The piece is a freak. Online book reading full collection of stories in one volume freak. Shukshin's story is divided into three parts

Composition

Let's take the "classic" story "Chudik" and ask ourselves a question for a start: is it possible to take its name at face value, that is, does Shukshin consider his hero a "freak" in the proper sense of the word? At first glance, it seems that yes, he does. “The eccentric had one peculiarity: something constantly happened to Pim. He did not want this, he suffered, but every now and then he got stuck in some stories - small, however, but annoying. " Given such a warning, one should seem to imagine one of those people about whom they say: "twenty-two misfortunes", well, something like Chekhov's Epikhodov. And the first adventures that happen to him during a trip to his brother seem to confirm this opinion - the story with fifty rubles, for example, belongs to the number of pure, so to speak, “fatal” accidents.

However, the conversation with the neighbor on the plane and the story with the telegram contain a certain subtext that prompts us to think that everything is not as simple as it seems, and that Vasily Yegorych's bad luck is not so much his fate as his nature. First of all, it is clear to us: the kindest Vasily Yegorych is innocent and spontaneous to the point of ... stupidity. Yes, to the point of stupidity - I have to admit it, because both the text of his telegram and the conversation with the telegraph operator are quite at the level of his "joke" about fried spoon,

One more touch and also very indicative. On the train, after hearing a lot of different road stories, Chudik decides to make his own contribution to the general conversation and tells a story, in his opinion, also quite amusing: “We have one fool in the neighboring village too ... He grabbed a firebrand - and after his mother. Drunk. She runs away from him and shouts: “Hands,” she cries, “don't burn your hands, son!” He also cares about him. And he's rushing, a drunken mug. Mother. Can you imagine what kind of pas-do to be rude, tactless ... "

Vasily Yegorych, of course, does not know that his "history" is a legend widely known among many peoples of the world, a poetic and wise parable about a mother, about the sacredness of maternal feelings. But it's not that he doesn't know. Another thing is worse: he, as we see, does not even feel the meaning of what he is talking about, since the whole story in his eyes is nothing more than a funny incident, almost an anecdote. Dull, definitely dull kind and direct Vasily Yegorych ...

The reasons for Chudik's “fatal” bad luck, thus, begin to become clear for us: they are in the fact that his ideas about the surrounding reality in many ways do not correspond to the order of things that is objectively present in it. But who is to blame for this? Does a freak need to rise to the level of reality, or should she herself show some special, additional "understanding" so that all sorts of stories finally stop happening to Vasily Yegorych? There is no way to get away from these questions, because the answer to them depends, in essence, on the assessment of the very ideological and humanistic orientation of the story.

Vasily Yegorych will not change - that is clear. As before, he will meddle with people with his joyful readiness to communicate, with his sincere misunderstanding that people do not always enjoy communicating with him. But after all, not all of his actions are absurd! In some, he can rely, if only on understanding, then at least on simple human indulgence? Understanding of his aspirations, his good intentions must in some cases prevail over the habitual rejection of their curious results. And isn't this habitual rejection, especially in those cases when it is just habitual, a sin incomparably greater than the inept and stupid kindness of the Chudik?

It is this question that Shukshin poses, leading Sophia Ivanovna, Chudik's daughter-in-law, to the couple. And he answers it completely unambiguously. No matter how absurd the story with the baby carriage may look, the absolute human rightness is indisputably on the side of the Chudik. The "mitigating circumstances" of his awkward servility are far more serious than his fault. And Vasily Yegorych suffers here not so much because of his next blunder, but because this time people did not show elementary human sensitivity. A hundred times misunderstood, as they say, "rightly", in this case he himself judges human misunderstanding.

So who is he after all, Vasily Yegorych Knyazev? A "natural man" who, by the very fact of his existence, reproaches the society that has become hardened in the course of civilization? "Chudik", whose eccentricity is manifested the more definite, the more obvious its eccentricity?

Let's not rush to imagine him as some kind of righteous person, whose kindness and spontaneity should make us think about our own moral imperfection, which is still quite tangibly making itself felt. We will not make him neither Akaki Akakievich nor Prince Myshkin. Moreover, Shukshin himself does not end the story on this "compassionate" note. The dramatic climax is followed by an epilogue, and this epilogue brings the final and extremely characteristic touch to the portrait of Chudik. “The Chudik came home when it was raining steamy rain. The eccentric got off the bus, took off his new shoes, ran on the warm, wet earth - a suitcase in one hand, boots in the other.

And what can I say about him in conclusion, if not what Shukshin himself said: “His name was Vasily Yegorych Knyazev. He was thirty-nine years old. He worked as a projectionist in the village. He loved detectives and dogs. As a child, I dreamed of being a spy. " Sounds like an epitaph, doesn't it? And the same contrasts in her as in his nature. And the same unity. I adored dogs - because of my natural kindness and because, of course, I also met them with complete "understanding"; he adored detectives - due to his complete inability to be like them; and for the same reason - "in my childhood I dreamed of being a spy." Nature, as we can see, is quite ordinary. In ordinary everyday life, we might not even notice him, just as, in fact, we did not notice him until Shukshin's story. And if here, in the story, he still looks like a very colorful figure, it is mainly because the writer, as it were, put him “under high tension,” which manifested his nature in all its contradictory unity and character.

