😉 Greetings to regular readers and visitors of the site! This story took place in the winter in the village. In that distant 1950, my neighbor, grandfather Andrey, was only five years old.
The story of one salvation
The boy woke up early in the morning, it was still dark outside the window. Having melted the stove, the parents went to work. The fact is that in the winter the stove was heated early and early in the morning, long before dawn. The stove in the house was large, and therefore kept warm until the evening. The family lived in a small village, which was not much different from others.
In summer it was incredibly beautiful here, city dwellers often visited this picturesque place, and in winter life in the village seemed to freeze. That year the winter turned out to be especially cold – the snow was covered with snow up to the waist. It is clear that there was no one to clean it up. In the villages, after all, how – the sledges passed, left a mark, you can consider it a road.
The boy’s parents worked on the collective farm for workdays and disappeared at work all day. The child was left at home alone. There were no kindergartens in the villages, so the parents left the boy at home, locked the hut outside and went to the collective farm. To keep the kid from getting bored, the father brought several logs and a small knife from the barn.
Andrey could tinker with these logs all day – he loved making all kinds of toys so much. The knife replaced the boy with a cleaver, an ax and a plane. By evening, he was cutting all the logs into shavings, building ships and grinding sabers. In general, not a child, but a jack of all trades!
That ill-fated day was no different from the previous ones. The boy woke up, washed himself and had breakfast. Since it was warm at home, he put on a T-shirt, pants and socks. There was no one at home – my parents would only return from work in the evening. It is very cold outside, but at home near the stove it is warm and cozy
Wasting no time, Andryusha got down to business. From the log left by his father, the boy decided to make a dagger. He confidently worked with a knife and the log was already taking on the desired shape, but then he needed a saw. The boy knew that she was lying in the entryway.
Dangerous trap
The child decided not to wear a fur coat – after all, he just had to jump out into the hallway, take a saw there and immediately return to the house. So he ran out – in socks and a T-shirt. When the child opened his brother-in-law, he noticed that she gave in with difficulty (in the cold season, door frames were often covered with ice).
Andryusha closed the door behind him so as not to chill the hut. He found a saw in the hallway and decided to return to the house. He tugged at the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. The boy threw down the saw, grabbed the handle, and pulled the door toward him by force – to no avail. The child’s hands, sweaty with excitement, instantly froze to the handle – he could hardly tear them off.
Andryusha found a rag in the entryway and made a third attempt to open the door. Hands were no longer frozen, but the door still did not open – it was already severely seized by the frost. The child fought against the frozen door until he was exhausted.
After some time, he realized that he was freezing. Andrei realized that he was in a dangerous trap: he could not get into the house, the door to the entrance was closed from the side of the street, he was almost undressed, and his parents would return only in the evening. During this time, he will freeze to death! And in the hallway there is not even a window through which you can call for help.
When the boy was completely numb, he sank to the floor and cried loudly.
Wonderful salvation
Neighbor Baba Klava did not plan to go to the store that day. The whole village was covered with snow, there is food in the house. But the inner voice insistently demanded: “Go to the store!” Passing Andrei’s house, she heard a desperate crying of children. In winter, the audibility in the village is very good, like in a forest.
Now every villager has a car and a dog. And in the post-war years this was not all, so nothing disturbed the silence in the village.
Baba Klava listened: from the nearest hut, a child’s cry was really heard. She knew this family, of course. I entered the courtyard, but, of course, I could not get into the locked hut. She shouted loudly through the door:
– Andryusha, what happened to you? Why are you crying?
Sobbing, a child’s voice answered:
– I jumped out into the hallway for the saw, but I can’t get back. The door is frozen, and I am completely naked. I’m already very cold.
Baba Klava thought a little and said:
– Do you have an ax in the hallway? Take it and smack it on the door.
The crying stopped. Seconds later, there was a thud on the door. This was repeated several times. Then the door creak was heard and everything was quiet.
– Andryusha, are you here? – asked the neighbor.
Nobody answered. “Well, thank God, I got into the house!” – thought Baba Klava and went her own way.
In the evening, when the parents returned from work, the boy was sitting near the stove and making something. A neighbor came to visit and told her parents that some unknown force had led her to their hut. After all, if she had stayed at home, as planned, Andryusha would have probably frozen in the entryway – literally one step away from salvation.
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