It's very boring in winter. The crossing is small. There is forest all around. It gets swept up in the winter, covered in snow - and there’s nowhere to get out.
The only entertainment is to ride down the mountain. But again, you can’t ride down the mountain all day. Well, you rode once, well, you rode another, well, you rode twenty times, and then you still get bored, and you get tired. If only they, sleds, could roll up the mountain themselves. Otherwise they roll down the mountain, but not up the mountain.
There are few guys at the crossing: the guard at the crossing has Vaska, the driver has Petka, the telegraph operator has Seryozhka. The rest of the guys are completely small: one is three years old, the other is four. What kind of comrades are these?
Petka and Vaska were friends. And Seryozha was harmful. He loved to fight.
He will call Petka:
- Come here, Petka. I'll show you an American trick.
But Petka is not coming. Fears:
- You also said last time - focus. And he hit me on the neck twice.
- Well, it’s a simple trick, but this is American, without knocking. Come quickly and watch how it jumps around me.
Petka sees something really jumping in Seryozhka’s hand. How not to come!
And Seryozhka is a master. Wrap a thread and an elastic band around a stick. Here he has some kind of thing jumping in his palm, either a pig or a fish.
- Good trick?
- Good.
- Now I’ll show you even better. Turn your back. As soon as Petka turns around, and Seryozhka jerks him from behind with his knee, Petka immediately heads into a snowdrift. Here's the American one for you...
Vaska got it too. However, when Vaska and Petka played together, Seryozhka did not touch them. Wow! Just touch! Together, they are brave themselves.
One day Vaska’s throat hurt, and they didn’t allow him to go outside.
The mother went to see a neighbor, the father went to move to meet the fast train. Quiet at home.

Vaska sits and thinks: what would be so interesting to do? Or some kind of trick? Or some other thing too? I walked and walked from corner to corner - there was nothing interesting.
He placed a chair next to the wardrobe. He opened the door. He looked at the top shelf, where there was a tied jar of honey, and poked it with his finger.
Of course, it would be nice to untie the jar and scoop up honey with a tablespoon...
However, he sighed and got down, because he already knew in advance that his mother would not like such a trick. He sat down by the window and began to wait for the fast train to rush past. It’s just a pity that you’ll never have time to see what’s going on inside the ambulance.
It will roar, scattering sparks. It will rumble so loudly that the walls will shake and the dishes on the shelves will rattle. It will sparkle with bright lights. Like shadows, someone’s faces will flash through the windows, flowers on the white tables of the large dining car. Heavy yellow handles and multi-colored glass will sparkle with gold. A white chef's hat will fly by. Now you have nothing left. Only the signal lamp behind the last carriage is barely visible.
And never, not once did the ambulance stop at their little junction. He is always in a hurry, rushing to some very distant country - Siberia.
And he rushes to Siberia and rushes from Siberia. This fast train has a very, very troubled life.
Vaska is sitting by the window and suddenly sees Petka walking along the road, looking unusually important, and carrying some kind of package under his arm. Well, a real technician or road foreman with a briefcase.
Vaska was very surprised. I wanted to shout out the window: “Where are you going, Petka? And what do you have wrapped in that paper?”
But as soon as he opened the window, his mother came and scolded him about why he was climbing into the frosty air with a sore throat.
Then an ambulance rushed by with a roar and roar. Then they sat down to dinner, and Vaska forgot about Petka’s strange walk.
However, the next day he sees that again, like yesterday, Petka is walking along the road and carrying something wrapped in a newspaper. And the face is so important, just like the duty officer at a large station.
Vaska drummed his fist on the frame, and his mother screamed.
So Petka passed by on his way.
Vaska became curious: what happened to Petka? It would happen that all day long he would either chase the dogs, or boss the little ones around, or run away from Seryozhka, and here comes an important man, with a very proud face.
Vaska cleared his throat slowly and said in a calm voice:
- And my throat stopped hurting, mom.
- Well, it’s good that it stopped.
- It stopped completely. Well, it doesn’t even hurt at all. Soon I will be able to go for a walk.
“Soon you can, but today sit down,” the mother answered, “you were wheezing this morning.”
“It was in the morning, but now it’s already evening,” Vaska objected, figuring out how to get outside.
He walked around in silence, drank some water and quietly sang a song. He sang the one he heard in the summer from visiting Komsomol members, about how a detachment of Communards fought very heroically under frequent explosions of explosive grenades. Actually, he didn’t want to sing, and he sang with the secret thought that his mother, hearing him sing, would believe that his throat no longer hurt and would let him go outside.
But since his mother, busy in the kitchen, did not pay attention to him, he began to sing louder about how the Communards were captured by the evil general and what torment he was preparing for them.
When this did not help, he sang at the top of his voice about how the Communards, undaunted by the promised torment, began to dig a deep grave.
He didn’t sing very well, but very loudly, and since his mother was silent, Vaska decided that she liked the singing and would probably let him go outside right away.
But as soon as he approached the most solemn moment, when the communards who had finished their work unanimously began to denounce the damned general, his mother stopped rattling the dishes and stuck her angry and surprised face through the door.
- And why did you go crazy, idol? - she screamed. - I listen, listen... I think, or is he crazy? He yells like Maryin's goat when he gets lost!
Vaska felt offended and fell silent. And it’s not that it’s a shame that his mother compared him to Marya’s goat, but that he only tried in vain and they won’t let him outside today anyway.
Frowning, he climbed onto the warm stove. He put a sheepskin coat under his head and, to the even purring of the red cat Ivan Ivanovich, thought about his sad fate.
Boring! There is no school. There are no pioneers. The fast train doesn't stop. Winter doesn't go away. Boring! If only summer would come soon! In summer - fish, raspberries, mushrooms, nuts.
And Vaska remembered how one summer, to everyone’s surprise, he caught a huge perch on a fishing rod.
It was towards nightfall, and he put the perch in the canopy to give it to his mother in the morning. And during the night the wicked Ivan Ivanovich crept into the canopy and gobbled up the perch, leaving only the head and tail.
Remembering this, Vaska poked Ivan Ivanovich with his fist with annoyance and said angrily:
“Next time I’ll break my head for such things!” The red cat jumped in fear, meowed angrily and lazily jumped off the stove. And Vaska lay there and lay there and fell asleep.
The next day, the throat went away, and Vaska was released into the street. There was a thaw overnight. Thick, sharp icicles hung from the roofs. A damp, soft wind blew. Spring was not far away.
Vaska wanted to run to look for Petka, but Petka himself came to meet him.
- And where are you going, Petka? - asked Vaska. - And why have you, Petka, never come to see me? When your stomach hurt, I came to you, but when I had a sore throat, you didn’t come.
“I came in,” Petka answered. - I approached the house and remembered that you and I recently drowned your bucket in the well. Well, I think now Vaska’s mother will start scolding me. He stood and stood and decided not to come in.
- Oh you! Yes, she scolded her long ago and forgot, but dad got the bucket from the well the day before yesterday. Be sure to come ahead... What is this thing you have wrapped in a newspaper?
- It's not a thing. These are books. One book is for reading, the other book is arithmetic. I have been going to Ivan Mikhailovich with them for three days now. I can read, but I can’t write and I can’t do arithmetic. So he teaches me. Do you want me to ask you arithmetic now? Well, you and I caught fish. I caught ten fish, and you caught three fish. How many did we catch together?
- Why did I catch so little? - Vaska was offended. - You are ten, and I am three. Do you remember what perch I caught last summer? You won't be able to get this out.
- So this is arithmetic, Vaska!
- Well, what about arithmetic? Still not enough. I'm three, and he's ten! I have a real float on my rod, but you have a cork, and your rod is crooked...
- Crooked? That's what he said! Why is it crooked? It was just crooked a little, so I straightened it out a long time ago. Okay, I caught ten fish, and you caught seven.
- Why am I seven?
- How why? Well, it doesn’t bite anymore, that’s all.
- It doesn’t bite for me, but for some reason it does for you? Some very stupid arithmetic.
- What a man you are, really! - Petka sighed. - Well, let me catch ten fish and you catch ten. How much will there be?
“And there will probably be a lot,” Vaska answered after thinking.
- "A lot of"! Do they really think so? It will be twenty, that's how much. Now I will go to Ivan Mikhailovich every day, he will teach me arithmetic and teach me how to write. But the fact that! There is no school, so sit like an ignorant fool or something...
Vaska was offended.
- When you, Petka, were climbing for pears and fell and lost your arm, I brought you home from the forest fresh nuts, two iron nuts, and a live hedgehog. And when my throat hurt, you quickly joined Ivan Mikhailovich without me! So you will be a scientist, and I’ll just be like that? And also comrade...
Petka felt that Vaska was telling the truth, both about the nuts and about the hedgehog. He blushed, turned away and fell silent.
So they were silent and stood there. And they wanted to split up after quarreling. But it was a very nice, warm evening. And spring was close, and along the streets little children danced together near the loose snow woman...
“Let’s make a train out of a sled for the kids,” Petka unexpectedly suggested. - I will be the locomotive, you will be the driver, and they will be the passengers. And tomorrow we’ll go together to Ivan Mikhailovich and ask. He is kind, he will teach you too. Okay, Vaska?
- That would be bad!
The guys never quarreled, but became even stronger friends. The whole evening we played and rode with the little ones. In the morning we went to a kind man, Ivan Mikhailovich.

