THREE SEEMINGLY UNRELATED EVENTS...
The year 1995 from the Nativity of Christ.
Tomorrow Afanasy was going to drive a service truck with industrial cargo from St. Petersburg to the Vologda region. The local chemical plant had to carry a dozen pumps, each of which weighed almost a ton, and on the way back to capture fifteen tons of scarce fertilizers. A day there, a day back - in general, an ordinary trip, you won't even get tired. Unless you get another night's sleep, so the truckers work like this... Afanasy was lucky: even though he was very young, the truck, he got almost a new one, and what kind of truck: powerful, fast, comfortable, even black paint on the cab is still shining.
Their transport company was relatively young, and so far very small (just a few cars), but she had many orders, and traveled Afanasy had to quite often, he had almost no free time. Dumpy, day off and back on the road. Sometimes, however, there were options. And then suddenly love came unexpectedly, and there was no free time left at all... Tonight we had to have time to "say goodbye" to Claudius, his lady's name because they wouldn't see each other for two days. Farewell was usually delayed until the morning. And in the morning you will have to load up and on the way.
Mikhalych, the company's chief mechanic, who was very critical of Afanasy's "night" frivolity, said: "You should check your truck, Afanasy's. It's a long way, more than a thousand kilometers if you count at both ends. Don't forget, you're going for a day, but stock up on a week. Isn't there something that can happen on the road?
- Nikita Popov checked it out this morning. It's okay, I only changed the blocks on the right front wheel. And the car is new at all, what can happen to it?
- Eh, young people, - complained Mikhalych, - hurry to live. Dates and entertainment are on your mind, and you don't even think about work. I would check... Something worrying me.
- Come on, Mikhalych, don't worry. Tomorrow before the trip I will check and drive a car. I will see how it is obeyed.
With these words, Afanasy ran away.
Mikhalych has swollen about today's youth a little bit more, with himself: "They are not afraid of anything, they drive me crazy, and once again, there is no time to check the brakes. Oh, young-green. For some reason, his heart was restless...
The next morning, after a sleepless night with Clava, Afanasy wanted to sleep. What kind of check-up is there? I wouldn't sleep at the wheel...
Very strong tea cheered him up and put him on his feet, a little sleepy... you can go.
The way was not long...
Athanasius did not have time and hundreds of kilometers away from St. Petersburg, as a truck, when descending from another hill, refused to brake. The brake pedal without any resistance fell to the floor and the car whistled down a steep slide, all the time, increasing and increasing its speed, which is already over the top of the hundred... Afanasy's stomach immediately rushed upward, into weightlessness, and the ice-cold raged down his abdomen, requiring an exit naturally...
- Oh, Mikhalych," he said in his head, "how right you were...
At the same time, Maria Vasilievna was on her way back to Peter. She was looking for a country house in the suburbs and was driving around in a recently bought car..... She bought the car herself: for the first time, and she, and very proud of it. I went around all the markets, looked through a myriad of ads, with whom I only consulted, that it is better to take. Maria Vasilievna saved up for a long time in the car, we can say all her life: and while living with her husband, and then without him. The old LADA, who was from her husband, took away all his free time... Now the LADA is gone, the husband is gone too, let the land be his own, but the dream of a good reliable car remains... The grown-up children helped with money and rights, and, finally, the cherished dream was realized. If he didn't succeed, at least I will drive a good car, she thought. Maria Vasilievna decided to take a foreign car, though not a new one, but a foreign car, as if they would be much more reliable than ours, domestic ones.
The owner of the car praised his "Mazda" for a long time: he brought it from the Finns, did not run across Russia, very reliable. Once, I just stalled, so the gasoline "left" was caught, you know, happens, so the jets are clogged, and so goes and goes. Very reliable.
And now, as well as the car, Maria Vasilievna chose the dacha in detail. She came to the place and looked at everything and took into account: the proximity of roads, shops, rivers, and lakes. Today I got far, almost a hundred kilometers away from St. Petersburg. I even had to refuel with gasoline at the "untested" roadside filling station. The result did not make us wait long...
Unexpectedly, on a steep turn, when it was necessary to slow down strongly, the car for some reason has stalled, on inertia has rolled some meters then has stopped, and almost on a carriageway. The first time she had such a situation, and Maria Vasilievna was not afraid of it. Several times with fear she spun the ignition key, and the starter in response only barely audible rumble, and nothing else happened. But, thank God, it all worked out, Maria Vasilievna for the last time spun the starter, and the car still started. Only now she was shaking, but until you add gas.
- Probably again bad gasoline ... Eh, for nothing added it to the good ..., to get there ... - Maria Vasilievna was terrified worried. After all, for the first time, she had such trouble with her car, and in cars, she wasn't strong enough "only to press pedals" and was able to do it. She clung to the wheel with both hands and prayed that everything would go well: that the car would not stall and that it would return to St. Petersburg... And their children will help, will understand...
But, passing by, some next crossroads, right before the steep rise in the mountain, the praised "Mazda" strangely "sneezed" and its engine was mournfully silenced. Maria Vasilievna instinctively pressed the brake pedal sharply. And it must be so, turning after her from the crossroads "Muscovite", already attached to her tail, from such an unexpected stop has sharply slowed down and also stalled. As a result, they blocked the whole road together, not to pass, not to pass.
And then she saw a big black truck rushing down the hill on them...
Her heart stopped and she became unbearably ill...
Read on in the next episode.