"Those who went to my house to make up for the exam before the festival will stand up for me!"

A flabby-skinned fat priest, dressed in a vestment and with a heavy cross around his neck, glared at the class menacingly.

Six students stood up from the bench in response, four boys and two girls.

The priest's two small eyes shone fiercely, as if he were about to swallow them in one gulp. The children looked at him in horror.

"You two sit down. The priest waved at the girl.

They hurriedly sat down, relieved.

Father Vasily's small eyes were fixed on the four boys.

"Come here, babes!"

Father Vasily stood up, pushed away his chair, and walked over to the four children huddled together.

"You little scoundrels, who smokes?"

All four children whispered, "We won't smoke, priest." ”

The priest's face turned red.

"Bastard, you can't smoke, who sprinkled the cigarette dust in that dough? Can't you smoke it? Okay, let's take a look! Turn your pockets over, hurry up! Do you hear that? Turn it over!"

The three children began to pull out the contents of their pockets and put them on the table.

The priest carefully examined every slit in his pocket for cigarette dust, but found nothing, and turned his gaze to the fourth child. The child had a pair of black eyes, a gray shirt, and blue pants with patches on the knees.

"Why do you stand still like a wooden man?"

The black-eyed child suppressed the hatred in his heart, looked at the priest, and replied sullenly: "I have no pockets. He touched the mouth of the sewn bag with his hand.

"Hmph, no pockets! Do you think that in this case, I don't know who did the bad thing, and ruined my hair? Do you think you'll be able to stay at school this time? It's not that cheap, baby. Last time, it was your mother who pleaded for mercy and left you behind, but this time it won't work. Get out of here!" he grabbed the boy by the ear, shoved him down the hallway, and slammed the door shut.

The classroom was silent, and the students were all hunched their necks. No one understands why Paul Kochagin was kicked out of school. Only his good friend Seryosha Bruzak knew what was going on. The six of their failing students went to the priest's house to make up for the exam, and while waiting for the priest in the kitchen, he saw Paul scattering a handful of cigarette dust into the priest's Easter flour.

Paul was cast out and sat down on the last step of the doorway. He thought, "How should I go home?" How should my mother, who worked as a cook in the tax officer's house, work from early morning to late at night, and was heartbroken for him?

Tears choked Paul's throat.

"What am I going to do now? What kind of cigarette should I sprinkle on him? It's all Seryosha's bad idea. He said, 'Come, let's sprinkle a blow on this nasty old fellow.' So we sprinkled it in. Seryosha is fine, I might have to be kicked out of school. ”

Paul and Father Vasily had long been at odds. Once, when he got into a fight with Myshka Levchukov, the teacher ordered him to stay at school and not allow him to go home for dinner, and fearing that he would mess around in the empty classroom, sent the naughty man to the senior classroom and made him sit in a chair in the back.

The senior teacher is a thin man, wearing a black shirt, who is teaching students about the earth and celestial bodies. He said that the Earth has existed for millions of years, and that the stars are similar to the Earth. Paul's mouth opened wide in surprise when he heard him say this. He felt so strange that he almost didn't stand up and said to the teacher, "That's not what the Bible says." ”

But I was afraid of being scolded, so I didn't dare to make a sound.

Paul was religious. Her mother was a religious and used to teach him the teachings of the Bible. Paul is convinced that the world was created by God, not millions of years ago, but not so long ago.

In the Bible course, the priest always gave Paul a perfect score. He memorized the New Testament, the Old Testament, and all the prayers. He remembers exactly what God created on any given day. Paul made up his mind to ask Father Vasily for clarification. When it was time for the Bible lesson, as soon as the priest sat down in his chair, Paul raised his hand, and when he was allowed, he stood up and said, "Priest, why does the senior teacher say that the earth has existed for millions of years, not five thousand ...... as the Bible says?"

As soon as he said this, he was interrupted by the screams of Father Vasily: "Bastard, what nonsense are you talking about?