2

Vaska and Petka were going to class. Harmful Seryozhka jumped out from behind the gate and shouted:
- Hey, Vaska! Come on, count it. First I’ll hit you on the neck three times, and then five more, how long will that be?
“Let’s go, Petka, let’s beat him,” suggested the offended Vaska. - You knock once, and I knock once. Together we can do it. Let's knock once and let's go.
“And then he’ll catch us one by one and beat us up,” answered the more cautious Petka.
- And we will not be alone, we will always be together. You are together and I am together. Come on, Petka, let’s knock once and let’s go.
“No need,” Petka refused. - Otherwise, during a fight, books can be torn apart. It'll be summer, then we'll give it to him. And so that he doesn’t tease, and so that he doesn’t pull fish out of our dive.
- He’ll still pull it out! - Vaska sighed.
- Will not be. We'll throw a dive into a place where he won't find it.
“He will find it,” Vaska objected sadly. - He is cunning, and his “cat” is cunning and sharp.
- Well, what a cunning one. We ourselves are cunning now! You are already eight years old and I am eight - that means how old are we together?
“Sixteen,” Vaska counted.
- Well, we are sixteen, and he is nine. This means we are more cunning.
- Why are sixteen more cunning than nine? - Vaska was surprised.
- Definitely more cunning. The older a person is, the more cunning he is. Take Pavlik Priprygin. He is four years old - what kind of trick does he have? You can beg or steal anything from him. And take the farmer’s Danila Egorovich. He is fifty years old, and you won’t find him more cunning. They imposed a tax of two hundred poods on him, and he supplied the men with vodka, and they signed some kind of paper for him when they were drunk. He went to the district with this paper, and they knocked him off one and a half hundred pounds.
“But people don’t say that,” Vaska interrupted. - People say that he is cunning not because he is old, but because he is a fist. What do you think, Petka, what is a fist? Why is one person like a person, and another person like a fist?
- Rich, here's your fist. You are poor, so you are not a fist. And Danila Egorovich is a fist.
- Why am I poor? - Vaska was surprised. - Our dad gets one hundred and twelve rubles. We have a pig, a goat, and four chickens. How poor are we? Our father is a working man, and not someone like the lost Epiphanes, who is beating himself for Christ’s sake.
- Well, don’t let you be poor. So your father works for you, and for me, and for everyone else. And Danila Yegorovich had four girls working in his garden in the summer, and even some nephew came, and even some supposed brother-in-law, and a drunken Ermolai was hired to guard the garden. Do you remember how Ermolai told you off with nettles when we were climbing for apples? Wow, you screamed then! And I’m sitting in the bushes and thinking: Vaska is yelling great - it’s just like Yermolai bugging him with nettles.
- You're good! - Vaska frowned. - He ran away and left me.
- Should we really wait? - Petka answered coolly. - Brother, I jumped over the fence like a tiger. He, Ermolai, only managed to hit me on the back twice with a twig. And you dug like a turkey, and that’s what hit you.

