Only the lessons are not done. The internet is a good thing! What lessons do you want to find! There would be a desire! So I sit at the computer all day. Dad takes the computer in the morning. He gets up especially for this at eight, as if to work. When his sister leaves, he locks the door behind her and immediately at the computer, for his favorite game of chess, cards, then migrates to another site and there is a fan of the whole country and neighboring republics. Waiting impatiently for Aydar to wake up and, after waiting, puts it right over a cup of tea. Later, both go out for daily, two-hour walks.

Mom does not particularly approve of this political news, concerts are better. Once again, at a thousandth, listen to your favorite singer or singer, scroll through the video, which is already boring to many, but very much loved by her. The fight for the TV in the house was long ago decided in favor of my mother, and when her favorite series about the unfortunate Simar and her sister Raleigh begins, my father’s series about the “Brigade” and about cops immediately turns off. Dad silently takes a hundred square meters and, going deep into the next room, in silence, calmly inspects his beloved “Brigade”.

This winter in Chu, however, like all our winters, is warm. The whole year can be easily divided like this: spring, summer, autumn and… spring again. Little snow falls, the sun is generous at any time of the year.

While my mother was getting ready, I was waiting for her on the street. It’s good with us! The snow is melting, the air is clean and fresh, there is no dust or stifling summer heat. If you look closely, you can see swollen buds on the branches. Near one private house on Lenin Street, a tall, branched tree with huge red-crimson buds flaunts with might and main. Each is the size of a fist. There are no dried, yellowish-brown leaves that did not have time to fly off in the fall, as on other trees. An unusual, pale yellow tree stands out strongly against the background of black, crooked elms, of which there is a whole darkness! Elm grows well on clayey sandy floor. Thin birches and poplars are very rare. Cherries and peaches compete with elm. Soon everything will bloom and our city will drown in the delicate scent of blossoming, fragrant flowers. Beauty!

The road to the hairdresser took only half an hour. There were no people in the beauty salon itself. Nearly. A couple of girls were sitting in a manicure and a fat lady with small legs. She had a very small shoe size for her height that caught my attention. This is rare. It’s time to put them in the Red Book as a rare specimen. Seeing her tiny legs, you involuntarily look at your “skis”. Well, yes.. You don’t need skis here, you can safely fly from the mountain without special equipment. With my height one hundred and sixty with a penny, I wear all the forties with a hook! Fashionable, pointed shoes were out of the question. What are there, spiky, there is nowhere to hide theirs. And here is beauty! Miniature, like Japanese women! Remember their kimono suit and their shoes? Here, this is the same! While I was admiring her legs, my mother went into the hairdresser’s and, having learned that the master was busy, went out and sat down next to the red sofa. All the furniture in the hall was red: two sofas, two broken red armchairs, a broken chair, also red, red in crimson, small flowered blinds on the windows, a red coffee table, polished under glass in the corner, and… black out of place, an idle TV and green butterflies to it. On the ceiling, around a red chandelier, hung tattered and re-tied colored rains left over from the New Year. Opposite me hung a huge mirror, all over the wall. A curious face with huge blue “lanterns” under each eye looked out from there. These “lights” cannot be hidden or smeared under any paint. Tired of annoying questions about my health, I just don’t pay attention to them, pretending to be deaf and dumb. It is surprising that neither mom, nor dad, and even grandparents and great-grandfather had these “lanterns” and do not! Just me! Probably, it was Allah who painted me, so that I would not paint, so I would not waste time and money. Cosmetics are expensive! And here you don’t need to paint, it makes no sense, anyway, they shine through the multi-layered tone of powder and cream and are visible even at a great distance. I saw the same “lanterns” at my neighbor’s. Maybe she and I were sisters in a past life? Her husband is calm, he did not dismiss his fists, it was just that she was born. Looking up from the mirror, I noticed an awkward, dark-skinned to black, thin, bony guy. He spun around the “Japanese woman” and told her something with interest, gesturing with his hands. She was reluctant to answer him, all the time looking at the study, where everyone is given thick, solid, black, Uzbek eyebrows over the entire forehead. This fashion is in Chu for the second year and all and sundry go to make thick eyebrows. They say that if you have money, you can go to Taraz itself, make the eyebrows of “Brezhnev”, so shaggy, thick, solid, with hanging light hairs, lighter than the eyebrows. Mom also wants to make herself such, she says that she is tired of painting, and you can’t stock up on black pencils (eyebrows). I propose to her to do it immediately at Brezhnev’s. With her stern look, which is about to kill anyone right on the spot, they are just the way. For her tongue, she immediately received this stern, killing look and turned away. Mom was waiting, or rather, we were waiting together for the second hour. Finally, this aunt, who was sitting in the hairdresser’s chair, came out with wet beet-dyed hair and an old shawl covered with paint smeared over her shoulders, but she immediately came back. I only managed to notice that her hair is rather thick compared to my thin one. They say that girls have thick hair, they must be cut on the bald head. But this trick didn’t work with mine.

