Indoor plants with which we decorate our homes carry not only beauty, but also special energy. Some people feel it subconsciously; those who are especially sensitive are able to detect certain “vibes”. Of course, we want the energy of the plants we grow and bring into our homes to match ours. And so that plants, in gratitude for our love and care, make us happy.
If the energy of the plant perfectly matches the energy of the hosts, this multiplies the positive. But there are plants with universal energy that care about the happiness of absolutely everyone. And here’s the question: if there are “happy” plants, then there must also be “unlucky” ones, that is, those that are undesirable to keep in the house? Indeed, some have earned dubious fame. But who's who in our home green nursery, and are plants really capable of changing their environment?
Getty Images
It was bad - it became good!
Dracaena sanderiana is considered a lucky plant for the home. This plant, very similar to bamboo, is even called “lucky bamboo”. They say that it attracts energy into the house, which can transform negative into positive. Lucky bamboo is very unpretentious: it can grow both in soil (loose) and just in water. It’s easier with soil - caring for the plant is exactly the same as for all dracaenas. If the happiness bamboo grows in a flask or vase, the water needs to be changed every two weeks. Do not forget also that in the water itself nutrients not much, so when replacing water from time to time, add a little complex to it mineral fertilizer. In the store you can buy original branches of Dracaena Sanderiana - twisted in a spiral. But you can grow such a “spiral” yourself. To do this, you need to attach a transparent tall glass to the shoot (tie it) and turn the container more often so that the growing branch reaches towards the sun. But lucky bamboo, like all dracaenas, does not like bright sun - it feels better in partial shade, in diffused light.
Women's and men's happiness
A plant that promotes women's happiness, considered to be spathiphyllum. It is believed that he is responsible for ensuring that the woman is not lonely. The energy of this plant is quite strong: settling a quarrel or transferring relationships from the category of uncertain to warm, trusting, partnership is its task. Spathiphyllum is a “moderate” flower; it prefers the golden mean in everything: watering, lighting, fertilizing, temperature.
A plant that makes sure that happiness does not bypass a man is anthurium. In principle, it performs all the same tasks that spathiphyllum performs for a woman. But they differ greatly in care: if the spathiphyllum is content with little, then you need to care for the anthurium like a man: feed it well, drink plenty of water, keep it warm. Only in this case will the anthurium delight with flowers for a long time, and also fulfill its purpose of ensuring a happy life for a man in the house.
Getty Images
Happy love flowers
Flowers that specialize in happy love are oxalis and. Oxalis has decorative leaves, which resemble the wings of a large butterfly (wings of love). In the evening the flower folds its “wings” and spreads it in the morning. Its flowers are modest, and the plant itself is not very impressive, but in this modesty there is great power hidden: oxalis is said to be able to evoke feelings of love in the one from whom you expect it. It is not difficult to care for oxalis - water as the soil dries and moderate fertilizing.
Hibiscus, as opposed to oxalis, is very effective. And it acts directly, evoking not even feelings, but passion. The most important requirement he puts forward regarding care is more sun! If this requirement is satisfied by placing the pot on a southern windowsill, this plant can bloom from the end of winter until the beginning of the next.
Avocado is one of the plants that promote happiness in love. An avocado will neither bloom nor bear fruit at home, but in a couple of years it will grow from a seed into a nice tree resembling a laurel (avocado belongs to the laurel family). Conditions that avocados prefer: warm, sunny, humid. It is best to place the container with this plant in a tray with pebbles and add water there more often.
Getty Images
Plants for family happiness
It is believed that family happiness produce ficus, chlorophytum, saintpaulia (Uzambar violet). These are plants that have such calm energy that irritation, anger, disputes and quarrels simply “drown” in it. It is fortunate that these plants are unpretentious, especially chlorophytum and saintpaulia. They can grow in the shade and in the sun, tolerate long breaks in watering, and do not protest unless fed at all (although, of course, they develop better with feeding). Ficus plants are more demanding, but this also depends on the species. General terms successful cultivation: warmth, moderation in watering (ficus roots rot from waterlogging), absence of drafts.
Getty Images
Ivy – a vampire and a muzhegon?
The attitude towards ivy is ambiguous: some are sure that ivy (like all indoor vines in general) “vampirizes” the energy of its owners, others claim that this plant instills self-confidence, especially if it is located “ascending”, that is, it climbs support up.
In fact, ivy maintains a balance of energy: if there is a lot of it (for example, a person is irritated, excited), ivy will indeed “suck out” the excess. Not enough - it will feed from its reserves. The existing belief that ivies are husband-mongers has not been “confirmed in tests”: in many families, husbands get along well with ivies. If you need to blame someone for the fact that your husband left (except yourself and him), then ivy will remain silent and take the blame upon itself.
