Chipped blockheads. Fedor Laburchenko
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Название: Chipped blockheads
Автор: Fedor Laburchenko
Издательство: Издательские решения
isbn: 9785006280656
isbn:
Blinking energetically to remove the liquid accumulated in her eyes, Maria began cleaning. She started by sorting the things lying in the middle of the hall. Among them, the girl discovered a heap of empty vodka bottles. After that, Maria found a broom, wrapped a rag around it and began to remove the cobwebs that enveloped every corner and chandelier in the house. Having finished this stage of cleaning, Maria sat down to rest. She still had a lot of work ahead, so the girl decided to save her strength.
Scene 6
Shifting feet near his house door, Kolya didn’t dare enter it. He decided to gain time in the hope that Maria would not wait for him and leave for the city. So Nikolai left the village borders and found himself in a private plot that belonged to eighty-nine-year-old Stepan Fyodorovich, where his pretty granddaughter Alina lived with him.
Stopping at the gate, Kolya felt exhausted. Leaning on one of the pillars, he attracted the owner’s attention.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (quite severely): Good day to you, Nikolai! As far as I remember, during our previous meeting, someone promised to quit this whole matter. Or maybe there was nothing like that?
KOLYA: Yes it was, it was, Stepan Fyodorovich. I remember everything. But doctors say you can’t quit quickly: your body will suffer an enormous shock.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (with a grin): I see! Well, since the doctors said this, don’t hurry. You can quit like that for fifty years! That’s fine: you quit and drink. It’s a dream, not a cure!
KOLYA (massaging his temples with his fingers): Stop kidding, old man!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (seriously): I’m not making fun of you, Nikolai. You’re a good guy, but drinking will ruin you.
Kolya treated Stepan Fyodorovich with respect, so his words and stern tone made the guy come to his senses and feel a little better.
KOLYA: I know, Stepan Fyodorovich. Yes, I’ll quit… I’ll definitely quit!… Only let me come to my senses. You know how my mother died… Well, you know.
Kolya fell silent and thought. Stepan Fyodorovich was also silent.
KOLYA: You better tell me how are things with you. Any news? Haven’t seen you for ages.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (upset): Alas, I have a rough time too, Nikolai. The bourgeoisie are putting pressure on me. They are putting pressure!
KOLYA (fussy, clenching his fists): Who is putting pressure on you? Why are they putting pressure?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (upset): Well, you know why, I told you.
KOLYA: Sorry, grandfather, I don’t remember.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (in a mocking tone): Of course you don’t remember! You need to drink more, you see, and you won’t even remember yourself.
KOLYA: That’s enough, grandfather. I said, I’ll quit! Let me know everything, maybe I can help you a little bit.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: It’s highly unlikely. There is a spring on my land, you might have heard about it?
KOLYA (with a grin): Of course, I heard. Who in our village hasn’t heard about it?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: The village is a trifle, but they in the capital found out about it, and now they are putting pressure on me through our chairman. They told me: “Sell the land”. How can I sell it? It’s the most precious thing I have… Well, after my granddaughter, of course…
KOLYA: tell them to go to hell!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: I’ve told them!
KOLYA: So what?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: “You’ll end up in a bad way”, old guy, they said.
KOLYA: Do you think they won’t get off your back?
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: These sort of guys won’t. The deal smells like money, and these phizes love money, it shows.
KOLYA (patting the old man on the shoulder): Don’t be down. If hack and slash begin, my guys and I will stand up for you as one. You know it!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: I know, but how can you compete with these bulls? They have money, they will buy everything and everyone with it. What’s behind you?
KOLYA (hitting his palm with his fist): The truth is behind us, grandfather. Do you remember what the guy in the movie said: Truth is strength? It’s about us!
GRANDFATHER STEPAN: Thank you, Kolya. You’re a good guy. But I’ll probably do it myself. I don’t want to put you in trouble.
At that moment Alina appeared on the porch. She was a slender, pretty girl about twenty-five with long curly light brown hair. She was wearing a light summer dress, showing the girl’s figure and making her bright appearance even more impressive.
Alina greeted Kolya with a nod. Nikolai didn’t nod back. He was struck by the girl’s beauty and didn’t hear what Stepan Fyodorovich was telling him.
GRANDFATHER STEPAN (pulling Nikolai’s forearm): … Isn’t it true, Kolya?
KOLYA (comes to his senses, blinking): No fear, old man, we defeated the Germans, and we’ll cope with these ghouls!
Looked like Kolya’s final phrase hit the mark, because the old man nodded with satisfaction and squeezed the guy’s hand tightly. After that, Stepan Fyodorovich turned his back on Nikolai and slowly walked towards the house. Nikolai stood at the gate for a while, watching Alina gracefully cross the yard. He stood frozen until the girl disappeared behind one of the buildings in her grandfather’s large yard. Nikolai sighed sadly, straightened his tousled hair, and headed for his house, looking back now and then in hope of seeing Alina again.
Scene 7
Deciding that she had rested enough, Maria got up from the sofa, put on rubber gloves, took a bucket in one hand, a mop in another hand and headed to the bathroom. She heard the sound of the front door opening and closing with a bang, then footsteps, and a cough right behind her back. Maria stopped and froze, not daring to turn to the man who entered. Although she knew for sure, of course, that it was her brother Nikolai.
KOLYA (with schadenfreude): I wonder, I wonder, what is Your Excellency doing on our farters’ land? Have they really kicked you out of the institute?
MARIA (without turning around, looks out the window with wide eyes): Kolya, can we talk normally, like a brother and a sister? KOLYA: Hi there, don’t be my scare! You want to talk? So you should have come when our mother… well… was alive. There were so many topic points: medicines, and doctors, and “nobody needs me, Kolenka.” Why didn’t you come? We could talk a lot at the family table!
MARIA (calmly, but sternly): Kolya, I explained it to you a thousand times. I drove away because I wanted to help our mother. Living in the city, all I thought about was how to create this damn medicine to cure her. All the while I thought only about her. Isn’t it clear?
KOLYA СКАЧАТЬ