– Are we going to chop wood? – he asked then.
– No, something else,» he shook his head and took the bird by the neck.
The chicken let out aВ hoarse sigh and tried toВ escape byВ flapping its wings.
– I’m holding a chicken, and you hit her in the neck with the sharp part of an axe. – said Alexander Fedorovich, opening a view of the chicken’s thin neck.
«She’s going to die,» Vadim said in surprise, clutching a heavy axe to his chest.
– Yes, but it will serve us well, think about it this way, – the father raised his eyebrows, shrugging his shoulders. – Well!
Vadim hesitantly raised the axe and hit the chicken inВ the neck. Her blood immediately flowed down the stump, but the bird itself had not died yet, but was making death cries.
– Well, who cuts like that! – the man roared and the boy shuddered from this cry and hit much harder.
The chicken died, and its head lay apart from the body and vomited blood.
Then it was a cold autumn day, and Elena Nikolaevna sent her son to the first grade to study. Vadim didn’t like this business, but he received only good grades in Russian. His father flogged him for bad ones, and his mother tried to somehow mitigate the punishment.
Months passed, and Elena Nikolaevna’s stomach swelled even more. She was already sitting only at home, and Alexander Fedorovich worked for two. One day, coming home, he gave Vadim a red, good ball. The boy immediately went to play with friends near the house. Then a dacha of some rich man was being built nearby and trucks very often drove along the roads of the village. They raised whole clouds of smoke that smelled terrible, and their engine roared very loudly in the street.
Vadim was playing with friends right byВ the road, on aВ patch ofВ land. There was no grass growing there, only bare earth was here. The boys thought it was aВ great place toВ play and started kicking the ball very far away. Alexander Fedorovich then sat on aВ bench near the house toВ watch his son from afar, he rejoiced at his victories and was sad from failures. And so the red ball rolled out onto the road, Vadim ran after him, and aВ truck with bricks was passing on this road. The father immediately exploded from the spot.
– Vadim! Vadim, my mother! My father was shouting, he was angry and panicked. As a man at war, he gathered himself and ran to his child, who did not hear his screams and hoped that he would have time to take the ball from the ground.
The driver clearly did not see where he was going and did not pay attention to the people who were crawling like bugs under his wheels. Alexander Fedorovich pushed Vadim hard in the chest, and the frightened boy looked at his father, who was angry. The car hit him, running over a massive wheel. Blood and open fractures were visible. Vadim’s friends fell silent, and someone even screamed and cried.
Vadim did not cry or scream, he was inВ shock. The driver ofВ the car got out and cursed loudly, Elena Nikolaevna ran out ofВ the house.
– Sasha! Sasha! – she kept saying, throwing herself under the wheels of the truck. She grabbed the driver by the breasts and started screaming and fell from powerlessness.
She became ill and went into labor. The driver swore again and ran to the doctor immediately. Vadim was still in the same shock, he dropped the ball and fell to his knees next to his mother. She kept repeating her husband’s name as if she had a fever.
Vadim did not remember this day very well, everything was like in a fog. The fate of the driver did not bother him, just like the birth of his sister. He remembers his father’s funeral very well. A wooden coffin, a priest, a cold father’s body and a pale face. Elena Nikolaevna sobbed loudly and buried her nose in her mother’s shoulder. Tears were also streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. Many friends of Alexander Fedorovich came to this funeral, as if the weather was also mourning Vadim’s father, sending heavy raindrops and cold wind on people’s heads. Then they said goodbye to his corpse and sent him on his way. Buried, left lush bouquets and left a cross.
The wake began. The closest people of the deceased gathered for lunch to Elena Nikolaevna, who rushed around the house and managed to set the table for the guests and calm her daughter. On the table with a white tablecloth were pancakes, rice with raisins, porridge and borscht, a plate of bread and tea…
After all this, the mother could not see her son next toВ her. She blamed him for all her sorrows, even her grandmother could not bring her toВ reason and soon died ofВ the flu herself. Elena Nikolaevna could no longer feed her children alone on the salary ofВ aВ saleswoman. There was not enough time for the garden, nor for the children, nor for myself. Vadim and his sister Anya did not go hungry, but their food on the table became noticeably poorer inВ its variety.