... Once upon a time, Ivan Mikhailovich was a driver. Before the revolution, he was a driver on a simple locomotive. And when the revolution came and the civil war began, Ivan Mikhailovich switched from a simple steam locomotive to an armored one.
Petka and Vaska have seen many different locomotives. They also knew the steam locomotive of the “C” system - tall, light, fast, the one that rushes with a fast train to a distant country - Siberia. They also saw huge three-cylinder “M” locomotives, those that could pull heavy, long trains up steep climbs, and clumsy shunting “O” ones, whose entire journey was only from the entrance signal to the exit signal. The guys saw all sorts of locomotives. But they had never seen a steam locomotive like the one in Ivan Mikhailovich’s photograph. We’ve never seen a steam locomotive like this, and we haven’t seen any carriages either.
There is no pipe. The wheels are not visible. The heavy steel windows of the locomotive are tightly closed. Instead of windows there are narrow longitudinal slits from which machine guns stick out. No roofs. Instead of a roof, there were low round towers, and from those towers came the heavy muzzles of artillery pieces.
And nothing about the armored train shines: there are no polished yellow handles, no bright colors, no light-colored glass. The entire armored train, heavy, wide, as if pressed against the rails, is painted gray-green.
And no one is visible: neither the driver, nor the conductors with lanterns, nor the chief with a whistle.
Somewhere there, inside, behind the shield, behind the steel casing, near the massive levers, near the machine guns, near the guns, the Red Army soldiers were hiding on alert, but all this was closed, all hidden, all silent.
Silent for the time being. But then an armored train will sneak, without beeps, without whistles, at night to where the enemy is close, or it will break out onto the field, where there is a heavy battle between the Reds and the Whites. Oh, how the disastrous machine guns cut from the dark crevices then! Wow, how the volleys of awakened mighty guns will thunder from the turning towers!
And then one day in battle a very heavy shell hit an armored train at point-blank range. The shell broke through the casing and tore off the arm of military driver Ivan Mikhailovich with shrapnel.
Since then, Ivan Mikhailovich is no longer a driver. He receives a pension and lives in the city with his eldest son, a turner in the locomotive workshops. And on the road he comes to visit his sister. There are people who say that Ivan Mikhailovich not only had his arm torn off, but also had his head hit by a shell, and that this made him a little... well, how should I say, not just sick, but somehow strange.
However, neither Petka nor Vaska believed such evil people at all, because Ivan Mikhailovich was a very good person. Only one thing: Ivan Mikhailovich smoked a lot and his thick eyebrows trembled a little when he told something interesting about previous years, about difficult wars, about how the Whites began them and how the Reds ended them.
And spring broke through somehow all at once. Every night there is warm rain, every day there is bright sun. The snow melted quickly, like pieces of butter in a frying pan.
Streams flowed, the ice on the Quiet River broke, the willow fluffed up, rooks and starlings flew in. And all this at once. It was only the tenth day since spring arrived, and there was no snow at all, and the mud on the road had dried up.
One day after a lesson, when the guys wanted to run to the river to see how much the water had subsided, Ivan Mikhailovich asked:
- What, guys, aren’t you running away to Aleshino? I need to give Yegor Mikhailovich a note. Give him the power of attorney with a note. He will receive a pension for me in the city and bring it here.
“We’re running away,” Vaska answered briskly. “We run away very quickly, just like cavalry.”
“We know Yegor,” Petka confirmed. - Is this the Yegor who is the chairman? He has guys: Pashka and Mashka. Last year his guys and I picked raspberries in the forest. We picked a whole basket, but they were barely at the bottom, because they were still small and couldn’t keep up with us.
“Run to him,” said Ivan Mikhailovich. - We are old friends. When I was a driver on an armored car, he, Egor, still a young boy at that time, worked for me as a fireman. When a shell broke through the casing and cut off my arm with a shrapnel, we were together. After the explosion, I remained in my memory for another minute or two. Well, I think the matter is lost. The boy is still stupid and barely knows the car. One remained on the locomotive. It will crash and destroy the entire armored car. I moved to reverse and take the car out of the battle. And at this time there was a signal from the commander: “Full speed ahead!” Egor pushed me into the corner onto a pile of wiping tow, and he rushed to the lever: “There is full speed ahead!” Then I closed my eyes and thought: “Well, the armored car is gone.” I woke up and heard it quiet. The fight is over. I looked and my hand was bandaged with a shirt. And Yegorka himself is half naked... All wet, his lips are caked, there are burns on his body. He stands and staggers - he’s about to fall. For two whole hours he drove the car alone in battle. And for the fireman, and for the driver, and he worked with me as a doctor...
Ivan Mikhailovich's eyebrows trembled, he fell silent and shook his head, either thinking about something, or remembering something. And the kids stood silently, waiting to see if Ivan Mikhailovich would tell him something else, and were very surprised that Pashkin and Mashkin’s father, Yegor, turned out to be such a hero, because he didn’t look at all like those heroes that the guys saw in the pictures, hanging in the red corner at the crossing. Those heroes are tall, and their faces are proud, and in their hands they have red banners or sparkling sabers. And Pashkin and Mashkin’s father was short, his face was covered in freckles, his eyes were narrow and squinted. He wore a simple black shirt and a gray checkered cap. The only thing is that he was stubborn and if he ever gets things wrong, he won’t leave until he gets his way.
The guys in Aleshino heard about this from the men, and they heard it at the crossing too.
Ivan Mikhailovich wrote a note and gave the guys a flatbread so that they wouldn’t get hungry on the road. And Vaska and Petka, having broken a whip from the broom filled with juice, whipping themselves along the legs, galloped downhill in a friendly gallop.

