Valentin Rasputin

Deadline

The old woman Anna lay on a narrow iron bed near the Russian stove and waited for death, for which the time seemed ripe: the old woman was nearly eighty. For a long time she overpowered herself and stayed on her feet, but three years ago, left completely without strength, she gave up and fell ill. In the summer she seemed to feel better, and she crawled out into the yard, basked in the sun, or even walked across the street to rest to old woman Mironikha, but by autumn, before the snow, the last of her strength left her, and in the morning she was not even able to bear the a pot that she inherited from her granddaughter Ninka. And after the old woman collapsed at the porch two or three times in a row, she was ordered not to get up at all, and her whole life remained in sitting down, sitting with her legs down on the floor, and then lying down again.

During her life, the old woman gave birth a lot and loved giving birth, but now she only has five left alive. It turned out this way because first death began to wander into their family, like a ferret into a chicken coop, and then the war began. But five survived: three daughters and two sons. One daughter lived in the region, another in the city, and the third was very far away - in Kyiv. The eldest son from the north, where he remained after the army, also moved to the city, and the youngest, Mikhail, who alone of all did not leave the village, had an old woman and lived out his life, trying not to annoy his family with his old age.

This time everything was going to the point that the old woman would not survive the winter. Already in the summer, as soon as it began to wane, the old woman began to die, and only the injections of the paramedic, whom Ninka was running after, brought her back from the other world. Coming to her senses, she moaned thinly, in a voice that was not her own, tears were squeezed out of her eyes, and she wailed:

“How many times have I told you: don’t touch me, let me go away on my own in peace.” I would be somewhere now if it weren’t for your paramedic. “And she taught Ninka: “Don’t run after her anymore, don’t run.” Your mother will tell you to run, and you hide in the bathhouse, wait, and then say: she’s not at home. I’ll give you some candy for this – such a sweet one.

At the beginning of September, another misfortune befell the old woman: sleep began to overcome her. She no longer drank, did not eat, but only slept. If she is touched, she will open her eyes, look dimly, seeing nothing in front of her, and fall asleep again. And they touched her often - to know whether she was alive or not. It dried up and towards the end it all turned yellow - dead is dead, the breath just couldn’t come out.

When it finally became clear that the old woman would not leave today or tomorrow, Mikhail went to the post office and sent telegrams to his brother and sisters asking them to come. Then he pushed the old woman aside and warned:

The first to arrive, the next morning, was the eldest old woman’s daughter, Varvara. It wasn’t far for her to get from the area, only fifty kilometers, and for this she only needed a passing car.

Varvara opened the gate, saw no one in the yard and immediately, as soon as she turned herself on, began to voice:

- You are my mother! Mikhail jumped out onto the porch:

- Wait! She's alive, she's sleeping. Don’t even shout in the street, otherwise you’ll gather the whole village.

Varvara, without looking at him, went into the hut, fell heavily on her knees by the old woman’s bed and, shaking her head, howled again:

- You are my mother!

The old woman did not awaken, not a single blood appeared on her face. Mikhail spanked the old woman’s sunken cheeks, and only then did her eyes move from the inside, move, trying to open, but could not.

“Mother,” Mikhail said, “Varvara has arrived, look.”

“Mother,” Varvara tried. - It's me, your eldest. I came to see you, but you don’t even look at me. Mother-ah!

The old woman's eyes swayed and swayed, like the cups of a scale, and then stopped and closed. Varvara got up and went to the table to cry, where it was more convenient. She sobbed for a long time, banging her head on the table, burst into tears and could not stop. Five-year-old Ninka walked near her, bending down to look at why Varvara’s tears weren’t running to the floor; They chased Ninka away, but she, cunningly, sneaked back and climbed towards the table.

In the evening, on the lucky “Rocket”, which runs only twice a week, the townspeople, Ilya and Lyusya, arrived. Mikhail met them at the pier and led them to the house where they were all born and raised. They walked in silence: Lyusya and Ilya along the narrow and shaky wooden sidewalk, Mikhail next to them, along the lumps of dried mud. The villagers greeted Lyusya and Ilya, but did not detain them with conversations, they passed by and looked around with interest. Old women and children stared from the windows at the arrivals, and the old women crossed themselves. Varvara could not resist seeing her brother and sister.