Reluctantly, Elena Nikolaevna gave Vadim to an orphanage. The boy didn’t cry. He was young, but he knew exactly what was going on. He understood that he was seeing his mother and sister for the last time and said goodbye properly, without yawning and shouts of indignation. Vadim understood that without him, Anya would be able to get enough food and warmth from her mother, but he would somehow cope on his own.
It was raining fine that day, and Elena Nikolaevna had no face. She gives her blood, her son toВ an unfamiliar place. Then orphanages were poorly funded, and it was great luck toВ live under aВ good roof and eat soup with bread and meat.
AВ year passed, and Vadim got used toВ his situation. He did not stop thinking about his family and often poured those unshed tears into his pillow, he was madly homesick for his father. The orphanage was not poor and not rich, often the boys were driven toВ work inВ the fields or toВ repair holes inВ the fence and roof. So they gained experience inВ construction and not only.
The building was brick with an iron roof, these plates were rusty and some had holes. The walls were covered with charcoal, there were not only inscriptions, but also children’s drawings that no one erased. The perimeter was surrounded by a fence, which was painted once a year. There was a garden where children could play and eat the fruits of apple trees.
The situation inside was quite good. Because ofВ the l-shaped shape ofВ the building, aВ lot ofВ children who lost their parents could be placed there. There was aВ kitchen, aВ common dining room, common rooms for sleeping, and the playground was on the street, as our reader remembers. The teachers had their own room, there was aВ samovar and an old radio.
Vadim continued to go to school, but to another one. The boy dreamed of becoming a fisherman and catching the best fish and selling it. He talked about this to his friends in the common room, and they talked for a long time about which fish is more expensive. The teachers only quietly laughed at him, because now you can’t get normal money in this profession. Sometimes they spoke directly to Vadim, saying that he would be an excellent teacher of the Russian language, because he had good grades in this subject. The boy then did not really understand the difference in professions, despite the mature outlook on life.
Vadim was respected in their orphanage, there were many children who asked him for help with Russian. Of course, he helped them just like that, because he appreciated their friendship, and he didn’t know how to take something in return yet.
InВ his spare time, Vadim did various things like climbing trees and helping the cook inВ the kitchen. The cook was an extremely pleasant person toВ communicate with. He was bearded and spoke with aВ funny accent, only then the boy at an already mature age will understand that he was talking toВ aВ Kazakh man. His name was Davlet, and he was aВ former cook and sailed inВ very distant lands. AВ cook is aВ position on aВ ship, this man cooked food for the whole crew, but when necessary, he fought on cables, boarded ships and received his share inВ robberies on various merchant ships. It seems that such people were called pirates and it was safe toВ say that Davlet looked likeВ him.
He was scarred and healthy, but gray-haired and smelled ofВ alcohol all the time. He talked aВ lot about his adventures and instilled inВ the boy aВ passion for reading adventure books, headed byВ aВ story about sailors, pirates and treasures.
Vadim changed his mind about the profession and decided that he would become aВ sailor and sail, blown byВ aВ cold breeze and feel aВ salty taste on his lips all the time.
At school, he had problems with the exact sciences, such as mathematics and drawing. With the rest, he more or less coped. And it just so happened that he got into a class where there were children with their parents, and Vadim became a frequent object of ridicule and bullying. The boy was calm and quiet during his school years, but could have rebuffed even three bullies in the classroom. He just didn’t want to have problems with the director, with their parents, and to be ambushed after school by grown-up guys who decided to avenge younger friends or brothers. Therefore, he came with bruises, but with a smile on his face, because the day was still interesting.
Vadim was also good at telling stories when he and his friends went toВ the forest toВ burn sticks and fry sausages, which they hid inВ the pockets ofВ shorts or pants toВ carry past adults. The boy told stories about pirates and their adventures.
InВ the summer, when the forest bloomed with its greenery, when the river finally froze and the ice melted, the boys went fishing and swimming. The stream there was not so strong and there were aВ lot ofВ fish, Vadim caught them more than once with his bare hands or accidentally stepped on the fry while he was getting out ofВ the water.