His wife called him - Chudik. Sometimes it is kind. The eccentric had one peculiarity: something constantly happened to him. He did not want this, he suffered, but every now and then he got stuck in some stories - small, however, but annoying. Here are episodes from one of his trips. I got a vacation, decided to go to my brother in the Urals: I hadn’t seen each other for twelve years. - And where is such a spoon ... a-subspecies of bitury ?! - Shouted Chudik from the pantry. - How should I know? - Yes, that's all there was! - The eccentric tried to look sternly with round blue-white eyes. - Does it look like a bitury? - Well, pike. - I probably fried it by mistake. The eccentric was silent for a while. - So how? - What? - Delicious? Ha-ha-ha! ..- He didn’t know how to joke at all, but he really wanted to .- Whole teeth? She's - duralumin! .. ... It took a long time to get together - until midnight. And early in the morning Chudik walked with a suitcase through the village. - To the Urals! To the Urals! - he answered the question: where is he going? You need to get some air! - At the same time, his round, fleshy face, round eyes expressed an extremely trifling attitude to distant roads - they did not frighten him. - To the Urals! But the Urals were still far away. So far, he has safely reached the district town, where he was to get a ticket and take the train. There was a lot of time. The eccentric decided to buy gifts for the nephews for now - sweets, gingerbread ... I went to the grocery store, joined the queue. In front of him stood a man wearing a hat, and in front of the hat was a plump woman with painted lips. The woman quietly, quickly, ardently spoke to her hat: “Can you imagine how rude and tactless it is to be! He has sclerosis, well, he has had sclerosis for seven years, but no one suggested that he retire. And this one - without a year for a week leads the team - and already: "Maybe you, Alexander Semyonich, are better off retiring?" Nah-khal! The hat echoed. - Yes, yes ... They are now. Just think, sclerosis. And Sumbatych? .. Also recently did not hold the text. And this one, how is her? .. The eccentric respected city people. Not all, really: I did not respect hooligans and sellers. I was afraid. It was his turn. He bought candy, gingerbread, three chocolate bars. And he stepped aside to pack everything in a suitcase. He opened the suitcase on the floor, began to pack it ... He glanced at something on the floor, and at the counter, where the line was, a fifty-ruble piece of paper lay at the feet of people. A sort of green fool, lies to herself, no one sees her. The eccentric even trembled with joy, his eyes lit up. In a hurry, so as not to be outstripped by someone, he began to think quickly, as though more cheerful, more intelligently to say this, in line, about a piece of paper. “You are living well, citizens!” He said loudly and cheerfully. They looked back at him. - We, for example, do not throw such pieces of paper. Everyone here got a little worried. It's not a three, not a five - fifty rubles, you have to work for half a month. But the owner of the piece is not. "Probably the one in the hat," Chudik guessed. We decided to put the piece of paper in a prominent place on the counter. “Someone will come running now,” the saleswoman said. The eccentric left the store in a pleasant mood. He kept thinking how easy it was for him, it turned out cheerfully: "We, for example, don't throw such pieces of paper!" Suddenly, everything seemed to be overwhelmed with heat: he remembered that exactly such a piece of paper and another twenty-five rubles had been given to him in the savings bank at home. He just exchanged the twenty-five-ruble one, the fifty-ruble one should be in his pocket ... He stuck it into his pocket - no. Here and there - no. - Mine was a piece of paper! - said Chudik loudly. - Your mother is so! .. My piece of paper. Somehow my heart even rang with grief. The first impulse was to go and say: "Citizens, my piece of paper, I got two of them in the savings bank - one twenty-five rubles, the other half a hotel. I have now exchanged one, twenty-five rubles, but not the other." But as soon as he imagined how he would stun everyone with this statement, many would think, "Of course, since the owner was not found, he decided to pocket it." No, do not overpower yourself - do not reach out for the damned piece of paper. They may still not give it back. - But why am I like this? - Chudik reasoned aloud bitterly. - What to do now? .. I had to return home. I went to the store, wanted to look at the piece of paper at least from a distance, stood at the entrance ... And did not enter. It will be very painful. The heart can not stand it. I rode on the bus and swore softly - I was gaining the courage to have an explanation with my wife. They removed another fifty rubles from the book. Chudik, killed by his insignificance, which his wife again explained to him (she even hit him a couple of times on the head with a slotted spoon), rode on the train. But gradually the bitterness passed. Forests, copses, villages flashed outside the window ... Different people entered and went out, different stories were told. Chudik also told one of his intelligent comrades, when they stood in the vestibule, smoking. - We have one fool in the neighboring village too ... He grabbed a firebrand - and after his mother. Drunk. She runs from him and screams. "Hands, shouts, don't burn your hands, son!" He also cares about him ... And he is rushing, a drunken mug. Mother. Can you imagine how rude and tactless one has to be ... “Have you come up with it yourself?” The intelligent comrade asked sternly, looking at Chudik over his glasses. - Why? - he did not understand. - We have across the river, the village of Ramenskoye ... The intelligent comrade turned to the window and did not speak again. After the train, Chudik still had to fly a local plane for an hour and a half. He once flew once. For a long time. He got on the plane not without timidity. "Really, not a single screw will deteriorate in it in an hour and a half!" - I thought. Then - nothing, dared. He even tried to talk to a neighbor, but he was reading the newspaper, and he was so interested in what was in the newspaper, that he really didn’t want to listen to a living person. And Chudik wanted to find out what he had heard that they give food on planes. And they didn’t carry something. He really wanted to eat on the plane - out of curiosity. "We've done it," he decided. He began to look down. Mountains of clouds below. For some reason, the eccentric could not say for sure: is it beautiful or not? And all around they said that "oh, what a beauty!" He only suddenly felt the stupidest desire - to fall into them, into the clouds, like into cotton wool. He also thought. "Why am I not surprised? After all, there are almost five kilometers under me." I mentally measured these five kilometers on the ground, put them "on the priest" - to be surprised, and not surprised. - Here is a man! .. He came up with the same, - he said to his neighbor. The latter looked at him, said nothing, rustled again with the newspaper. “Fasten your seat belts!” Said the pretty young woman. The eccentric obediently fastened his belt. And the neighbor - zero attention. The eccentric touched him carefully. - They are told to fasten the belt. “Nothing,” said the neighbor. He put the newspaper aside, leaned back in his seat and said, as if remembering something: “Children are the flowers of life, they must be planted with their heads down. - How is it? - Chudik did not understand. The reader laughed loudly and did not speak again. They began to decline rapidly. Now the earth is just a stone's throw away, is rapidly flying back. But there is still no push. As the knowledgeable people later explained, the pilot "missed". Finally, a jolt, and everyone begins to be thrown so hard that there was a knock of teeth and a grinding sound. It was the reader with the newspaper who jumped from his seat, butted Chudik with his bald head, then kissed the window, then found himself on the floor. During all this time, he did not make a single sound. And everyone around was also silent - it amazed the Chudik. He was also silent. Become. The first who came to their senses looked through the windows and found that the plane was in a potato field. A gloomy pilot came out of the cockpit and went to the exit. Someone asked him cautiously. - We seem to have sat down in potatoes? “You don’t see it yourself,” the pilot replied. The fear subsided, and the most cheerful were already trying to shyly joke. The bald reader was looking for his artificial jaw. The eccentric unbuckled his belt and also began to search. “This one ?!” he exclaimed happily, and gave it. The reader's bald head even turned purple. “Why