Pasha, Pasha, where are you?” Vasiliyna called her husband. It was already 6 AM. They had argued yesterday, and her husband had spent the night on the porch. There, in the summer kitchen, was a topchan—an old sofa converted for use. Usually, by this time, he would already be in the yard, feeding the chickens, the goat Mashka, and coming in for breakfast. Today, it was quiet. The front door wasn’t slamming. You could hear the goat Mashka bleating outside. “Unfed perhaps? But then where is Pavel? Maybe he left somewhere after yesterday’s argument?” Worried, Vasiliyna struggled to get up and went to the porch. “I have to get up anyway. I need to cook something for Pasha and myself. Maybe pancakes? Thin ones, just how Pasha likes them with melted honey.” She left the house and reached the kitchen table where she saw Pavel lying. He lay unnaturally, his head thrown back and arms outstretched. His glassy eyes stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. Vasiliyna heavily sat down on a chair. “He’s dead.”
“Pash, oh Pash.” She touched her husband, felt his forehead. He was cold, already stiff. “So, he died last night. Something must be done. But what?” Her mind suddenly stopped working. She continued to sit in shock, unable to make herself get up and start doing something. And she sat there. Yesterday’s argument came to mind.
They had three children. All their lives, from their wedding day, Pavel had worked first in a collective farm, then as a mechanic in the fields for a private farmer, a former chairman of the collective farm. Tractors, combines. Always in the fields. Vasiliyna had also always been at the collective farm as a milker, and later looked after calves for the same farmer her entire life. The family never sat without money. They knew no hunger, no poverty. The yard was always full of livestock, raised both for themselves and for sale. They raised and educated their children. Even in their old age, in retirement, they supplied their children with food from their own yard and helped them with money. They paid for weddings, helped them buy apartments. They raised five to six cows for sale. Vasiliyna in any weather sold milk, lard, cottage cheese, meat, eggs, sour cream, and butter in the market in the district center. The Samoylovs always had money on hand and in reserve. They spent little on themselves, living the old-fashioned way, on what was long acquired. Until three years ago, Vasiliyna fell on the snow while going to give water to the cows and pigs. She broke her hip. Vasiliyna spent a long time, almost three months, in the hospital and returned home disabled. She could barely move around the house during the first year. Her husband did not leave her, he helped. But the children… After Vasiliyna was taken to the hospital, the father called all three children, someone needed to look after the livestock or their mother in the hospital. None of them came. Pavel had nowhere to go, so he gradually began to slaughter the livestock and sell it. He left one cow, five hens, a rooster, some meat for themselves in the freezer. He was always with his wife, helping her in the hospital. When Vasiliyna started to get better and stand on her feet, Pavel consulted and slaughtered the last cow. They decided to get a goat for milk. The two of them would be enough. The children knew their mother was in the hospital, that their father was rushing between home and the hospital, but none of them came. They didn’t even call or ask how their parents were. It was bitter and offensive to Pavel and Vasiliyna. They talked about their children for a long time and could not understand why their children treated them this way. Proud Pavel forbade Vasiliyna from calling the children. “If we’re not needed, then we’re not needed. God be their judge. I don’t want to see any of them. Don’t call anyone. Understood?” “Understood, Pashenka. I won’t.”
Vasiliyna was discharged from the hospital. Gradually, she began to recover. Pavel managed everything in the yard. Vasiliyna rarely went outside. The third year, they planted nothing but potatoes. And even those were planted with the help of the neighbor’s son, Ivan. He plowed the garden with a cultivator and helped Pavel plant. Ivan and his wife from the very beginning of Vasiliyna’s illness helped the neighbors. His Nastya cooked food for the grandfather and packed it for Pavel in the hospital. When Vasiliyna came home, it was already spring, Nastya had dug the beds and planted a little garden with onions, carrots, peppers, beets, parsley, dill at the grandfather’s place so the old folks had their own greens. Every time Nastya and Ivan came to help or with gifts, Pavel and Vasiliyna wiped away a tear. Not needed by their own, but looked after by strangers. They were endlessly grateful to the neighbors for their care and attention.
