“Will you come? .. Tomorrow already? ..” - She is already very old, but still a strong man, screaming into the receiver of a mobile phone. - Well, how! And tomorrow is just Saturday, I’ll thresh the bath at your arrival! Come on, hug, see you tomorrow! I’ll go, I’ll tell my mother that she’s starting to prepare ...
I pressed the end call and for a few moments patted my phone in the palm of my hand, thinking about something. And then he shouted to his wife in the next room:
- Lyol! Vitka called. Tomorrow, he says, is coming ...
On the threshold, as if by magic, there was a full, but ruddy and handsome wife in a scarf, tied with the tips on her forehead, and with hands stained with flour.
- One? Or with Helen? What did you say? - Asked, as if singing some complicated opera aria on the notes.
- Yes, I didn’t ask anything ... But it seems, - alone ... - the husband answered all the same in thought.
Now Lyolya smiles out loud, revealing to her husband for review her teeth, strong as almonds.
- Go already, drank your firewood, Romeo bald! Only choose birch logs to give heat.
“You haven’t taught me yet what kind of firewood is more suitable for a bath!” From the breed !! And your mother was the same idle !!!
- What did my mother remember? ..
- So I will never forget how she did your father, Ivan Alekseyich, the deceased, the kingdom of heaven to him, taught to lay a wall of brick. And how did he blame her for the whole village for this? At the other end, people heard them curse. They only said: “Well, the Potapovs again took some tinkering! ..”
And in order not to hear what his wife would answer, he immediately jumped out into the Sentsa.
Vitka, son, arrived, as promised, on a three-hour train. He still noticed it from afar, and therefore turned to the side and turned off the engine. When the son caught up with him and called out, Alexei Ivanovich was almost naturally surprised and, before saying hello, said:
- ABOUT! And here I wanted rabbits to pick grass. So you turned up by the way.
- Herbs? Rabbits? And it’s not far, dad, you went from the village for grass? - smiling Vitka. He smiles because he understands everything.
Father seemed to grumble with displeasure:
“You still haven't taught me what grass is sweeter for rabbits!” All in mother - the same idle ...
But the son sees that his father wants to hug, although he himself does not admit it. Therefore, the first to approach him and hug the old man. By the way his father’s back has become limp, he understands that he is glad for such a meager affection on the part of his son.
“Hello, Dad,” Victor whispers to him in his hairy ear. He wants to unclench his arms, but the old man doesn’t let him in, continues to hold his dear to him and whispers in his ear so that no one, even the grass for the rabbits, hears:
- Hello, son, you are my dear ... Then we'll talk, in the bathhouse ... Don’t tell your mother at all, don’t scare her.
Only then he releases his son. He puts him in a cradle, throws the tattered grass at his feet, and the motorcycle, turning abruptly, dusts all three of its ancient wheels to the village.
The husband orders:
- So, quickly, come on, kiss Vitka, and to the table. Today I forgot to have breakfast ...
And he walks past the wife, who has become one with her son, goes into the house. The old man understands that they too have something to whisper in private. And that Vitka will do as he ordered him in the field, and has no doubt.
Then, as it was, you yourself know. I have often sat, I think, in a Russian feast. We started in a family, three of us. Towards evening, the house of neighbors, near and far, was already full. Vitkins classmates also came. Someone else ...
In a word, Viktor and his father went to the bathhouse closer to midnight when the last of the guests, singing songs all over the street, decided that it was time to know the honor ...
Steam for a long time, several times. They went out into the air and poured ice water from a tub. Then they again went to the bathhouse. And they went out again. When his father said enough, Victor got up and followed him to the exit.
On the high threshold of the bathhouse sat two men, an old and a young man, father and son. And both began to smoke and look at the moon, round and white.
“Well, what happened, son?” - began the father.
Victor did not answer immediately, but somehow unexpectedly evil:
- I drove, dad, Lenka! You know, she is so! ..
His father took him by the shoulders, as if he had crushed him a little to the ground. And the son realized that it was necessary to shut up. And the old man himself continued, but surprisingly peacefully and affectionately:
“I know what you say next ... Bad, right?” So after all, when you took her, Vitya, as a wife, she was good ... In our family, son, all the men and women are lucky: only the good ones get it.
Thanks for your attention!