By the way, indoor vines with small leaves(for example, Tradescantia) they are afraid to plant because of the risk of gossip. Rest assured, the association is purely external (“creeping gossip”).
Getty Images
Are cacti provocateurs or guards?
The main superstition associated with cacti is that they can provoke a husband's drunkenness. They say that the more a man drinks, the fatter and more cheerful the cactus is (a problem from the series “who came first: the egg or the chicken?). There is a very high probability that cacti simply draw off the “drunk” energy of the owner. In any case, there is a huge the number of passionate cactus lovers - teetotalers.
There are those who believe that cacti should not be kept in the bedroom - they will “kill” sexual passion. This is unlikely - if there is passion, no cactus will scare it. Although you can take the cacti out of the bedroom - just in case. By the way, check it out.
Cacti have also been observed to perform good deeds: for example, it is believed that robbers avoid a house where cacti grow. It’s not true, they rob, regardless of the cacti.
Any indoor plant You can grow it at home - as long as you like it. By the way, this harmless “like-dislike” is an excellent indicator. If you feel admiration or tenderness when looking at a plant, it is yours, since your energies coincide. If, when looking at a plant, you feel doubt or, even worse, rejection, it is better for you to stay away from each other.
Let us now turn our attention to the opposite side of the street. There are several non-existent addresses on Arbat. On the spot brick wall stood house number 14. It was destroyed in 1942 by a German bomb dropped on the Arbat, and has not yet been restored. However, it is possible to get an idea of the appearance of this building, since it was actively replicated in print, first in the form of sketches and then in photographs. This was explained not only by his attractive appearance, but also the legends with which it was surrounded. The fact is that house No. 14 was considered the abode of evil spirits, and although it did not cause much concern, at night Muscovites still preferred to avoid it. Indeed, once one of the Obolensky princes committed suicide here, but the strange noises and sounds coming from here could be explained much more simply - the house was chosen by criminal elements and, probably, they organized drunken parties at night. This is how numerous legends arose about the ghosts of house No. 14, which worried Muscovites and were passed on from mouth to mouth.
However, this place has seen many wonderful people. First of all, I was born here great commander Russia, future Generalissimo Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.
There is no need to talk about his legendary crossing of the Alps, about what belongs to his hand famous work about the wisdom of military affairs “The Science of Victory”, about mutual hostility with her son Paul I, who ascended the throne after Catherine the Great, or about the fact that he was one of the most educated people of his time.
In the 19th century, the owner of house No. 14 was Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich Obolensky. In his possession was the famous portrait of Pushkin by Vasily Andreevich Tropinin, which later became the pearl of the collection Tretyakov Gallery. This portrait was painted in 1827, when Alexander Sergeevich was 28 years old, and was kept secret here until 1860, when its owner, Prince Obolensky, allowed the precious relic to be photographed. There is an interesting legend associated with this portrait. The fact is that in the 19th century distinctive sign Every Mason had a long nail on his little finger. When Tropinin came to paint a portrait of Pushkin, he recognized him as a Freemason by this nail. The artist made a sign to Pushkin, to which the poet did not answer him, but shook his finger - a gesture both confirming and warning.
At the end of the 19th century, the house was rented by another Russian prince, Lev Sergeevich Golitsyn. The figure is remarkable in many ways: a graduate of Moscow University and the Sorbonne, Golitsyn preferred a peasant army coat to tailcoats and tuxedos, and on all papers he always added “winemaker” to the title “prince.” Golitsyn actually had a large estate in the Crimea, not far from Sudak, where he was engaged in winemaking for his own pleasure.
He carefully studied all varieties of grapes and their behavior in the Russian climate, examined the different depths basements and established for which variety what depth is suitable. Golitsyn's particular interest was in champagne wines, the production of which he put on an industrial basis and brought to the international level. His successes were so great that in 1900 champagne from the Golitsyn vineyards " New World"(later renamed "Coronation") was awarded the highest award - the Grand Prix of the exhibition. Golitsyn's technology is currently considered classical. Its main secret is the secondary fermentation of wine in the bottle and subsequent aging for at least 3 years. Experiencing a shortage of funds, but wanting to preserve technology in Russia, he sold his vineyards to Emperor Nicholas II, remaining the lifelong manager of his own estates.
To the right of the “devil’s nest,” as house No. 14 was nicknamed by superstitious Muscovites, until the 1920s stood the Church of St. Nicholas the Revealed - the same one where the French commander Murat stood awaiting messengers from the Kremlin.
