Koryusha

Gorky "You see, that's what happened. His father was sentenced to one and a half years in prison for embezzling public funds. During this period, we ate up all our savings. Our savings...

Golgi< /p>

"You see, that's what happened. His father was sentenced to embezzlement of public funds. After serving one and a half years in prison, we ate up all our savings during this period. Our savings were already very small. By the time my husband got out of jail, I was using horseradish roots as firewood. A gardener gave me a load of useless horseradish roots - I dried them and burned them with dried cow dung. The smell is very unpleasant. The porridge and soup made also have a strange smell. Koryusha was at school these days. He's a flexible kid...and he knows how to save. When he comes home from school, he picks up wood and planks on the way and always takes them home. Yes... Spring is here, the snow has melted, but he is still wearing felt boots. The boots were often soaked... He took them off and his little feet were all red - red. Just then they released his father from prison and took him home in a taxi. He contracted paralysis in prison. He was lying there, looking at me with a bitter smile. I stood in front of the bed, lowered my eyes to look at him, and thought to myself: 'Why should I raise him, such a harmful person? Better to throw him into a puddle in the street. ’ But Koryusha saw it and cried. His face turned completely pale, and he looked at his father, with big tears falling down his face. He said: 'Good mother, how is he? ’ I said, ‘He is no longer useful. ’...Yes, from that day on, this is how I lived. Let's live like this, sir. I work like a madman all day long, but even when I'm lucky I can only bring in twenty kopecks... I really want to die... even if I kill myself. Kolyushka saw all this... His face was very ugly... Once I couldn't stand it any longer... I said: This damn life! How nice it would be to die…... Even if one of you dies... I mean them, father and Kolyusha... Father nodded, as if he wanted to say: I am going to die, don't scold me, be patient. But Koryusha... looked at me and walked out. By the time I woke up...ah, it was too late. Because of you, sir. He, Koryusha, had been out for less than an hour when a policeman arrived in a carriage. He said: 'Are you Mrs. Shishenina? ’ I immediately guessed something was wrong... He said, ‘Please go to the hospital. ’ He said, ‘Your son was kicked by the merchant Anoxing’s horse. ’…I’ll take the car to the hospital. In the carriage I felt as if I were sitting on red-hot iron nails. I thought to myself: ‘You damn woman, you deserve bad luck! 'Here we are. Koryusha, he was lying there, all bandaged. He smiled at me...tears flowed from his eyes...he said to me in a low voice: 'Good mother, forgive me! The money is with the inspector. ’ I said: ‘Koliusha, God bless you. What money do you mean? ’ He said: ‘Those people on the street threw it to me, and Annuo Xing gave it to me...’ I asked: ‘Why did they give me money? ’ He said: ‘Because of this...’ He let out a soft...moan. His eyes were wide open... I said: 'Kolyushka, good son, how come you didn't see the horse coming? ’ But, oh, sir, he said to me clearly: ‘I saw it... the carriage... but... I didn’t want to run away. I thought - if I get crushed, they'll give me money. They really gave the money...' This is... what he said... I understand this, I understand his thoughts, he is really an angel, but it is too late. He died the next morning... He was still conscious when he died.He kept saying: 'Good mother, buy this for dad, buy that, and buy for yourself...' It seemed like there was a lot of money. Money - forty-seven rubles indeed. I went to Anokhin's house, but he gave me five rubles... He also cursed, saying: 'Everyone saw that the child ran under the horse's feet by himself, and you still come to ask me for money? ’ I never went to his place again. Sir, that's what it's all about. ”

She was silent, she was silent again As cold and dull as before.

The cemetery was clean and desolate: the crosses, the poorly grown trees standing in the middle of the crosses, the graves, the expressionless woman sitting sadly on one of the graves - all this reminded me of human suffering, Thinking of death.

However, the cloudless sky It is Qingming, it is spreading the dry heat.

I took out some money from my pocket and gave them to this woman who was still alive but whose heart was killed by the misfortunes of life.

She nodded and said to me in a very slow voice:

"Master, don't bother you, I have enough for today... I really don't need much, now... ...I am the only one...living alone in the world...…"

She sighed deeply In one breath, she tightly closed her lips that were distorted by sadness.