The old woman Anna lay on a narrow iron bed near the Russian stove and waited for death, for which the time seemed ripe: the old woman was nearly eighty. For a long time she overpowered herself and stayed on her feet, but three years ago, left completely without strength, she gave up and fell ill. In the summer she seemed to feel better, and she crawled out into the yard, basked in the sun, or even walked across the street to rest to old woman Mironikha, but by autumn, before the snow, the last of her strength left her, and in the morning she was not even able to bear the a pot that she inherited from her granddaughter Ninka. And after the old woman collapsed at the porch two or three times in a row, she was ordered not to get up at all, and her whole life remained in sitting down, sitting with her legs down on the floor, and then lying down again.

During her life, the old woman gave birth a lot and loved giving birth, but now she only has five left alive. It turned out this way because first death began to wander into their family, like a ferret into a chicken coop, and then the war began. But five survived: three daughters and two sons. One daughter lived in the region, another in the city, and the third was very far away - in Kyiv. The eldest son from the north, where he remained after the army, also moved to the city, and the youngest, Mikhail, who alone of all did not leave the village, had an old woman and lived out his life, trying not to annoy his family with his old age.

This time everything was going to the point that the old woman would not survive the winter. Already in the summer, as soon as it began to wane, the old woman began to die, and only the injections of the paramedic, whom Ninka was running after, brought her back from the other world. Coming to her senses, she moaned thinly, in a voice that was not her own, tears were squeezed out of her eyes, and she wailed:

“How many times have I told you: don’t touch me, let me go away on my own in peace.” I would be somewhere now if it weren’t for your paramedic. “And she taught Ninka: “Don’t run after her anymore, don’t run.” Your mother will tell you to run, and you hide in the bathhouse, wait, and then say: she’s not at home. I’ll give you some candy for this – such a sweet one.

At the beginning of September, another misfortune befell the old woman: sleep began to overcome her. She no longer drank, did not eat, but only slept. If she is touched, she will open her eyes, look dimly, seeing nothing in front of her, and fall asleep again. And they touched her often - to know whether she was alive or not. It dried up and towards the end it all turned yellow - dead is dead, the breath just couldn’t come out.

When it finally became clear that the old woman would not leave today or tomorrow, Mikhail went to the post office and sent telegrams to his brother and sisters asking them to come. Then he pushed the old woman aside and warned:

The first to arrive, the next morning, was the eldest old woman’s daughter, Varvara. It wasn’t far for her to get from the area, only fifty kilometers, and for this she only needed a passing car.

Varvara opened the gate, saw no one in the yard and immediately, as soon as she turned herself on, began to voice:

- You are my mother! Mikhail jumped out onto the porch:

- Wait! She's alive, she's sleeping. Don’t even shout in the street, otherwise you’ll gather the whole village.

Varvara, without looking at him, went into the hut, fell heavily on her knees by the old woman’s bed and, shaking her head, howled again:

- You are my mother!

The old woman did not awaken, not a single blood appeared on her face. Mikhail spanked the old woman’s sunken cheeks, and only then did her eyes move from the inside, move, trying to open, but could not.

“Mother,” Mikhail said, “Varvara has arrived, look.”

“Mother,” Varvara tried. - It's me, your eldest. I came to see you, but you don’t even look at me. Mother-ah!

The old woman's eyes swayed and swayed, like the cups of a scale, and then stopped and closed. Varvara got up and went to the table to cry, where it was more convenient. She sobbed for a long time, banging her head on the table, burst into tears and could not stop. Five-year-old Ninka walked near her, bending down to look at why Varvara’s tears weren’t running to the floor; They chased Ninka away, but she, cunningly, sneaked back and climbed towards the table.

In the evening, on the lucky “Rocket”, which runs only twice a week, the townspeople, Ilya and Lyusya, arrived. Mikhail met them at the pier and led them to the house where they were all born and raised. They walked in silence: Lyusya and Ilya along the narrow and shaky wooden sidewalk, Mikhail next to them, along the lumps of dried mud. The villagers greeted Lyusya and Ilya, but did not detain them with conversations, they passed by and looked around with interest. Old women and children stared from the windows at the arrivals, and the old women crossed themselves. Varvara could not resist seeing her brother and sister:

- Our mother... Mother-ah!