Before Paul could speak, the priest grabbed him by the ears and slammed his head against the wall. A minute later, Paul was bruised and swollen, half dead of fright, and was wheeled down the corridor by the priest.

When Paul returned home, he was scolded by his mother again.

The next day, the mother went to the school and begged Father Vasily to be merciful and allow her son to return to school. From then on, Paul hated the priest to the core. He hated and feared. He would not allow anyone to insult him, and certainly would not forget the priest's unprovoked beating. He buried his hatred in his heart and kept it silent.

Paul was later insulted by Father Vasily many times: he was often thrown out of the classroom for trivial matters, and for weeks he was punished to stand in the corner every day, and he was never asked about his homework. Therefore, he had to go to the priest's house before Easter to make up for the exam with a few failed classmates. In the kitchen of the priest's house, he sprinkled a handful of cigarette dust into the Easter dough.

No one saw this, but the priest immediately guessed who had done it.

…… When class ended, the children crowded into the courtyard and surrounded Paul. He sat there with a sad face, silent. Seryosha didn't come out of the classroom, he felt that he was also at fault, but he couldn't think of a way to help his partner.

Headmaster Yevrem Vasilyevich's head poked out of the window of the faculty room, and his deep voice made Paul shudder.

"Tell Kochagin to come to me at once!" he shouted.

Paul walked towards the faculty room, his heart pounding.

The owner of the station cafeteria was an elderly man with a pale face and blank eyes. He glanced at Paul, who was standing nearby.

"How old is he?"

"Twelve years old. Paul's mother replied.

"Okay, let him stay. The salary is eight rubles a month, and he takes care of the food when he is on duty. The top shift is one night a day, and one night at home is not allowed to steal. ”

"Where, where, I promise him won't steal anything. Mother said in trepidation.

"Then let him go to work today. The boss commanded, turned around, and said to a waitress standing at the counter next to him: "Zina, lead this young man to the washing room, and ask Frocia to send him a job, top Grishka." ”

The waitress was cutting the ham, she put down her knife, nodded to Paul, and walked through the dining room towards the side door that led to the scrubbing room. Paul followed her. The mother also hurriedly followed, and whispered to Paul: "Baofrusha, you have to do a good job, don't be ashamed!"

She sent her son away with a melancholy gaze before heading towards the gate.

The scrubbing room is busy. The table was stacked like a hill of saucers, knives and forks, and several female workers were wiping the piles one by one with towels on their shoulders.

A boy with unkempt red hair, a little older than Paul, was busy in front of two large tea stoves.

The large wooden basin for washing the house was filled with boiling water, and the room was full of mist. Paul had just come in, and he couldn't even see the faces of the female workers. He stood there, not knowing what to do, not even where to stand.

The waitress Zina walked up to a maid who was washing her house, took her shoulder, and said, "Frosia, this new fellow is for you, Grishka." Tell him what he's going to do. ”

Zina pointed to the female worker named Frosia, and said to Paul, "She is the foreman here, and you will do whatever she tells you to do." With that, he turned around and went back to the dining room.

"Hmm. Paul softly agreed, and at the same time looked at Floria standing in front of him, waiting for her to speak. Floria wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked him from top to bottom, as if to gauge what he could do, then rolled up one of the sleeves that had slipped down from her elbow, and said in a very pleasant, loud voice: "Little friend, your work is not difficult, just boil this pot early in the morning, and don't cut off the boiling water for a day." Of course, you also have to chop the firewood yourself. There are also these two large tea stoves, which are also your work. Also, when you are tight, you have to wipe your knife and fork and pour out dirty water.

Children, there is a lot of life, enough for you to sweat a few times. She speaks the Kostroma dialect and always pronounces the "a" strongly. Paul couldn't help but be a little happy when he heard this accent and saw her red face and upturned little nose.

