Vitaly sucked her in.

She sat on the bench between Vadim and Valera.

Alla and Tanya sat in the cabin.

- Sit down? - The driver was standing on the footboard and looked into the body.

- Yes! - answered George.

- Well, if someone needs something, knock on the roof!

The clutch squealed, ZIL jerked and rode.

Thirty-five kilometers traveled for almost an hour.

Sat, wrapped in their jackets and clinging to each other.

The village slept, plunged into the autumn darkness.

ZIL stopped near a two-story log house.

Jumping out of the cab, the driver said - That's it! We arrived! Here is a hotel, or a hostel, as you wish. Sit down. In the morning the director will come.

He left.

The front door was open, and they went inside.

The room was clearly uninhabited.

They looked for a switch and could not find it.

Vova climbed to the second floor, and returned, said - There are three rooms, but everything is empty.

- I do not like it more and more. Chief, I will not live here! - Lyuba, dropping a backpack, crouched against the wall.

The others followed her and, just like at the train station, scattered in the corners, dropping their backpacks. Who sat down, and who laid on the floor.

George sat down, leaning against the wall and placing a backpack under his side.

Alla, with her head resting on his lap, fell asleep immediately

He closed and opened his eyes. He looked at his watch. But time seemed to stop!

When arrived at the house, it was half past. He glanced at his watch - “It cannot be! It's only ten minutes! ”

George closed his eyes ...

...

Someone walked, creaking floorboards.

George opened his eyes.

Vitaly walked.

Light poured through the dusty windows.

Alla, stretching, opened her eyes and sat down.

The rest began to stir, and only Vova was asleep with a backpack under his head.

...

The director came at 8:30.

He greeted and asked - Who is the eldest?

Shaking hands with George, introduced himself - Valery Timofeevich. For all questions contact me personally. On the second floor there are beds, but they need to be assembled. You are eight and still have four drivers to arrive. There are twelve beds. Bed linen will now be brought. You, while, collect beds. Facilities, toilet and washstand, on the street. Water will be taken from the column in the yard. I'll send Aunt Shura, she will do the cleaning, wash the windows. Taak! Now for food: we have a dining room, meals are cheap, there is a complex one. Three meals a day. At the time of the harvest, the dining room is open from eight in the morning to nine in the evening. We need to decide how you will pay for food: either you pay for it yourself, or you will not pay it, and then we will deduct the cost of food from your salary. The elder will make a list and give it to me. By payment: payment by the time, that is, you will have salaries. A seven-hour workday, a six-day work week. It turns out the 42-hour work week. Two hours are paid as overtime.

- Is there a shop?

- There is a shop.

- And the bath?

- Bath is open on Saturday. The locals have their own. Therefore, travel, mainly travel. Taak! Well, Gena brought bed. Get settled today, have a rest, and tomorrow, by nine, to the board: we will distribute them into sections. Board near the dining room. Questions?

- We did not find the switch on the ground floor.

- I will send Vasya, he will check everything.

- More questions?

- Can we boil water for tea or coffee? - asked Lyubaha.

- I think there is a tile. But I do not know, working or not.

- What else?

- We need locks on the door, we will leave.

- Yes, locks are needed. I will tell Vasya, he will bring. How many locks do you need?

- Three! - answered Lyubaha - Two to us and one to the front door.

- Good. More questions?

- No more questions? Then I wait for the list on the dining room - and the director left

...

On the second floor was a small living room that served as a kitchen. There was a wooden table in the corner and an electric stove on the table. Under the table was a galvanized bucket. There was also a bedside table, and on it was a galvanized tank with a lid and tap. On the lid there was an inverted cup.

In addition to the entrance, the living room had two more doors. For one there was a small room and on the floor were sleeping bags from metal beds. There were backs against the wall. Behind another door a room is twice as large and there is another door to the room, similar to the first one.

The windows, one by one, were in each room. The glass in the windows was dirty, dusty. Paul did not wash a hundred years.

- We will be in this room, you are in this, and there will be a chauffeur! - Lyuba has already examined everything and decided everything.

Folding backpacks, they began to pull the beds, collect and arrange.

Aunt Shura came with a bucket, a mop and a rag. She greeted her and asked her to bring water from the column.

George went over water himself.

- As you wish, we went to the dining room! - Lyuba was standing in the doorway.

- Probably, someone needs to stay? - said Valera.

- Go, go! Zhorik and I will stay. I'll check the tile for now.

And Vadim went to the kitchen.

The tile worked, but only on the first, weakest mode.

- Eh, sorry there is no screwdriver!

- Yes, the driver has a tool.

- Exactly!

George looked into the tank: it was clean but empty.

I took the bucket and went outside to the column.

I rinsed the bucket and dragged the water into the tank. Then he poured water into the washstand.

- Hello!

George turned.

- Are you a senior? - thin, tall and in a jacket, dangling, as on a hanger, a man of about forty-five, with a bag over his shoulder, squinting his eyes, looked at George.

- And you?

- Vasiliy! - the man smiled and extended his hand.

- Here are the locks! - he laid out on the table three granary locks in the package. The keys are there inside. Do you have hinges on the doors?

Loops were.

- Where does the switch not work?

- Down below.

- We'll see right now.

Five minutes later he returned - That's it! Will you check?

George went down with him.

- Let there be light (!), Said the fitter, and cut the wires himself! - Vasily flicked a switch.

Light bulb lit up from the ceiling.

Vasily turned off the light - did I go? - and whistling - We are not carpenters not stokers, but there are no bitter regrets ... “- left.

...

Forty minutes later they came from the dining room Tanya and Alla.

- They went to the store - Alla went to George - Go eat. There really is inexpensive.

The dining room was warm, clean and smelled of fried potatoes.

Spacious bright room with wooden floor, painted with dark brown oil paint glistening from the sun's rays. Four aluminum tables, with four chairs each.

Lunch cost George forty kopecks, and Vadim had lunch at forty-two pennies.

There were four trucks near the hotel.

- ABOUT! The guys have arrived. Right now, we ask them for a screwdriver and see the tile - Vadim was delighted.

There were four drivers: Andrei, Ivan, Kostya and Sandro.

Vadim repaired tile.

The drivers went into the dining room.

The girls closed in the room.

Vitaly, Vova and Valera lay on their beds.

George went out into the street.

The day was quiet, clear. It was warm and he took off his jacket.

The village consisted of one street, stretching along the road and repeating its bends. A dozen more houses were scattered around, with fenced off areas. The village, along with the pastures for livestock, was surrounded by a fence, in which George considered breaches. Around the perimeter of the cattle, almost close to the hedge, there was a wall of wood and only on the western side he cut it, making way for it. There was a road to the current and the roof of the grain dryer was visible.

There were no cows on the pastures. So the village herd was grazing somewhere in the pasture or on the stubble of fields.

- “God, how good it is now in the forest, neither mosquitoes, nor flies ... mushrooms”

And I wanted to go into the woods, bury myself in the wilderness, looking for tubercles of salmon caps sticking out of the ground in the grass, looking for boletus in the meadows ... Read more →