The temple was erected at the beginning of the 17th century and was considered one of the richest in Moscow. He was surrounded by a large parish - i.e. territories and houses belonging to the church. Among the houses there were not only residential ones, but also those reserved for shops, which provided a good income. There is now a restaurant in house No. 16, but until recently the Flowers store existed here for several decades.
In the place where we are, two lanes adjoin the Arbat. On the left is Starokonyushenny, on the right is Serebryany. Let's turn into Starokonyushenny Lane to head to the next stop at Sivtsev Vrazhek.
The names of the lanes speak for themselves: in Starokonyushenny in the 17th century there was a settlement of grooms serving the royal court, in Serebryany there was a mint. A century later, grooms were supplanted by wealthy nobles, and living in Starokonyushenny for a long time among the aristocracy was considered a sign of nobility and prosperity.
On the left side of Starokonyushenny we almost immediately encounter an interesting landmark, a monument of wooden architecture late XIX century - the house of the entrepreneur Alexander Aleksandrovich Porokhovshchikov, belonging to the same land ownership as house No. 25. The model of this house, which looks so unusual in the city center, received an award at the World Exhibition in Paris as the embodiment of a truly Russian style. In fact, we have before us a charming product of the neo-Russian style, characteristic of the late 19th century. Not only architects, but also, for example, artists were interested in the roots of the Russian people. Let us remember how Viktor Vasnetsov embodied it in painting, and if you look at his “Three Heroes” or “Alyonushka”, you will most likely find many similarities with the Arbat “hut”. Now the Powder Man's house is carefully preserved by his descendant, the famous Russian artist.
While we are approaching Sivtsev Vrazhek, a few words about another interesting phenomenon: the frequent appearance of the name Nikola in the names of lost Arbat churches.
St. Nicholas the Revealed, St. Nicholas in Plotniki, St. Nicholas on the Sands - all these are churches dedicated to St. Nicholas the Pleasant. They are located in areas where numerous Streltsy settlements were once located. First of all, you never cease to be amazed at how “everyday” the names were given Orthodox churches in Moscow - St. Nicholas on the Sands, or the Trinity on the Mud, the Holy Trinity on the Droplets, or in general St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the Chicken Legs. The treatment of Saint Nicholas was no less free and completely personal - which other saint could be called so simply, like a neighbor, Nicholas? And the point here is not disrespect for the sacred, but quite the opposite - sincere people's love. St. Nicholas the Pleasant, as he was often called in Rus', was one of the most revered saints, standing immediately after Jesus and the Mother of God in the unofficial hierarchy of veneration. His kindness was comparable only to the kindness of the Most Pure Virgin, but only he stood closest to the people. Nicholas was a protector and patron, a savior from all troubles. A child fell ill, there was a crop failure, the landowner demanded money, or the cattle fell ill - in all cases they turned to the saint. He was also considered the patron saint of prisoners and innocent convicts, the poor, wanderers, and travelers. It has long been revered by sailors, and nowadays car drivers resort to its help. What, if not the icons with the image of St. Nicholas the Pleasant on the front panel of cars, best speaks of the strength of the tradition of venerating St. Nicholas in our country?
However, despite the great popularity of this saint, few people now know him historical destiny and the fact that Saint Nicholas and Father Frost are the same person. The prototype for the Christmas tale was the story of a bishop from the city of Myra, who lived during the Roman Empire. Now this city is located on the territory of modern Turkey. According to legend, when one ruined townsman was about to give his daughters to “fornication,” Nicholas secretly threw him three purses of gold and thus saved the family from hunger and sin. Wallets were thrown over the chimney, money fell into stockings that were drying by the fireplace, and since then the tradition began to hang elegant socks by the fireplace at Christmas in anticipation of gifts.
Buy an excursion for 49.5 rubles.
The house on Brivibas, 46, stands in the very center of the capital, and at this time serious passions flare up around it.
One of the former owners of this building, I. Badenov, is sure that businessman Dmitry Stadnyuk, helping to obtain a loan for the purchase, deceived him. In turn, Dmitry Stadnyuk has no doubt that he was the victim of real extortion. The residents are not satisfied with the living conditions in the house and they file lawsuits against the owner asking for compensation for moral damage.
Don't talk to strangers
According to I. Badenov, this story began in 2005, when he, together with his business partners Viktor Kulish and Igor Konno, decided to buy a house on Brivibas, 46 - then it belonged to the Synod of the Latvian Orthodox Church. The value of real estate at that time was more than 2 million lats. In order to make payments, buyers needed credit. “At that time, I met Dmitry Stadnyuk and Anna Afanasyeva (D. Stadnyuk’s wife), they offered their services in obtaining a loan. I agreed, since they seemed to me to be very respectable people,” recalls I. Badenov.
