The brownie sat by the stove and sighed softly - the hostess was dying.
The old woman was almost 90. Previously, the nimble grandmother did not get out of bed lately, the years took their toll.
The brownie sat and remembered: here's a young mistress - she just entered the house with her wife, now the kids are running around, and now the old woman.
And always clean, friendly and very economic. She loved the domovoy and for some reason called Methodius, and sometimes Fedya. I always put a saucer of milk under the stove, or even a chocolate candy.
The house is now orphaned.
Even Stepan the cat feels it. Although the son of the mistress lives here for the time being, it is still not that.
Every night Methodius approached the bed and looked anxiously at the hostess and sighed with relief - she was still alive.
Shortly before her illness, she seemed to see him and said:
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- Fedya, don’t offend the new owners if they do. Otherwise I will die and the house will die next. It's a pity - the house is good, and you live too. Help, okay?
Night outside the window, and December outside. It's cold today and somehow uncomfortable. The clock struck midnight.
Before, Methodius loved them, with their fight the house seemed to come to life. And now it seemed the last hours were counting down.
* * *
By morning the old woman was gone.
The brownie was hiding on the stove in the corner, and was sniffing, sniffing … but I wanted to cry. I just wanted to cry.
* * *
After the commemoration, Baba Manya, a neighbor, put a saucer with a treat under the oven:
- Let him remember. Vera always put a saucer of milk for him.
* * *
That's all.
The house is empty.
They all dispersed, dispersed. The clock stopped, the neighbor took the cat. Sad …
It was Methodius' longest winter. During the days he sat out on the cold stove, and at night, he wandered around the same cold house.
Occasionally going out into the street, he walked around the courtyard, and then sat on the snow-covered porch, looking longingly at the lights in the windows of neighboring houses.
He knew that there was a house in the village without a brownie, but he didn’t leave - he promised the mistress to look after the house.
The cat also got bored, often ran into the yard and yelled at the door.
* * *
Everything changed in the spring. In mid-May, two cars drove up to the house. From one came the mistress's son, and from the other a woman of about sixty and a young man.
The brownie looked out the window with greed and curiosity.
- Here is a garden, there are five apple trees, currants and raspberries - explained the son of the hostess. We went into the yard - here is a barn. Previously, my mother kept a goat, but now everything is stuffed with wood.
There is even a little coal in the briquettes.
Well, let's go to the house?
The visitors liked the house: it was clean, comfortable, although it smells of dampness.
- Yes, we have to rent for the summer, we don't have a summer residence …
- Yes, I also feel sorry for the house - that's why I gave the announcement. There is no one to look after the house. I stayed alone with my mother, and even then I am leaving for the north for six months, and the children and grandchildren do not need a house.
So, in the underground and potatoes, and you will find everything. There is gas in the cylinders. You have my phone number. Live.
When they began to leave, the woman took a candy out of her pocket and put it on the stove.
The man noticed, smiled:
- Mother did that. She said - to the brownie.
* * *
The brownie was left alone again, but not for long. Three days later, a car drove up again.
In addition to the young man and that woman, a girl of about six and her mother got out.
The girl looked around with curiosity.
- Grandma, are we going to live here now?
- Yes, we'll spend the summer here. Let's unload the bags, otherwise there's a lot to do.
Methodius watched with curiosity as the house was gradually reviving.
The stove was lit to warm up the house. They took out pillows, feather beds, rugs to dry, took off, curtains came in.
The work was in full swing: everything was washed, knocked out.
The brownie found out their names: the eldest woman Anna Mikhailovna, the son - Andrey, the daughter-in-law - Lena, and the granddaughter - Ninochka.
In the evening, the tired ones sat down to supper. Anna Mikhailovna even managed to bake pancakes. The family sat, quietly talking about what else to do tomorrow. Before going to bed, Anna Mikhailovna put a saucer of tea and a piece of pancake under the oven:
- Sorry, master, there is no milk today.
When everyone fell asleep, the brownie walked quietly around the house, stood for a long time in front of the clock. They again walked and beat off time, although Andrei doubted that they would go.