do you have to touch it with your hands?” He shouted in a lisp. The freak was at a loss. - And what? .. - Where am I going to boil it ?! Where?! This Chudik did not know either. “Will you come with me?” He suggested. “My brother lives here. Are you afraid that I have introduced microbes there? I don't have them ... The reader looked at Chudik in surprise and stopped shouting. At the airport Chudik wrote a telegram to his wife: “We landed. A branch of lilac fell on my chest, dear Pear, don't forget me. The telegraph operator, a stern, dry woman, having read the telegram, suggested: - Make it up differently. You are an adult, not in a kindergarten. - Why? - asked the Chudik. - I always write to her in letters. This is my wife! .. You probably thought ... - You can write whatever you want in letters, but a telegram is a type of communication. This is plain text. Chudik rewrote. "We landed. Everything is in order. Vasyatka." The telegraph operator herself corrected two words: "We landed" and "Vasyatka" It became: "We flew. Vasily." - "We've landed." Are you an astronaut or what? - Well, okay, - said Chudik. - Let it be so. ... Chudik knew, he has a brother Dmitry, three nephews ... Somehow I didn't think about the fact that there should still be a daughter-in-law. He had never seen her. And it was she, the daughter-in-law, who ruined everything, the whole vacation. For some reason, she immediately took a dislike to Chudik. We drank in the evening with my brother, and Chudik began to sing in a trembling voice: Poplar-ah ... Sofya Ivanovna, daughter-in-law, looked out of the other room, asked angrily: - Can you not yell? You're not at the station, are you? ”She slammed the door. Brother Dmitry felt embarrassed. - It's ... the kids are sleeping there. She's actually good. We drank some more. They began to remember their youth, mother, father. - Do you remember? - Brother Dmitry asked joyfully. - Although, who do you remember there! It was pectoral. They will leave me with you, and I kissed you. Once you even turned blue. Hit me for it. Then they did not leave. And all the same, they just turn away, I kiss you again. God knows what the habit was. He himself has snot up to his knees, and already ... this ... with kisses ... - Do you remember ?! - Chudik also remembered. completely evil, nervous. - Who needs to listen to these different snot and kisses of yours? There - they started talking. - Let's go outside, - said Chudik. We went outside and sat on the porch. - Do you remember? - continued the Chudik. But then something happened to brother Dmitry: he began to cry and began pounding his knee with his fist. - Here it is, my life! Saw? How much anger is in a person! .. How much anger! The eccentric began to calm his brother. - Come on, don't be upset. Do not. They are not evil, they are crazy. I have the same. - Well, what have you disliked? !! What for? After all, she disliked you ... But what for? It was only then that Chudik realized that, yes, his daughter-in-law disliked him. And for what really? - But for the fact that you are not responsible, not a leader. I know her, you fool. She became obsessed with her responsible. And who herself! The barmaid is in the office, the bump is out of the blue. Looks there and starts .. She hates me too - that I am not responsible, from the village. - In what department? - In this ... mining ... Do not pronounce now. Why go out? What she, did not know, what? Then Chudik was struck to the quick. “What's the matter, actually?” He asked loudly, not his brother, someone else. “Yes, if you want to know, almost all the famous people left the village. As in a black frame, so you look - the way out of the village. We need to read the newspapers! .. He’s not a figure, you know, he’s a native, went to work early - And how much I tried to prove to her in the village, people are better, not obsessed. - Do you remember Stepan Vorobyov? You knew him. - I knew how. - Already there where the village! .. And - please: Hero of the Soviet Union. He destroyed nine tanks. I went to the ram. His mother will now pay his pension for life sixty rubles. And they found out only recently, they thought they were missing ... - And Maksimov Ilya! .. We left together. Please - holder of three degrees of Glory. But don't tell her about Stepan .. Don't. - Okay. And this one! .. The excited brothers were still making noise for a long time. The eccentric even walked around the porch and waved his arms. - The village, you see! .. Yes, there is nothing but air! In the morning you open the window - tell me how it will wash you all over. Even if you drink it, it’s so fresh and smelly, it smells of different herbs, different flowers ... Then they got tired. “Did you block the roof?” The older brother asked quietly. - Blocked. - Chudik also quietly sighed - Veranda built - love to look. You go out on the veranda in the evening .. you start fantasizing: if only mother and father were alive, you would come with the children - everyone would sit on the veranda, drinking tea with raspberries. Raspberries are now an abyss. You, Dmitry, do not quarrel with her, otherwise she will dislike worse. And somehow I will be more affectionate, she, you see, will go away. - But she herself is from the village! - Dmitry was somehow quietly and sadly amazed. But ... I tortured the children, the fool tortured one of them on the pianos, the other was recorded in figure skating. My heart bleeds, but - don't tell me, just swear. - Mmh! .. - The Chudik got excited again. - I don’t understand these newspapers in any way, they say, one such works in the store - rude. Eh, you! .. and she comes home - the same. That's where the grief is! And I don’t understand! ”The eccentric also hit his knee with his fist.“ I don’t understand: why did they become angry? When Chudik woke up in the morning, no one was in the apartment; brother Dmitry went to work, daughter-in-law too, older children were playing in the yard, the little one was taken to the nursery. The eccentric tidied up the bed, washed and began to think what would be so pleasant for his daughter-in-law. Then he caught sight of a baby carriage. "Hey! - thought the Chudik. - I'll paint it." At home he painted the stove so much that everyone marveled. He found childish paints, a brush, and set to work. It was all over in an hour; the stroller cannot be recognized. On the top of the stroller Chudik let cranes go - a flock in a corner, on the bottom - different flowers, grass-ant, a couple of cockerels, chickens ... He examined the stroller from all sides - a feast for the eyes. Not a stroller, but a toy. Imagined how pleasantly amazed the daughter-in-law would be, grinned. - And you say - a village. Weird. - He wanted peace with his daughter-in-law. The baby will be in a basket. All day Chudik walked around the city, gazing at the windows. I bought a boat for my nephew, a pretty one, white, with a light bulb. "I'll paint it too," I thought. At 6 o'clock Chudik came to his brother. I went to the porch and heard that brother Dmitry was arguing with his wife. However, his wife swore, and brother Dmitry only repeated: “Well, what’s here! .. Come on ... Sonya ... All right ...“ So that this fool isn’t here tomorrow! ”Sofya Ivanovna shouted. Let him leave tomorrow! - Come on! .. Sonya ... - Not okay! Not okay! Let him not wait - I'll throw his suitcase to hell, and that's it! The eccentric hastened to get off the porch ... And then he did not know what to do. Again he was in pain. When he was hated, he was in great pain. And scary. It seemed: well, now everything, why live? And I wanted to go somewhere far away from people who hate him or laugh. `` But why am I like that? '' He whispered bitterly, sitting in the shed. We should have guessed: she won't understand, she won't understand folk art. He sat in the shed until dark. And my heart ached. Then brother Dmitry came. I was not surprised - as if he knew that brother Vasily had been sitting in the shed for a long time. - Here ... - he said. - It ... again made noise. A stroller ... it wouldn't be necessary. - I thought he would look at her. I'll go, brother. Brother Dmitry sighed ... and said nothing. The Chudik came home when it was raining steamy rain. The eccentric got off the bus, took off his new shoes, ran on the warm, wet earth - a suitcase in one hand, boots in the other. He jumped up and sang loudly: Poplar-ah, poplar-ah ... On one edge the sky had already cleared, blue, and the sun was close somewhere. And the rain thinned, splashed in large drops into the puddles; bubbles exploded and burst in them. In one place Chudik slipped, almost fell. His name was Vasily Yegorych Knyazev. He was thirty-nine years old. He worked as a projectionist in the village. He loved detectives and dogs. As a child, he dreamed of being a spy.

