Liza hid her father’s money in time. And when his brothers, who had settled in the kitchen, began to persuade Ignat to go to the store, he took his wallet out of the cupboard and, looking into it, held out:
– I don’t understand anything. My money has disappeared.
Ignat’s older brother, forty-two-year-old Ivan, slammed his fist on the table:
– It’s not nice to lie, little brother. You got your salary yesterday. Why are you hiding money from your brothers, tell me straight: you felt sorry, right?
Ignat’s second brother, Uncle Ruslan, nodded his head:
– Well, okay. Then let’s eat. Get some more meat, brother, I’ll fry it, I’m feeling a bit hungry.
Without waiting for an answer, the man got up from the table and went to the refrigerator. As soon as he opened it, Lisa appeared in the doorway.
The eight-year-old girl looked at the guests with an angry look:
– Go home, Uncle Ruslan, your wife will feed you there. But my dad doesn’t have a wife. And we don’t have much meat left. What will I cook dinner from tomorrow?
Ignat raised his cloudy eyes to his daughter and pressed his finger to his lips:
– Shh, daughter, you can’t treat guests like that. Never be stingy with food. If they come to you, you need to treat everyone generously!
Lisa took a bowl of meat out of the refrigerator and took it with her, turning around at the door:
– You better go to bed, dad, your eyes are red! And let the uncles drink tea and get lost!
Ivan jumped up from the table:
– What? What are you whining about, little bugger? How dare you talk to adults like that? You’re just like your mother!
He was about to go after his niece to punish her, but Ignat grabbed his hands in fear:
– Lisa is my daughter, don’t forget that!
The brothers looked at each other menacingly.
The tense situation was defused by Ruslan, who ran up to the front door, opened it and joyfully declared to Ivan:
– How about we go to the club, bro? There’s a disco there today, the young people are dancing. We’ll give them a hard time, show them how to dance!
Ivan’s eyes flashed. Ignat was still blocking the door to the room.
“Let’s say goodbye, that’s enough for today,” he asked. “You can only raise your own children, Ivan. You have no right to yell at my daughter.”
Ivan stood there for a while and then walked out, walking heavily and twitching his nostrils indignantly.
Ignat locked the door behind the guests.
He stood by the window for a long time, watching his brothers, and then went into his daughter’s room and stood in the doorway.
The little girl sat on the bed, hugging a small basin of meat. She didn’t even turn on the light in the room.
Ignat came over and squatted down by the bed.
“Lizka,” he drawled. “Liz. Forgive me.”
The girl stubbornly raised her chin and turned her face away, her eyes flashing lightning.
– You’re drunk. But you promised you’d quit.
The man lowered his head:
– It’s my birthday, daughter. So my brothers came to congratulate me. Let’s sit with them for a bit, why argue?
Lisa gave her father a look:
– And what did they give you? Nothing, right, dad? Poor relatives like us don’t need presents! But you spent money on them and roasted half of the meat you bought for us!
Ignat closed his eyes and lowered his head, pressing his fist to his mouth.
“Daughter,” he said, “You are so little, and already you say terrible things.”
– Go away, you smell bad! – the girl said. – If I see you drunk again, I’ll go to Uncle Volodya, the local police officer, and ask him to put me in an orphanage. It’s better than watching you drink yourself to death.
Ignat was frightened by her words:
– Stop it, daughter, that’s enough! I promise, it was the last time. Tell me… Was it you who took the money from the wallet?
The girl jumped out of bed and went into the kitchen, where she put the dishes with meat in the refrigerator and commanded:
– Go to bed, dad. We’ll talk tomorrow, I’m tired. I have the money, but you’ll get it tomorrow!
– Phew, how clever, I was afraid that they had fallen out or lost them!
He looked at the wall clock, it showed one o’clock in the morning.
– But Lizaveta! Why aren’t you sleeping, baby?! – he was surprised.
– You were disturbing me, don’t you understand? You were yelling. Don’t let your brothers into the house anymore, dad.