No matter how many of them you cut, the hair, as it was thin, remained. I remember the bewildered, unhappy face of the master, who was trying to build at least something on my head. Poor master! She fought for half an hour, but she could not build anything except a pot called “square”. So I walked all my life, on any day, even a significant one, with this pot on my head. I understand, “square” – a beautiful haircut, but on my head and with my hairs, for some reason it reminds me of a pot! Yes, that one for children! True, now I hide it under a scarf, letting the ends of a long scarf fall onto my back, presenting luxurious braids like in a movie.

…That lady went out and came in again, and my mother and I remained sitting and waiting, curiously examining the other visitors. Our attention was attracted by a very beautiful girl with thin eyebrows. Not eyebrows – lovely sight.! Neat, thin, black, real!!! She flew past like a bird here and there. Now in the manicure room, where she painted her claws in a red, bloody, saturated color, to match the color of her lipstick, then in the hairdresser’s, “ask something”, then she again sat down next to me, on the next chair.

I understand that she is going to the wedding. Otherwise, why paint the long claws red? In Chu, on the occasion of toys, it is imperative to paint the claws in a red, saturated color and make Uzbek, solid, preferably shaggy like Brezhnev’s, eyebrows, one thick line, over the entire forehead! To be seen! True, take off to go to the bathhouse and you can’t bathe. I do not know why…

…The black guy kept sticking to the “Japanese woman”. Finally, unable to withstand the pressure of her boyfriend, she jumped up and disappeared into the office, where they make the same Uzbek eyebrows for everyone.

Left alone, he completely relaxed, lay down on the sofa, occupying it all and fell asleep, just not snoring. Here came two more young prettier slender women who mowed like actresses from Korean TV series: long, black loose, straight, slicked hair and a short, slightly covering underwear, a skirt in a large gray cage, plus white knee-highs at any time of the year, be it winter or summer. One of the girls had a backpack on her back, which made me understand that she went to school, in high school, and the other, apparently, had graduated from her long ago, but she could not leave her favorite school skirt in a gray, large cage to the mercy of fate. And he walks in it to this day.

In addition to the famous, shaggy, Brezhnev and Uzbek eyebrows, thick, solid, in one line across the entire forehead, in our town, thin, tight-fitting trousers of different colors of the rainbow are in great demand. They are worn by everyone, regardless of the size of the fifth point and age. On the little ones, these trousers, which look more like tights, look nothing at all, but on an adult lady, the owner of magnificent forms… One such beauty flew into the salon today. She had a beautiful high chest, a thin, narrow waist, and from below… these leggings are black on a curvy heel with curves. short legs. There was a feeling that she was in a great hurry, being late somewhere, and simply forgot to put on a skirt, and went out into the street in her underwear. I wanted to get up and tell her that she had forgotten something, but my mother’s stern look just riveted me to the place, making it clear without words that I wouldn’t even think about it. Pants-pantyhose for another half hour were spinning for some reason in front of me, sparkling with their fifth point now and then. The swarthy guy did not give a damn about everything that happened. He snored so hard that the roof shook every time he snored.