3

The road to Aleshino is nine kilometers, and the direct path is only five.
A dense forest begins near the Quiet River. This endless forest stretches somewhere very far. In that forest there are lakes in which there are large, shiny, like polished copper, crucian carp, but the guys don’t go there: it’s far away, and it’s not difficult to get lost in the swamp. There are a lot of raspberries, mushrooms, and hazel trees in that forest. In the steep ravines, along the bed of which the Quiet River runs from the swamp, along straight slopes of bright red clay, swallows are found in burrows. Hedgehogs, hares and other harmless animals hide in the bushes. But further, beyond the lakes, in the upper reaches of the Sinyavka River, where men go in winter to cut timber for rafting, lumberjacks encountered wolves and one day came across an old, shabby bear.
What a wonderful forest that spreads widely in the region where Petka and Vaska lived!
And for this reason, now through the cheerful, now through the gloomy forest, from hillock to hillock, through hollows, through perches across streams, the guys sent to Aleshino cheerfully ran along the nearby path.
Where the path led out onto the road, one kilometer from Aleshin, stood the farm of the rich man Danila Egorovich.
Here the out of breath children stopped at a well to drink.
Danila Egorovich, who immediately watered two well-fed horses, asked the guys where they were from and why they were running to Aleshino. And the guys willingly told him who they were and what business they had in Aleshino with the chairman Yegor Mikhailovich.
They would have talked with Danila Yegorovich longer, because they were curious to look at such a person about whom people say that he is a kulak, but then they saw that three Aleshin peasants were coming out of the yard to see Danila Yegorovich, and behind them was walking a gloomy and angry, probably hungover, Ermolai. Noticing Yermolai, the same one who once treated Vaska with nettles, the guys moved away from the well at a trot and soon found themselves in Aleshino, in the square where people had gathered for some kind of rally.
But the guys, without stopping, ran further, to the outskirts, deciding on the way back from Yegor Mikhailovich to find out why the people were and what this interesting thing was up to.
However, at Yegor’s house they found only his children - Pashka and Masha. These were six-year-old twins, very friendly with each other and very similar to each other.
As always, they played together. Pashka was whittling some blocks and planks, and Mashka was making them out of them in the sand, as it seemed to the guys that it was either a house or a well.
However, Masha explained to them that this was not a house or a well, but first there was a tractor, and now there will be an airplane.
- Oh, you! - said Vaska, unceremoniously poking the airplane with a willow whip. - Eh, you stupid people! Are airplanes made from wood chips? They are made from something completely different. Where is your father?
“Father went to the meeting,” Pashka answered, smiling good-naturedly and not at all offended.
“He went to the meeting,” Masha confirmed, raising her blue, slightly surprised eyes to the guys.
“He went, and at home only the grandmother was lying on the stove and swearing,” Pashka added.
“And the grandmother lies there and swears,” explained Masha. - And when daddy left, she swore too. So that, he says, you and your collective farm will disappear into the ground.
And Masha looked worriedly in the direction where the hut stood and where the unkind grandmother lay, who wanted her father to fall through the ground.
“He won’t fail,” Vaska reassured her. -Where will he go? Well, stomp your feet on the ground, and you, Pashka, stomp too. Yes, stomp harder! Well, didn’t you fail? Well, stomp even harder.
And, forcing the foolish Pashka and Masha to stomp diligently until they were out of breath, satisfied with their mischievous invention, the children went to the square, where a restless meeting had long since begun.
- That's how it is! - said Petka, after they had jostled among the gathered people.
“Interesting things,” Vaska agreed, sitting down on the edge of a thick log that smelled of resin and taking out a piece of flatbread from his bosom.
- Where did you go, Vaska?
Ran to get drunk. And why did the men split up so much? All you can hear is: collective farm and collective farm. Some criticize the collective farm, others say that it is impossible to live without a collective farm. The boys even catch on. Do you know Fedka Galkin? Well, so pockmarked.
- I know.
- So here it is. I was running to drink and saw how he just got into a fight with some red-haired guy. The red-haired one jumped out and sang: “Fedka the collective farm is a pig’s nose.” And Fedka got angry at such singing, and they started a fight. I really wanted to shout at you so that you could watch them fight. Yes, here some hunchbacked woman was chasing geese and hit both boys with a twig - well, they ran away.
Vaska looked at the sun and became worried:
- Let's go, Petka, let's give the note. By the time we get home, it will be evening. No matter what happens at home.
Pushing through the crowd, the evasive guys reached a pile of logs, near which Yegor Mikhailov was sitting at a table.
While the visiting man, having climbed onto the logs, explained to the peasants the benefits of going to the collective farm, Yegor quietly but persistently convinced two members of the village council who were leaning towards him of something. They shook their heads, and Yegor, apparently angry with them for their indecisiveness, tried to prove something to them even more stubbornly in a low voice, shaming them.
When the concerned members of the village council left Yegor, Petka silently handed him a power of attorney and a note.
Yegor unfolded the piece of paper, but did not have time to read it, because a new man climbed onto the dumped logs, and in this man the guys recognized one of the men they met at the well on Danila Yegorovich’s farm. The man said that the collective farm is, of course, a new thing and that everyone should not meddle in the collective farm right away. Ten farms have now signed up for the collective farm, so let them work. If things work out for them, then it won’t be too late for others to join, but if things don’t work out, then it means there is no reason to go to the collective farm and you need to work as before.
He spoke for a long time, and while he spoke, Yegor Mikhailov still held the unfolded note without reading. He squinted his narrow angry eyes and, wary, carefully peered into the faces of the listening peasants.
- Podkulak! - he said with hatred, fiddling with his fingers at the note thrust at him.
Then Vaska, fearing that Yegor might accidentally crumple up Ivan Mikhailovich’s power of attorney, quietly tugged the chairman’s sleeve:
- Uncle Yegor, please read it. Otherwise we need to run home.

It's very boring in winter. The crossing is small. There is forest all around. It gets swept up in the winter, covered in snow - and there’s nowhere to get out.

The only entertainment is to ride down the mountain. But again, you can’t ride down the mountain all day. Well, you rode once, well, you rode another, well, you rode twenty times, and then you still get bored, and you get tired. If only they, sleds, could roll up the mountain themselves. Otherwise they roll down the mountain, but not up the mountain.

There are few guys at the crossing: the guard at the crossing has Vaska, the driver has Petka, the telegraph operator has Seryozhka. The rest of the guys are completely small: one is three years old, the other is four. What kind of comrades are these?