The boy didn’t need anything and he grew up like an ordinary child, but some emptiness and resentment towards his mother still remained. Vadim did not try to find her or escape from the orphanage, no one adopted him. He saw his future without his mother and sister, but he still loved and missed them, they sometimes dream of him in a dream, in them he imagines a house, father, mother and sister with smiles from ear to ear, and a vegetable garden and fragrant trees with grass and flowers bloom around.
The orphanage was also surrounded byВ greenery, but not as lush as at home, it was sparse and yellowish, and the trees grew far away inВ the forest aВ kilometer away. Firs, oaks, and birches grew there. The boys made swords out ofВ their sticks and played knights or pirates.
Such was Vadim’s childhood and youth. But soon his life will change unexpectedly and irrevocably…
Chapter two. Teacher
At the age of twenty-two, Vadim was well built and had some popularity. But nevertheless, he did not allow himself to look at anyone. It was like a mantra that he repeated every time. And it wasn’t that he didn’t like the girls, on the contrary, he noticed their beauty and strength, but he was afraid of something more and didn’t really like children.
It is aВ strange irony that he eventually joined the Russian language teacher after graduation. Vadim had aВ rented house and moved toВ Tver, where he taught his subject. The apartment was small and rather dusty. The air here was musty, so as soon as Vadim arrived here, he opened the windows on the balcony. No one lived inВ this apartment and therefore the man was left toВ himself and only. He came here with aВ heavy, black briefcase, which he still had since his studies. InВ this briefcase he kept aВ mug, aВ brush, toothpaste, aВ diary, aВ pen and clothes.
Life played aВ cruel joke with the young teacher, already at twenty-eight, when Vadim had experience inВ teaching and settled inВ the city, he was diagnosed with aВ hereditary disease, because ofВ which his vision was lost faster. Therefore, he wore glasses and began toВ look older, and when he began toВ grow aВ beard, he looked like aВ forty-year-old.
At school, he showed good abilities inВ communicating with children, he taught inВ high school, and students always thanked him for his patience and calm character. InВ the circle ofВ teachers, he was remembered as aВ gloomy and thoughtful man who, when he was on duty inВ the corridor ofВ the school, wrote something inВ his diary.
The school itself was old, built since the war. Its walls were with peeling wallpaper, but gradually they were replaced with newer ones. The ceiling was crumbling, but this was also fixed. The floor was stone, the doors were wooden. The school was not very big, but it could accommodate more than three hundred children, which is the limit for this school personally.
Vadim gradually settled into a new place, as already mentioned, old things began to appear in his musty apartment. There wasn’t much that could be bought for a teacher’s salary, but over time Vadim learned to be content with little. He had a small kitchen combined with a dining room, there was a samovar on the table. Vadim was sleeping on the sofa, which he bought at a discount, because the spring in it was broken. What the man was proud of was an old radio, it was covered with duct tape and peeling paint, but for him this purchase was very successful.
He did not go outside, just looked through the balcony at how children were playing on the playground or how people were coming from work. Cars were passing by, they were making loud noises with their motors under the windows ofВ houses. Vadim had no friends among his neighbors, they came toВ him only on business, buy potatoes or borrow honey and sugar. The neighbors were good, although some were often noisy. Then, slowly, televisions appeared inВ every family, but the man did not have the money toВ buy it, because when he bought aВ couple ofВ books on sale, he again became infected with the idea ofВ swimming.
He won’t be able to be a sailor or a pirate anymore, but he still wants to feel this breeze and salt on his lips. The Volga River was just passing through the city. And it’s not so difficult to buy a ticket for a liner, it’s left to save exactly a thousand rubles and you can go on the road.
Despite such successes in life, but there were also hardships. The death of his father never left Vadim’s soul. The father, like a ghost, came after his son and haunts him in dreams. In nightmares, he sees his mother and sister, he woke up in a cold sweat on his couch in the middle of the night. Then he started smoking. He read that it helps to relieve stress, but the effect was small, the maximum removed the tremor of the hands during work.