Speeding up the process
However, more than two months passed, and the issuance of the loan was delayed. “There were different excuses, but I waited patiently and believed that everything would work out with the loan,” says I. Badenov. On September 30, 2005, I. Badenov entered into a cooperation agreement with A. Afanasyeva and D. Stadnyuk.
Around the same time, the IPSO S enterprise was created, in which 60% of the fixed capital was to belong to I. Badenov and his partners, and A. Afanasyeva and D. Stadnyuk - 40%.
“Stadnyuk told me that in order to speed up the process of obtaining a loan, it is necessary that it be issued to the enterprise, and for this, in turn, the house must be rewritten as IPSO S. I completely trusted Stadnyuk and agreed to this,” says Badenov.
However, during the re-registration, I. Badenov never received his 60% of the IPSO S enterprise. Moreover, Stadnyuk and Afanasyeva became the only owners of IPSO S, and D. Stadnyuk became the only member of its board. The house ended up in the possession of the IPSO S company, to which neither Badenov nor his partners had any connection.
Didn't inspire confidence
The story that Business & Baltic heard from Dmitry Stadnyuk differs from the story of his opponent. D. Stadnyuk explained that he has known I. Badenov since 1997. “Badenov himself came to me with an offer to buy a house together. I refused. At that time, the deal seemed unlikely to me. In addition, Badenov owed me several hundred thousand dollars and used to often come with various business projects that did not cause me much concern. trust."
However, when Badenov, Konno and Kulish brought D. Stadnyuk documents stating that they were legally the owners of the house and asked for help in obtaining a loan, because They had to pay for the house in full by October 21, 2005 - Stadnyuk changed his attitude towards the purchase.
According to Stadnyuk, a loan of 3.7 million euros was needed. They applied for a loan to Rietumu Banka, which set a condition - to complete the purchase at entity. For this purpose, a cooperation agreement was concluded, according to which Badenov, Konno and Kulish were to enter IPSO S (60% of the enterprise’s profit). Rietumu Banka refused the loan. Then they decided to use another option, and Dmitry Stadnyuk purchased the house, and all participants in the enterprise agreed to this.
Talk differently
The cooperation agreement was revoked and another purchase and sale scheme came into force. “According to Igor Badenov, I forged documents revoking the agreement, according to which the “three comrades” were to join the IPSO S company,” says D. Stadnyuk. The conclusion of the Economic Police Department on the termination of the criminal case against Stadnyuk, which was initiated by Badenov, Kulish and Konno (documents were provided to Business & Baltics by Dmitry Stadnyuk), states that during the investigation the version of forgery of the cooperation agreement reviews did not find evidence.
After purchasing the house, Stadnyuk invited Badenov, Konno and Kulish to take up management and receive a reward for it. However, according to him, “the three gentlemen did not succeed, everything had to be done by my team.” After some time, they contacted me again and said that they still wanted to take care of the house. “I suggested that they draw up an agreement, but refused to draw it up myself. They returned without an agreement, but with the words that now they would talk differently.”
Rights through court
I. Badenov told Business & Baltic that he is currently trying to defend his rights through the courts. In one of the claims, Badenov challenged the agreement concluded in September 2005 with IPSO S for the sale of the house at Brivibas, 46. In the statement of claim, Badenov wrote that the agreement indicated the purchase price of 1.02 million euros. Of the amount specified in the contract, Badenov did not receive 270 thousand euros.
In his opinion, IPSO S did not intend and does not intend to pay this amount. That is why this agreement must be canceled, since due to delays in payments, I. Badenov himself, who acted as the seller, is no longer interested in this sale. In addition, it turned out that the property was also burdened. In his opinion, IPSO S did not have the right to encumber the property with mortgage loans, since the full price requested by the seller had not yet been paid for it. The company IPSO S indicated that on October 21, 2005, 1,470,000 euros were transferred to the account of the Synod of the Latvian Orthodox Church. 300,000 euros were paid before the contract was concluded.
On June 30, 2006, the Supreme Court rejected Badenov, but he intends to challenge this decision in a higher authority - the Senate.
And other lawsuits
Another lawsuit by Badenov, Kulish and Konno regarding the house on Brivibas, 46, was considered by the Jurmala court. In this case, the defendants were D. Stadnyuk, A. Afanasyeva and Viktor Smirnov (the latter, according to Lursoft, wholly owns the Silk Road Baltija company - the sole owner of IPSO S). The plaintiffs asked the court to seize the IPSO S company.