"Looks like this aunt is not bad. Thinking so, he plucked up the courage to ask Froxia, "Then what am I doing now, auntie?"

When he said this, the women in the washing room burst into laughter, drowning out his words, and he was stunned.

"Hahaha...... Frosia picked up a big nephew this time......"

"Haha......" Frosia herself laughed louder than anyone else.

Because the house was full of steam, Paul couldn't see Frocia's face clearly, but she was only eighteen years old.

Embarrassed, Paul turned to the boy and said, "What am I going to do now?"

The boy just replied with a hippie smile: "Let's ask your aunt to go, she will tell you all, I am here to help temporarily." With that, he turned and ran towards the kitchen.

Then Paul heard an elderly woman say, "Come and help me wipe the fork." What are you laughing at? What is this kid so funny? Give, take," she handed Paul a towel. "One end bites with your teeth, and the other ends are pulled tight with your hands. Then rub the fork teeth back and forth on the top, and rub them cleanly, and there is no dirt at all. We're serious about this kind of thing here. Those old men are very picky, always turning over and over, looking and looking, as long as there is a little dirt on the fork, we are unlucky, the proprietress will kick you out immediately. ”

"What lady?" asked Paul, puzzled, "isn't the boss who hired me a man?"

The female worker laughed: "Son, our boss here is a furnishing, and he is a straw bale." His wife has the final say on everything. She's not here today, you'll find out in a few days. ”

The door to the washing room opened, and three cousins, each holding a large stack of dirty household goods, walked in.

Among them, there was a cousin with broad shoulders, squinted eyes, and a big square face, and said: "Hurry up, the car at twelve o'clock is about to arrive, and you are still so slow." ”

When he saw Paul, he asked, "Who is this?"

"New here. Frosia replied.

"Oh, the new kid. He said. "Alright then," he said, pressing Paul firmly on the shoulder with one hand, pushing him to the two large tea stoves, "you have to boil these two big tea stoves, and you must have water whenever you want, but you see, now one is gone, and the other is almost gone." I spared you today, and if I do it again tomorrow, I'll make you eat an ear scraper, understand?"

Without saying a word, Paul lit the tea-stove.

Thus began Paul's working life. He was on his first day on the job, and he had never worked so hard in this way. He knew that this place was different from home, and he could not listen to his mother at home, but not here. Squint the eyes to make it clear, if you don't obey, you have to eat ear scrapers.

Paul took off one of his boots, put them on the stove, and when the wind blows, the pot-bellied tea stove that can hold four buckets of water immediately sparks. He would pick up the bucket and run outside to pour it into the pit, add wood to the kettle, and dry the wet towel on the boiling tea stove. In short, he did all the work he was asked to do. It wasn't until late at night that Paul dragged his tired body to the kitchen below. An old woman named Anithea looked at the door he had just closed and said, "Behold, this child is like a madman, and he is not dying." It must have been sent by the family because there was really no way. ”

"yes, pretty good lad," said Frosia. "You don't have to rush to get to work. ”

"After two days of running tired, I won't do that," Lusha retorted. "It's very hard at the beginning......"

Paul worked all night with his hands and feet, exhausted. At seven o'clock in the morning, a boy with a chubby round face and two small eyes came to take over, and Paul handed him two boiling tea stoves.

As soon as the boy saw that everything was in order, and that the tea-stove was boiling, he put his hands in his pockets, squeezed a mouthful of spit out from between his clenched teeth, assumed an unstoppable posture, looked at Paul with slanted white eyes, and then said in an indisputable tone: "Hey, you rice bucket, you will take over at six o'clock tomorrow morning." ”

"Why six?" asked Paul. "Isn't it a seven-o'clock shift?"

"Whoever is happy with seven o'clock will be seven o'clock, and you have to come at six o'clock. If you are wordy, I will immediately make you have a big lump on your brain. You kid don't think about it, so you come and put on a stinky shelf. ”