one In the small and dark house, my father was lying on all fours on the floor. He was dressed in white; the toes of his bare feet were stretched out strangely, and his fingers rested quietly on his chest, beating them stiffly. Bend.His happy eyes were tightly closed, like two black holes, his face was black, his teeth were grinning, as if he was still scaring me. My mother knelt beside my father, combing my father's hair with the small comb that I often used to saw watermelon skins.Mother was wearing a red apron, talking to herself in a rough manner, and big drops of tears kept rolling down from her red and swollen eyes.

Grandma held my hand tightly, and she was crying too, and even trembling all over, so that my hand began to shake too.She tried her best to push me to my father's side, I hid behind her, insisting that I didn't want to go, I felt scared in my heart! I have never seen grown-ups cry, and there is a sudden fear, and I don't understand what my grandmother said repeatedly: Come on, say goodbye to Dad!Boy, he shouldn't be leaving yet!But he's dead and you'll never see him again, dear I've always believed anything my grandmother said.Although she is now dressed in black, and has a surprisingly large head and eyes, which is strange and funny.

When I was young, I had a serious illness. At first, my father took care of me. Later, my grandmother came and she took care of me. Where are you from?I ask her. From above, from Nijni [Note: The abbreviation of Gorky City. 】It’s here, it’s by boat, you know, you can’t walk on the water, brat!she answered. Can't walk on water!To take a boat!Ah, how ridiculous, how interesting!There are a few bearded Persians living upstairs in my house, and Karmike, who sells sheepskins, lives in the basement [Note: A minority in Russia. 】Old man, along the stairs, you can slide down, if you fall, you will fall headfirst.All this I know very well, but I have never heard of the Man from the Water.

Why do you call me a brat? Because you talk too much!she said with a grin. From that moment on, I fell in love with this kind old man, and I hope she will lead me out of here immediately.Because it's really hard for me to be here. My mother's crying frightened me, but she had never been so weak, she was always stern.My mother is tall and big, with hard bones and strong hands. She always dresses neatly.But now it’s no longer possible, the clothes are crooked and messy, and the hair that used to be combed slickly and stuck to the head like a big shiny hat is now drooping on the bare shoulders.She knelt there, and some hair touched Dad's face.I stood in the room for a long time, but she didn't even look at me, she just kept combing her father's hair, tears streaming down her face.

There were people standing chattering outside the door, country folks in black and policemen. All right, hurry up and pack it up!The policeman bellowed impatiently. The window was covered with a black shawl, and a gust of wind came, and the shawl was blown up and trembled.The sound reminded me of that time my father took me to go boating.We were playing, and suddenly there was a thunder in the sky, which made me yell in fright.My father laughed haha, clamped me with his knees, and said loudly: "Don't be afraid, it's okay!" Thinking of this, I suddenly saw my mother struggling to stand up from the floor, but she couldn't stand still, and fell on her back, with her hair scattered on the floor.Her eyes were closed tightly, her face was livid, she also bared her teeth like her father, and said in a terrible voice:

Shut the door and get out, Alexey! My grandmother pushed me away and shouted out the door: Don't be afraid, friends, for Christ's sake, please get out of here!This is not cholera, this is childbirth, please forgive me! I ran behind a box in the corner with a whoosh, and my mother was rolling on the ground, moaning in pain and gnashing her teeth.Grandmother crawled on the ground with her, and said kindly and happily: Oh Mother Bless!In the name of the Father and the Son, Varyusha, hold on! I was terrified.They rolled and crawled around my father, touching him back and forth, but he didn't move, as if he was still laughing!They were busy on the floor for a long time, and the mother stood up and fell down several times, and the grandmother was like a strange black ball, rolling around with the mother.Suddenly, in the dark, I heard a child crying!

Oh, thank the Lord!Grandmother said, it's a boy! Then she lit a candle. I can't remember what happened afterwards, maybe I fell asleep in the corner. The second impression that remains in my memory is the desolate corner of the cemetery.It was raining, and I stood on the small mound with sticky feet, watching them put my father's coffin into the pit, the pit was full of water, and there were a few frogs, two of which had climbed to the yellow coffin lid superior.Standing by the grave were me, my grandmother, the policeman, and two countrymen with shovels and gloomy faces.The raindrops kept hitting everyone.

