A phone call tore me off the tv. Throwing melancholy glances over my shoulder at the screen, I slid into the corridor to the apparatus. Calling Tatiana, a lonely elderly neighbor next. After duty phrases about business and health, Tatyana Vasilyevna inquired whether a young man would not have half an hour of free time to visit her in connection with some impatient business.

"Well, of course, there is where he, the young man, to go ..."

Ten minutes later I rang the doorbell on the floor below. Tatyana Vasilievna opened me and immediately rattled about the unimaginable prices for butter, about a meager pension, and then, they say, another attack. The grown-up children of Tatiana Vasilyevna went from their Polar region on vacation at sea, and they threw their daughter Natasha to Moscow for a whole month. With these words we passed into the room, where the young creation of some fourteen or fifteen years sat on the ottoman, and with visible dislike looked in our direction. The girl was wearing a loose blond sweater and a short checkered skirt. Long blond hair was loose on her shoulders.

I said hello. Natasha did not answer, defiantly looked away to the side and threw her leg over the leg. Black tights with such a characteristic rustling familiar to all men. Somewhat puzzled by this technique, I turned back to Tatiana Vasilyevna. Grandma continued very emotionally, but it was complex and confusing to explain something to me. In order to understand why I was still torn off from the television, I had to listen for a long time to my neighbor’s monologue, richly flavored with references to hard times and appeals to irresponsible youth. All this time, Natasha sat with her back to us and only her posture, full of tension, showed that our conversation was not indifferent to her.

The essence of the neighbor's request was as follows. Whether because of the difficult climate of the Arctic, or the transitional age, and perhaps for some other reason, Natasha started having health problems. Parents took the girl to the doctors and examinations, put in a sanatorium and fed fresh fruit. In recent years, the ailments have receded, but the doctors still strictly punished meticulously to look after my daughter and take immediate measures with the slightest pranks of her young body. Especially it was ordered to monitor the temperature, pressure, urine color and regular toilet visits. And trouble must begin right now, when parents are away! Whether the move affected, or the unusual food - Tatyana Vasilyevna was lost in conjectures.

In a word, for the fourth day, Natasha “did not have a chair.” Laxatives, like any other "chemistry", continued to lament my neighbor, without her consulting her doctor, she was strictly forbidden. Since it is impossible to wait any longer, according to the grandmother, there was only one remedy left - an enema. It was for this that she called me, because she reasoned that my profession, although not medical, was quite suitable for such a case (I work as a microbiologist in the district SES and also sometimes wear a white lab coat).

Tatiana Vasilyevna herself has never conducted such procedures, and fears “something is wrong to do.” Her granddaughter's patience snapped at her words, she quickly got up and, throwing grandmother in the face with a few harsh phrases about the older generation in general and her unwillingness to obey anyone in the absence of her parents in particular, went into the next room, slamming the door behind her. Tatyana Vasilyevna picked up and, often apologizing to me, jumped in after the granddaughter. Because of the closed door for a long time, their dialogue was heard in highly elevated tones. As time went. Apparently, the matter did not move to the agreement - my hearing was heard, the grandmother screeched with the howls of intonation, the harsh but firm answers of her granddaughter.I began to lose patience, when the door suddenly swung open and Tatyana Vasilyevna appeared on the threshold. She dragged Natasha by the arm. The girl's hair in this fight was disheveled, the sweater slipped over one shoulder and she herself was ready to shine.

“If you don’t give Uncle Sergey right now (it’s probably me), you’ll have an enema,” Grandma shouted, “I immediately call the ambulance and take you to the hospital.” In my old age I do not want to answer to your parents.

“Yes, I'd rather jump off a balcony,” retorted Natasha. “And don't you touch me anymore!”

My situation became foolish to the extreme. In addition, Natasha still did not suffer the onslaught of her grandmother and burst into tears, but continued to stand firmly in her inflexible position: “without parents, she is not going to do anything and will not allow anyone to do anything.”

“This is it,” - I think, “that's enough for me!”

Poisonously wishing Tatyana Vasilyevna to successfully solve her family problems and, without saying goodbye, I went upstairs to my top.

Not off the TV continued to mumble something about the elections and the exchange rate, but for some reason I could not concentrate on the words of the announcer. This insignificant episode in a strange way excited me, a rather adult man who had seen and experienced a lot. It would seem that I tried to reason with myself, for the matter is completely everyday and everyday. Moreover, it ended already, not even having time to begin. Just think, a neighbor's granddaughter has some medical problems. It is clear that Tatyana Vasilyevna, by her old memory, invited me to help. It seems, about ten years ago, I was already invited to this family to translate from French a description to some kind of imported medicine for Natasha. Life is everyday. As I, however, did not try, I could not remember how the girl looked ten years ago. But compulsively flashed in my head, the sweater that had moved to the side, the checkered little skirt, and the round knees in black tights. And the devil knows what thoughts went to his head! I noticed that my hands were cold and trembling a little. In addition to my will, I began to listen to the sounds from the next apartment. But it was quiet ...

It took more than an hour when the doorbell rang. I opened. On the threshold stood Natasha. Her face was visibly swollen with tears, but she no longer cried.

- Can? She asked faintly.

I silently stepped aside, and the girl walked into the hallway.

“Uncle Seryozha,” said Natasha, quietly, with trembling lips, “I agree, I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

With these words, the girl handed me a plastic bag, which she had previously clasped in her hands. In the bag was an old children's enema: a rubber pear with a rather long but thick tip of black ebonite and a tube of fragrant petroleum jelly. I gestured for Natasha to go into the room and went after her, trying to appease the newly flared excitement. So that she does not notice that my pollen is trembling, I put my hands in the pockets of jeans. Natasha sat down on the very edge of the ottoman, I was left standing next to me, not knowing where to start. The first was interrupted by a prolonged pause, Natasha.

“Uncle Seryozha, just make everything not hurt,” her voice trembled even more, her lips almost did not obey. She raised her big gray eyes at me, and I saw that tears had fallen back into them.

- Do not worry, it will not hurt at all, - I tried to speak in a calm, everyday voice. - You will only have to listen to me and do what I say. You are already an adult girl, you don’t have to explain everything twice.

- What should I do?

- Nothing yet. Wait, I have to cook everything.

Looks like I needed a time out to collect my thoughts and calm down a bit. It wasn’t enough for my neighbor to notice to what extent this situation aroused me. I have to stay in her eyes with the wise experience of a 40-year-old uncle who, with obvious annoyance, breaks away from important matters in order to do the boring but necessary procedure with her. Leaving Natush alone, I went out into the kitchen.

"It will need, apparently, a large oilcloth and a water tank," I tried to collect my thoughts.- “This three-liter can should be enough” ....