I don’t know how anyone, but I loved talking to my grandfather. And when I was just a child, and when I grew up. I heard a lot of interesting life stories from him, it's a pity that I realized later that they should have been written down. Therefore, I am now telling you what I managed to remember.
Once upon a time, even before the birth of my father, in the middle of the last century, my grandfather worked as a truck driver on a state farm. And somehow they sent his feed grain from the elevator to the livestock farm to carry it. Well, it's a common thing. He made a dozen trips and suddenly the truck stopped starting.
Also nothing surprising, the state farm machines were old. Every now and then broke down. They found another truck, loaded the grain onto it, but by that time it was completely dark. My grandfather, in spite of everything, wanted to finish the work today, and not leave it in the morning.
Left after 22.00, going - all around darkness, forest. However, he finished late before, and the road is familiar. I drove half the way and decided to slow down for a known need.
He did not turn off the engine, he settled down next to the car - there was no one. Suddenly I heard - as if a woman was crying nearby or a child. Grandfather listened a little more, and then realized that they were owls, calmed down, got back into the car and drove off.
However, very soon he realized that he had lost his way - instead of a good rolling road, the car was now walking along a narrow track. It was strange - there was nowhere to turn off, my grandfather was not the first time driving along this road.
And now there is only a snowy forest around and no landmarks. He stopped the car, went out to look around a little and understand where he was, but the situation did not clear up at all.
And so the grandfather felt uncomfortable at that moment - he imagined how he would freeze in the forest at night, and at home there were small children and my wife - my grandmother, which means that she was just pregnant with my father. In an amicable way, it was necessary to turn around and go back, even though the elevator.
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But it was absolutely impossible to turn around here. So my grandfather turned on reverse gear, and drove 500 meters on it, and maybe more. And then suddenly I noticed a sign on the road.
It turned out that he was all on the same road. Only the place was far ahead, and it looks like he passed the farm long ago. Only this could not be. How the grandfather ended up in this place, he did not understand.
Several times later, by the light, he tried to determine where he could then turn and where - but he did not find any turn.
In the late 1960s, another story happened to my grandfather. As I said, he then worked on a state farm, and there the working day was irregular, so it’s not surprising that he often had to return home late in the evening, and sometimes around midnight.
There was no street lighting in the village; lonely rare bulbs on the poles were periodically extinguished. So that evening my grandfather was returning from work in complete darkness. I turned into my street, and suddenly noticed that a little light was shining right near their gate - what was it?
There were no lanterns or bulbs. My grandfather quickened his pace, but tried to remain invisible, hiding in the shadow of the fence. He came closer and saw that near the gate itself a woman had put a candle on the ground, was walking around it in circles and whispering something under her breath.
When she turned around, her grandfather saw that it was Nastasya - she lived with her old mother in a house that stood near the forest. The villagers said that they were doing some bad business. They seem to be doing magic, although he himself did not believe in it.
But then it struck him. He jumped up to her, knocked over the candle with his foot and extinguished it, and pounced on her with his fists and sent obscenities.
Nastasya jumped back - everyone shook and looked at him with such wild anger that the grandfather was even taken aback - where did it come from, it seemed that they had never had any common business and did not communicate, they greeted only when they met, as is customary.
And suddenly he noticed that this woman began to beat in some kind of seizure, then bent in half, howled terribly and fell to the ground. The grandfather then rushed into the house, woke up his father and called for help.
Only while he explained what was the matter, while they went out into the street - Nastasya was not even close there. Later, some old woman from the village explained to him that she, apparently, had conceived a bad idea, and he intervened at the wrong time, and all the witchcraft turned to the witch herself.
This case took place in the fall, and that winter Nastasya went into the forest for some reason, and she disappeared. They found her only in the spring, when the snow melted.
The next story, which I remember well, happened much later, in the early 80s. Grandfather had a dream at night, as if he was busy in the courtyard of his house, well, as it usually happens, he was fixing something or something else - as if he did not remember, and it doesn't matter.
And then the gate opens, and a guy and a girl enter it, pass by their grandfather and head into the house. In a dream, the grandfather did not recognize who it was, because he could not see the faces. It means that he followed the guests, enters the house, and sees them from behind as they walk into the room.
Grandfather into the room - and they are already in the kitchen, and so on. So they went through the whole house. And then the guy and the girl went into the back room and locked themselves there. Grandfather wanted to follow them, but only the door was locked, no matter how he pulled the handle. At this point, the grandfather woke up.
In the morning I told my grandmother the dream, she was even frightened, said that it was not good. Only the grandfather knew, himself not understanding where it came from, that this dream was good. And so it happened. Soon my father came to visit and brought his fiancée to acquaint her parents.
And two weeks later, the wedding was played. And for the first time the young settled just in the room that the grandfather saw in a dream. It was they who later moved to a separate house.
Finally, the last story that I want to tell you happened shortly after the death of our grandmother, with whom my grandfather lived in love and harmony for over 40 years. I can't even betray you how worried he was, although he tried to hold on.
Worst of all, his daughter, and my aunt, with whom he lived, did not want to enter his position, moreover, she was often rude to him, and my grandfather answered her in kind. My aunt and I don't have a very good relationship, her character is not easy, but at least I don't live with her.
And my grandfather had a hard time. So he got into the habit of going to grandmother's grave with a bottle of vodka a couple of times a month for the whole day until dark. Several times my father and I had to look for him in the cemetery and literally take him away from there by force.
We asked him not to do this anymore, every time his grandfather promised, and every time everything was repeated again.
On one of these absences, when darkness had already descended, and my grandfather was not there, we were going to go again to pick him up from his grandmother's grave. But as soon as they went out into the street, they met him - of course, the grandfather was a little tipsy, but this is not the main thing.
He looked somehow unusual, it seemed to me that he was very scared. We took him home and started pestering him with questions. But then the grandfather did not tell us anything. We could find out everything only after a few days.
As it turned out, that evening the grandfather, as usual, was sitting on a bench near the grave. He had already emptied more than half the bottle and poured himself another shot. As soon as he raised it to his lips, he felt that someone came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.
My grandfather decided that it was me or my father who was following him again, wanted to turn around and say something sharp. But his body seemed to be stiff - he could not turn around, raise his hand, or say something.
And then I heard someone's voice, which told him to stop this occupation. And then the next time he himself will also remain in the cemetery - an unknown interlocutor threatened that he would no longer let him out of here.
A few seconds later, the grandfather regained the ability to move, turned abruptly - but there was no one behind. He was terribly frightened, his legs weakened and became like cotton. For a few more minutes he sat, coming to his senses, then got up and went home, but then my father and I met him.
Of course, one would assume that it was one of the watchmen. But what kind of watchmen at the village cemetery - they have never been there before. Or did someone you know make fun of your grandfather in this way? But where did he go then?
And what is most interesting, the grandfather swore that he recognized this voice - they say, it belonged to his late father, whose grave, by the way, is located very close. In general, whatever it was, my grandfather stopped going to the cemetery with vodka and drinking there.
Moreover, from that day he drank alcohol exclusively on major holidays, and then he would drink a glass and stop there.
Inna Kondaurova