Petka and Vaska were friends. And Seryozha was harmful. He loved to fight.

He will call Petka:

Come here, Petka. I'll show you an American trick.

But Petka is not coming. Fears:

You also said last time - focus. And he hit me on the neck twice.

Well, it’s a simple trick, but this is American, without knocking. Come quickly and watch how it jumps around me.

Petka sees something really jumping in Seryozhka’s hand. How not to come!

And Seryozhka is a master. Wrap a thread and an elastic band around a stick. Here he has some kind of thing jumping in his palm, either a pig or a fish.

Good trick?

Good.

Now I’ll show you even better. Turn your back. As soon as Petka turns around, and Seryozhka jerks him from behind with his knee, Petka immediately heads into a snowdrift. Here's the American one for you...

Vaska got it too. However, when Vaska and Petka played together, Seryozhka did not touch them. Wow! Just touch! Together, they are brave themselves.

One day Vaska’s throat hurt, and they didn’t allow him to go outside.

The mother went to see a neighbor, the father went to move to meet the fast train. Quiet at home.

Vaska sits and thinks: what would be so interesting to do? Or some kind of trick? Or some other thing too? I walked and walked from corner to corner - there was nothing interesting.

He placed a chair next to the wardrobe. He opened the door. He looked at the top shelf, where there was a tied jar of honey, and poked it with his finger.

Of course, it would be nice to untie the jar and scoop up honey with a tablespoon...

However, he sighed and got down, because he already knew in advance that his mother would not like such a trick. He sat down by the window and began to wait for the fast train to rush past. It’s just a pity that you’ll never have time to see what’s going on inside the ambulance.

It will roar, scattering sparks. It will rumble so loudly that the walls will shake and the dishes on the shelves will rattle. It will sparkle with bright lights. Like shadows, someone’s faces will flash through the windows, flowers on the white tables of the large dining car. Heavy yellow handles and multi-colored glass will sparkle with gold. A white chef's hat will fly by. Now you have nothing left. Only the signal lamp behind the last carriage is barely visible.

And never, not once did the ambulance stop at their little junction. He is always in a hurry, rushing to some very distant country - Siberia.

And he rushes to Siberia and rushes from Siberia. This fast train has a very, very troubled life.

Vaska is sitting by the window and suddenly sees Petka walking along the road, looking unusually important, and carrying some kind of package under his arm. Well, a real technician or road foreman with a briefcase.

Vaska was very surprised. I wanted to shout out the window: “Where are you going, Petka? And what do you have wrapped in that paper?”

But as soon as he opened the window, his mother came and scolded him about why he was climbing into the frosty air with a sore throat.

Then an ambulance rushed by with a roar and roar. Then they sat down to dinner, and Vaska forgot about Petka’s strange walk.

However, the next day he sees that again, like yesterday, Petka is walking along the road and carrying something wrapped in a newspaper. And the face is so important, just like the duty officer at a large station.

Vaska drummed his fist on the frame, and his mother screamed.

So Petka passed by on his way.

Vaska became curious: what happened to Petka? It would happen that all day long he would either chase the dogs, or boss the little ones around, or run away from Seryozhka, and here comes an important man, with a very proud face.

Vaska cleared his throat slowly and said in a calm voice:

And my mother, my throat stopped hurting.

Well, it’s good that it stopped.

It stopped completely. Well, it doesn’t even hurt at all. Soon I will be able to go for a walk.

“Soon you can, but today sit down,” the mother answered, “you were wheezing this morning.”

“It was in the morning, but now it’s evening,” Vaska objected, figuring out how to get outside.

He walked around in silence, drank some water and quietly sang a song. He sang the one he heard in the summer from visiting Komsomol members, about how a detachment of Communards fought very heroically under frequent explosions of explosive grenades. Actually, he didn’t want to sing, and he sang with the secret thought that his mother, hearing him sing, would believe that his throat no longer hurt and would let him go outside.

But since his mother, busy in the kitchen, did not pay attention to him, he began to sing louder about how the Communards were captured by the evil general and what torment he was preparing for them.

He didn’t sing very well, but very loudly, and since his mother was silent, Vaska decided that she liked the singing and would probably let him go outside right away.

But as soon as he approached the most solemn moment, when the communards who had finished their work unanimously began to denounce the damned general, his mother stopped rattling the dishes and stuck her angry and surprised face through the door.

And why did you, idol, go crazy? - she screamed. - I listen, listen... I think, or is he crazy? He yells like Maryin's goat when he gets lost!

Vaska felt offended and fell silent. And it’s not that it’s a shame that his mother compared him to Marya’s goat, but that he only tried in vain and they won’t let him outside today anyway.

Frowning, he climbed onto the warm stove. He put a sheepskin coat under his head and, to the even purring of the red cat Ivan Ivanovich, thought about his sad fate.

Boring! There is no school. There are no pioneers. The fast train doesn't stop. Winter doesn't go away. Boring! If only summer would come soon! In summer - fish, raspberries, mushrooms, nuts.

And Vaska remembered how one summer, to everyone’s surprise, he caught a huge perch on a fishing rod.

It was towards nightfall, and he put the perch in the canopy to give it to his mother in the morning. And during the night the wicked Ivan Ivanovich crept into the canopy and gobbled up the perch, leaving only the head and tail.

Remembering this, Vaska poked Ivan Ivanovich with his fist with annoyance and said angrily:

Next time I’ll break my head for such things! The red cat jumped in fear, meowed angrily and lazily jumped off the stove. And Vaska lay there and lay there and fell asleep.

The next day, the throat went away, and Vaska was released into the street. There was a thaw overnight. Thick, sharp icicles hung from the roofs. A damp, soft wind blew. Spring was not far away.

Vaska wanted to run to look for Petka, but Petka himself came to meet him.

And where are you going, Petka? - asked Vaska. - And why have you, Petka, never come to see me? When your stomach hurt, I came to you, but when I had a sore throat, you didn’t come.

“I came in,” Petka answered. - I approached the house and remembered that you and I recently drowned your bucket in the well. Well, I think now Vaska’s mother will start scolding me. He stood and stood and decided not to come in.

