Шурик у дедушки / Visiting Grandpa: Рассказ

Shurik and I spent all summer at our grandpa’s house. Shurik is my younger brother. He was just a preschooler, but I was already a first-grader. Anyway, he still didn't obey me... Well, no matter!.. As soon as we arrived, we searched the whole courtyard, all the sheds and attics. I found an empty jam jar and a small round iron box where shoe polish had been kept some time ago. Shurik found an old doorknob and a big right galosh. Then we almost had a fight over a fishing rod in the attic. I was the first one who saw the rod and said, “Bags it’s mine!“

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:04

Shurik also saw it and began to shout, “Bags I! Bags I!“

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:04

I grabbed the fishing rod. He grabbed it as well and tried to take it away from me. I got angry and pulled the rod so hard that he flew to the side, almost falling.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:04

Then Shurik said, “You know what? I don't need your rod! I have the galosh.“

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:04

"Well, fuss over your galosh," I said, "and don't pull the rod out of my hands."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:05

I found a shovel in the shed and went off to dig worms for fishing. Shurik went to our grandma and asked her for matches.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:05

Our grandma asked him, "Matches? What for?"

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:05

He said, "I’m gonna light a fire in the courtyard and put the galosh in it. The galosh will melt and I will get some rubber."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:05

Our grandma waved her hands at him, "What a nonsense you've made up! You'll burn the whole house down, you and your antics. No, deary, don't even ask me. No games with fire! I don't want to hear anything about it."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:05

Then Shurik took the doorknob he had found in the shed and tied a rope to it. After that he tied the other end of the rope to the galosh and began to walk around the yard with the knob in his hand. The galosh dragged along the ground behind him. Wherever he went it followed him. Finally he came up to me, watched me dig worms, and said,

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:06

"Don't even try. You won't catch anything anyway."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:06

I asked, "Why not?"

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:06

"I'll put a spell on all the fish."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:06

I said, "Go ahead then. You can do any magic you want."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:06

I dug up some worms, put them in a box and went off to the pond. The pond was at the far end of the courtyard where the collective farm garden began. I put a worm on the hook, threw the bait into the water and sat down on the bank. While I was sitting and watching the float Shurik crept up behind me and screamed at the top of his lungs,

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:07

“Do magic, the old woman! Do magic, the old man!

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:07

Do magic, the grey bear!

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:07

Do magic, the old woman! Do magic, the old man!

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:07

Do magic, the grey bear!”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:07

I chose to be silent and didn’t say anything, because any of my words would only worsen the situation. It was always like this with him.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:08

When Shurik decided that he had done enough magic he threw the galosh into the pond and began to drag it along the water, pulling the rope. Some time later he came up with a new thing. He tossed the galosh in the middle of the pond and began to throw stones at it until it drowned. Then he pulled it from the bottom with a rope and started all over again.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:08

At first I suffered in silence, but then I got angry and yelled, “Get out of here! You’ve scared all the fish!”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:08

He said, “You won't catch anything anyway. All the fish are charmed.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:08

And the galosh flopped into the water again! I jumped up, grabbed a stick and rushed to him. He started running from me. The galosh was jumping after him, until he finally got far enough away from me.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:08

I returned to the pond and began to fish again. Actually, I was just sitting there… The sun was risen higher and higher; I kept looking at the float. No matter what, the fish didn't bite. Little by little I was growing angrier at Shurik, I was almost ready to beat him hard. Not that I believed in his magic, but I knew if I came without fish, he would laugh at me. I tried everything. I threw the bait close to the bank, I threw it as far as I could, I lowered the hook into the deep. Nothing worked.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:09

Eventually I got hungry. I was going back to the house when I suddenly heard a loud knocking at the gate, "Boom! Boom! Bang! Bang!"

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:09

I came closer to the gate to check who was doing this. It was Shurik. Having got a hammer and some nails from… well, from somewhere, he was nailing the doorknob to the gate.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:09

I asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:09

Seeing me made him happy.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:09

"Hee-hee! Here's a fisherman. Where's your fish?"

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:09

I said, "Why are you nailing the knob? There's already a knob here."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:10

He replied, "It's alright. Let two knobs be. One of them can break away."

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:10

When he finally nailed the knob, he still had one nail left. He thought for a long time what to do with it. He even wanted just to drive it into the gate. Then he was struck by a new idea. He put the sole of the galosh against the gate and began to nail her.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:11

I asked, “What's that for?”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:11

“Without a reason.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:11

I said, “Doing something for no reason is silly.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:12

Suddenly, we saw our grandpa, he was coming home from work. Shurik got scared, tried to tear off the galosh, but it hold fast. Then he stood up with his back against the galosh and froze.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:16

Our grandpa came up to us and said: “That's great, guys! You have just arrived and immediately set to work... Whose idea was it to nail the second knob to the gate?"

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:16

I answered, “It was Shurik’s.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:17

Our grandpa just grunted in amusement and said, “Well, now we have two doorknobs: the top one and the bottom one. So if a very short person come to us and can't reach the top knob, he'll just pull the bottom…”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:17

At the very moment he noticed the galosh, “What's that?”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:17

I made a snorting sound as I thought, “Well, now Shurik will get into trouble.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:17

Shurik blushed, not knowing what to say.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:18

Then our grandpa said, “Well, well, well? Probably… it's almost like a letterbox. If the postman comes and finds no one at home, he’ll put a letter in the galosh and go on his way. A very clever idea.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:18

“I came up with that on my own”, Shurik boasted.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:18

“Are you sure?”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:18

“Sure, sure, honestly!”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:18

Our grandpa threw his hands in the air, “Well done!”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:19

At lunch our grandpa waved his hands again and again while he told our grandma about the galosh.

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:19

“What a clever kid, you wouldn't believe! The boy came up with that on his own, you know! To nail a galosh to the gate, uh-huh? I have repeated many times that we need a letterbox and not realized that it is easier to nail a galosh.”

Mary888 28.08.18 в 07:20