.. Two more hours passed. During this time, a girl flew out of the hairdresser with a baby in her arms, but that lady was not yet visible. This made me understand that our lady had not only dyed her hair and did a khimka, but also gave birth to a beautiful girl, and if a couple more hours passed, she would be able to see her second child. The thought that flew like lightning scared me. I thought that we were in the maternity ward, and not in the hairdresser, and, getting up from my place, I once again looked at the sign on the door. “Hairdresser”. Slightly below – “wagon hall.”

“Everything is clear … – I thought. – They not only cut their hair…”

Two hours later, when I already imagined that perhaps this very aunt just ran through the window with the foreman and urged my mother to go and look just in case, our turn finally came. The lady we had been looking forward to for so long and who had already given birth to a tiny girl left the salon. On her head was the same hair. I never noticed anything similar to Khimka. The hair is the same straight and the same color.

“I wonder what she was doing there…” the thought puzzled me. “Khimka, then painting, and then… straightening already curled hair?” Judging by her head, it was. I didn’t think any further, I just waited for my mother. Mom came out ten minutes later, with a neat boy-like haircut. However, it suits her.

New Year’s Eve

a few days before the new year, anticipating the long-awaited event, looking forward to it, a young man, about thirty years old, and his father were sitting at the dinner table in the kitchen, drinking tea, sweetly talking about this and that. Or, more precisely, how they will spend the New Year with a full dastarkhan, which will include manty, so lush and with meat, and mouth-watering baursaks and chak-chak and… Holy, without which, well, no matter how impossible, “Olivier”. " What can a New Year’s table be without Olivier? No. Olivier is Holy!

After yesterday’s game at the computer, Marat’s head was still cracking, buzzing like a steamer: “Gu-gu-gu!” Ears were completely blocked from the endless, incessant hum. “I should have gone to bed early.. – he thought. – Quit this game and that’s it!” But only when you play, you forget about everything. You sit down at the computer and seem to have gone into the thirtieth kingdom. You are not in this gray, boring, disastrous world. The plant in the town has long been closed. Work only at the bazaar. Everyone is sitting and trading. And who is being sold to if there is no work? But now a change has begun. With the new akim it immediately became somehow more fun. He also repaired the roads, along which even the cart could not pass before, not to mention the Inmarks. I don’t understand why foreign cars are made with a low landing? Are you literally a few centimeters from the ground? You can’t drive through potholes like this, can you? You will consider all the bumps as your fifth point, jumping up to the ceiling. Not…

It is necessary to make such that the wheels are like those of a tractor, huge, powerful. All-terrain vehicle! Everywhere will pass! The akim repaired the main roads. Well, those that lead to the akimat and the bazaar and from the station, in case they come with a check. This is already good! And then you come to our town and immediately your eyes on your forehead “Where am I?” And so neat and beautiful!. Just left the station there is a fountain and a monument to the hero! And the clinic! Well, the taxi drivers will take you to the market right away. They don’t even need to tell them where to go. They only take to the bazaar, ripping off three skins from the client! On buses, a ticket costs only a penny! And the taxi driver has all two hundred! For one hundred tenge, it is better not to sit down! Who knows what mood the taxi driver will have. Buses are a real salvation for everyone. Here, just, we have to wait for him… Last year, my mother had a fight with the car fleet, asked where the buses were and why it was impossible to wait for them. Then things got better and buses began to travel more often. I understand they are people too. They need to eat or buy something to the bazaar, and they need to go about their business… So they drive badly, getting stuck somewhere along the way. No, it is better to take a taxi, if you are in a hurry, if you are running out of time and do not want to sniff other people’s armpits, then it is better to take a taxi. Expensive and with amenities. And if you have a lot of time and like to chat, then you can save money by riding the bus and swaying as if in a cradle. Good! Here’s another piece of news. They say we will now have as many as four chemical plants! Our town is small, only a few streets, but there are four chemical plants! here not far, in a neighboring aul, a deposit was discovered, and so, they drowned the whole aul and the city in addition. The sky was drowned… There was nothing to breathe, the water in the river became dirty, it was impossible to drink water from the tap. Then something calmed down… And life went on its own course, as before. And now, if these factories are opened, then all the smoke, smog, will cover the town with its head. It’s good if, like abroad, where the chemical plant is right in the city center, but! It does not drown the sky, does not dump its waste into the water, does not pollute the environment. And, in general, it is painted in bright colors of the rainbow so that you will not immediately understand that this is a chemical plant, everyone will think that a children’s amusement park has been built. Everyone loves to take pictures near him and post their photos in the instagram! Here, I understand that, the plant! And we have one boiler room for the whole city, and the sky is so good! As soon as you leave the house, you immediately understand what is working! Boiler room! Dear! The smoke from the chimney is black with a black column against the sky!