Oh you! Yes, she scolded her long ago and forgot, but dad got the bucket from the well the day before yesterday. Be sure to come ahead... What is this thing you have wrapped in a newspaper?

It's not a gizmo. These are books. One book is for reading, the other book is arithmetic. I have been going to Ivan Mikhailovich with them for three days now. I can read, but I can’t write and I can’t do arithmetic. So he teaches me. Do you want me to ask you arithmetic now? Well, you and I caught fish. I caught ten fish, and you caught three fish. How many did we catch together?

Arkady Gaidar

Distant countries

It's very boring in winter. The crossing is small. There is forest all around. It gets swept up in the winter, covered in snow - and there’s nowhere to get out.

The only entertainment is to ride down the mountain. But again, you can’t ride down the mountain all day. Well, you rode once, well, you rode another, well, you rode twenty times, and then you still get bored, and you get tired. If only they, sleds, could roll up the mountain themselves. Otherwise they roll down the mountain, but not up the mountain.

There are few guys at the crossing: the guard at the crossing has Vaska, the driver has Petka, the telegraph operator has Seryozhka. The rest of the guys are completely small: one is three years old, the other is four. What kind of comrades are these?

Petka and Vaska were friends. And Seryozha was harmful. He loved to fight.

He will call Petka:

Come here, Petka. I'll show you an American trick.

But Petka is not coming. Fears:

You also said last time - focus. And he hit me on the neck twice.

Well, it’s a simple trick, but this is American, without knocking. Come quickly and watch how it jumps around me.

Petka sees something really jumping in Seryozhka’s hand. How not to come!

And Seryozhka is a master. Wrap a thread and an elastic band around a stick. Here he has some kind of thing jumping in his palm, either a pig or a fish.

Good trick?

Good.

Now I’ll show you even better. Turn your back. As soon as Petka turns around, and Seryozhka jerks him from behind with his knee, Petka immediately heads into a snowdrift. Here's the American one for you...

Vaska got it too. However, when Vaska and Petka played together, Seryozhka did not touch them. Wow! Just touch! Together, they are brave themselves.

One day Vaska’s throat hurt, and they didn’t allow him to go outside.

The mother went to see a neighbor, the father went to move to meet the fast train. Quiet at home.

Vaska sits and thinks: what would be so interesting to do? Or some kind of trick? Or some other thing too? I walked and walked from corner to corner - there was nothing interesting.

He placed a chair next to the wardrobe. He opened the door. He looked at the top shelf, where there was a tied jar of honey, and poked it with his finger.

Of course, it would be nice to untie the jar and scoop up honey with a tablespoon...

However, he sighed and got down, because he already knew in advance that his mother would not like such a trick. He sat down by the window and began to wait for the fast train to rush past. It’s just a pity that you’ll never have time to see what’s going on inside the ambulance.

It will roar, scattering sparks. It will rumble so loudly that the walls will shake and the dishes on the shelves will rattle. It will sparkle with bright lights. Like shadows, someone’s faces will flash through the windows, flowers on the white tables of the large dining car. Heavy yellow handles and multi-colored glass will sparkle with gold. A white chef's hat will fly by. Now you have nothing left. Only the signal lamp behind the last carriage is barely visible.

And never, not once did the ambulance stop at their little junction. He is always in a hurry, rushing to some very distant country - Siberia.

And he rushes to Siberia and rushes from Siberia. This fast train has a very, very troubled life.

Vaska is sitting by the window and suddenly sees Petka walking along the road, looking unusually important, and carrying some kind of package under his arm. Well, a real technician or road foreman with a briefcase.

Vaska was very surprised. I wanted to shout out the window: “Where are you going, Petka? And what do you have wrapped in that paper?”

But as soon as he opened the window, his mother came and scolded him about why he was climbing into the frosty air with a sore throat.

Then an ambulance rushed by with a roar and roar. Then they sat down to dinner, and Vaska forgot about Petka’s strange walk.

However, the next day he sees that again, like yesterday, Petka is walking along the road and carrying something wrapped in a newspaper. And the face is so important, just like the duty officer at a large station.

Vaska drummed his fist on the frame, and his mother screamed.

So Petka passed by on his way.

Vaska became curious: what happened to Petka? It would happen that all day long he would either chase the dogs, or boss the little ones around, or run away from Seryozhka, and here comes an important man, with a very proud face.

Vaska cleared his throat slowly and said in a calm voice:

And my mother, my throat stopped hurting.

Well, it’s good that it stopped.

It stopped completely. Well, it doesn’t even hurt at all. Soon I will be able to go for a walk.

“Soon you can, but today sit down,” the mother answered, “you were wheezing this morning.”

“It was in the morning, but now it’s evening,” Vaska objected, figuring out how to get outside.

He walked around in silence, drank some water and quietly sang a song. He sang the one he heard in the summer from visiting Komsomol members, about how a detachment of Communards fought very heroically under frequent explosions of explosive grenades. Actually, he didn’t want to sing, and he sang with the secret thought that his mother, hearing him sing, would believe that his throat no longer hurt and would let him go outside.

But since his mother, busy in the kitchen, did not pay attention to him, he began to sing louder about how the Communards were captured by the evil general and what torment he was preparing for them.

He didn’t sing very well, but very loudly, and since his mother was silent, Vaska decided that she liked the singing and would probably let him go outside right away.

But as soon as he approached the most solemn moment, when the communards who had finished their work unanimously began to denounce the damned general, his mother stopped rattling the dishes and stuck her angry and surprised face through the door.

And why did you, idol, go crazy? - she screamed. - I listen, listen... I think, or is he crazy? He yells like Maryin's goat when he gets lost!

Vaska felt offended and fell silent. And it’s not that it’s a shame that his mother compared him to Marya’s goat, but that he only tried in vain and they won’t let him outside today anyway.

Frowning, he climbed onto the warm stove. He put a sheepskin coat under his head and, to the even purring of the red cat Ivan Ivanovich, thought about his sad fate.