IВ had toВ forget about the idea with the liner. Vadim could not live with this mental pain. The ghosts ofВ his father, mother and sister, whom he barely remembers, followed him everywhere, it seemed toВ him that they were whispering inВ his ear inВ aВ particularly strong current ofВ wind, inВ every rustle ofВ leaves and the creak ofВ snow under his shoe. Vadim became withdrawn at this point inВ his life, dressed even warmer, because during work he shuddered inВ chills. From such stress, he seemed toВ have aged another ten days, but he was well immune. His brown eyes had darkened and seemed just black.
As a result, when he was sitting on the couch, hunched over and thinking about a jar of change and banknotes that were on the table next to a smoking cigarette butt, Vadim decided to spend the accumulated money on a psychologist to whom he could tell about his problem. Personally, the man assumed that he was developing schizophrenia and so far he did not know how to get rid of it. He noticed the cigarette butt and angrily threw it out the window. Then I took a whole pack out of my coat and threw it in the same place so that he definitely couldn’t smoke again.
After that, he went toВ aВ psychologist and made an appointment on Friday evening, when Vadim would return after work. OfВ course, he will come with aВ loaded briefcase, but the documents and notebooks ofВ the children will wait until night.
The psychologist had aВ spacious office, his own chair, coffee table and sofa. On the nightstand there was aВ phone and an aquarium inВ which aВ fish was splashing, there was food inВ an orange package next toВ it. The walls were covered with gray wallpaper.
The psychologist was extremely flexible inВ communicating with Vadim. The man was lying on the sofa, having previously taken off his shoes. The psychologist, Nikolai Mikhailovich, listened attentively toВ his client. Vadim spoke inВ aВ crumpled and torn manner and sometimes got up from his seat or took aВ sitting position, before grabbing his hair and as if tearing it out. Nevertheless, Nikolai Mikhailovich showed full tolerance for Vadim and at the end ofВ the session expressed all his suspicions, which he sorted out byВ points while writing inВ aВ notebook.
– You are troubled by nightmares, you are seeing relatives, and you also have a tremor, – Nikolai Mikhailovich began. – You do have symptoms of schizophrenia, but you should not worry, only to improve your condition you need to be in public and on the street more often. You also have depression from a mental trauma, you have lost your father, nightmares are caused because of it and, perhaps, you feel guilty about what happened, try to get a pet or friends to somehow forget yourself, but I will prescribe antidepressants if folk methods do not help. – all this time, Vadim listened to the speech of the psychologist, he felt the emptiness of this conversation, as if he had expressed everything that had boiled over, but he still did not tell something in more detail.
– Thank you, Doctor, – Vadim thanked hoarsely, he managed to raise his tone while he was talking.
He got up and took a torn piece of paper from the psychologist’s notebook. Vadim said thank you again and left.
To be honest, Vadim really followed the instructions of a psychologist, as he listened to his father as a child. He didn’t get a pet, but he started going out more often and talking to people. For the sake of interest, he even went to a local bar, but apart from a black eye and a spoiled mood, he got nothing.
ToВ some extent, Vadim began toВ like living like this, the tremor passed, but the nightmares still did not go away, but the man swallowed like food for lunch or dinner, they were aВ tasteless mass that he hid somewhere inside and it seemed that they festered and turned black. Vadim again returned toВ the diary, which he abandoned when he had been working at school for three years.
He took the diary outside and, sitting on a bench, wrote down thoughts, fauna around. That’s when he started writing short stories. And to be honest, I smiled at this case. He took the work for granted, did it right and did not show his anxiety, but Vadim was already used to it while he worked for six years in these walls. People here began to merge with the walls, the same white and faded. Every day he met gray and gloomy. He did not shave his beard at all, it reached the end of his neck and already fell a little on his chest.
Vadim took care ofВ her, tied her with aВ blue silk ribbon, combed her with aВ wooden comb that he carried inВ his jacket pocket. The first wrinkles and barely noticeable gray hair appeared on the face. At home he continued toВ read, but the lines ofВ the books turned into ordinary black, ink spots, without meaning, color and taste. Vadim could imagine anything with the help ofВ lines from the book, the great battle, the azure and transparent seas ofВ the Caribbean islands that are inhabited byВ pirates with and without honor, but gradually he could only see clumps ofВ blots inВ his head.