In June 2007, the Jurmala court secured the claim of Badenov, Kulish and Konno, seizing the company. The defendants did not agree with this. On September 1 of this year, the Jurmala court partially granted the defendants' request to cancel the arrest.
D. Stadnyuk has no doubt that the only goal of I. Badenov and his companions was to achieve the seizure of property. “They achieved this - the house was arrested, the company was arrested. Their plan is simple - wait until November. That’s when the loan agreement for this house expires - more than 4 million euros. If the house is seized, I will not be able to renew the mortgage in the Land Register "Now I have a choice - to find by November the amount that is owed to the bank, or to contact Badenov, Kulish and Konno to solve the problem. They want 2 million euros for lifting the arrests," states Stadnyuk.
“In January of this year, 240 grams of TNT were attached to the gate of my house. This house is starting to remind me of a Bulgakov novel,” said D. Stadnyuk. Igor Badenov, in a conversation with the newspaper, also remembered TNT, but explained that Stadnyuk’s suspicions about his involvement were unjustified.
07/02/2016 01:36
Andrey TROFIMOV
/ 4
Those who regularly visit the site probably remember my investigations into the activities of the Respect-SP Management Company. Among other things, there was a story about how, at the end of last year, the company tricked elders into their homes in the Northern village. As a result of the campaigning, several minutes of meetings appeared, allegedly confirming the residents’ decision to refuse the services of the Mosoblexploitation Management Company and go under the wing of Respect.
GZHI suspected the organizers of violations and promised to conduct checks. As a result, both homeowners and competing management companies have been living in conditions of complete “confusion” for almost six months. The matter has not yet come to court decisions clarifying whether anyone was right. Therefore, almost half of the residents of the disputed buildings stopped paying for housing and communal services. And those that pay take the money to two different companies, which now have an ironclad excuse for doing nothing.
According to deputy Nikita Smirnov, who has commented on this situation more than once, the cause of the mess that has arisen is the behavior of Mosobleksplutatsiya. Like, if the company had transferred the houses to Respect and stopped billing residents, the scandals would have subsided long ago. However, the deputy director of Mosobleksplutatsiya, Konstantin Nozhkin, whom I met the other day at house 13 on Tchaikovsky Street, claims that not everything is so simple. Here are his almost verbatim explanations, which I did not have time to film:
- I won’t lie: the loss of two or three very old houses is not a serious problem for us. As they say, it remains to be seen who is lucky. And yet we were offended when information about re-elections in our housing stock came out. Last year, Mosobleksplutatsiya was just getting on its feet, and it was not easy to immediately organize work on such a vast territory. Our competitors took advantage of this to discredit us - they fooled people. And not everyone was fooled! Otherwise, the organizers of the meetings would have shown us evidence of their success, rather than hiding the register of residents who voted to terminate the contract. Actually, we resisted precisely because we did not want to look like “suckers” who were being fooled. Well, okay, building 17 on Glinka Street or building 16 on Druzhby Street, where residents, soon after the meetings, practically stopped paying our bills! We know that there were violations, but why bother with this if people have already voted against us with rubles? Happy sailing, as they say! Well, what if out of the entire building 13 on Tchaikovsky Street, only 30% of the residents still pay “Respect”? Are we supposed to believe that the majority voted for Respect there?
We need to talk in more detail about whether I myself wanted to believe Nozhkin. But that's for next time. In the meantime, here is a small fragment of a meeting at building 13, where the so-called house council is trying to prove to its residents that the vote for “Respect” was fair.
I was interested in this piece of video for a simple reason. According to the data voiced by the chairman of the house’s council, Marina Nikolaeva, the owners who own 2,350 square meters of housing, which is 58.4% of the total living area of the house, voted for the Respect-SP company. Thus, even according to the council’s information, “Respect” surpassed the bar of 50% of the votes “closely” - with a margin of only 338 meters. And the city administration provided this supply! It was she, as the owner of municipal housing, who put more than 500 square meters into Respect’s treasury.
Now we must remember that city authorities are usually guided by an iron rule: when choosing a management company, take the side of the majority. IN in this case this rule was violated: the administration representative supported the minority. I seem to know who gave him this command.But for what reason?
9 Alex 14 03.07.2016 20:12
I quote Kthrby Kthrby:and yes. any owner (including the administration) has the right to vote for whomever he wants, regardless of who was told what in the hayloft in the summer.
The administration's decision must be formalized within the established time frame by a resolution of the city mayor.
I would not be surprised if there is no trace of this resolution. And if they did release it, they probably didn’t publish it, so as not to disturb the dissenting majority of residents. This is also a reason to challenge the protocol.