V.M. Shukshin is known as an excellent actor, director and screenwriter. Vasily Makarovich considered his main vocation to be literature, he wrote many works, among which there are novels and stories. However, most of all, the reader fell in love with Shukshin's stories about ordinary Russian people with unusual characters.

In the story "Chudik" Shukshin tells about one of such interesting people. “Chudik” describes the journey of a simple villager to a big city. Accidental encounters and minor incidents reveal the character of the hero, show his inner content.

The plot of the story is simple - a village man goes to visit his brother.

On the way and visiting his brother, he gets into awkward situations - he loses money, hands the denture to a neighbor on the plane, paints a baby carriage.

He jokes awkwardly, his jokes remain incomprehensible. The daughter-in-law (the brother's wife) drives the guest away, the brother does not intercede and the hero of the story leaves for home.

The author's goal is not to tell about the trip from point A to point B. Vasily Makarovich believed that there was a lot of evil in life. The writer attracts the attention of the reader to human ingratitude, ill-will, lack of love.

His hero does not commit evil deeds, does not hooligan, does not be rude, but in the eyes of people he looks like an eccentric. Maybe that's why?

Shukshin introduces his hero to the reader simply - Chudik. On the example of one trip, the author reveals the oddities of this mature man, which lie in childish naivety, kindness and forgiveness.

Important! The hero of the work constantly finds himself in awkward situations, but does not blame anyone for his mistakes, except himself.

In the store, I accidentally dropped a fifty-ruble bill and, thinking that it was someone else's money, gave it to the saleswoman with jokes. The line silently looked at the eccentric.

He understands that his actions and words surprise people, they seem strange to them, he suffers from this consciousness and does not understand what is the matter.

Shukshin's hero asks himself why he is not like everyone else, why he was so ugly.

He experiences mental pain and does not see the meaning in life when he once again finds himself in an awkward situation and becomes superfluous among people.

Shukshin shows, using the example of everyday life situations, how much people have lost sincerity and simplicity in communication. A sincere and simple man is perplexing.

Wikipedia defines the meaning of the word weirdo as a person who acts inappropriate, unusual, not as is customary. This does not mean that his behavior is immoral or asocial, it just differs from the generally accepted one. The synonym is eccentric.

It is such an eccentric that appears before us in the story - simple and ingenuous.

These qualities cause misunderstanding and even rejection among pragmatic people who live with one goal - to earn money, to become people.

The moral qualities of a person no longer occupy their due place in the hierarchy of value orientations of the Russian people. This is what Shukshin says.

Chudik - a truly Russian character, has become a rarity in Russia.

To know what this story is about, just read the summary. You can get to know Chudik better and visit the Urals with his brother Dmitry only by reading the story. You can read it online or on paper.