Bury it, bury it!The police gave orders.Grandmother was crying again, covering her face with a kerchief. The countryman immediately pouted his buttocks and filled the hole with earth.The soil hit the water and there was a loud rattling sound. The two frogs jumped off the coffin and climbed up the pit wall, but the soil clod quickly knocked them down again. Let's go, Alexei!Grandma patted me on the shoulder and said, I broke free from her, and I didn't want to leave. Oh, indeed, Lord!I don't know if she is blaming me or God.She stood there silently for a long time, and the grave was filled up, but she still stood there, motionless.

The wind picked up and the rain was blown away.Two peasants leveled the ground with their shovels, making a crackling noise.My grandmother led me, walking among many blackened crosses, to a church far away. why don't you cryYou should cry a lot!Walking out of the cemetery walls, she said. I don't want to cry.I said. Oh, if you don’t want to cry, then forget it, it’s fine not to cry! I seldom cry, and when I cry, it is because I am angry, not because of pain or anything.When I cry, my father often laughs at me, while my mother reprimands me severely: Don't cry! Afterwards we drove through the dirty streets in a pony-drawn carriage.The streets are wide, lined with crimson houses.

Can the two frogs still come out? May not come out, but God bless them, all right! Neither my father nor my mother talked about God so often. A few days later, my grandmother, mother and I boarded a ship together.The newborn baby brother died, wrapped in a white cloth and wrapped in a red ribbon, lying quietly on a small table. I sat on the burden and looked out from the small window. The turbid water with foam was receding outside, and the splashed water splashed on the window from time to time.I couldn't help but jumped up. Oh, don't be afraid!Grandma picked me up with her warm hands and put me on the burden again.The surface of the water is gray and foggy, and black land occasionally appears in the distance, and then disappears in the dense fog again.

