– Children are provided for, a penny something to the soul is available, I will draw a pension
A couple of months ago they buried my neighbor, Fedor. We knew each other for more than a decade, all the time living side by side. We knew each other not as casual acquaintances, we were family friends, the children were growing up before our eyes, Fedor and Svetlana had five of them.
Their parents had bought homes for them all, they were working hard, especially Fedor, he was a well-known mechanic in the city, there was a long waiting list for him for a month ahead, and the owner of the modern service station simply prayed for the experienced mechanic who could identify by ear any engine faults, a real master of his craft.
Shortly before his death, after the wedding of his youngest daughter, Fyodor moped and relaxed; his energetic gait changed to the leisurely one typical of old people. And yet he had just turned 59 in the spring…
He took leave from work, complaining that his boss begged him to come out in ten days so as not to lose his clients, but Fedor was not going to come out. The day before he was supposed to leave, he went to talk to his supervisor and asked to be released in peace, promising to help out occasionally if things got really bad.
For some reason he said nothing to his wife and in the morning, when he had to get ready for the service station, he leisurely stretched, rolled over on the other side and dozed off again. Svetlana came running from the kitchen, where she had already laid breakfast, and spluttered with her hands:
– Are you still asleep? Who have I made breakfast? It’ll get cold!
– I’ll eat it cold, I will not go to work …
– What do you mean you won’t go to work? They’re waiting for you, they’re hoping for you!
– They’re not, I quit yesterday…
– Stop joking, he quit. Get up!
Svetlana jokingly pulled the blanket off her husband, but he did not even think of getting up, curled up and covered his eyes again.
– I am tired, Sveta, I have exhausted my life-span… Like that engine after the third overhaul… The children are well provided for, I have a kopeck behind me, I am going to apply for pension…
– What pension, the kids have a lot of work to do, they have repairs, they need to expand, they need to change the furniture, Sasha wants to buy a car, who will help them?
– Let them try to help themselves, you and I, thank God, have not offended them with help…
Svetlana came to me in total confusion and told me their dialogue of the morning. She asked for advice, and I shared with her my impressions of the changes in Fedor’s behavior:
– He is really tired, if you talk about it, do not push him to work, let him really have a good rest, not a boy all day under the cars to turn the nuts, I recently at dusk and did not recognize him – is walking like a grandfather, hunched over, dragging his feet, came closer, even surprised that it is your Fedor so rambles. He said the same thing to me when he heard that he did not recognize me: “I am tired…”
But for some reason Svetlana didn’t take my story seriously:
– Khandra found on him, that’s all tired! I’ll gather all the children, let them tell him how much work still needs to be done!
– Sveta, all the things you can not do, your eldest how old? 45, if I’m not mistaken? He will soon be a grandfather himself, and you still want to help him, let the children help you, old age is on the doorstep.
My neighbor took offense at me then, and left.
A week later, Fedor and Svetlana had all the children together. They were sitting at a big table, there was a lot of noise, but there was a certain tension in the air. Everyone understood that they had gathered for a reason, but “for the occasion.
Svetlana opened the family council:
– Our father is about to retire, what do you say, let’s consult. We won’t be able to help you anymore, and we’ll have to tighten our belts ourselves…
Fedor interfered:
– Why should it be tightened, look what children we have – five, all working, can not feed us two, we both have fed the five of them, and not only fed, and put on their feet, no one is poor. I am not reproaching, I am just remembering our life, and it should be so, that parents should help their children. Only now we also probably need help, it became difficult for me to work, I am afraid I will fall down there, at the elevator at the service station…
After a short pause the children began to speak. The eldest, Anton, was the first. He didn’t start by asking how his father was feeling, but with a long list of his affairs and problems, and the result was:
– Sorry, but, we are not so free with money to help you now, maybe with time…
All the other kids came forward in a similar vein. Some needed a new place to live, some wanted a car, and they all hoped that their parents would, as usual, make a significant contribution to their plans. No one was interested in how this father and mother created these “contributions.
Finally Fedor got up from the table and said sadly:
– Well, since you all are driving me to work, I’ll go and work as long as I can…
The next day Svetlana came to me again, and, as if returning to our conversation, said:
– Well, and you said, the kids came, talked to my father, and went to work, like a sweetheart, and then – “tired, tired”! I was tired too, so what now?
…Fedor worked at the service station for three days. An ambulance took him away from the workshop. There was nothing they could do about his weary heart, and all the children gathered once again for a funeral and a wake. Of course, we were there too, listening to the children, remembering their father, discussing how good he was to them and their grandchildren. I really wanted to ask, “So why didn’t you keep him safe, he asked you to!”
Such a sad story happened to our neighbor. Svetlana lives alone now, saving money on everything, because the children have a lot of unresolved problems of their own…
