The snow melted and the puddle glistened. It was already warm and cold outside in early spring.
On the cherry branch next to the window, a sparrow with a gray chest stood proudly. It peeks at Paul from time to time with sly little eyes.
"How, we finally survived the winter?" Paul tapped on the window with his finger and whispered.
Mother gave him a surprised look.
"Who are you talking to there?"
"with the sparrow ... it flew away, so cunning." He smiled feebly.
It's spring with a hundred flowers. Paul began to think about returning to Kiev. He has recovered enough to walk, but there are other diseases lurking in his body. One day, when he was walking in the garden, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his spine and fell to the ground. He made great efforts to move into the house slowly. The next day, the doctor gave him a detailed examination and found a deep pit on his spine. He let out a cry of surprise and asked, "How can there be a pit here?"
"Doctor, this is a collapsed stone on the highway. At the gates of Rovno, a three-inch shell exploded on the road behind me ... "
"Then how do you get there? It doesn't matter? "
"No, I was lying for two hours, and then I continued to ride. This is the first attack. "
The doctor frowned and examined the pit carefully.
"My dear, this is a very annoying thing. The spine doesn't like this vibration. I hope it won't happen again. Get dressed, Comrade Kochakin. "
The doctor couldn't hide his worry and looked at the patient sympathetically.
Aerjiaom lives in the bride's family of his wife, Stisa, who is young and ugly. Her family is a poor farmer. One day, Paul stopped by to see Aerjiaom. In the dirty little yard, there is a sloppy squint boy running and playing.
As soon as he saw Paul, he stared at him rudely with his small eyes. While picking his nose intently, he asked, "What are you doing? Are you here to steal? Let's go, my mother is amazing! "
At this moment, the small window of the shabby and low wooden house opened, and Aerjiaom called to him, "Come in, Paul Fu Lusha!" "
An old lady with a yellow face like parchment was busy by the stove with a fork in her hand. She gave Paul a cold look, let him walk over, and then clanked the spoon.
Two big girls with short pigtails quickly climbed onto the stove kang and looked at the guests curiously like barbarians who had never seen the world before.
Aerjiaom sat at the table, a little embarrassed. Neither his mother nor Paul approved of his marriage. He is a blood donor. I don't know why he broke up with Galina. She is the daughter of a stonemason and a beautiful woman worker in a clothing factory. She has been together for three years. He married the ugly Stella and adopted her to a family of five without male labor.
After working in the garage every day, all his energy is spent ploughing sticks and reorganizing the declining family business.
Aerjiaom knew that Paul disapproved of him and once said that he was in the arms of "petty-bourgeois spontaneous forces", so he observed his younger brother to see how he reacted to everything here.
The two brothers sat for a while and said the usual meaningless courtesies. Then Paul got up and left. Aerjiaom wouldn't let him go.
"Wait a minute, let's get something to eat, and Tessa will bring milk.
So you're leaving tomorrow? You are still weak, Paul. "
Stizza came into the room, greeted Paul, and asked Aerjiaom to help her move things to the threshing floor. Only Paul and the old woman who doesn't like answering people are left in the room. There was a church bell outside the window, and the old woman put down the fire fork and muttered discontentedly, "Ah! My Lord Jesus, I am so busy with these damn things that I don't even have time to pray! " She took off her shawl around her neck, squinted at the guests and walked to a corner of the room, where an icon with a long black face hung. She stretched out three bony fingers and drew a cross on her chest.
"Our heavenly father, may everyone hallow your name ..." She whispered, moving her shriveled lips.
In the yard, the little boy suddenly rode on a black pig with drooping ears. He grabbed the bristles with both hands, kicked the bristles barefoot, shouted loudly, and kicked the pigs around and groaned.
"Drive! Drive! Let's go, let's go! Whew! Stop fooling around! "
The pig ran around the yard with the child on his back, trying to get rid of him, but the cross-eyed naughty boy rode steadily.
The old woman stopped praying, stuck her head out of the window and shouted, "I'll let you ride, but I can't kill you!" " Come down, why don't you starve to death! Get out of here! You little lunatic. "
After all, the pig threw the rider. The old woman is very satisfied. She returned to the icon, made a pious expression and continued to pray: "May your country come ..."
With tears on his face, the boy went to the door, wiped his broken nose with his sleeve, and groaned painfully: "Mom-I want jiaozi with milk residue!"
The old woman turned around and cursed savagely, "You squinted, and you didn't even let me pray. Son of a bitch, I'll let you eat enough! "He said, and grabbed a whip from the stool. The boy ran away without a trace at once. The two girls snorted behind the stove and laughed secretly.
The old woman went to pray for the third time.
Paul stood up and left before his brother came back. When he closed the gate, he saw the old woman sticking her head out of the small window on the side. She's looking at him.
"What is my brother obsessed with, seduce him here? Now he can't get rid of it until he dies. Steesa gives birth to a child for him every year, and he will fall into the dunghill like a beetle, sinking deeper and deeper, and maybe even losing his job in the garage. But I want to attract him to participate in political activities. " Paul walked in the deserted street of the town, thinking sadly.
However, he thought that he would leave here tomorrow and go back to that big city, where there were his friends and beloved people, and he was happy again. The majestic sight of that big city, its vigorous vitality, endless crowds, the roar of trams and the horn of cars all fascinated him. However, what attracted him most was the huge stone factory, dark workshops, machines and the slight rustle of pulleys. He yearns for the place where the ship is spinning at full speed and the air smells of engine oil, and yearns for everything he is used to. But here, in this isolated town, Paul walks the streets, but there is an unspeakable disappointment in his heart. No wonder Paul finds this town strange and boring. Even going out for a walk during the day can make people unhappy. For example, when he walks past gossips sitting on the steps, he often hears them say in a hurry, "Look, sisters, where did you get such ugly faces?"
"It seems that he is a consumption ghost."
"That leather coat is quite gorgeous. It must have been stolen ... "
There are many such disgusting things.
He broke with these things a long time ago. For him, that big city has become more intimate and lovely. There are energetic and strong-willed class brothers and laborers.
Paul unconsciously approached the pine forest and stopped at the fork in the road. On the right is the gloomy old prison, which is separated from the pine forest by a high pointed wooden fence. Behind the prison is the white building of the hospital
It was here, in this empty square, that Valia and her comrades were hanged. Paul stood silently for a moment where the gallows had been laid, then walked up the steep slope and down the slope to the cemetery where the martyrs were buried.
I don't know who put a wreath made of spruce branches around the grave, like building a green wall for this small cemetery. Tall and straight pine trees stand high on the steep slope, and the hillside of the canyon is covered with green grass.
This is the edge of the town, quiet and deserted. The pine forest is whispering, the spring of the earth is reviving, and it smells damp and earthy. Comrades died heroically here. They gave their lives for those who were born in poverty and became slaves in order to live a better life.
Paul took off his hat slowly. Sadness, great sadness, filled his heart.
Life is the most precious thing for people. Everyone has only one life. A man's life should be spent like this: looking back, he will not regret wasting his time, nor will he be ashamed of his meanness and vulgarity; On his deathbed, he can say, "My life and all my energy have been devoted to the most magnificent cause in the world-the struggle for the liberation of all mankind." Seize the time and live quickly, because an inexplicable disease or an unexpected tragic event will interrupt life.
With this in mind, Paul left the tomb of the martyrs.
At home, the mother is packing for her son to go out. She was very sad. Paul looked at his mother and found that she was secretly crying.