“Wait,” Mikhail stopped her again. - You'll have time.

Everyone gathered at the old woman’s bed – Nadya, Mikhailov’s wife, right there, and Ninka. The old woman lay motionless and cold - either at the very end of her life, or at the very beginning of death. Varvara gasped:

- Not alive.

No one tutted at her, everyone moved in fear. Lucy hastily raised her palm to the old woman’s open mouth and did not feel any breathing.

“Mirror,” she remembered. - Give me a mirror.

Nadya rushed to the table, wiping a fragment of the mirror on the hem as she went, and handed it to Lyusa; she hastily lowered the fragment to the old woman’s bloodless lips and held it for a minute. The mirror is a little foggy.

“Alive,” she breathed out with relief. – Our mother is alive.

Varvara started to cry again, as if she had heard everything wrong, Lucy also shed a tear and walked away. The mirror came to Ninka. She began to blow on him, looking to see what would happen to him after this, but she did not expect anything interesting for herself and, seizing the moment, put the mirror in the old woman’s mouth, as Lucy had just done. Mikhail saw, spanked Ninka in front of everyone and pushed her out of the room.

Varvara sighed:

- Oh, you are our mother, mother.

Nadya asked where to serve it - here, in the room, or in the kitchen. We decided that it was better to go to the kitchen so as not to disturb the mother. Mikhail brought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of port wine that he had bought the day before, poured vodka for himself and Ilya, and poured port wine for his sisters and wife.

“Our Tatyana won’t come today,” he said. - We won’t wait.

“There’s nothing more today, yeah,” Ilya agreed. – If you received a telegram yesterday, today there is a plane transfer in the city. Maybe now he’s sitting in the area, but the cars don’t go at night - yeah.

- Or in the city.

- Tomorrow there will be.

- Tomorrow for sure.

– If it’s tomorrow, he’ll make it in time.

Mikhail, as the owner, was the first to raise his glass:

- Let's. I need it for the meeting.

~– Is it possible to clink glasses? – Varvara was scared.

– It’s possible, it’s possible, we’re not at a wake.

- Don't say that.

- Oh, now talk, don’t talk...

“It’s been a long time since we all sat together like this,” Lucy suddenly said sadly. - Tatiana is just not there. Tatyana will arrive, and it will be as if no one had left. After all, we used to always gather at this table, setting the room only for guests. I'm even sitting in my place. But Varvara is not on her own. And you, Ilya, too.

- Where are they - they didn’t leave! – Mikhail began to get offended. - We left - and completely. Only Varvara will stop by when she needs some potatoes or something else. And it’s as if you don’t even exist in the world.

- Varvara is nearby.

“And you should go straight from Moscow,” Varvara counterfeited. - A day on the ship - and here. At least they shouldn’t say it, since you don’t recognize us as family. The city people began to want to get to know each other with the village people!

“You, Varvara, have no right to say that,” Lyusya became agitated. – What do urban and rural people have to do with it? Think about what you're talking about.

- Yeah, Varvara, of course, has no right to speak. Varvara is not a person. Why talk to her? Yes, empty space. Not a sister to her sisters, brothers. And if I ask you: how long have you been away from home before today? Varvara is not a person, but Varvara visited our mother, so many times a year, even though Varvara’s family is not yours, more. And now Varvara has become guilty.

- I haven’t been for a long time - what’s up! – Mikhail supported Varvara. – Ninka wasn’t born yet, she came. And the last time Ilya was there was when he moved from the north. Nadya also weaned Ninka. Do you remember when they smeared mustard on your nipples and you laughed?

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin

"Deadline"

Old woman Anna lies motionless, without opening her eyes; it has almost frozen, but life still glimmers. The daughters understand this by raising a piece of a broken mirror to their lips. It fogs up, which means mom is still alive. However, Varvara, one of Anna’s daughters, believes it is possible to mourn, to “voice her back,” which she selflessly does first at the bedside, then at the table, “wherever it’s more convenient.” At this time, my daughter Lucy is sewing a funeral dress tailored in the city. The sewing machine chirps to the rhythm of Varvara’s sobs.