Shukshin's language is simple, folk, reflects the character of the heroes, their inner state. There is not a single far-fetched word, the reader seems to be personally present during the conversations of the heroes. V

it is easy for these people to recognize their acquaintances, neighbors, friends - so precise are the writer's statements and observations.

Main events

A brief retelling is a coverage of all the adventures of Chudik during his vacation trip to the Urals.

The main character is Vasily Yegorovich Knyazev. He works as a projectionist, is married, he is 39 years old. The wife calls Vasily Chudik. Likes to joke, but jokes clumsily. He wishes all people well, is friendly to everyone and often gets into awkward situations.

During the holidays, the protagonist is going on a trip. The brother to whom the protagonist is going lives in the Urals, is married and has children. The brothers have not seen each other for 12 years. Vasily is going to the trip with joy and impatience. The road is long, with changes: you have to go by bus to the regional center, then by train to the regional city and by plane.

In the regional center I went to the store to buy gifts for my nephews.

I saw a brand new fifty-ruble note on the floor and was delighted to make a joke and render a service to the one who had lost.

The owner of the money was not found, they were put on the counter to give to the lost. Leaving the store, I remembered that he had the same bill.

It was not in my pocket. Vasily was ashamed to return to the store and admit his mistake, he was afraid that they would not believe it.

I had to return home for money. The wife shouted, they again removed the money from the book, and Vasily hit the road again.

This time, the journey went without misadventures, apart from small moments:

I made it safely to the house of my brother Dmitry. The brothers were delighted to meet, recalled their childhood. My brother's wife, Sofia Ivanovna, did not like a simple villager.

Dmitry complained to Vasily about his wife, her anger, about the fact that he completely “tortured” the children - he gave one “to the piano”, the other “to figure skating” and despises him for being “not responsible”.

Vasily wants a peaceful relationship with his daughter-in-law.

Wanting to please her, he paints a baby carriage (in the village he painted a stove for everyone, surprisingly), buys a white boat for his nephew.

Returning home, he finds a family quarrel. Sofia Ivanovna shouted to her husband that “this fool” should go home today.

Vasily remained unnoticed and sat in the shed until the evening, where Dmitry found him. The guest decided to go home, and the brother did not say anything.

Knyazev returned to his village. The rain has passed. The traveler took off his shoes and, humming, walked on the way home.

Important! Only at the very end of the story does Shukshin tell the name of his hero, his profession - a projectionist, speaks about his love for dogs and detectives and about his childhood dream - to become a spy.

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Let's summarize

Each reader can see himself at some point - in the main character, or his daughter-in-law, weak-willed brother, or an intelligent comrade from the train.

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Chapter I
Mysterious silence

I have an idea! - Mom turned to her son.

Seraphim looked inquiringly at his parents.

Dad and I are planning to take you to Aunt Tamara's for the whole summer tomorrow.

To the village for the whole summer? - the son did not believe his ears.

Don't be in a hurry to rejoice, dear, - dad warned. - A number of difficulties await you there, one might say, tests.

The young man became wary. Mom explained:

One of the difficulties is that Aunt Tamara is deaf and dumb: in recent years after a strange illness, she does not hear or speak. We did not tell you about this, since we ourselves have not yet figured out what exactly happened to her.

She is, you know, a very nice person, kind and caring. You will be fine with her. True, you will have to explain yourself only with gestures or write notes. We'll give you a lot of pens and a ream of paper, so the communication problem is solvable.

She lives in a separate house alone. Nearby there is a river, where you can swim, near a forest ... We think that you will be able to have a good rest there after school and prepare for the entrance exams. What do you think about that?

Everything that was promised seemed attractive to Seraphim. Especially the fact that no one will bother him with remarks, because he nodded confidently:

I agree.

But we haven't told you everything yet, son, - continued mom. - The main danger, and we do not know if you can cope with it, is the environment in which you will find yourself. This village is special, to be honest, not the best. Mate for many of its inhabitants is the norm. And where there is a black word, there is a black soul. Almost all young people smoke. Oh, if you only knew how worried I am for you! You are so impressionable, vulnerable. In addition, your age, as they say, is dangerous ... But, alas, we have such circumstances that ...

We protected you from bad influences, - added the Pope, - but sooner or later a person is doomed to face evil. You are almost a man, and the time has come for you to become a warrior in the struggle for good. Do you understand everything, son?

Yes, - came the thoughtful answer.

The parents blessed their son and left. Left alone, Seraphim began to select the necessary books and things.

Aunt Tamara greeted them warmly, hugged everyone, kissed them, and even brushed away a tear at the sight of her nephew. She treated dear guests with pies, tea with delicious jam. But the feast was short-lived, as the parents were in a hurry.

Saying goodbye, the father tried to cheer up his son:

We will pray for you. Pray you too.

On the first day, Seraphim never left the yard. He settled down in the room allotted to him, examined his aunt's household, filled a barrel with water, extracting it from the well.

Explained with aunt hands. The simplest sign language was funny to him. He gestured for permission to examine his aunt's bookshelf. She willingly agreed.

There were books of spiritual content, the authors of which were modern priests. This aroused particular interest in the young man:

So much for your non-speaking aunt! Who would have thought?!

His hand involuntarily reached out to the "Mystery of Salvation" by Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin). Seraphim leafed through it. The gaze settled on the lines underlined with colored pencils. The young man could not resist the desire to find out what the aunt had highlighted in red, what was the main thing for her. One line was even marked with an exclamation mark: "In silence, the soul meets God."

Isn't this the secret of her dumbness? - flashed a guess.

Seraphim read the entire chapter, speckled with aunt's notes. Yes, these were some notches for the memory of the power of silence: "A person who talks a lot and constantly gradually unlearns how to think." "Verbosity devastates the soul ... grace leaves such a person."

Seraphim became more and more affirmed in the assumption that the reason for his mother's dumbness was not illness, but something else. But what?