But this is still not the main thing. And that’s why GZHI has been getting on people’s nerves for months. It can be determined within a week whether the owners made a decision or whether there was falsification.
5 vlad66 03.07.2016 22:01
I quote Ekaterina Davydova:
Guys, well, if a person, without blinking an eye, talks into the camera about one hundred percent turnout at an in-person meeting, then what can we talk about? And note that no GZI began to check anything. Is it because the fake was created in favor of the municipal management company?
Today, however, the situation is somewhat different. The other day I was told that Ekaterina Mikhailovna, having learned about the trial, is rushing around the house, trying to retroactively collect copies of certificates from the owners and redo the obvious mess. But people seem to be no longer interested.
4 Nikita Smirnov 04.07.2016 00:44
I quote Ekaterina Davydova:PKA 205v.... everything is the same... receipts are brought from two management companies, the head of the house, foaming at the mouth, proves that Respect is right... an answer came from the administration that they have everything under control, the case has been transferred to the arbitration court , until the court's decision, the house is being serviced by Mosoblexploitation.
Today, the OSS protocol is in force at the house and all residents are required to comply with it. As far as I know, Respect has concluded contracts with RSO for this house. Let the exploiters show such contracts for resources where we will see this address. Because RSO enters into an agreement with only 1 company.
8 #10 vlad66 04.07.2016 09:54
I quote Nikita Smirnov:Why are you lying? Until the court's decision, the house is legally served by Respect. Read the laws.
3 #11 Attentive 06.07.2016 11:51
I quote vlad66:I quote Nikita Smirnov:Why are you lying? Until the court's decision, the house is legally served by Respect. Read the laws.
There is no need to offend people needlessly.
Yes, not all residents read the laws. And of those who read, not all know how to interpret them correctly. Therefore, people tend to form their opinions based on an authoritative position. In this case - on the opinion of the authorities. This is the opinion the lady published in this case.By the way, you are also the government. And you voice exactly the opposite opinion. So sort it out in your “White House” before accusing your voters of lying.
Chapter ten.
Unlucky house
I started building this five-story house when I was still a young man who had just taken the oath.
A house is like a house. It was intended for the families of officers. But the fate of this house turned out to be so unfortunate that it was completed when I was demobilized. Or rather, they rebuilt it, but more on that below.
My platoon was led to a construction site by Sergeant-Major Chavchavadze, a young guy who had served his military service and remained in his company for extended service. Since he had been in a soldier’s skin and had not yet acquired the thick skin of a hippopotamus, he felt sorry for us and helped us in every possible way. But it seemed the house rejected all his efforts. So he, and therefore us, were not given an excavator to lay the trenches. But, as you know, three soldiers from the construction battalion replace the excavator. And we dug trenches by hand, uprooting tree roots and stones, staining our brand new tunics and riding breeches. Chavchavadze, threw off his tunic and climbed into the trench with us. He was a thin, short guy, black-browed, with an aquiline nose. Despite his frailty, he alone replaced the excavator. When we, having rubbed our palms bloody, soaked through with sweat, collapsed next to the trench to catch our breath, he alone tirelessly threw and threw the earth. He grabbed an ax and uprooted powerful roots. We were ashamed to lie around for a long time and we went down to him again. He brushed off entreaties to rest and said that he was not tired.
It ended with him, trying to throw out a hefty stone alone, and dropped it and suffered a broken leg. This was the first accident. How could we have known then that this house was unhappy?
Finally, they brought us a bulldozer, and in the very first days of its operation, the bulldozer overturned. Alexander, his second year of service, did not have time to jump out of it and was injured. There were no fractures, but there were so many bruises on him that Sanka looked like a blue alien for some time.
Slowly the house began to rise. Excavation work gave way to concrete work. And we, like the damned, dragged heavy concrete on stretchers up stairs that didn’t even have railings yet.
You guessed right, this time I got pregnant. Or rather, it didn’t get knocked up, but flew away. Having stumbled, I lost my balance, and flew a couple of flights like a shot bird. But this time the trouble was over. Apart from bruises, I did not have a single fracture. And when they put me in the medical unit, and I was kept in a bed for a whole week, my joy knew no bounds. In addition, friends brought soda, buns, and a soldier's delicacy - condensed milk - to the unfortunate victim.
But all good things come to an end quickly. A week later I returned to the site (that’s what the house was called). We ran out of concrete and mortar and we basked on the grass, remembering Raikin’s unforgettable “brick bar, mortar yok, sitting kuru.” There was practically no one at the site that day except our platoon. So there was complete silence, except for the hum of the flame in the bitumen cooker. We soaked in the sun and told jokes. There was a smell of something burning. Taking a quick glance at the construction site, we did not find anything on fire. And a few minutes later there was an explosion and suddenly flew into the air iron barrel from under diesel fuel.