Anna is the mother of five children, two of her sons died, the first, born one for God, the other for the soar. Varvara came to say goodbye to her mother from the regional center, Lyusya and Ilya from nearby provincial towns.

Anna can't wait for Tanya from distant Kyiv. And next to her in the village was always her son Mikhail, along with his wife and daughter. Gathering around the old woman on the morning of the next day after her arrival, the children, seeing their mother revived, do not know how to react to her strange revival.

“Mikhail and Ilya, having brought vodka, now did not know what to do: everything else seemed trivial to them in comparison, they toiled, as if passing through every minute.” Huddled in the barn, they get drunk with almost no snacks, except for the food that Mikhail’s little daughter Ninka carries for them. This causes legitimate female anger, but the first glasses of vodka give men a feeling of genuine celebration. After all, the mother is alive. Ignoring the girl collecting empty and unfinished bottles, they no longer understand what thought they want to drown out this time, maybe it’s fear. “The fear from the knowledge that the mother is about to die is not like all the previous fears that befall them in life, because this fear is the most terrible, it comes from death... It seemed that death had already noticed them all in the face and would no longer will forget."

Having gotten thoroughly drunk and feeling the next day “as if they had been put through a meat grinder,” Mikhail and Ilya are thoroughly hungover the next day. “How can you not drink? - says Mikhail. - Day, two, even a week - it’s still possible. What if you don’t drink at all until your death? Just think, there is nothing ahead. It's all the same thing. There are so many ropes that hold us both at work and at home that it’s impossible to groan, so much you should have done and didn’t do, you should, should, should, should, and the further you go, the more you should - let it all go to waste. And he drank, as soon as he was released, he did everything that was necessary. And what he didn’t do, he shouldn’t have done, and he did the right thing in what he didn’t do.” This does not mean that Mikhail and Ilya do not know how to work and have never known any other joy than from drunkenness. In the village where they once all lived together, it happened general work- “friendly, avid, loud, with a discordant voice of saws and axes, with the desperate whoosh of fallen timber, echoing in the soul with enthusiastic anxiety with the obligatory banter with each other. Such work happens once during the firewood harvesting season - in the spring, so that the yellow pine logs with thin silky skin, pleasant to the eye, have time to dry over the summer, are placed in neat woodpiles.” These Sundays are organized for oneself, one family helps another, which is still possible. But the collective farm in the village is falling apart, people are leaving for the city, there is no one to feed and raise livestock.

Remembering her former life, the city dweller Lyusya with great warmth and joy imagines her beloved horse Igrenka, on which “slam a mosquito, he will fall down,” which in the end happened: the horse died. Igren carried a lot, but couldn’t handle it. Wandering around the village through the fields and arable land, Lucy realizes that she does not choose where to go, that she is being guided by some outsider who lives in these places and professes her power. ...It seemed that life had returned back, because she, Lucy, had forgotten something here, had lost something very valuable and necessary for her, without which she could not...

While the children drink and indulge in memories, the old woman Anna, having eaten the children's semolina porridge specially cooked for her, cheers up even more and goes out onto the porch. She is visited by her long-awaited friend Mironikha. “Ochi-mochi! Are you, old lady, alive? - says Mironikha. “Why doesn’t death take you?.. I’m going to her funeral, I think she was kind enough to console me, but she’s still a tut.”

Anna grieves that among the children gathered at her bedside there is no Tatyana, Tanchora, as she calls her. Tanchora was not like any of the sisters. She stood, as it were, between them with her special character, soft and joyful, human. Without waiting for her daughter, the old woman decides to die. “She had nothing more to do in this world and there was no point in postponing death. While the guys are here, let them bury them, carry them out as is customary among people, so that they don’t have to return to this concern another time. Then, you see, Tanchora will come too... The old woman thought about death many times and knew it as herself. Behind last years they became friends, the old woman often talked to her, and death, sitting somewhere on the side, listened to her reasonable whisper and sighed knowingly. They agreed that the old woman would go away at night, first fall asleep, like all people, so as not to frighten death with open eyes, then she will quietly snuggle, take away her short worldly sleep and give her eternal peace.” This is how it all turns out.