In the evening, having asked Aunt Tamara for permission to ride a bicycle, he, having prayed, rushed along the village street.

The local dogs barked at the newcomer. The little mongrels chased him for a long time. One hefty mongrel was torn from behind the fence, howling viciously. It seemed that the fence was about to collapse, and then ... He was scared, but not to sit all day like a mouse in a hole.

The next time Seraphim took with him a loaf of bread, and when the mongrel barked to the hedge, he threw a loaf at her. The dog fell silent, glancing first at the bread, then at the stranger.

Why are you? Eat! - said the young man amiably, got on his bike and slowly rolled out of the outskirts. From time to time, he also threw pieces to the mongrels rushing after him.

Returning home, Seraphim stopped near the fence, behind which sat a huge mongrel, gave her the remains of bread. The dog sniffed incredulously and began to eat.

That's better! - Seraphim spoke affably. - Why spoil a good relationship? And if I start barking at you? That's it!

The mongrel swallowed the last bite and looked expectantly at the new acquaintance.

Then bye! - Seraphim drove to the house.

This went on for several evenings. The mongrel no longer showed hostility and even slightly wagged its tail.

But once his path was blocked by a band of guys and teenagers. Seraphim was forced to stop.

Hey! - as old acquaintances, he threw to the guys.

Great! - hissed through gritted teeth. - Give me a ride!

Well, take a ride.

The redhead saddled his bike awkwardly and, wiggling from side to side, rolled along the dusty road.

Look, don't knock down the pillar! - Seraphim tried to joke. However his joke is no one

His wife called him - "Chudik". Sometimes it is kind.

The eccentric had one peculiarity: something constantly happened to him. He did not want this, he suffered, but every now and then he got stuck in some stories - small, however, but annoying.

Here are episodes from one of his trips.

I got a vacation, decided to go to my brother in the Urals: I hadn’t seen each other for twelve years.

- And where is such a spoon ... on a subspecies of bitury ?! - shouted Chudik from the pantry.

- How should I know.

- Yes, that's all there was! - The eccentric tried to look sternly with round blue-white eyes. - Everything is here, but this one, you see, is not there.

- Does it look like a bitury?

- Well. Pike.

- I probably fried it by mistake. The eccentric was silent for a while.

- So how?

- Delicious! Ha-ha-ha! ... - He did not know how to joke at all, but he really wanted to. - Are the teeth intact? It is made of duralumin! ..

Vasily Shukshin

... We got together for a long time - until midnight. And early in the morning Chudik walked with a suitcase through the village.

- To the Urals! To the Urals! - he answered the question: where is he going? At the same time, his round, fleshy face, round eyes expressed an extremely trifling attitude towards distant roads - they did not frighten him. - To the Urals! We must throw ourselves.

But the Urals were still far away.

So far, he safely reached the district town, where he was to take a ticket and get on the train.

There was a lot of time. The eccentric decided to buy gifts for the nephews for now - sweets, gingerbread ... I went to the grocery store, joined the queue. In front of him stood a man wearing a hat, and in front of the hat was a plump woman with painted lips. The woman quietly, quickly, ardently spoke to her hat:

- Can you imagine how rude and tactless a person must be! He has sclerosis, well, he has had sclerosis for seven years, but no one suggested that he retire. And this week without a year leads the team - and already: "Maybe you, Alexander Semyonich, are better off retiring?" Nah-khal!

The hat echoed:

- Yes, yes ... They are now. Just think! Sclerosis. And Sumbatych? .. Also recently did not hold the text. And this one, how is her? ..

The eccentric respected city people. Not all, really: I did not respect hooligans and sellers. I was afraid.

Chudik. Cartoon based on the story of V. Shukshin

It was his turn. He bought candy, gingerbread, three chocolate bars. And he stepped aside to pack everything in a suitcase. He opened the suitcase on the floor, began to put it ... He looked at the floor, and at the counter, where the queue was, a fifty-ruble piece of paper lay at the feet of people. A sort of green fool, lies to herself, no one sees her. The eccentric even trembled with joy, his eyes lit up. In a hurry, so as not to be outstripped by someone, he began to think quickly, as if more cheerful, more intelligently to say this, in line, about a piece of paper.

- You live well, citizens! He said loudly and cheerfully.

They looked back at him.

- We, for example, do not throw such pieces of paper.

Everyone here got a little worried. It's not a three, not a five - fifty rubles, you have to work for half a month. But the owner of the piece is not.

“Probably the one in the hat,” Chudik guessed.

We decided to put the piece of paper in a prominent place on the counter.

“Someone will come running now,” the saleswoman said.

The eccentric left the store in a pleasant mood. He kept thinking how easy it was for him, it turned out cheerfully: "We, for example, don't throw such pieces of paper!" Suddenly everything seemed to be overwhelmed by heat: he remembered that he had just exchanged exactly such a piece of paper and another twenty-five-ruble one, the fifty-ruble one should be in his pocket ... He stuck it into his pocket - no. Here and there - no.

- Mine was a piece of paper! - said the Chudik loudly. - Your mother is so! .. My piece of paper.

Somehow my heart even rang with grief. The first impulse was to go and say: “Citizens, my piece of paper is something. I got two of them in the savings bank: one twenty-five rubles, the other half a hotel. I have exchanged one now, but not the other ”. But as soon as he imagined how he would stun everyone with this statement, many would think: "Of course, since the owner was not found, he decided to pocket it." No, do not overpower yourself - do not reach out for this damned piece of paper. They may still not give it back ...

- But why am I like this? - Chudik bitterly reasoned aloud. - So what's now?..

I had to go home.

I went to the store, wanted to look at the piece of paper at least from a distance, stood at the entrance ... and did not enter. It will be very painful. The heart can not stand it.