Our serenity instantly evaporated. We rushed in this direction, but immediately retreated, as two more explosions were heard one after another and two more barrels flew into the sky.
Hiding behind a standing bulldozer, we carefully looked out from behind it. Mom dear. The bitumen cooker is all engulfed in flames, next to it a mountain of boards, pallets and all sorts of boxes is burning, and next to the burning mountain there are barrels of diesel fuel. Those of them that are empty alternately explode and fly apart, some up, some to the side, with explosions scattering flaming boards, which in turn set fire to everything around that can burn. The spectacle is very beautiful and exciting. It would be possible to calmly watch the fireworks, if not for one “but”. The fire was approaching a huge tank of gasoline. He was already literally centimeters away from her, and the heat was probably already heating up the tank. She was about to bang. And then it wouldn’t seem enough to all of us. We had to run, but suddenly Volodka Vinnitsky rushed to the tower crane and climbed onto it like a monkey. Another minute and the crane moved, its boom began to unfold and hovered over the tank. The hooks began to descend.
Me and two other guys grabbed the cable that was lying around and climbed onto the tank to tie it up. The work turned out to be hot. The fire tried to lick our faces, our eyebrows were scorched in an instant, our hands were burned by the hot iron. But adrenaline was pumping in our blood and we managed it. They hooked the cable with hooks and rushed to run away like hares. The cable tightened and the tank tilted, but did not slip out. Slowly, very slowly, she rose above the fire and began to swing, risking slipping out of the rope or exploding in the air. But then the crane turned and the tank floated to the side.
The danger seemed to have passed, but only now fear struck us. Our hands were shaking, our knees were shaking... We ran away from the fire and landed on the grass.
Suddenly a lot of people appeared on the site from somewhere, our construction battalion soldiers from the unit, some civilians, came running. They began to pull away the burning boards, someone started up a bulldozer and began to push the barrels of diesel fuel to the side. A hose appeared from somewhere, and they began to water from it what had not yet caught fire. Another half hour and the fire died down. Only smoke and steam rose from charred firebrands and logs.
The fire was somehow quickly forgotten. The time was approaching autumn. The house grew floor by floor. The fourth floor is already ready. Now the last fifth has almost risen...
To our joy, a team of civilian girls - plasterers - appeared at the site. They occupied one of their apartments on the ground floor. There they had a paint warehouse, one room served as a dressing room, and in one, out of nowhere, a sofa, a table and several chairs appeared, and the girls usually rested and had lunch there. They were not deprived of the soldiers' attention, and by the fall it suddenly turned out that one of them was getting married. And not for anyone, but for our construction battalion soldier, the quietest and most modest. No one could even imagine that he would seduce the most beautiful girl among “our” plasterers just like that, in just a couple of months. The unit commander agreed to their wedding and, to our inexpressible joy and happiness, it died down in our soldiers' canteen.
It was a hot autumn day. We worked on the roof, laying twelve-meter floors in the roof of the fifth floor. All that remained was to lay a few floors and the frame of the house was, as it were, built. Everyone had already gone to the unit to have lunch, and we, in order to bring the matter to an end, decided to stay and report on the last overlaps.
Me and two more of my comrades raftered them, and I commanded the crane:
- Vira, vira little by little! Maina!
Two guys on the roof picked up the raised ceiling, turned it around, and laid it in its place with centimeter precision. Here we raised the penultimate ceiling to the roof level. Suddenly, one of the two cables that secured the ceiling burst with the sound of a shot. The floor slab became warped and began to rotate around its axis. Having described a wide semicircle, one end of the ceiling almost knocked one of the soldiers off the roof. By some miracle he managed to jump, fly up onto the ceiling and grab onto the crane cable. At the same moment, the ceiling caught the wall. At first nothing happened and you would have thought that everything was over. But suddenly a strange, quiet humming sound was heard and the building began to very slowly settle in its central part. The next entrances began to lean towards the center. The house, like a domino, began to fold towards the center and, as if in slow motion, collapsed. There was a roar and it shot up towards the sky like atomic explosion, a cloud of dust. Then it began to settle and a terrible picture appeared before us. There was no home. In its place was a pile of rubbish, fragments of walls, ceilings, and blocks. And high in the sky I was circling above it concrete slab with a little man on it, frozen in horror.