The girl lay down on the bed, yawned and fell asleep almost instantly. Ignat adjusted the blanket on her and, turning off the light, sat by the bed for a long time.
He was widowed almost two years ago, left with a six-year-old daughter on his hands.
Ignat Priasin began to drown his sorrows in drink, and friends began to flock to his house.
Then the clever girl began to bring the wives of these drinking buddies into the house, and they took their husbands away with scandals.
The girl tried with all her might to pull her father out of the pit of despair.
Everyone around kept saying that Lisa had a very bad character, but Ignat knew that they were wrong.
Liza was an exact copy of her late mother. She was a strong-willed, strong-willed woman with character. It’s a pity she died young, but she left a mark.
– Al, have you seen what a smart girl we have growing up? – Ignat whispered. – Only… Only how hard it is to live without you, Al.
The man brought a mattress into his daughter’s room, spread it on the floor and lay down to sleep on it.
Part 2
Lisa saw that the woman was secretly crying.
She could no longer pass by.
Leaving a basket of mushrooms in the grass, the girl approached the fence of a stranger’s house and began to observe.
A woman who looked a little like Mom took a basin of clothes out of the house, put it in the middle of the yard, then brought another basin and started washing.
The funny little baby sitting on the porch lifted himself up on his hands and crawled to the edge, put one plump leg on the ground, then the other. Finding himself in the grass, the sturdy little fellow crawled toward his mother.
“You can’t, Yaroslav, don’t touch anything here,” the woman asked.
Liza stamped her feet near the fence, found a gap between the boards and began to peek at the mother and baby.
She liked the woman very much.
“She lives alone, well, if you don’t count the idiot uncle who comes to her sometimes and begs for money. She is good and kind, she has a very sweet boy, whom I could call a brother,” she thought with a sigh.
But Lisa had no idea how to bring the aunt she liked together with her dad.
Remembering her business, Lisa went to the house, and there from afar she saw her neighbor Tamara.
Tamara was a lively, lively and sharp-tongued widow.
Lisa quickened her pace and saw her father.
He stood there, presenting a pitiful sight, his back pressed against his own fence, and busty Tamara was pressing against him.
The parent looked like a cornered animal, looking around in despair, Lisa realized that dad needed to be saved immediately.
“Dad!” Lisa screamed loudly and waved her hand.
Ignat straightened up and perked up. He looked out from behind the shoulder of the immense Tamara and weakly “yelped”:
– Lisa, daughter, I lost you!
When Lisa approached, she immediately noticed Tamara’s displeased look.
She turned around like a spider seeing its prey.
– My God, she’s so dirty, – she mumbled and pointed her finger at Lisa’s clothes. – Forgive me, of course, Ignat Pavlovich, but you can’t live like this. Your girl definitely needs a mother. And it’s very obvious. A girl should wear clean and ironed dresses, with her hair beautifully braided. And yours is like Mowgli. You urgently need a housewife who can handle an iron.
Liza immediately understood what her aunt was getting at and hastened to insert a caustic remark in response:
– You have two daughters, Aunt Tamara, but somehow it’s not noticeable that they go around in ironed clothes.
Tamara immediately frowned and barely restrained herself from slapping Lisa.
She glared at the impudent girl and while Ignat was pulling his daughter back, apologizing for her, she muttered:
– She lacks a woman’s upbringing! My eldest Irina was the same kind of rascal as a child. But I quickly brought her to her senses.
Lisa squeezed her way to her father and grabbed his hand tightly:
– Let’s go, dad!
As she left, she stuck her tongue out at Tamara.
She frowned menacingly and watched the couple with a heavy gaze.
“Daughter,” Ignat mumbled uncertainly. “You are behaving inappropriately with Tamara, this is not right.”
Lisa loudly objected:
– What, dad, have you already fallen under her influence? Do you want to become her third husband? Everyone in the village knows that Aunt Tamara is a black widow. They say she has driven husbands to their graves. I have already lost my mother, I don’t want to be left without you!