Come on, what is all about the sad… New Year after all!

So they sit and talk nicely at the table, drink tea and dream of how we will meet the New Year at a full dastarkhan with a bucket of Olivier! Yes! Not life, but raspberries! The bazaar is already selling Christmas trees, colorful toys and fireworks. There, in the bazaar, there is real New Year’s bustle and excitement. And the buyer is not scared off even at times the price has risen on this occasion! Everything is being swept off the shelves! I love to walk there and watch. Here is everything that your heart desires! I don’t want to take it! This smell of Christmas trees already tickles your nose! You immediately remember your childhood! The happiest time! These salutes, fireworks! They are bought in packages at once, several at a time! Therefore, a non-public competition in the whole city will begin! What courtyard has the best and most colorful and lasting fireworks! Look and be amazed at how the night sky is flashing with colorful lights and a joyful children’s squeal and delight is heard here and there. With such a mood Marat and his father were sitting at the table and nothing could shatter this mood! As here…

From the ceiling it was poured directly on their heads, on dastarkhan, on bread, then more and more, in several places at once throughout the kitchen. Marat froze straight with his mouth open and wide-eyed, not really understanding what was happening! The father immediately jumped up as if stung, because the water poured right on his head!

– Fu! How dirty she is! – burst out from his father with disgust. – Why are you standing, carry a basin as soon as possible!

Marat, who broke his leg at the beginning of the year, limping, somehow limped to the closet in the corridor and..

Father heard a pile of pots and pans falling to the floor.

– What’s there? Are you whole? he asked, worried about his son.

– Yes.. – Marat said raising the pan.

– You, give her here, while I’m going to my neighbor, maybe something happened…

He ran out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Marat, ridiculously spreading his legs shoulder-width apart, somehow bending over, tried to collect all the water in the basin he brought him. The basin quickly filled with dirty, stinking goo! A damp, musty smell of dampness and mold spread throughout the apartment, which had nothing to do with the New Year tree that they were going to dress up today. Water was already running from all corners of the kitchen and in the center, right from three cracks and along the window sill on the ceiling, destroying the expensive repairs, which were done this summer, removing all the plaster “with meat!” To the brick itself. The wallpaper, fresh yesterday, was covered with rusty stains, the expensive ceiling cracked at the seams, unable to withstand the pressure of water, and fell right on his head. Broken leg began to ache. Barely enduring pain, gritting his teeth, twisted a rag and collected all the water with it, wiping the floor dry.

Tired, he dropped everything and shouted “Why are you sitting! Come on help me!” rushed to his sister, who was sitting at the computer, as usual at such a time.

– I’ll break this computer now! Come on help me! Tired of your useless rhymes!

The sister, without saying anything, ran out of the hall where she was sitting and began to collect water with a rag. The flood did not stop for a minute, gradually taking over other rooms. Soon they realized that one basin was not enough and pulled out two more, then empty pots, pans, glasses and any container in which they could substitute under a stream of water, under a man-made waterfall went into the entrance. With a basin in hand, they ran all over the apartment, but the water managed to pour directly onto their heads. She was more cunning than them!

Marat was already all wet from head to toe when his breathless father came running. Running here and there, then up to the fifth floor, then going down to the first and so on ad infinitum, he sweated so much that his wet T-shirt dried right on him.