He was saving up for aВ dream, gradually moving towards the goal, but without that enthusiasm inВ his youth. He is already thirty-four, the USSR has collapsed and aВ new era has begun inВ the Russian state, but Vadim continued toВ live inВ the past. He remembered his family, but these ghosts stopped hurting him, rather because ofВ them he lost the meaning ofВ his existence. He had no friends, had no family ofВ his own, and hoped with all his heart that the descendants ofВ his dear sister Anya were already walking on this sinful earth. He did not cry when he said goodbye toВ his mother and sister, it seemed that all the tears had been dried for aВ long time inВ that pillow with aВ blue pillowcase, inВ that bed ofВ the orphanage where little Vadim slept and quietly choked with tears, but at the age ofВ thirty-four, when he thought that nothing could surprise or impress him except for the ships on the water, as he abruptly began toВ cry.
It happened unexpectedly at another dry lunch, dry, because Vadim did not feel the taste ofВ food, or rather did not revel inВ it as before, and now tears flowed from his cheeks. The food immediately acquired aВ taste, aВ salty taste, like the sea on which pirate ships rafted inВ search ofВ merchants who had whole pockets with doubloons. He rejoiced and wept, laughed with his mouth full and wiped his tears with aВ handkerchief made ofВ aВ cotton rag sewn with aВ linen piece ofВ shirt.
It wasn’t very cultured for him, he didn’t act according to manners, but there was nothing holding him back anymore, or he rotted inside, like any other person. Only here he did not vomit clean rust or rotten giblets, no, he just kept everything, as if his stomach was burning from heartburn, perhaps it bubbled inside him like lava, because he began to add different spices to food more often, because there was no taste on his tongue.
Nevertheless, despite such mental problems, he was able toВ escape from this barbed wire, from which he cut and scratched harder, not without scars, ofВ course, but alive and much stronger.
Vadim Alexandrovich worked hard every day and continued his service as a teacher, and it was already 1999. The school year will end soon, and very soon this amazing XX century. On one of these days, Vadim Alexandrovich was heading to school. Today he has 5 lessons in the morning and 6 more lessons in the afternoon and only one «window», as the teacher’s free time was called. Monday was a pretty busy day for the teacher.
After spending the first three lessons, Vadim Alexandrovich sighed, as the big break began and the children ran toВ the lower floor at full speed. And Vadim Alexandrovich himself was now sitting on the third floor inВ the 37th office. He needs toВ prepare for the next topic. The next class is 10В В«BВ» and the topic is В«ParonymsВ». Suddenly, the door opened and aВ middle-aged man entered the office before the bell rang. He was obviously older than Vadim, he had aВ bald spot on his head, and he was aВ little chubby. He was wearing aВ uniform and looked like aВ university teacher.
Vadim Alexandrovich sat up and decided to greet the guest by extending his hand to him. In response, the stranger also greeted and sat down next to the teacher’s desk. Vadim also sat down.
– I am Vasily Nikolaevich Ulyanov, Doctor of Philology and Professor at Tver State University.
– Vadim Alexandrovich Vavilov, teacher of Russian language and literature. Glad to meet you – they shook hands, then the professor continued:
– I know you, Vadim Alexandrovich, my grandson is studying here at your school in the 5th grade, but I’m not on this issue. The fact is that it is necessary to tell the students of your school who will be entering this year about our university, and I would like to stop at the Faculty of Philology. And don’t worry, I’ve already talked to the director and the deputy director. They advised me to contact you, and it’s worth saying that your fame as an excellent teacher of the Russian language goes far beyond this school, and I involuntarily heard about you a couple of times, so I was pleased with such a recommendation from the administration.
– I am very flattered, and thank you, Professor, but what kind of help is there on my part?
– I propose to arrange a scientific meeting for students, at which some of them, as well as teachers, could make full-fledged scientific reports. So we could demonstrate the very feeling that a scientist feels when he defends his idea. I could invite my colleagues to do this, besides, I am the head of the department myself, so I think it will not be so difficult for me to do this. But for success, I need you to organize the rest of the details of the event and it is desirable that you also prepare your own scientific report, in which I believe you will not have any special difficulties.