Everything around was trembling except the mother, standing with her hands behind her head, leaning against the boat, motionless.Her face was livid, her eyes were closed tightly, and she was silent.She has become another person, even her clothes have changed, I think she is getting more and more strange.Grandmother often said to her: Varyusha, eat a little, a little, will you? Mother didn't seem to hear, still motionless. My grandmother always spoke softly to me, but her voice was a bit louder when she spoke to my mother, but she was also very careful, as if she was a little timid.She seemed to be a little mother afraid, which brought me closer to my grandmother. Shledov, where is the sailor?Mother suddenly roared angrily. What?Shledov?sailor?Can't understand what she's saying. In came a man with white hair, dressed in blue, and carrying a wooden box.The grandmother took the wooden box and put the little brother's body in it.She straightened her arms and supported the wooden box towards the door, but she was so fat that she had to turn sideways to squeeze through the narrow hatch.She was a little overwhelmed. look at you, mother!My mother gave a cry and took the coffin from her, and they left, and I was still in the cabin, looking at the man in blue. Ah, the little brother is dead, isn't he?He bent down and said to me. Who are you? sailor. What about Shledov? is a city.Look, it's just outside the window! The mist outside the window showed here and there shifting dark and steep land, like a round piece freshly cut from a loaf of bread. Where did grandma go? Go bury your little brother. buried in the ground? Where is it not buried in the ground? I told him how I buried two frogs when I buried my father.He picked me up and kissed me. Ah, children, there are some things you still don't understand!Don't feel sorry for those frogs, just feel sorry for your mother, you see how she has been tortured! The whistle blared.I knew it was the boat calling, so I wasn't afraid.The sailor quickly put me down and ran out, saying, "Hurry up, hurry up!"I involuntarily followed suit. Outside the door, there was no one in the dark corridor.The brass paneling on the stairs gleamed.Looking up, some people are walking around with burdens and bags on their backs.They're getting off the boat, and I think it's time for me to get off too. But when I walked to the steps beside the deck with everyone, someone yelled at me: Whose child is this?Whose child are you? I don't know whose child I am. People groped me, patted me, and it made me a little bit overwhelmed.At last the white-haired sailor ran up and picked me up and said: Oh, he ran out of the cabin, from Astrakhan. He carried me back to the cabin, threw it on the luggage, and frightened me: If you run around again, I will beat you up! I just sit there.The sound of footsteps and human voices above the head quieted down, and the ship stopped beeping and trembling.The windows in the cabin were blocked by a wet wall, the cabin was dark, and the luggage seemed to be too big, so I couldn't breathe.Perhaps, I was thrown on board forever like this? I went to open the door, but it couldn't be opened, and the copper door handle couldn't be turned at all.I picked up the milk bottle and threw it at the doorknob so hard that it shattered and the milk ran down my leg and into my boot.I was so depressed that I lay on the bundle and wept quietly.Finally, I fell asleep with tears in my eyes. I was woken up by the shuddering of the ship, and the windows in the cabin were shining brightly, like a little sun.Grandma sat beside me, frowning and combing her hair, she kept talking to herself. Her hair was so thick that it covered her shoulders, chest, and knees densely, and it fell to the ground.She lifted the hair from the floor with one hand, and with great difficulty combed the small wooden comb into the thick hair.Her lips were tilted involuntarily, and her dark eyes stared angrily at the front of her hair, making her face look ridiculously small in the mass of hair. She is not happy today, but when I ask her why her hair is so long, her tone is as gentle as yesterday: It's like God's punishment for me to comb my damn hair!When I was young, it was my bragging darling, but now I curse it!Go to sleep, my darling, it's still early, the sun has just risen! I don't want to sleep anymore! Well, if I don't sleep, I don't sleep, she agreed immediately, and while braiding her hair, she looked at her mother lying on the sofa. Her mother was lying there, motionless, like a log. Well, tell me, why did you break the milk bottle yesterday?Tell me quietly! Her tone is gentle and sweet, and every word is as gentle, bright and rich as flowers, and I remember every word.When she smiled, her black eyes were bright, flashing an indescribable joy, her teeth were white, and although her face was a bit dark, she still looked young.The most disturbing thing on her face is probably the big limp nose and red nose.She has a black snuff bottle and always wears black clothes, but there is a warm light in her black eyes.She was fat, a little hunchbacked, but deft in her manners, like a big cat. In a flash she brought me out of the darkness into the light and put a dazzling aura on everything around me!She is my forever friend, the person I know best, and she and I are the most intimate!It is her selfless love that enriches me and makes me never lose courage in any difficult and difficult environment! These days forty years ago, the ship moved slowly like this.It took us several days to arrive in Nijni, and I can still clearly recall the first few good days. The sky was clear and my grandmother and I were on deck all day.The Volga River flows quietly, the autumn is high and crisp, the sky is clear, the autumn colors on both sides are very strong, and it is a scene before harvest. The orange-red ship was sailing upstream, its oars slapping the blue water slowly and rumbling.A barge was towed behind the steamer.The barge was gray like a wood turtle.As the scenery moves and the boat moves, the scenery on both sides of the strait changes every moment, such as cities, villages, mountains and rivers, the earth, and those golden leaves floating on the water. Ah, how beautiful it is!Grandma was radiant, walking up and down