Grigory Rasputin's story "The Deadline" begins with how all the children main character Anna came to her when she became very ill. Anna was the mother of five children, two sons (firstborns) died, and the rest were born for God and for a bet. Gathered at their mother’s bed, the children see her lying motionless, almost frozen, but still alive. The daughters realized this when they brought the glass to the main character. One of Anna’s daughters, Varya, came from the regional center, Lyusya and Ilya came from provincial towns. The heroine is also waiting for her daughter Tanya, who lives in Kyiv, and her son Mikhail lives in the same village with her.

All the children have gathered, except Tanya. The next day they were perplexed when they saw their mother perk up. Ilya and Mikhail settled down in the barn, where they got drunk with vodka, without having a snack at all, without eating at the expense of the food that Mikhail’s daughter Nina brought. With their behavior, the boys make the girls angry, but the first piles give the men joy that their mother is alive. Afterwards, Ilya and Mikhail no longer understand why they are drinking, most likely out of fear that their mother might die. And all this time little Nina is cleaning up the bottles after them. So the guys get completely drunk and go to bed. The next morning, the brothers feel unwell and begin to suffer from a hangover. In fact, Mikhail and Ilya did not fall for the bottle so often, but on the contrary, they loved to work. Since childhood, all Anna's children loved to work together and help each other, as well as their village. Meanwhile, Lyusya begins to remember her childhood and her beloved horse Igrenok, who was weak, which led to his death. The horse worked hard and benefited Lucy's family. Walking around the outskirts of her village, she realized that she was not walking on her own, but some force was pulling her, trying to show her what she had lost here and what she couldn’t do without. All this time Varvara sat and grieved for her mother who had not died.

Old woman Anna lies motionless, without opening her eyes; it has almost frozen, but life still glimmers. The daughters understand this by raising a piece of a broken mirror to their lips. It fogs up, which means mom is still alive. However, Varvara, one of Anna’s daughters, believes it is possible to mourn, to “voice her back,” which she selflessly does first at the bedside, then at the table, “wherever it’s more convenient.” At this time, my daughter Lucy is sewing a funeral dress tailored in the city. The sewing machine chirps to the rhythm of Varvara’s sobs.

Anna is the mother of five children, two of her sons died, the first, born one for God, the other for the soar. Varvara came to say goodbye to her mother from the regional center, Lyusya and Ilya from nearby provincial towns.

Anna can't wait for Tanya from distant Kyiv. And next to her in the village was always her son Mikhail, along with his wife and daughter. Gathering around the old woman on the morning of the next day after her arrival, the children, seeing their mother revived, do not know how to react to her strange revival.

“Mikhail and Ilya, having brought vodka, now did not know what to do: everything else seemed trivial to them in comparison, they toiled, as if passing through every minute.” Huddled in the barn, they get drunk with almost no snacks, except for the food that Mikhail’s little daughter Ninka carries for them. This causes legitimate female anger, but the first glasses of vodka give men a feeling of genuine celebration. After all, the mother is alive. Ignoring the girl collecting empty and unfinished bottles, they no longer understand what thought they want to drown out this time, maybe it’s fear. “The fear from the knowledge that the mother is about to die is not like all the previous fears that befall them in life, because this fear is the most terrible, it comes from death... It seemed that death had already noticed them all in the face and would no longer will forget."

Having gotten thoroughly drunk and feeling the next day “as if they had been put through a meat grinder,” Mikhail and Ilya are thoroughly hungover the next day. “How can you not drink? - says Mikhail. - Laziness, second, even if it’s a week, it’s still possible. What if you don’t drink at all until your death? Just think, there is nothing ahead. It's all the same thing. There are so many ropes that hold us both at work and at home that we can’t groan, there’s so much you should have done and didn’t do, you should, should, should, should, and the further you go, the more you should - let it all go to waste. And he drank, as soon as he was released, he did everything that was necessary. And what he didn’t do, he shouldn’t have done, and he did the right thing in what he didn’t do.” This does not mean that Mikhail and Ilya do not know how to work and have never known any other joy than from drunkenness. In the village where they all once lived together, there was a common work - “friendly, inveterate, loud, with a discord of saws and axes, with the desperate hooting of fallen timber, echoing in the soul with enthusiastic anxiety with the obligatory banter with each other. Such work happens once during the firewood harvesting season - in the spring, so that the yellow pine logs with thin silky skin, pleasant to the eye, have time to dry over the summer, are placed in neat woodpiles.”

