# Vladimir Vasilievich and his friends of youth. Money, children, nets. A memoir sketch

Henry de Overwood

MMMDLXI. Vladimir Vasilievich and his friends of youth. Money, children, nets. A memoir sketch. - October 30, 2024.

Vladimir Vasilievich and his friends of youth. Money, children, nets. A memoir sketch.


Vladimir Vasilievich returned from the Central Asia (after the "tigers hunt") (after completing his studies at the at the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute and after several years of work at a remote mine, - according the state distribution of graduates of this institute). Naturally, two friends appeared next to him again.


They both enjoyed the special respect from the side of Vladimir Vasilievich, since they were both participants in the war - they served in the ranks of the army. The fact that Vladimir Vasilievich, then still a boy, took part with his mother Jozefa Adamovna in the defense of Rostov-on-Don on November 20, 1941, - this circumstance somehow was on the sidelines.


The mother of one of those friends was a school teacher. Her husband worked as an accountant. He had got to places not so remote for a certain period of time, and when he returned, "he was not accepted."


After spending the night in the hallway (in his former apartment), he disappeared somewhere.


The school teacher was probably not an ordinary person.


I heard a couple of times that she was awarded the Order of Lenin. (She gave private lessons for schoolchildren; Vladimir Vasilievich's parents considered it advisable that he, while the studying at secondary school, use her tutoring services for a while).


I, almost in infancy, visited the apartment (may be, communal) of this school teacher.


I remember the first floor in the "house of specialists", well-lit, well-furnished rooms. A book is taken out of the bookcase and handed to me, for a some time (probably to keep me busy for the period of adults communication?). I open the book and between the pages I find a dried leaf, probably maple. I still remember this leaf. I was surprised: why to store dried leaves between the pages of a book?


I don't remember anything else, but I definitely didn't see the Order of Lenin. Never after that have I been in this apartment, or in the apartments of the members of this family.


When, as an adult, I asked Vladimir Vasilievich if he had seen the Order or award documents, he was surprised: what? do I have any doubts about the Order?


As I understand it, he also did not see the Order, as well as the award documents.


Vladimir Vasilievich began to engage in scientific researches. It would be inappropriate to convince him of the need to go to Central Asia to "hunt tigers" in this period.


Vladimir Vasilievich's friendship with these two people continued. What was the subject of this friendship, it is difficult for me to say now.


The construction of a motor boat remained in the family memory, to this boat someone gave the strange name "Ahasuerus" (I do not recall in the history of successful European sea voyages of ships with similar names). I do not know who was the main financial source for the construction of this boat. The boat, as I understand it, was not completed. Her fate is unknown to me.


As Vladimir Vasilievich's scientific business grew in scope (business premises were located in different parts of the city), his parents (or only his mother?) had financed the purchase of a Lada car of the first model. Thus, the family had invested in the development of the submarine navy of the USSR. Apparently, these expenses exceeded the amounts that were received as a result of the monetary reform of 1947 (carried out back in the time of Nikolai Voznesensky, whose life ended prematurely in 1950).


I remember how I and the son of that friend (the grandson of the school teacher) were sitting in this car.


As I understand it, at that time the boy's father was already working at the Higher Party School.


The boy was recounting stories corresponding to the situation: his father bought a Lada car (but not of the first, but of a more advanced model, then he sold it, bought the next car; and now his father was starting off (the driving), not on first, but on second gear; this seemed to give more importance to his father, - in addition to the wide possibilities purchase and sale of cars).


It was a time when cars were sold at some kind of quotas. At that time it was not clear to me what the financial implication of the purchase and sale of scarce cars was (apparently, at the place where the boy's father worked, the appropriate quotas were more or less freely allocated, and it was not necessary for wealthy people to stand in line or to seek quotas, it was enough to know someone from those organizations where the quota was given without difficulty). However, I felt some bewilderment: my father was busy from morning to evening, and his car brought him enough worries; but the boy's father - although it was unclear what he was busy with, at all, - but he lived carefree, changing cars of advanced models one by one.


Strange things happened to this friend of Vladimir Vasilievich. One day, this friend was getting out of a taxi (or, conversely, he was getting into a taxi). He slammed the car door, and chopped off his thumb with the car door.


This friend disappeared somehow unnoticed. He probably died early. He, seemed, to be partial to pleasant drinks. There are some fragments of conversations in my memory that this friend joined the army at the very end of the war, served in the cavalry, here to take care of horses was needed, no one mention of participation in battles has been preserved.


But the "thread" did not break. For a certain time, Vladimir Vasilievich used a motorboat (factory-made). The boats were stored at special boat stations. And at some moment the friend's son (already an adult) appeared at the boat station. He behaved like a determined, experienced guy, put himself on a fairly high level. But this historical line ended unexpectedly: this guy tried his hand at trading. He bought some perishable goods for resale. The product deteriorated (before resale), the guy got into big trouble, and then he disappeared.


The second friend, if I remember correctly, also was an employee of the Higher Party School. Did being captured during the war prevent this? However, the Soviet authorities, as a rule, treated natives from the southern regions with an element of condescension. They deserved something like a patronizing attitude (from the side of a "big, generous brother"). Now, having some life experience, I assume that he was related to the algorithm for obtaining degrees of candidates (of science) by (in favor of) those who studied at the Higher Party School (this is my guess, no one directly spoke about it). I remember his brand-new spacious apartment with an excellent layout (of premises), filled with brand-new things, with an excellent furniture, located somewhere in the area of Pushkinskaya Street (a good area in the Center of Rostov-on-Don).


