The events that I will describe began 60 years ago. Then I, a happy first grader, crossed the threshold of a new school smelling of paint. I liked everything: the young teacher, with whom we were the first students, and the girls and boys from my class.
On the very first day, I made friends with Natasha and two funny girls - Manya and Tanya. Natasha was very different from us small fry. She was a tall, plump, precocious girl with curly blonde hair, blue eyes and dimples on her plump cheeks, apples.
Natasha impressed us with her erudition. The Count of Monte Cristo recounted the whole great change to us. After lessons, we tied up to accompany her home and, of course, listen to the continuation of the Count's adventures.
Natasha lived in her grandmother's house with her elderly parents who held important posts in our city. In those years, it was not easy to compile a huge personal library from the collected works of Russian and foreign writers. Natasha's parents had such a library.
Our classmate was the only child in the family, but she was not spoiled. She studied well, everyone loved her for her kind disposition. She did not refuse to help with her studies, she willingly explained difficult material or problem.
Autumn, winter flew by. In the spring we were examined by the school doctor again. There were a lot of girls in the office. We were quiet, nobody wanted to be the first.
And then Natasha stepped forward, showing that she was not afraid of anything. She lay down on the couch. The doctor began to examine her. Natasha admitted that she had a constant stomach ache.
Soon, a classmate ended up in the hospital. What happened to her, we did not know. And soon the holidays came, we all went to rest. Natasha celebrated the new school year with us.
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And then the years passed, the last bell rang, the school waltz was performed. Graduates rushed to enter technical schools, colleges, more gifted, like our girlfriend, were preparing for institutes. Natasha dreamed of becoming a geologist. She was going to enter the Moscow Institute. We were sure that Natasha's dream would definitely come true.
And suddenly I found out that Natasha, just like many years ago, was hospitalized, she was operated on and only recently was discharged. After collecting the presents, I went to visit a friend. But I could not see her. Relatives did not allow anyone to visit her, she needed peace.
It turned out that the girlfriend was living out the last days of her short life. An insidious disease - stomach sarcoma - has been ripening in it for many years, reminding of itself with abdominal pain. And later, when Natasha died (she just turned 18), I learned the story of her family.
Natasha's future father Nikolai was going to marry his girlfriend Lyudmila. Preparations were underway for the wedding. But literally on the eve of the celebration, their friend Katerina, a blue-eyed blonde, managed to turn the head of the groom. Nikolai took her to the registry office.
But Luda's parents celebrated a commemoration instead of a wedding. Their 18-year-old only daughter could not bear the betrayal. The girl hanged herself on the wedding day of Nikolai and Katerina.
Nine days after the funeral, Lyudmila's mother, hunched over and blackened with grief, came to the house of her failed son-in-law. Standing on the threshold and looking into Nikolai's eyes, she said:
- As soon as your children turn 18 years old, celebrate them with a commemoration!
And so it happened. The first-born of Nikolai and Katerina, as I was told, was a thief, constantly stealing things and money from peers. Then he stole a motorcycle from a neighbor, for which he went to jail. At the age of 18, he suddenly developed tuberculosis, the guy burned out instantly. So the first funeral took place in the family.
Natasha became the second child in this family. She turned 18 - and she also died. Two children paid for the mean act of their parents …
Olga Nikolaevna, Vladivostok