Boring! There is no school. There are no pioneers. The fast train doesn't stop. Winter doesn't go away. Boring! If only summer would come soon! In summer - fish, raspberries, mushrooms, nuts.

And Vaska remembered how one summer, to everyone’s surprise, he caught a huge perch on a fishing rod.

It was towards nightfall, and he put the perch in the canopy to give it to his mother in the morning. And during the night the wicked Ivan Ivanovich crept into the canopy and gobbled up the perch, leaving only the head and tail.

Remembering this, Vaska poked Ivan Ivanovich with his fist with annoyance and said angrily:

Next time I’ll break my head for such things! The red cat jumped in fear, meowed angrily and lazily jumped off the stove. And Vaska lay there and lay there and fell asleep.

The next day, the throat went away, and Vaska was released into the street. There was a thaw overnight. Thick, sharp icicles hung from the roofs. A damp, soft wind blew. Spring was not far away.

Vaska wanted to run to look for Petka, but Petka himself came to meet him.

And where are you going, Petka? - asked Vaska. - And why have you, Petka, never come to see me? When your stomach hurt, I came to you, but when I had a sore throat, you didn’t come.

“I came in,” Petka answered. - I approached the house and remembered that you and I recently drowned your bucket in the well. Well, I think now Vaska’s mother will start scolding me. He stood and stood and decided not to come in.

Oh you! Yes, she scolded her long ago and forgot, but dad got the bucket from the well the day before yesterday. Be sure to come ahead... What is this thing you have wrapped in a newspaper?

It's not a gizmo. These are books. One book is for reading, the other book is arithmetic. I have been going to Ivan Mikhailovich with them for three days now. I can read, but I can’t write and I can’t do arithmetic. So he teaches me. Do you want me to ask you arithmetic now? Well, you and I caught fish. I caught ten fish, and you caught three fish. How many did we catch together?

Arkady Gaidar

Distant countries

It's very boring in winter. The crossing is small. There is forest all around. It gets swept up in the winter, covered in snow - and there’s nowhere to get out.

The only entertainment is to ride down the mountain. But again, you can’t ride down the mountain all day. Well, you rode once, well, you rode another, well, you rode twenty times, and then you still get bored, and you get tired. If only they, sleds, could roll up the mountain themselves. Otherwise they roll down the mountain, but not up the mountain.

There are few guys at the crossing: the guard at the crossing has Vaska, the driver has Petka, the telegraph operator has Seryozhka. The rest of the guys are completely small: one is three years old, the other is four. What kind of comrades are these?

Petka and Vaska were friends. And Seryozha was harmful. He loved to fight.

He will call Petka:

Come here, Petka. I'll show you an American trick.

But Petka is not coming. Fears:

You also said last time - focus. And he hit me on the neck twice.

Well, it’s a simple trick, but this is American, without knocking. Come quickly and watch how it jumps around me.

Petka sees something really jumping in Seryozhka’s hand. How not to come!

And Seryozhka is a master. Wrap a thread and an elastic band around a stick. Here he has some kind of thing jumping in his palm, either a pig or a fish.

Good trick?

Good.

Now I’ll show you even better. Turn your back. As soon as Petka turns around, and Seryozhka jerks him from behind with his knee, Petka immediately heads into a snowdrift. Here's the American one for you...

Vaska got it too. However, when Vaska and Petka played together, Seryozhka did not touch them. Wow! Just touch! Together, they are brave themselves.

One day Vaska’s throat hurt, and they didn’t allow him to go outside.

The mother went to see a neighbor, the father went to move to meet the fast train. Quiet at home.

Vaska sits and thinks: what would be so interesting to do? Or some kind of trick? Or some other thing too? I walked and walked from corner to corner - there was nothing interesting.

He placed a chair next to the wardrobe. He opened the door. He looked at the top shelf, where there was a tied jar of honey, and poked it with his finger.

Of course, it would be nice to untie the jar and scoop up honey with a tablespoon...

However, he sighed and got down, because he already knew in advance that his mother would not like such a trick. He sat down by the window and began to wait for the fast train to rush past. It’s just a pity that you’ll never have time to see what’s going on inside the ambulance.

It will roar, scattering sparks. It will rumble so loudly that the walls will shake and the dishes on the shelves will rattle. It will sparkle with bright lights. Like shadows, someone’s faces will flash through the windows, flowers on the white tables of the large dining car. Heavy yellow handles and multi-colored glass will sparkle with gold. A white chef's hat will fly by. Now you have nothing left. Only the signal lamp behind the last carriage is barely visible.

And never, not once did the ambulance stop at their little junction. He is always in a hurry, rushing to some very distant country - Siberia.

And he rushes to Siberia and rushes from Siberia. This fast train has a very, very troubled life.

Vaska is sitting by the window and suddenly sees Petka walking along the road, looking unusually important, and carrying some kind of package under his arm. Well, a real technician or road foreman with a briefcase.

Vaska was very surprised. I wanted to shout out the window: “Where are you going, Petka? And what do you have wrapped in that paper?”

But as soon as he opened the window, his mother came and scolded him about why he was climbing into the frosty air with a sore throat.

Then an ambulance rushed by with a roar and roar. Then they sat down to dinner, and Vaska forgot about Petka’s strange walk.

However, the next day he sees that again, like yesterday, Petka is walking along the road and carrying something wrapped in a newspaper. And the face is so important, just like the duty officer at a large station.

Vaska drummed his fist on the frame, and his mother screamed.

So Petka passed by on his way.

Vaska became curious: what happened to Petka? It would happen that all day long he would either chase the dogs, or boss the little ones around, or run away from Seryozhka, and here comes an important man, with a very proud face.

Vaska cleared his throat slowly and said in a calm voice:

And my mother, my throat stopped hurting.

Well, it’s good that it stopped.

It stopped completely. Well, it doesn’t even hurt at all. Soon I will be able to go for a walk.

“Soon you can, but today sit down,” the mother answered, “you were wheezing this morning.”

“It was in the morning, but now it’s evening,” Vaska objected, figuring out how to get outside.