"The old woman died at night." This final phrase from the story “The Deadline” makes the heart clench with pain, although old woman Anna has lived a long time in the world - almost 80 years! And how many things I redid! But there was no time to sigh and look around, “to hold the beauty of the earth and sky in my eyes.” And now - the last time allotted to her in life, the last meeting with her children who had scattered across the country. And the way Anna had to see her children became the most bitter test for her, confirming the onset of the “last deadline” - the severance of internal ties between generations. Last hours, released by mothers, become a burden to children. They have no time to wait...

Valentin Rasputin
Deadline

1

The old woman Anna lay on a narrow iron bed near the Russian stove and waited for death, for which the time seemed ripe: the old woman was nearly eighty. For a long time she overpowered herself and stayed on her feet, but three years ago, left completely without strength, she gave up and fell ill. In the summer she seemed to feel better, and she crawled out into the yard, basked in the sun, or even walked across the street to rest to old woman Mironikha, but by autumn, before the snow, the last of her strength left her, and in the morning she was not even able to bear the a pot that she inherited from her granddaughter Ninka. And after the old woman collapsed at the porch two or three times in a row, she was ordered not to get up at all, and her whole life remained in sitting down, sitting with her legs down on the floor, and then lying down again.

During her life, the old woman gave birth a lot and loved giving birth, but now she only has five left alive. It turned out this way because first death began to wander into their family, like a ferret into a chicken coop, and then the war began. But five survived: three daughters and two sons. One daughter lived in the region, another in the city, and the third was very far away - in Kyiv. The eldest son from the north, where he remained after the army, also moved to the city, and the youngest, Mikhail, who alone of all did not leave the village, had an old woman and lived out his life, trying not to annoy his family with his old age.

This time everything was going to the point that the old woman would not survive the winter. Already in the summer, as soon as it began to wane, the old woman began to die, and only the injections of the paramedic, whom Ninka was running after, brought her back from the other world. Coming to her senses, she moaned thinly, in a voice that was not her own, tears were squeezed out of her eyes, and she wailed:

“How many times have I told you: don’t touch me, let me go away on my own in peace.” I would be somewhere now if it weren’t for your paramedic. “And she taught Ninka: “Don’t run after her anymore, don’t run.” Your mother will tell you to run, and you hide in the bathhouse, wait, and then say: she’s not at home. I’ll give you some candy for this – such a sweet one.

At the beginning of September, another misfortune befell the old woman: sleep began to overcome her. She no longer drank, did not eat, but only slept. If she is touched, she will open her eyes, look dimly, seeing nothing in front of her, and fall asleep again. And they touched her often - to know whether she was alive or not. It dried up and towards the end it all turned yellow - dead is dead, the breath just couldn’t come out.

When it finally became clear that the old woman would not leave today or tomorrow, Mikhail went to the post office and sent telegrams to his brother and sisters asking them to come. Then he pushed the old woman aside and warned:

The first to arrive, the next morning, was the eldest old woman’s daughter, Varvara. It wasn’t far for her to get from the area, only fifty kilometers, and for this she only needed a passing car.

Varvara opened the gate, saw no one in the yard and immediately, as soon as she turned herself on, began to voice:

- You are my mother! Mikhail jumped out onto the porch:

- Wait! She's alive, she's sleeping. Don’t even shout in the street, otherwise you’ll gather the whole village.

Varvara, without looking at him, went into the hut, fell heavily on her knees by the old woman’s bed and, shaking her head, howled again:

- You are my mother!

The old woman did not awaken, not a single blood appeared on her face. Mikhail spanked the old woman’s sunken cheeks, and only then did her eyes move from the inside, move, trying to open, but could not.

“Mother,” Mikhail said, “Varvara has arrived, look.”

“Mother,” Varvara tried. - It's me, your eldest. I came to see you, but you don’t even look at me. Mother-ah!