– Well, out of breath! he gasped. – I knocked to the neighbor, while she was opening, I went down to the first, to the other, to take a basin, and I also think where this tap, the common one, to close it! Otherwise, all four floors will flood! The third has already been flooded! The hostess does not know; she is away, the tenants live there.. She will come and find out… Surprise. As the saying goes “Happy New Year to you, dear!”

– Yes… We were also congratulated on the New Year…

– Where is mom? Haven’t come back from the bath yet?

– No… More… It should come soon … – Sunday… There are a lot of people, as always…

– Well, then I went to the first one, I’ll see if I came, a neighbor.. It seems she has this crane. Let’s close it for now … “” Having said, the father immediately rushed to the first floor, down from the fourth floor where they lived. With his loose and thick belly and at his age, it is not so easy.

And the waterfall did not stop. Venice! Who wanted to Venice! Here’s to you, completely free! The same rivers, the same puddles, the same stains on the walls, the same sewage smell! Beauty!! Only there are no boats yet.. But is this really a problem?

A neighbor’s son, scared in earnest, came running from the fifth floor and, saying something indistinct, ran away. Marat did not even hear him.

When his sister got down to business, he sat down on the only dry chair to rest a little and recover. Taking the phone, he began to call the master:

_ Hello.. When will you be? Can you come now? Yeah… okay..

The foreman asked for 60 thousand for his work and promised to come tomorrow, because today he had a job for one client and he could not quit it.

Ariston, who was standing in the kitchen (already the second in a row, the first burned down because it was dripping on him from the ceiling, last year) was shut down. The light too… the lamps were off… But the current in the bathroom was beating so that it jumped right up to the ceiling, as if stung. The bathroom of the ball is right behind the wall, near the kitchen. So I don’t want to fill it underneath it right away. Shock even from the switched off taps and the battery. Impossible to wash your hands. nor just stand at all. so as not to be stung by this cybernetic snake from science fiction films. Remember how there a robotic snake, twisting itself out, stings ordinary mortals and sucks their blood? Here it is, the same thing. Now it is clear where these films come from! Not otherwise as a screenwriter, too, flooded under I do not want, and even on brand new wallpapers and ceilings!

In such a state, coming from the bathhouse, steamed and contented, the unsuspecting mother of the family found her cozy, lovingly made nest. Plus, all this plus the fact that a piece of a collapsed ceiling fell right on her head. Barely managing to wriggle out of the unexpected blow, she stepped on something and almost flew across the apartment at her butt.

Angry, despicable, leaving everything, she ran to the fifth floor, but the neighbor was not at home. There was only her already frightened teenage son. Gritting her teeth like a beaten dog, she went downstairs with a firm decision that tomorrow she would remember everything and make her pay for the renovation of the apartment.

The next day, Marat met with the master. The master demanded money in advance. Such a large sum of sixty thousand was not lying on the road, no matter how father and son wanted it. In the bank, such amounts at once, right now, are unlikely to give, because Marat did not have work, and besides, he was limping on one leg. Local traders give at interest, but the percentage is high, and even then not to everyone, their own, verified. Somehow collecting money, begging from friends, taking something at a frantic interest and withdrawing from the account that was saved for the wedding, he somehow, with grief across the floor, scraped up these long-suffering sixty thousand and took it to the master, glad that tomorrow everything will be as before and a master of gold will correct everything.

Tomorrow he didn’t want to step on, turning from side to side, he had already changed his mind about everything, counted all the fat sheep jumping over the wolf, reviewed all the films for that hour, but still could not sleep. Barely waiting for morning, he dressed and went out into the yard to meet the master. He was waiting for him like children are waiting for Santa Claus! Smiling, anticipating a miracle.

But…

The master with the face of a know-it-all walked throughout the apartment, looked into all corners and affirmingly stated that he would certainly come on Thursday, left without doing anything. Nothing at all. Just when he was leaving he threw Marat’s mother that their kitchen did not smell at all of tangerines, but of dampness.

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Quarantine. A book of stories and poems

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