A year ago, grandfather had a stroke—he fell right in the yard. Fortunately, Ivan saw from the yard and called an ambulance in time. Vasiliyna called the children that same day. The eldest daughter said, “Mom, it’s very bad. Call an ambulance, send dad to the hospital. We can’t come yet, the children have school. You might not remember, your grandson Vasily is graduating school.” The middle son didn’t pick up the phone for a long time, and when he did, he said he couldn’t come right now, he was in Altai and he’s not a doctor and couldn’t help his father anyway. The youngest daughter, hearing that her father had a stroke, started crying. “How is he?” “In ICU for now. Will you come, Mashenka? I’m almost unable to walk, but someone has to go to your father.” “Not yet. Ask someone else to help. You have money, I know. Father slaughtered all the livestock and sold it. He kept the money for himself. He didn’t give any of it to us. So, you have money for a caregiver.” “What are you talking about, daughter? Most of that money is gone. I spent a year lying down, father spent it on surgery, treatment, and medicine. There weren’t millions there.” “Don’t exaggerate, mom. There was a lot of money. You couldn’t have spent that much.” The daughter hung up. Vasiliyna was stunned by everything she heard. She sat for a long time, not turning on the lights, in the dark. Bitter thoughts and the pain of offense tore her heart. The indifference and outright unlove of the children shocked her. But something had to be done. But what? Someone knocked on the door. “Grandma Vasiliyna, are you home? Alive?” “Vanechka! Home, I’m home, come in dear.” “And it snowed outside. The first one. I was at the hospital today. Grandpa came to himself. They’ll move him from ICU to a ward soon. Why were you crying, grandma Vasiliyna? Did you talk to the children?” “Yes, Vanechka, I talked. We’re not needed by them. None of them will come. Grandpa needs a caregiver. I’m almost unable to walk. What good am I as a caregiver?”
“I know about your children. Saw your Masha in town. She said to call when one of you dies, to invite people to the funeral. She asked if no one else had moved in, any claimants to the inheritance?” “Really, she asked about the inheritance?” “Yes. She asked. Call her only when you die.” “Lord Almighty! Why do they treat us like this?” Vasiliyna cried. “Don’t, don’t cry.” Ivan sat next to her and hugged her shoulders. “Me and Nastya won’t leave you and grandpa. We’ll always help however we can.” “Thank you, Vanechka, and thank your Nastya too. What would we do without you? We would have died without your help.” “I’ve been thinking, grandma Vasiliyna. Dusya’s daughter works at the district hospital as a nurse. We need to arrange for her to look after grandpa. And throw in a bit of money for her. I’ve already talked to her. She agreed. We agreed on 10,000 a month. Think grandpa Pavel’s pension will cover it?” “Oh, Vanechka, what a good boy you are! What would I do without you? Of course, it’s enough. Thank you, sonny, for the help and for arranging a caregiver for my grandpa.” Vasiliyna cried again, this time out of joy. A huge, seemingly unsolvable problem of caring for grandpa in the hospital was resolved for her. From under the oilcloth on the table, Vasiliyna pulled out 5,000 rubles and handed them to Ivan. “Sonny, this is for your gas and the little things you spend on us and grandpa.” Ivan initially resisted but took the money after some persuasion. “Don’t cry, neighbor, we won’t abandon you.”
Grandpa recovered and returned home. Dusya’s daughter greatly helped until now and even now stopped by to help the Samoylovs, she also brought doctors to examine grandpa and grandma. And brought medicine from the district and taught them how to take it properly. Gave them injections and IVs if doctors prescribed them. Pavel did not abandon the chickens and the goat. He looked after them himself. Wanted to have their own eggs and milk. That’s how Pavel and Vasiliyna lived under the care of neighbors. The children never visited. Never visited their parents in the hospital or at home. When grandpa got a little better, Vasiliyna told Pavel that Ivan had seen Masha and about the inheritance and their whole conversation. Pavel was very angry, shouted, cursed. Took his heart medicine. Didn’t sleep all night. And the next morning he sat Vasiliyna down in front of him and said:
“Here’s what I’ve thought, Vasiliynka. It’s the fourth year we’re suffering with our illnesses. You broke, none of the children appeared, didn’t hold us, didn’t see any help or support from them. They didn’t come even once and didn’t call. We dedicated our whole lives to them. Raised them, educated them, bought apartments for all of them, gave money to the grandchildren. Until the last day, we supplied them with meat and money. Remember, just before your fall, the day before it, we slaughtered a piglet, and they all came over that weekend to take meat, loaded vegetables into their cars by the bagful. Not one of them ever brought us a gift, not a treat with them. Not even a handful of candies or a cake for tea. Never happened. Other people’s children and grandchildren come to their parents with cars full of groats, flour, candies, all sorts. But not ours. Ours always just took and never gave us anything in return. Let alone treats, we never saw love or respect from them. It’s the fourth year we’re sick. Where are our children? There’s no one. And Ivan and Nastya are next door every day. If it weren’t for them, we would have long been in the ground with you. And they are better to us than our own children. I’ve decided this, Vasiliyna—we’ll write a will for them. That after our death, everything goes to them. Good kids. They’ll be worthy heirs. They certainly won’t leave us and will look after us, if anything. Do you agree with me?”
“I agree, Pashenka, of course, I agree.”
“Then tomorrow we’ll go to the district with Ivan to see a notary and arrange everything as needed.”