The old woman's eyes swayed and swayed, like the cups of a scale, and then stopped and closed. Varvara got up and went to the table to cry, where it was more convenient. She sobbed for a long time, banging her head on the table, burst into tears and could not stop. Five-year-old Ninka walked near her, bending down to look at why Varvara’s tears weren’t running to the floor; They chased Ninka away, but she, cunningly, sneaked back and climbed towards the table.

In the evening, on the lucky “Rocket”, which runs only twice a week, the townspeople, Ilya and Lyusya, arrived. Mikhail met them at the pier and led them to the house where they were all born and raised. They walked in silence: Lyusya and Ilya along the narrow and shaky wooden sidewalk, Mikhail next to them, along the lumps of dried mud. The villagers greeted Lyusya and Ilya, but did not detain them with conversations, they passed by and looked around with interest. Old women and children stared from the windows at the arrivals, and the old women crossed themselves. Varvara could not resist seeing her brother and sister:

- Our mother... Mother-ah!

“Wait,” Mikhail stopped her again. - You'll have time.

Everyone gathered at the old woman’s bed – Nadya, Mikhailov’s wife, right there, and Ninka. The old woman lay motionless and cold - either at the very end of her life, or at the very beginning of death. Varvara gasped:

- Not alive.

No one tutted at her, everyone moved in fear. Lucy hastily raised her palm to the old woman’s open mouth and did not feel any breathing.

“Mirror,” she remembered. - Give me a mirror.

Nadya rushed to the table, wiping a fragment of the mirror on the hem as she went, and handed it to Lyusa; she hastily lowered the fragment to the old woman’s bloodless lips and held it for a minute. The mirror is a little foggy.

“Alive,” she breathed out with relief. – Our mother is alive.

Varvara started to cry again, as if she had heard everything wrong, Lucy also shed a tear and walked away. The mirror came to Ninka. She began to blow on him, looking to see what would happen to him after this, but she did not expect anything interesting for herself and, seizing the moment, put the mirror in the old woman’s mouth, as Lucy had just done. Mikhail saw, spanked Ninka in front of everyone and pushed her out of the room.

Varvara sighed:

- Oh, you are our mother, mother.

Nadya asked where to serve it - here, in the room, or in the kitchen. We decided that it was better to go to the kitchen so as not to disturb the mother. Mikhail brought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of port wine that he had bought the day before, poured vodka for himself and Ilya, and poured port wine for his sisters and wife.

“Our Tatyana won’t come today,” he said. - We won’t wait.

“There’s nothing more today, yeah,” Ilya agreed. – If you received a telegram yesterday, today there is a plane transfer in the city. Maybe now he’s sitting in the area, but the cars don’t go at night - yeah.

- Or in the city.

- Tomorrow there will be.

- Tomorrow for sure.

– If it’s tomorrow, he’ll make it in time.

Mikhail, as the owner, was the first to raise his glass:

- Let's. I need it for the meeting.

~– Is it possible to clink glasses? – Varvara was scared.

– It’s possible, it’s possible, we’re not at a wake.

- Don't say that.

- Oh, now talk, don’t talk...

“It’s been a long time since we all sat together like this,” Lucy suddenly said sadly. - Tatiana is just not there. Tatyana will arrive, and it will be as if no one had left. After all, we used to always gather at this table, setting the room only for guests. I'm even sitting in my place. But Varvara is not on her own. And you, Ilya, too.

- Where are they - they didn’t leave! – Mikhail began to get offended. - We left - and completely. Only Varvara will stop by when she needs some potatoes or something else. And it’s as if you don’t even exist in the world.

- Varvara is nearby.

“And you should go straight from Moscow,” Varvara counterfeited. - A day on the ship - and here. At least they shouldn’t say it, since you don’t recognize us as family. The city people began to want to get to know each other with the village people!

- Yeah, Varvara, of course, has no right to speak. Varvara is not a person. Why talk to her? Yes, empty space. Not a sister to her sisters, brothers. And if I ask you: how long have you been away from home before today? Varvara is not a person, but Varvara visited our mother, so many times a year, even though Varvara’s family is not yours, more. And now Varvara has become guilty.

“No one was going to sing the songs.” And you can have a drink. We ourselves know when it’s possible and when it’s not – we’re not little ones.

- Oh, just contact you.