The father snorted thoughtfully and then reminded:
– I am also a widower, daughter. I am also an unwanted match for decent ladies.
Lisa stopped and tugged her father’s hand:
– But I don’t want to live with Aunt Tamara! In that case, I’d better go to an orphanage.
– There you go again! – the father got angry. – Better tell me, why did you go into the forest? How many times have I told you that it is dangerous?!
– I didn’t go into the forest, dad! I was picking mushrooms on the outskirts.
***
Lisa saw that her father began to forget about her mother.
He no longer told Lisa stories about her at night, and his eyes no longer glowed with memories of his past marriage.
Yes, it happens, time heals all wounds, and at the same time life goes on.
Aunt Tamara was not going to deviate from her intended goal; she began to come to the Pryasins’ house every day, bringing with her pies and all sorts of junk for repair.
This lady turned out to be very inventive and easily came up with a bunch of reasons to be closer to Ignat.
Little by little, everyone in the village began to perceive them as a couple.
Lisa realized that she needed to act and quickly.
She plucked up her courage and went straight to the yard of the young mother she had chosen as her father’s wife.
“Hello!” she greeted loudly.
The woman, who reminded Lisa of her mother, shuddered and raised her eyes to the little guest.
– Hello.
– I often pass by and see that you have a cute boy, can I play with him a little?
The woman was embarrassed for a moment and then rejoiced, waving her hands:
– Yes, of course, but he’s sleeping now.
– And when he wakes up, can I come? I’ll bring him the toys I don’t play with anymore.
The young woman smiled at her:
– We will be only glad. Yarik loves to communicate!
Since then, Lisa began to go to Tanya, that was the name of her new acquaintance.
The girl played with one and a half year old Yarik, brought him toys and sweets. The girl helped the young mother a lot with her presence.
“It’s so good that you came, Lizochka,” Tanya said. “You play with Yarik for now, and I’ll go out to the garden for half an hour. Then we’ll cook some porridge and eat it all together.”
Tanya didn’t like to talk about herself.
It turned out that she had been married, but had divorced six months earlier. After dividing up the property, she was left with a small amount of money, enough only for a small old house in the village.
That’s why she came here to live with her son.
And the ex-husband…
– Tanya! – a young man kicked the gate and entered the yard. – Come out, you bastard. I came to see my son!
Lisa was playing with the boy in the yard.
Tanya, who was stacking firewood, jumped out of the barn as if stung, ran up to the guest, and began asking him in a plaintive voice:
– Why did you come? What do you want from us? I didn’t even file for alimony. Go away. You have no right…
The man grabbed Tanya by the hair and pushed her towards the porch so that she fell, miraculously unharmed.
The conversation became more heated:
— I need money!
– I don’t have money, Vlad! Please, don’t, you’ll scare the children!
Lisa was furious at what she saw.
If she were a little older, she would have rushed to fight with this scoundrel.
But understanding well that the forces were unequal, she took Yarik in her arms, sat him in the stroller and ran with him down the street.
Lisa knew where the local police officer lived and puzzled him by telling him about the trouble her adult friend Tanya had gotten into.
He sighed and shook his head:
– Twenty-five again. Okay then. Stay here, I’ll go and restore order.
Five minutes later, Lisa was found by her father:
– They told me you came here. Where have you been? And who is this child?
Liza lowered her eyes. She clutched the stroller with all her might, but did not answer him. She did not want to open up to her father, because… It was not yet time to introduce Tanya to her father.
– I go to visit one aunt and play with her baby. His name is Yarik.
Father sighed:
– I hope you haven’t gotten yourself into any bad business?
Looking at the child, he sighed again:
– Lisa, a child is not a doll, it is a huge responsibility, if something happens to him, his mother will not pat you on the head, it is important to understand this. Return the boy to where you took him and I am waiting for you at home. Immediately!
The man looked sternly at his daughter.
This summer had tired him out: Lisa had become completely out of control and was constantly disappearing somewhere.
All that was left was to hope for the approach of autumn, when the girl would start going to school and stop hanging around the village.