He walked around in silence, drank some water and quietly sang a song. He sang the one he heard in the summer from visiting Komsomol members, about how a detachment of Communards fought very heroically under frequent explosions of explosive grenades. Actually, he didn’t want to sing, and he sang with the secret thought that his mother, hearing him sing, would believe that his throat no longer hurt and would let him go outside.

But since his mother, busy in the kitchen, did not pay attention to him, he began to sing louder about how the Communards were captured by the evil general and what torment he was preparing for them.

He didn’t sing very well, but very loudly, and since his mother was silent, Vaska decided that she liked the singing and would probably let him go outside right away.

But as soon as he approached the most solemn moment, when the communards who had finished their work unanimously began to denounce the damned general, his mother stopped rattling the dishes and stuck her angry and surprised face through the door.

And why did you, idol, go crazy? - she screamed. - I listen, listen... I think, or is he crazy? He yells like Maryin's goat when he gets lost!

Vaska felt offended and fell silent. And it’s not that it’s a shame that his mother compared him to Marya’s goat, but that he only tried in vain and they won’t let him outside today anyway.

Frowning, he climbed onto the warm stove. He put a sheepskin coat under his head and, to the even purring of the red cat Ivan Ivanovich, thought about his sad fate.

Boring! There is no school. There are no pioneers. The fast train doesn't stop. Winter doesn't go away. Boring! If only summer would come soon! In summer - fish, raspberries, mushrooms, nuts.

And Vaska remembered how one summer, to everyone’s surprise, he caught a huge perch on a fishing rod.

It was towards nightfall, and he put the perch in the canopy to give it to his mother in the morning. And during the night the wicked Ivan Ivanovich crept into the canopy and gobbled up the perch, leaving only the head and tail.

Arkady Petrovich Gaidar

Distant countries

“It’s very boring in winter. The crossing is small. There is forest all around. It gets swept up in the winter, covered in snow - and there’s nowhere to get out.

Petka and Vaska were friends. And Seryozhka was harmful. Loved to fight..."

Arkady Gaidar

Distant countries

It's very boring in winter. The crossing is small. There is forest all around. It gets swept up in the winter, covered in snow - and there’s nowhere to get out.

The only entertainment is to ride down the mountain.

But again, you can’t just ride down the mountain all day? Well, you rode once, well, you rode another, well, you rode twenty times, and then you still get bored, and you get tired. If only they, sleds, could roll up the mountain themselves. Otherwise they roll down the mountain, but not up the mountain.

There are few guys at the crossing: the guard at the crossing has Vaska, the driver has Petka, the telegraph operator has Seryozhka. The rest of the guys are completely small: one is three years old, the other is four. What kind of comrades are these?

Petka and Vaska were friends. And Seryozhka was harmful. He loved to fight.

He will call Petka:

- Come here, Petka. I'll show you an American trick.

But Petka doesn’t come. Fears:

– You said the same thing last time – focus. And he hit me on the neck twice.

- Well, it’s a simple trick, but this is American, without knocking. Come quickly and watch how it jumps around me.

Petka sees something really jumping in Seryozha’s hand. How not to come!

And Seryozhka is a master. Wrap a thread and an elastic band around a stick. Here he has some kind of thing jumping in his palm - either a pig or a fish.

- Good trick?

- Good.

- Now I’ll show you even better. Turn your back.

As soon as Petka turns around, and Seryozhka jerks him from behind with his knee, Petka immediately heads into a snowdrift.

Here's the American one for you.

Vaska got it too. However, when Vaska and Petka played together, Seryozhka did not touch them. Wow! Touch only. Together they are brave themselves.

One day Vaska’s throat hurt, and they didn’t allow him to go outside.

The mother went to see a neighbor, the father went to move to meet the fast train. Quiet at home.

Vaska sits and thinks: what would be so interesting to do? Or some kind of trick? Or some other thing too? I walked and walked from corner to corner - there was nothing interesting.

He placed a chair next to the wardrobe. He opened the door. He looked at the top shelf, where there was a tied jar of honey, and poked it with his finger. Of course, it would be nice to untie the jar and scoop up honey with a tablespoon...

However, he sighed and got down, because he already knew in advance that his mother would not like such a trick. He sat down by the window and began to wait for the fast train to rush past.

It’s just a pity that you’ll never have time to see what’s going on inside the ambulance.

It will roar, scattering sparks. It will rumble so loudly that the walls will shake and the dishes on the shelves will rattle. Will sparkle with bright lights. Like shadows, someone's face will flash through the windows, flowers on the white tables of the large dining car. Heavy yellow handles and multi-colored glass will sparkle with gold. A white chef's hat will fly by. Now you have nothing left. Only the signal lamp behind the last carriage is barely visible.

And never, not once did the ambulance stop at their little junction.

He is always in a hurry, rushing to some very distant country - Siberia.

And he rushes to Siberia and rushes from Siberia. This fast train has a very, very troubled life.

Vaska is sitting by the window and suddenly sees Petka walking along the road, looking unusually important, and carrying some kind of package under his arm. Well, a real technician or road foreman with a briefcase.

Vaska was very surprised. I wanted to shout out the window: “Where are you going, Petka? And what do you have wrapped in that paper?”

But as soon as he opened the window, his mother came and scolded him about why he was climbing into the frosty air with a sore throat.

Then an ambulance rushed by with a roar and roar. Then they sat down to dinner, and Vaska forgot about Petka’s strange walk.

However, the next day he sees that again, like yesterday, Petka is walking along the road and carrying something wrapped in a newspaper. And the face is so important, just like the duty officer at a large station.

Vaska drummed his fist on the frame, and his mother screamed.

So Petka walked past on his way.

Vaska became curious: what happened to Petka? It would happen that he would spend whole days chasing dogs, or bossing little ones around, or running away from Seryozhka, and here comes an important man, with a very proud face.

Vaska cleared his throat slowly and said in a calm voice:

- And my throat stopped hurting, mom.

- Well, it’s good that it stopped.

- It stopped completely. Well, it doesn’t even hurt at all. Soon I will be able to go for a walk.

“Soon you can, but today sit down,” the mother answered, “you were wheezing this morning.”

“It was in the morning, but now it’s already evening,” Vaska objected, figuring out how to get outside.