I rode on the bus and swore softly - I was gathering my spirit: an explanation with my wife was ahead.

They removed another fifty rubles from the book.

The eccentric, killed by his insignificance, which his wife explained to him again (she even hit him on the head a couple of times with a slotted spoon), was on the train. But gradually the bitterness passed. Forests, copses, villages flashed outside the window ... Different people entered and went out, different stories were told ... Chudik also told one of his intelligent comrades, when they stood in the vestibule, smoking.

- We have one fool in the neighboring village too ... He grabbed a firebrand - and after his mother. Drunk. She runs away from him and shouts: "Hands," she shouts, "don't burn your hands, son!" He also cares about him ... And he is rushing, a drunken mug. Mother. Can you imagine how rude, tactless you have to be ...

- Have you come up with it yourself? - Sternly asked the intelligent comrade, looking at Chudik over his glasses.

- Why? - he did not understand. - Over the river, the village of Ramenskoye ...

The intelligent comrade turned to the window and did not speak again.

After the train, Chudik still had to fly a local plane for an hour and a half. He once flew once. For a long time. He got on the plane not without timidity. "Isn't it possible that not a single screw will deteriorate in it in an hour and a half?" - thought. Then - nothing, dared. He even tried to talk to a neighbor, but he was reading the newspaper, and he was so interested in what was in the newspaper that he did not want to listen to a living person. And Chudik wanted to find out this: he heard that they give food on planes. And they didn’t carry something. He really wanted to eat on the plane - out of curiosity.

"We've got it," he decided.

He began to look down. Mountains of clouds below. For some reason, the eccentric could not say for sure: is it beautiful or not? And all around they said: "Oh, what a beauty!" He only suddenly felt the stupidest desire: to fall into them, into the clouds, like into cotton wool. He also thought, “Why am I not surprised? After all, under me is almost five kilometers. " I mentally measured these five kilometers on the ground, put them on the priest to be surprised, and was not surprised.

- Here is a man? .. He came up with the same, - he said to his neighbor. The latter looked at him, said nothing, rustled again with the newspaper.

- Fasten your seat belts! Said the pretty young woman. - We are going to land.

The eccentric obediently fastened his belt. And the neighbor - zero attention. The eccentric touched him carefully:

- They are told to fasten the belt.

“Nothing,” said the neighbor. He put the newspaper aside, leaned back in his seat and said, as if remembering something: - Children are the flowers of life, they must be planted with their heads down.

- Like this? - Chudik did not understand.

The reader laughed loudly and did not speak again.

They began to decline rapidly. So the earth is just a stone's throw away, it flies rapidly backwards. But there is still no push. As the knowledgeable people later explained, the pilot "missed". Finally, a jolt, and everyone begins to be thrown so hard that there was a knock of teeth and a grinding sound. This reader with the newspaper leaped from his seat, butted Chudik with his bald head, then kissed the window, then found himself on the floor. During all this time, he did not make a single sound. And everyone around was also silent - it amazed the Chudik. He was also silent. Become. The first who came to their senses looked through the windows and found that the plane was in a potato field. A gloomy pilot came out of the cockpit and went to the exit. Someone asked him carefully:

- We that, it seems, got into potatoes?

- Can't you see it yourself? - said the pilot.

The fear subsided, and the most cheerful were already trying to joke.

The bald reader was looking for his artificial jaw. The eccentric unbuckled his belt and also began to search.

- This?! He exclaimed happily and handed it to the reader.

Even his bald head turned purple.

- Why is it necessary to grab with your hands! He shouted in a lisp.

The freak was at a loss.

- And what? ..

- Where am I going to boil it? Where?!

This Chudik did not know either.

- Will you come with me? He suggested. - My brother lives here, we will boil there ... Are you afraid that I brought microbes there? I do not have them.

The reader looked at Chudik in surprise and stopped shouting.

At the airport, Chudik wrote a telegram to his wife:

“We landed. A branch of lilac fell on my chest, dear Pear, do not forget me. Pt. Vasyatka ".

The telegraph operator, a stern, beautiful woman, having read the telegram, suggested:

- Make up differently. You are an adult, not in a kindergarten.

- Why? - asked the Chudik. - I always write to her in letters. This is my wife! .. You must have thought ...

“You can write whatever you want in letters, but a telegram is a type of communication. This is plain text.

Chudik rewrote:

“We landed. Everything is fine. Vasyatka ".

The telegraph operator herself corrected two words: “We landed” and “Vasyatka”. It became: “We flew. Basil".

- “We've landed” ... What are you, an astronaut, or what?

- Well, okay, - said Chudik. - Let it be so.

... Chudik knew: he has a brother Dmitry, three nephews ... Somehow I didn't think about the fact that there should still be a daughter-in-law. He had never seen her. And it was she, the daughter-in-law, who ruined everything, the whole vacation. For some reason, she immediately took a dislike to Chudik.

We drank in the evening with my brother, and Chudik began to sing in a trembling voice:

Poplar-ah-ah, poplars-ah-ah ...

Sofya Ivanovna, daughter-in-law, looked out of the other room, asked angrily:

- Can you not yell? You're not at the train station, are you? - And slammed the door.

Brother Dmitry felt embarrassed.

“This… the kids are sleeping there. She's actually good.

We drank some more. They began to remember their youth, mother, father ...

- Do you remember? .. - Brother Dmitry asked joyfully. - Although who do you remember there! It was pectoral. They will leave me with you, and I kissed you. Once you even turned blue. Hit me for it. Then they didn’t leave the five. And all the same: they just turn away, I am beside you: I kiss again. God knows what the habit was. Itself - something else knee-deep snot, and already ... this ... with kisses ...

- Do you remember, - Chudik also recalled, - how you me ...

- Will you stop yelling? Sofya Ivanovna asked again, quite angrily, nervously. - Who needs to listen to these different snot and kisses of yours? There - they started talking.