the deck, her eyes wide with excitement.She stopped occasionally, stood there, staring at the river bank in a daze, with her hands folded on her chest, smiling, with tears in her eyes.I tugged at her black skirt. Oh, I seem to be dozing off, like a dream!She was startled. why are you crying Dear baby, I cry because I'm so happy!She smiled and said, I am old, you know, I have lived for sixty years! She took a sniff of snuff, and began to tell me some strange stories, some good robbers, some demons and ghosts, and some sages and sages. Her voice was very low, her face was close to mine, and she stared at my eyes mysteriously, as if pouring exciting power into my eyes from there.She spoke fluently and naturally, very nicely, and every time she finished speaking, I would always say: Say one more! OK, OK, one more time! There was a kitchen god who was sitting in the stove, and the noodles stuck into the soles of his feet. He yelled, "Ouch, ouch, it hurts, I can't stand it, little mouse!"Talking and talking, my grandmother raised one foot and dangled it, pretending to be in great pain, as if she was the Kitchen God whose noodle got stuck in the sole of the foot. Listening to the story with me were the sailors on the ship, tall men with beards.They praised their grandmother for speaking well, saying: Tell me another one, old lady!Also said: go, go to dinner with us! At the dinner table, they invited my grandmother to drink vodka, and let me eat watermelon and cantaloupe.However, all this was done secretly, because there was a man on board who forbade everyone to eat the fruit, and when he saw it, he would grab the fruit and throw it into the river without hesitation.This guy wore something like a police uniform, with brass buttons on it, and he looked like he was drunk all day, and people avoided him. Mother rarely came on deck, she always avoided us.The mother was tall and straight, with a blue face; her braids were thick and coiled on top of her head like a crown.She was silent forever, as if covered by an impenetrable fog. Her big gray eyes, like her grandmother's, seemed to be always observing the world indifferently from a distant place. She once said sternly: Mom, everyone is laughing at you! I do not care!She said nonchalantly, let them make jokes, let them have a good laugh! I still clearly remember in my mind that when my grandmother saw Nizhini, she was as happy as a child.She excitedly pulled me to the side of the boat and said loudly: Look, ah, it's so beautiful!That's Nijni, my God, what a place where gods live!Look, it's a church, it seems to be flying in the air! She was so excited that she almost shed tears, begging my mother: Varyusha, take a look!You probably forgot about this place?Take a look, you will be delighted! Mother smiled very reluctantly. The ship was moored in the middle of the river.The river was crowded with ships, with hundreds of masts soaring skyward.A boat full of people came up to the steamer, and ladders were built from the boat to climb onto the deck of the steamer.A dry and thin old man walked in the front. He was dressed in black, with a golden beard, a crooked nose, and green eyes. dad!With a deep and loud cry, his mother threw herself into his arms. He hugged his mother, stroked her face, and shouted in a high-pitched voice: Oh, silly boy, what's the matter?It turned out to be so hilarious, you people! At the same time, my grandmother was like a spinning top, hugging and kissing everyone in the blink of an eye.She pushed me in front of everyone and said hastily: Oh, come on, this is Uncle Mikhail, this is Uncle Yakov, this is Aunt Netanleya, both cousins ​​are called Sasha, and the cousin is Katerina!We are all one family, how about it, how many? The grandfather asked the grandmother: How are you, old mother? They kissed three times.My grandfather pulled me out of the crowd: who are you? I came up from Astrakhan and ran out of the cabin Oh my God, what did he say!My grandfather asked my mother, and without waiting for an answer, he pushed me away and said: Ah, look, the cheekbones are exactly like his father's!Well, let's get off the boat! After getting off the boat, walk up the slope. The slope is covered with large cobblestones, and both sides of the road are full of withered and yellow weeds.Grandpa and my mother were at the head of the line.He was small, barely reaching his mother's shoulders, and he walked very fast, while my mother seemed to be floating in the air, looking down at his father.Immediately behind them were two uncles: Uncle Mikhail's black hair was combed very neatly, he was as thin as his grandfather, and Uncle Yakov's hair was light and curled.Then came some fat women, very brightly dressed, and the last of them were six children, all silent.Walking in the same row as me were my grandmother and my little aunt, Netanleya.The little aunt has a pale face, blue eyes, and a big belly. She walks very hard and often stops to catch her breath. Ouch, I can't move!she yelled. Hey, why did they ask you to come too?How stupid!Grandma scolded. Walking among this group of people, I felt very lonely, I felt like a stranger, and even my grandmother seemed to have become alienated from me.From the beginning I disliked my grandfather the least, and I smelled hostility in him.I was both a little afraid of him and a little curious. On the bank of the river, I saw the main street.In front was a low bungalow compound, the pink paint was already very dirty, the eaves were very low, and the windows protruded.Just looking at the exterior, you will think that the inside is very big, but in fact it is divided into many small rooms, which is very crowded.There were people everywhere, and they seemed to be losing their tempers. Everyone was walking around in a rage, and the children were hopping around like a flock of sparrows looking for food. There was a particularly bad smell in the air.The yard was covered with wet cloths, and there were buckets all over the floor. The water in them was colorful and soaked the cloths.In a low house close to the ground in the corner, the fire was burning brightly, the cauldron on the fire was boiled, and there was a constant gurgling sound, and a man in the steam uttered strange words loudly: Pterostilbene fuchsin sulfate.