– Thank you, Professor, I will be very glad of such an honor. And I would like to give you my own opinion and some comments about this event. The fact is that I think it will be a little difficult for students to make scientific reports themselves, for this reason it would not be bad to organize a small circle before the date of the event itself, at which you, together with me, of course, conducted some lessons at which we could explain to children and help them prepare their scientific works. And do not forget about such an important aspect as a supervisor. In the case of students, it may be teachers, but in the case of the teachers themselves?
– In the case of the teachers themselves, a scientific supervisor is not required, or I can personally be a scientific supervisor.
– In that case, on what day do you plan to hold this event?
– If today is Thursday, then on Tuesday I think it would be best, since I have already informed the director, and after talking with you at the meeting I will inform my colleagues.
– But don’t you think it’s too fast?
– Dear Vadim Alexandrovich, I hope it won’t be difficult for you and don’t forget about the fact that studies end in May and exams begin.
«You’re right. In that case, I will be expecting you this afternoon, as we need to conduct the first lesson today.
– In that case, I will try to drive up after one couple and a meeting – the professor solemnly finished – And thank you again.
– Thank you for that – the teacher got up and saw the professor off, at that moment the bell rang and you could hear the noise of students on the stairs…
These six days flew byВ unnoticed, even on Sunday they diligently continued toВ prepare for this event. Finally, Tuesday came. Vadim Alexandrovich did not sleep all night and printed out all the reports and slides. Vasily Nikolaevich also did not sleep. The next morning, when everyone was already at school, Professor Vasily Nikolaevich and his comrades were supposed toВ arrive inВ time. Anatoly Valentinovich, the director ofВ the school, who was the tallest person inВ their school, was also at this event and supervised many preparations, as members from the department ofВ city and even regional public education were invited.
After the opening ceremony, speakers came out, among them were teachers of Russian language and literature, English teachers, and German teachers from other schools. But it was especially nice to see the students in this role. Vadim Alexandrovich stood together with Vasily Nikolaevich and watched as Vadim’s student Nikita Naumov reads his report on the role of using homonymic phrases in works and their influence on a person.
В«You have prepared them well,В» the professor remarked.
– Thank you Professor, but your lessons helped a lot.
– My lessons were not something special, but you have become a full-fledged supervisor and a colleague can be proud of yourself. And excuse me, but when is your report?
– Right after Nikita, I put my report last.
– Quite noble of you, – said the Doctor of Sciences.
When Vadim Alexandrovich’s turn finally came, the announcer in the role of Elina Komarova, a student of Vadim Alexandrovich, who told about lexicology, loudly announced:
– And now ladies and gentlemen, our dear teacher Vadim Alexandrovich Vavilov will make his report!
The audience enthusiastically met the teacher, everyone knew this person, though self-contained, but loving his work. The teacher enthusiastically began his report:
– Ladies and gentlemen! Dear Scientific Commission, dear guests, colleagues and our dear participants! Let me bring to your attention my report on the role of science fiction literature in the popularization and development of our society as the most reading in the world. My research is based on…
The teacher talked about various aspects and roles of popular science storytelling, how it develops thinking, what are the statistics of this genre, all the data on the effect on the human body. And although he often used various terms, even students who might not have been familiar with these terms listened attentively to their teacher. Many of them have decided which university they will go to, and many of them have decided right now to become like their favorite teacher – teachers, those who will love their vocation with all their heart.
– …Thus, in conclusion, we can say that the development of science fiction literature precisely in the above direction, and adoption as a strategy, will help in the development not only of literature itself, but also of our dear youth and the education in them of the great future of our state and all mankind!
The hall burst into applause, loud applause could be heard everywhere. Vasily Nikolaevich, who was sitting inВ the center, got up first, followed byВ all the others and continued toВ applaud Vadim Alexandrovich standing up. Members ofВ the regional and city departments ofВ public education warmly thanked Anatoly Valentinovich, who enthusiastically applauded the teacher, whom he always considered aВ friend and comrade.
After this story, Vasily Nikolaevich and Vadim Alexandrovich became strong comrades. They often met and discussed new problems of modern philology, came up with new concepts and even planned to publish a book…
Chapter three. Professor Vavilov
June 1999.