- Let's go outside, - said Chudik.

We went outside, sat on the porch.

- Do you remember? .. - continued the Chudik.

But then something happened to brother Dmitry: he began to cry and began pounding his knee with his fist.

- Here it is, my life! Saw? How much anger is in a person! .. How much anger!

The eccentric began to calm his brother:

- Come on, don't be upset. Do not. They are not evil, they are crazy. I have the same.

- Well, what have you disliked? What for? After all, she took a dislike to you ... But what for?

Just then Chudik realized that yes, his daughter-in-law disliked him. And for what really?

- But for the fact that you are not responsible, not a leader. I know her, you fool. She became obsessed with her responsible. And who herself! The barmaid is in the office, the bump is out of the blue. Looks there and starts ... She hates me too, that I am not responsible, from the village.

- In what department?

- In this ... mining ... Do not pronounce now. Why go out? What she, did not know, what?

Then Chudik was struck to the quick.

- And what's the matter in general? He asked loudly, not his brother, someone else. - Yes, if you want to know, almost all famous people left the village. As in a black frame, so, you look - a native of the village. We need to read the newspapers! .. He’s not a figure, you understand, he’s a native, went to work early.

- And how much I tried to prove to her: in the village people are better, not arrogant.

- Do you remember Stepan Vorobyov? You knew him ...

- I knew how.

- Already there is a village! .. And please: Hero of the Soviet Union. He destroyed nine tanks. I went to the ram. His mother will now pay a lifelong pension of sixty rubles. And they found out only recently, they thought it was missing ...

- And Maksimov Ilya! .. We left together. Please, holder of Glory of three degrees. But don't tell her about Stepan ... Don't.

- Okay. And this one! ..

The excited brothers were still making noise for a long time. The eccentric even walked around the porch and waved his arms.

- The village, you see! .. Yes, there is nothing but air! In the morning you open the window - tell me how it will wash you all over. Even if you drink it, it is so fresh and fragrant, it smells of herbs, different flowers ...

Then they got tired.

- Did you block the roof? The older brother asked quietly.

- Blocked. - The freak also sighed softly. - I set up the veranda - it is a pleasure to look. You go out on the veranda in the evening ... you start fantasizing: if only mother and father would be alive, you would come with the children - everyone would be sitting on the veranda, drinking tea with raspberries. Raspberries are now an abyss. You, Dmitry, do not quarrel with her, otherwise she will dislike worse. And somehow I will be more affectionate, she, you see, will go away.

- But she herself is from the village! Dmitry was amazed quietly and sadly. - But ... She tortured the children, you fool: she tortured one on the pianos, wrote down the other in figure skating. My heart bleeds, but don't tell me, just swear.

- Mmh! .. - The Chudik got excited again. “I don’t understand these newspapers in any way: there’s one such newspaper who works in a store — a rude one. Eh, you! .. And she comes home - the same. That's where the grief is! And I do not understand! - The eccentric also hit his knee with his fist. - I don't understand: why did they become angry?

When Chudik woke up in the morning, no one was in the apartment: Dmitry's brother had gone to work, his daughter-in-law, too, the older children were playing in the yard, the little one was taken to the nursery.

The eccentric tidied up the bed, washed and began to think what would be so pleasant for his daughter-in-law. Then a baby carriage caught my eye. "Hey," thought Chudik, "I'll paint it." At home he painted the stove in such a way that everyone was amazed. I found a childish paint, a paintbrush and got down to business. In an hour it was all over, the carriage was unrecognizable. On the top of the stroller Chudik let the cranes go - a flock in a corner, on the bottom - different flowers, grass-ant, a couple of cockerels, chickens ... He examined the stroller from all sides - a feast for the eyes. Not a stroller, but a toy. Imagined how pleasantly amazed the daughter-in-law would be, grinned.

- And you say - a village. Weird. - He wanted peace with his daughter-in-law. - The child will be like a basket.

All day Chudik walked around the city, gazing at the windows. I bought a boat for my nephew, a pretty one, white, with a light bulb. “I'll paint it too,” I thought.

At six o'clock Chudik came to his brother. I went to the porch and heard that brother Dmitry was arguing with his wife. However, his wife swore, and brother Dmitry only repeated:

- Well, what is it! .. Come on ... Sleepy ... Okay too ...

- So that tomorrow this fool is not here! - Sofya Ivanovna shouted. - Let him leave tomorrow.

- Come on! .. Sonya ...

- Not okay! Not okay! Let him not wait - I'll throw his suitcase to hell, and that's it!

The eccentric hastened to get off the porch ... And then he did not know what to do. Again he was in pain. When he was hated, he was in great pain. And scary. It seemed: well, now everything, why live? And I wanted to get away from people who hate him or laugh.

- But why am I like this? - he whispered bitterly, sitting in the shed. - One should have guessed: she will not understand, she will not understand folk art.

He sat in the shed until dark. And my heart ached. Then brother Dmitry came. I was not surprised - as if he knew that brother Vasily had been sitting in the shed for a long time.

“Here…” he said. “It… made some noise again. A stroller ... it wouldn't be necessary.

- I thought he would look at her. I'll go, brother.

Brother Dmitry sighed ... and said nothing.

The Chudik came home when it was raining steamy rain. The eccentric got off the bus, took off his new shoes, ran on the warm, wet earth - a suitcase in one hand, boots in the other. He jumped up and sang loudly:

Poplar-a, poplar-a ...

On one side the sky had already cleared, was turning blue, and the sun was near somewhere. And the rain thinned, splashed in large drops into the puddles; bubbles exploded and burst in them.

In one place Chudik slipped, almost fell.

... His name was Vasily Yegorych Knyazev. He was thirty-nine years old. He worked as a projectionist in the village. He loved detectives and dogs. As a child, he dreamed of being a spy.