two-fifths, we divide seven-eighths by two, then Just divide by the numerator. Let's divide. What's the number?" "Seven out of sixteen." "Yeah. That's great. Well, the problem, my boy, is that we... Well, if we divide by two, then... Wait, I'm messed up myself. I remember in our middle school, The arithmetic teacher was Sigizmund Urbanych, a Pole. This teacher used to mess up every class. He started by proving a theorem, then he messed up, his face turned purple, and in the classroom Running around as if someone had put an awl through his spine, and blowing his nose five times, and crying. But we, you know, were magnanimous, and pretended not to see it. We asked, "What's the matter with you, Sigizmund Urbanich?Do you have a toothache? 'If you think about it, this class of students looks like a gang of robbers, a gang of fearless guys, but they are actually magnanimous!In our time, there were no short students like you, they were all big, tall, dumb boys, each taller than the other.For example, there is a third grader in our school named Mama Xing.Lord, what a big man!You have to know that this big man is a foot tall, and the floor shakes when he walks. If he punches you on the back, he will definitely kill you!Not only are we afraid of him, but the teachers are also afraid of him.So this Mamashin used to..." Pilagea Ivanovna's footsteps were heard outside the door, and Pavel Vasilyitch winked at the door and whispered: "You Mother is here.Let's do our homework.Well, then, my boy," he said, raising his voice. "This fraction has to be multiplied by that fraction.Well, for this the numerator of the first fraction ... "" comes to tea! ' cried Pelagea Ivanovna.

Pavel Vasilyitch and his son left their arithmetic and went to tea. Pelageya Ivanovna was already sitting in the dining room, and with her was an aunt who never spoke, a deaf aunt, and the old woman Markovna, who was a midwife. , Szeba was the one who followed her.The samovar hissed and steamed, casting great wavy shadows on the ceiling.Two cats came in from the front hall, their tails raised, sleepy and melancholy. ... "Markovna, drink tea and jam," Pilageya Ivanovna said to the midwife, "tomorrow is fasting, eat your fill today!" Markovna scooped up a spoonful of jam, hesitated as if it were explosives, brought it to her lips, looked sideways at Pavel Vasilyitch, and ate it.A sweet smile spread across her face immediately, almost as sweet as jam.

"This jam is really good," she said. "I'm afraid you did it yourself, my dear Pelagea Ivanovna?" "I made it with my own hands. Who else did it but me? I made everything with my own hands. Is the tea I poured you too weak, Szeba? Hey, I bet you've finished it! Bring it here , my little angel, I'll pour you another glass." "That Mamasin, my boy," continued Pavel Vasiliitch, turning to Steba. "Can't stand our French teacher." He shouted: "I'm an aristocrat, and I won't allow the French to discipline me!"We beat the French in 1812! 'Well, of course, they beat him up, . . . well!And he sometimes jumped out of the window when he saw they were going to beat him!Afterwards, he didn't come to school for five or six days.His mother came to the headmaster and begged him in the name of Christ and God: "Mr. Headmaster, please take the trouble to find my Mishka and beat the bastard hard!" But the headmaster said to her : "Come on, ma'am, five janitors in our school put together can't deal with him alone! '" "Lord, to give birth to such a robber! "Pilageya Ivanovna whispered, looking at her husband with horror." How poor the mother! "

Silence followed.Szeba yawned loudly and looked carefully at the Chinese man on the teapot whom he had seen a thousand times.The two aunts and Markovna drank tea carefully from the saucer.The air was filled with silence and the sultry heat of the fire. . . . In the faces and movements of all there was that laziness and boredom which is so common when one has to eat after a full stomach.The samovar, teacups, and tablecloth were all taken away, but the family still sat around the table. ... Several times Pelagea Ivanovna jumped up, and with a frightened face ran to the kitchen to say a few words to the cook about supper.The two aunts sat there motionless in their old positions, arms crossed, staring at the lamp with tin eyes, drowsy.Markovna hiccupped once a minute, and asked, "Why do I keep hiccupping? I don't think I ate or drank anything. ... Ugh!"

Pavel Vasiliich and Steba were sitting side by side, head to head, bent over the table, reading a copy of "The Field" from 1878. "The Monument to Leonardo da Vinci in front of the verandah of "Milan" ④ Victor Emmanuel ⑤. You see. . . . It looks like a triumphal arch. . . . There is a knight and a woman here. . . . there is a little man in the distance. . . . " "This little man looks like our classmate Niskubin," said Steba. "Turn it over. . . . "The Beak of the Common Fly as Seen Under a Microscope." It turns out that the beak looks like this!Hey, the fly!Boy, what would a bedbug look like if you put it under a microscope!That's ugly! "

In the drawing-room an old clock coughed hoarsely as if it had caught a cold ten times instead of striking ten.Anna the cook came into the dining-room and knelt down before the master with a plop! "For Christ's sake, forgive me, Pavel Vasilyitch!" she said, rising, flushing. "For Christ's sake forgive me, too," replied Pavel Vasiliitch coldly. Anna walked up to the other members of the family one by one in this way, plopped on her knees, and begged for forgiveness.She only spared Markovna, the old woman was not a member of the upper class, so the cook did not think it worthwhile to kneel to her.

Another half hour passed in silence and silence. ... "Field" has been thrown on a couch.Pavel Vasiliich held up a finger and recited a Latin poem he had read as a child.Staring at his father's finger with the engagement ring, listening to the words he didn't understand, Stepa dozed off, rubbing his eyes with his fists, but the lids closed even tighter. "I'm going to bed..." he said, stretching and yawning. "What! Sleep?" asked Pelagea Ivanovna. "Then what about this last meat meal?" "I don't want to eat." "Are you crazy?" his mother said in horror. "How can you not eat the last meat meal? You know, you won't be able to eat meat during the whole Lent!" Pavel Vasiliitch was also frightened. "Yes, yes, boy," he said. "Your mother's going to give you no meat for seven weeks. That's no good. There's always a last meat meal." "Oh, I'm sleepy!" said Szeba irritably. "In that case, set the table and serve!" cried Pavel Vasiliitch anxiously. "Anna, why are you sitting there, silly girl? Go and set the table for dinner! " Pelagea Ivanovna clapped her hands together, and ran into the kitchen with an air of panic, as if the house was on fire. "Hurry up! Hurry up!" Such voices filled the room. "Steba is sleepy! anna!Oh my God, what's going on?hurry up! " Five minutes later, the table was set.The two cats cocked their tails again, arched their backs, stretched their waists, and met in the dining room. ...the family began to eat dinner.No one wants to eat, everyone's stomach is full, but they still have to eat. "Notes" ① Refers to the forty-day fasting period before Christian Easter. ② 1 Russian foot is equal to 2.134 meters. ③A Russian weekly magazine with pictures that caters to the tastes of the petty bourgeoisie.The novel was written in 1887, so it is an old magazine from nine years ago. ④ Italian city name. ⑤ Victor Emmanuel (1820-1878), the king of Italy.