Igor Buter and Sergey Polyak have been friends since their youth. Both are a little over 40. They live in the same apartment in Vileika, they do not understand why young people like to correspond through social networks, and not gather in the yard, and have half a thousand rubles a month for two. 350 of them - Sergeev's disability pension. The man does not get up: after the accident, his arms and legs were paralyzed. The nurse has been replaced by Igor for the last 15 years. “I'm already a nurse,” he laughs. "It will be possible to issue a document to me soon."
Monitor on a hanger and delicious soups
- Seryoga on his own for a month now. That's it, the man is gone! The world wide web has tightened, - Igor jokes about his friend, letting us into the apartment. We found Sergei at the computer. Suddenly. The monitor is suspended on a "crossbar" above the bed. With the help of a special program, a man himself can control the mouse. “The camera monitors the movements of the head, the click is automatic when I linger on the spot,” Sergey explains to us the principle of the system, which he himself got acquainted with quite recently.
“My life has changed,” he rejoices at the new program. - Now I can read the news myself. Before, until Igor comes, I don’t know anything. And I can call him via the Internet when he went somewhere on his business.
The bar to which the monitor is attached is replaced by a conventional roller hanger. Themselves with friends came up with, boasts Igor.
- First we were going to buy a special table. We didn't find him, we had to take him from Russia. Two million would be worth (before the denomination. - Author). And the hanger is only 300 thousand. A friend's wife, Lyudka, has a trade pavilion in Minsk. They brought this thing to us.
Promotional video:
Igor plays the role of a housewife. And, I must say, he copes well. The apartment is in perfect order - you can't even say that she is a bachelor.
- I am such an economic person. See what cool photo curtains we bought? - shows Igor to the bright tropical curtains. - Seryoga lies under the palm tree! Positive!
Friends' menus are fine too. Igor mastered cooking.
- I have what soups! Second courses are not very good, but soups … Friends said: none of the wife does this. I can boast of this. Years of training, but I learned how to cook them.
The plans of the owner's friend are to knock out a new special mattress for Seryoga (this one has already begun to crumble) and take home a cat (“It's more fun with an animal, though”).
I came up with my back, and the guys thought I was joking
From the vital we return to what happened 23 years ago. Sergei, then still a young guy, had just returned from the army (he had to serve in Turkmenistan) to his native Vileika. Gathered with the company to the river. This is not the first time we dived there: earlier the depth was three and a half meters. But while the guy was in the army, the river was cleaned, sand was applied.
- Water was up to the waist. And I didn't even doubt for a second, - the man recalls. - I knew for sure, because I swam in this place two years ago. From old memory I dive, and then the bottom immediately … As I surfaced with my back, I realized: everything was taken away. I can't feel my arms or legs. Was conscious. Friends rather pulled me out. I tell them: “Everyone, guys, khana. Spine . And they thought I was joking.
The ambulance arrived. The diagnosis was a fracture of the cervical spine with overlapping of the spinal cord. The doctors gave Sergei three days. The predictions did not come true.
- They were afraid to take them to Minsk for the operation, they thought I could not bear the road. At her own fear, my mother signed the documents to be transported, no matter what. The road, of course, was hard. The temperature has risen. During the night, probably, two liters of vodka was poured on my chest. Everything quickly evaporated. They could not bring down the temperature. The doctors said that if it went like this, I would burn out in a week. In fact, every three days, a lung X-ray was taken. They were afraid that I would catch the inflammation … But, as they say, the Lord had mercy.
- What did you feel when you realized that now you will spend your whole life in bed? - It is always inconvenient to ask such questions.
- It became scary. You realize that you cannot do basic things - drink, eat. You need someone to help with everything. Scary - the word "scary" actually sounded more times.
At first, Sergei was looked after by his mother. When she was gone, Igor took care of his friend. Sergey's sister, who now lives in another city, also comes to visit.
- Weren't you afraid of the prospect of being a nurse? Still, not a man's job …
- Nobody thought about it. The decision came by itself, - says Igor and asks not to portray him as a hero: this is Seryoga well done, that he did not lose heart. - Previously, the nurse came, lives nearby. But you have to learn: why are you going to tear a person off every time? She has her own business. It was difficult at first, but you get used to everything. I do the dressings myself, make the bed. Previously, you had to call someone to hold Sergei on his side, but now he has adapted himself. Instead of a salary, Igor has an allowance for caring for a disabled person. About 170 rubles per month. “Yes, enough for us. Do you need to feed the children? We are not in poverty. You can live with our prices in Vileika. Moreover, the dressing materials were made free of charge to us”.
A company of 15 people and real emotions
There are stacks of piles on a brand new sideboard. Igor starts talking about alcohol.
- Friends come - sometimes we can drink a hundred square meters. For the meeting. And so, I gave up this case. A drunken man, so I can't. I have been using it for ten years. Maybe Seryoga helped to quit, who knows. Maybe he put in a word for me to God. So I would have died somewhere from "vodyara".
In the meantime, we are leafing through the album with photos. Many are made in this room, and almost all of them have a large company. “As we had 15 friends before, it remains the same. They have not fled anywhere. On the contrary, we somehow rallied more. Some have families, but they all visit,”the men tell about their company with undisguised pride.
They themselves did not have time to start families. The girl Sergei once met is married to someone else and has two children. But he is corresponding with Sergei on social networks.
- Do you regret not getting married? - a question for Igor.
- No, it's okay, I'm used to it. There is a girl in principle. Yes, some of our friends have already divorced twice.
Men do not see anything surprising in the fact that their friendship has been preserved since youth.
- We are old school. Now somehow every man for himself - we didn't have that. We have been accustomed to sharing everything since the age of twenty. We will tear one by one.
- It seems to me that a lot still depends on the parents, - says Sergey. - Mom always, when my friends came, put everyone at the table. They could stay overnight. And the guys never refused to help.
Quarrels and resentments, men admit, sometimes happen. How can we do without it? But they don't last long. Friends get angry for a couple of hours - and go to the world.
- The most important thing for a person is relationships. Without this you are nothing, - Igor is sure. - What do you want, the computer will give emotions? I do not argue, he is needed. For people like Seryoga, this is generally an irreplaceable thing, but you shouldn't dwell on that Internet.
- The kid calls us, also a "neck". He has only been lying for three years, - Sergey shares his story. - He has one or two friends left, no one else comes, they forgot. There is only one poor fellow left. And they also have such a tense relationship with their mother. In general, horror. She does not concede, he does not concede. Parents will come, they will give food, they will install a computer and that's it. He says: I envy you … Maybe we were lucky?