And they did. Vasiliyna and Pavel wrote a will for Ivan and Nastya with lifelong maintenance. That was a week ago. But yesterday, Ivan saw their son in town and they talked. Ivan asked why they don’t visit their parents. The son bragged about his good life in front of the neighbor, explained that he’s very busy, he’ll come sometime. That the parents have everything anyway, so they probably aren’t suffering. And he’s a busy man, no time for him. And if anything, call. We’ll come. Ivan told the neighbors about the meeting. Vasiliyna cried, grandpa walked around upset and grunted. And then he shouted and ordered his wife—Not once, hear me, not once, are you to call them. Never. Understood? -Understood, Pavlik understood. — And while grandpa was away, she picked up the phone and called her son. Grandpa came in, saw the phone in his wife’s hands, snatched it from her, and went to the porch. Apparently, he felt bad during the night and died.
Someone knocked on the door. Ivan entered. Saw the lying grandpa, gasped, and ran out. Soon the ambulance arrived, then the police. The whole village buried grandpa. The children weren’t invited. That’s how grandpa wanted it. Without the children. The children came themselves. Three days later. Everyone. And the grandchildren too. The small house barely fit all three families. They all came as always with empty hands. Hungry. They started rummaging through the refrigerators, even bothered to go down to the basement.
“Mom, why is everything empty here? Where’s the meat? Where are the supplies? What are we going to eat?”
“No supplies. Where would they come from? No one stocked up. No one bought. And you’ll eat what you brought with you.”
“But we didn’t bring anything. We thought everything would be here.”
“Go, buy. The store is still open.”
“Noooo. That’s not enough. There’s a cafeteria. Let’s go, everyone, we’ll eat there.”
Everyone gathered, drove to the cafeteria. Nastya came in. Brought a small pot of soup for grandma Vasiliyna and another pot with potatoes and cutlets. “Eat, grandma Vasya. You need to eat. At least a little. Or you won’t have any strength. And you need to live on. Don’t be too upset. If anything, we’ll be nearby.” — Soon the children appeared. They arrived full and satisfied. The son, seeing Nastya, rudely said to her: “And you, what are you doing here? You have no business here. Go home. Look at you, attaching yourself.” — Nastya was driven out. Everyone settled in and started the conversation. The son began:
“Mom, here’s the thing. You’re alone now. You’re sick. You walk poorly. You need care. We’ve decided. There’s a nice nursing home near the city. They have care and doctors. We’ve arranged. They’ll take you. And the house, and the tractors, and the cars we’ll sell, and divide the money evenly among us. It’s not good to let property go to waste. You and dad spent your whole lives accumulating it. If you’re not there, everything will fall apart and become useless. What good is it to let property go to waste? That way you’re under care, and we have money, and the estate is taken care of.”
“They decided without asking me. I don’t need any nursing home. I’ve lived in my own house, and I’ll continue to live out my life there. No one will be selling anything. We’ve already given you everything we could.”
“Well, mother, we’re heirs too, not just you. In six months, we’ll inherit like you and decide what to do with the estate and with you.”
“There’s no inheritance. Dad transferred everything to me while he was alive. As if he knew you’d swoop in to take your own mother’s property. You came here, but why didn’t you even visit dad’s grave, didn’t honor his memory? You weren’t even at the funeral. Neither I nor dad were needed it seems, but the estate is needed, to sell. No shame, no conscience at all. Shameless. Insensitive.”
“We’ll visit. Where’s the grave going? It won’t run away. We’ll make it.” — And somehow quietly, quietly, one by one, they all left that evening. No one even stayed the night. Ivan and Nastya came in the evening and took Vasiliyna with them. After Pavel’s funeral, she lived with them. Vasiliyna lived exactly one year after her husband’s death and died on the day of his death. Ivan and Nastya buried Vasiliyna. The children weren’t at the funeral. That’s how Vasiliyna wanted it. On the fortieth day, Vasiliyna’s children came. The gate was locked. Someone lived in the house. Vasiliy, the son of Pavel’s eldest daughter, climbed over the fence and opened the gate. Everyone approached the house. Nastya came out of the house.
“What are you doing? Who allowed you to break the gate?”
“What are you doing here? This is our house. You have no business here. We’re the owners. This is our parents’ house, so it’s our house.” “Remembered about the parents when they were gone. But why weren’t you at the funeral? You’re the children.” “Buried or not buried. What difference does it make. The house is ours. Inheritance.” “There’s nothing of yours here. Pavel and Vasiliyna transferred everything to us while they were alive. We looked after them, we buried them. They were like parents to us. And where were you all these five years? Didn’t look after? Didn’t care? Abandoned them.” “None of your business. It’s not your concern. Vacate the house. The heirs have arrived. We’re going to sell the house.” “You won’t be selling anything. The house is ours by Vasiliyna’s will.” “Nothing. Nothing, we won’t give up just like that. We’ll sue.”
Pavel and Vasiliyna’s children filed lawsuits to have the will declared invalid and to recognize themselves as the lawful heirs. The court rejected their suits. The house remained with Ivan and Nastya, who honor the memory of the elders and look after their graves and remember them with bright memories and love.