***
The downpour started unexpectedly: the rain poured down in buckets, Lisa grabbed the stroller and ran to her house.
He was closer than Tanya’s house.
The father was cleaning blueberries, sitting with buckets in the room near the TV. Seeing his daughter from the window, he dropped everything and ran out to help her carry the stroller into the house.
“That kid again,” he shook his head. “Why do you keep fussing over him?”
Little Yaroslav looked closely at Ignat and, comically pursing his lips, began to cry loudly throughout the entire house.
Lisa hugged the baby and kissed him on the forehead.
Having calmed the child, she turned to the father:
– I just got used to him, he’s so cute! Dad, tell me, if Mom were alive, could she have given me a brother like him?
Ignat didn’t answer, he just smiled sadly at his daughter and walked over to the window.
Lisa followed him and saw Tatyana through the window.
She ran quickly down the street, right in the rain, craning her neck, looking out for Liza and Yarik.
Lisa couldn’t believe her eyes, she ran out of the house and waved her hand to Tanya.
A minute later, a confused Tatyana was already getting to know Ignat; she was standing on the threshold and raindrops were running down her dress.
The woman was soaked to the skin.
– Good afternoon, sorry to disturb you, I came to pick up my son.
***
The rain outside raged, flooding everything around and preventing people from leaving their homes.
Ignat began to boil the kettle and look for treats for the unexpected guests.
Tamara’s pie came in very handy.
Tatyana dried her hair with a towel for a long time and finally, embarrassed, she left the room, dressed in the dress that Lisa gave her.
This dress was well known to Ignat.
He chose it himself for his late wife.
He was unable to guess that Lisa had deliberately given this very dress to the wet guest.
And now she didn’t understand why the owner of the house was looking at her with a very strange look.
Everything turned out just as Lisa had hoped.
Seeing Tanya, the father forgot about the widow Tamara.
***
Tamara spat after Elizabeth:
– What a little toadstool! How impudent! And her daddy is no better, a wimp and a weakling, he brought some idiot into the house!
Ignat’s brothers weren’t thrilled either.
They showed up to visit as soon as they found out that Ignat had married a young woman. They chose a time when Ignat would be at work.
They didn’t come just like that; they hoped to establish their own order.
The elder brother Ivan declared to Tanya from the doorway:
– If you think you’ll become the mistress here, then roll your lip back. As the older brother, I decide everything for Ignat! Rest today, and tomorrow come to us, help my wife gather potatoes.
Lisa heard her uncle’s speech and left the room to defend her stepmother.
– Get out of our house, Uncle Vanya. And never show your face again.
Ivan became furious at his niece’s words and, raising his hand, went towards her, saying:
– How tired I am of you interfering in adult affairs. My hands have been itching to box your ears for a long time. Come here!
Tatyana suddenly stepped forward, covering her stepdaughter with her back:
– Just dare to touch the girl! I won’t let you!
The second uncle came to his senses and took Ivan away:
– Oh, forget it, brother. The earth is round, they’ll come running to bow…
The uninvited guests left, slamming the door loudly, and Tanya hugged Lisa by the shoulders:
– How brave you are.
***
Liza woke up because her younger brother Yarik came up to her bed and demandingly pulled the blanket.
“Baby,” the girl smiled. “I want to sleep a little longer.”
“Mom is there,” said little Yaroslav.
Lisa’s mother entered the room… Mother Tanya.
She carefully placed her hand on Lisa’s forehead, brushed the hair away from the girl’s face and smiled at her:
– Lisa, breakfast is not breakfast without you. Get up, I can’t drink tea alone.
“Where’s dad?” Lisa jumped up in bed.
– He went to work. Don’t worry, I gave him lunch to take with him, I told him that you cooked it yesterday.
Lisa reached out and hugged Tanya around the neck:
– It smells so delicious, Mom Tanya.
He and Tatyana have an agreement: Liza has two mothers. One is the one who lives in memory, and the second is Mama Tanya.