As a very young boy, my parents took me with them to visit him (when he had not yet received an apartment in the Center of Rostov-on-Don). I don't remember the house itself. But I remember the endless journey through the remote outskirts of the city. Neither the house nor its interior remained in my memory.


He was a man with a humor. He could come to visit Vladimir Vasilievich, but before the ring the doorbell and before the entering, he could to screw a bronze plaque (with a humorous inscription) to the front door (that some fabulous underwater creature lives in this apartment, an expert in the underwater world). All this was taking as a joke and as a sign of a person's sense of humor.


The bronze plaque was unscrewed. It moved from place to place in the apartment for a long time. At last, the plaque got lost, somewhere.


Gradually, this acquaintance decreased to zero. Apparently, this friend died more or less early.


But the "thread" remained.


Vladimir Vasilievich recalled his friends with nostalgia. ("It's a pity that friendly relations have not been preserved").


Imagine his surprise when I went to the office of the Internet provider for questions about his e-mail box (Vladimir Vasilievich had retired by that time). Unexpectedly, it turned out that this man's daughter was alive and well. Moreover, Vladimir Vasilievich's e-mail box is, also, in the sphere of her official competence. And if he didn't know anything about her (and regretted the loss of friendly connections) - before my visit to the provider, then she knew quite a lot about him.


However, somehow her visit to Vladimir Vasilievich with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of cognac did not work out, an evening of memories did not happen. Should she advise him to go to Central Asia to hunt tigers? To build the boat "Ahasuerus"? Should she screw a humorous plaque to the front door?


I can remember another (third) friend. How exactly he became one of Vladimir Vasilievich's friends, I do not know.


However, he was a long-lived man - among those mentioned above.


His father was a major official in the scientific field (I do not remember exactly who his father was; perhaps the director of some branch scientific institute).


The son of this major scientific person began a career in the scientific field. Life favored this man, and it favored him in the most bizarre way.


In that era, the Soviet authorities was launching all sorts of major campaigns, such as the development of virgin lands (different campaigns - something like 'Tselina campaign' - "Virgin Lands campaign").


The son of a major scientific man, a member of the Komsomol, was sent somewhere far from Rostov. To Central Asia?


However, he felt himself very uncomfortable there, and without sufficient reason he returned to the city of Rostov on his own (without permission - in violation of the ban).


He was expelled from the Komsomol as having shown "weakness". He lost the opportunity to make a career. However, his dad arranged for own son a comfortable apartment in the Center of Rostov, organized for him a some kind of not a heavy position. The son of a big man married a cheerful (good-natured) woman with a child, then they had a child together.


The son of a big man could play the accordion. Some ambiguous songs were sung to the accordion during holidays and feasts.


I didn't like visiting this family. There were a lot of strange things: some not clear songs, and guests who were invited to two o'clock in the afternoon, but nothing was prepared. Guests came (including the above-mentioned two friends with their families), after arrival of guests the festive table was preparing for another two hours.


This family had a bookcase with some interesting books.


Not wanting to participate in ambiguous accordion chants, I would take a book off the shelf and immerse myself in reading. Probably, the hosts did not like it, but they were silent about it.


After some time, a sign was hung on the book shelf: "Do not search along the shelves by greedy glances, books are not handing for others homes here, only a hopeless idiot provides buddies with books (transmits books to buddies)."


With the beginning of the inspections conducted by the so-called " People's Control ", this acquaintance also "evaporated".


One day, Vladimir Vasilievich was walking across the territory of Central Market (he was already retired by that time). He saw something familiar there. In the middle of the crowd, like a ship through the waves, was stepping that (third) friend. He was looking to ahead and to up, a little above the horizon, into the clouds.


No more information has ever appeared about this person. He was probably the luckiest of the three friends. Although this luck came to him against his will, but through an event that many considered a large problem at that time: through escape from the (new) "large campaign" arranged by the authorities, through expulsion from the Komsomol and through the arrangement quiet life (of this man) by his influential dad. Of the three friends mentioned, only this son of a big man had at least one obvious talent (the ability to play the accordion).


Events developed, Vladimir Vasilievich sold a Lada car (the first model), which was bought for trips in interests of scientific business (in favor of the USSR Navy). So, after the sale, no one in this car talked (in my presence) about buying and selling scarce cars and about starting off in the second gear.


So, slowly but surely, this "company" of "friends from the Higher Party School" reached 1991.


October 30, 2024 03:24


Translation from Russian into English: October 31, 2024 01:06

Владимир Владимирович Залесский ' Владимир Васильевич и друзья юности. Деньги, дети, сети. Мемуарная зарисовка '.


{ 3590. Владимир Васильевич и друзья юности. Деньги, дети, сети. Мемуарная зарисовка. - 30 октября 2024 г.

MMMDLXI. Vladimir Vasilievich and his friends of youth. Money, children, nets. A memoir sketch. - October 30, 2024.


Vladimir Zalessky Internet-bibliotheca. Интернет-библиотека Владимира Залесского. }