In the first months of longing and loneliness, the domovoy felt good and calm.
A day later, Andrei and Elena left, but Nina and her grandmother stayed. Life in the house and in the yard continued.
Even the cat Stepan came, at first he was shy, but after three days he even allowed Nina to stroke him. And now, content with life, he sprawled on the porch.
The guests settled down, got to know the neighbors, and began to take milk from them. They quietly removed the garden, sowed flowers everywhere, found a bathhouse behind the barn - still good. We managed to dig up and plant the beds, under the onion-cucumbers.
And every day Anna Mikhailovna put a saucer of milk under the oven.
One day Ninochka asked:
- Granny, why are you doing this? - grandmother smiled
- To the owner of the house. The house you see how good it is for us - the granddaughter nodded her head in agreement.
- Sometimes a house is clean and rich, but uncomfortable. Either the brownie is not there, or he is not looking after him. And there are old, poor houses, but you come in and you don't want to leave. So he is a brownie to the owners, he helps.
So we must treat him. Deserves!
- And if I give him candy, will he help? - Anna Mikhailovna smiled.
- Will help. Only you cannot demand, but you can ask. This is how my grandmother taught me.
Nina looked at the stove:
- And what is his name? Does he have a name?
- There is. The time will come, he will tell you.
Two days later, the granddaughter again asked about the name of the brownie. Grandma said:
- This is what we will hear from strangers today, and we will call it that.
All day Nina waited for at least some guests, but no one was there. Only in the evening did a girl look into their house.
- Oh, hello. I am the granddaughter of Baba Mani, we arrived yesterday. We carry the cat with us, but he ran away somewhere today. Have you come to see you? Big such, smoky, they call Methodius.
- No, we only have our own - Anna Mikhailovna pointed to the chair where the cat was sleeping - but there was no stranger.
When the girl left, Nina rushed to her grandmother:
- Granny, did you hear? Methodius!
The brownie on the stove smiled and decided to make some noise, they say they guessed the name.
*. * *
Days passed by, Methodius got used to the tenants and could no longer imagine a house without them.
Andrey and his wife came for the weekend. The porch was repaired, the bathhouse was repaired. Andrei even made the table outside, and now the whole family was going to have dinner in the yard, under the bird cherry bush.
Methodius noticed that Anna Mikhailovna had become thoughtful, she was doing things, fiddling with her granddaughter and thinking about something.
Until the next visit of her son she started a conversation.
- Andrey, Lena, I need to talk to you. I want to stay here to live. You feel good in the city without me, I only interfere.
- Mum!
- Wait! I thought a lot. I'm tired of city life. I am a village, only my village is no longer there. And here I feel good. I have a little money and I am thinking of buying the house.
There is a shop, a paramedic, a post office, good neighbors, the regional center is nearby. And you need to live alone, maybe give birth to another child. And you will come to me whenever possible, it’s only three hours.
There were many conversations that evening, but Anna Mikhailovna remained her own, wants to live here - in the village.
Well, since here, then on the next visit, the children brought her a dog: a lop-eared puppy, picked up on the track
The brownie was happy: the house had found its owners.
Sighing softly, he got off the stove and went to wander around the house. Stepan the cat, smelling it, hissed.
- Quiet you - the brownie hissed in response, - you will wake up the house.
He glanced at his watch - the first one in the morning.
He spanked to the wardrobe, found a ball of yarn, Anna Mikhailovna lost it, knitted a blouse for Nina, put it in a prominent place. I went on. I walked to Nina's bed, straightened the almost slipped blanket.
He bent down, picked up the doll, otherwise tomorrow will come when he will get up. Some strange: long, thin, only arms and legs. Nina called her Barbie.
We need to make some noise in the attic tomorrow (the hostess has not yet disassembled it), there is a whole chest with toys, there will be something for Nina to play with.
Good!
The house is alive!
The owners are there, and you can eat milk and cake.
And Methodius spanked under the stove - there is also some Chupa-Chups Ninin …
Author: Olga Mitrofanova