The silence lasted only a minute. The crane operator began to lower the slab, and we almost prayed out loud that the second cable would not break. But then we picked up the slab and laid it on the ground. Zurab, one of those working on the roof, stood on the stove. His partner was not there. It was clear that he was buried under the rubble of the building.
Zurab grabbed the cable so tightly that we had to force his fingers apart.
Suddenly someone screamed in a voice that was not their own.
- Girls! There are girls there!
Indeed, since their apartment is under rubble, they always have lunch in it at this time.
We rushed to rake through the debris with our fingers, trying to throw away, drag, and roll away the hefty debris. It was scary to stumble upon a dead girl, to see her arm or leg. Such strength awoke in us that sometimes we alone lifted pieces that we would never have lifted in a normal situation. Minutes later, more helpers appeared. Everyone worked furiously and silently. Only tears rolled from the eyes, and occasionally they shuddered, tearing their palms or getting bruised.
- Oh, what's going on here?
Everyone froze as if on cue. Then we turned around and stared like ghosts at those who asked the question. In front of us stood our girls, our plasterers, our dear, cute, beloved ones. Alive and healthy. We rushed to hug and kiss them, but they could not understand what had happened.
It turned out that the whole team decided to sneak into a local store, and at the time of the tragedy they were not in their apartment.
The second soldier, Peter Grechishny, was soon dug up. But this already happened without us. Neither I nor my friends, before whose eyes this happened, could bring themselves to go into Lenin’s room, where his parents were sitting next to the closed coffin. We didn’t go to bury him either. Instead, someone brought a bottle of vodka and we sat down on the bed opposite his bed, put a glass of vodka on his bedside table, covered with a piece of bread, and drank without clinking glasses so that Petka may rest in peace.
Then there was an investigation. It turned out that the house was built with a thousand violations. That cement was stolen, and there was more sand in the solution than cement, that the welding was of poor quality, that... And so on and so forth. The head of the UPR was demoted to the rank and file and sent to construction on Damansky Island, where at that time there were battles with the Chinese.
The construction site was cleared and the house began to be built all over again. Only I no longer had to attend his ceremony. And yet I came across this house again. We were building then in Goncharov Krug, all in the same tents, all in the same tank unit, from where the tank unit was flown by plane to Czechoslovakia within a few hours to suppress the “Prague Spring”. It was already winter, and when we woke up in the morning our heads were covered with frost and frozen to the pillows. I caught a severe cold and was taken to Chernigov for treatment. Since I was very weak, I was assigned to guard one of the entrances of the “unlucky” house. The house was already finished and even partially furnished. To prevent this furniture from being stolen, a soldier was placed at each entrance “to guard military property.” True, the guards did not have any weapons other than their own fists and a menacing voice (and I didn’t even have a voice, since I was hoarse). However, it was a raspberry, as my “favorite” petty officer Kuryachy immediately announced. They say that these Jews will always find a warm place.
I looked for an apartment on the third floor and settled there. My comrades also spent the night in the neighboring entrances, one per entrance. Having locked the entrance door with some piece of wood, threading it through the handle, I fell asleep.
At night I heard some noise, but I still didn’t understand what it was. In the morning, the winter sun illuminated my window and I woke up. I could hear talking and shouting on the street and I looked out the window. There was a grocery store about a hundred meters from the house and people gathered near it.
Was there some kind of shortage? You should be curious. After checking the security of the entrance door lock, I climbed out through the window of one of the apartments and went to the store. My comrades from neighboring entrances were already there too. But none of them knew what was the matter. Plucking up the nerve, I dived into the crowd and found myself on the other side. However, there was nothing here at all. From this side there was a road on a low embankment. Under the embankment there was a blackened concrete pipe. There were still twenty meters left to the store.
Turning around, I asked someone what happened. And he said: “Bend over and look into the pipe.”
I looked in. At first I couldn’t understand what I was seeing there. And only after getting used to the semi-darkness in the pipe I understood. There was a girl lying there. Her coat was unbuttoned and open, and the coat had a scarlet satin lining. Her bare legs were bent and turned to the sides, and between them the silk of the dress was red. But after a moment I was horrified. It wasn't a coat lining, and it wasn't silk. The girl lay in a pool of blood, and her stomach was cut and there was red blood-soaked fabric torn from her dress.
I felt bad. Soon the police appeared, arriving in a yellow police lawn. Some woman identified the girl. A few minutes later, the police sat her down on the lawn and drove off somewhere. Meanwhile the crowd grew.
Soon a guy was brought in. When they showed him what was in the pipe, he lost consciousness. They brought him to his senses and he said that this was his girlfriend, and that his younger brother was also hitting on her. For which he recently beat him on the neck. Since yesterday, my brother has disappeared and has not appeared at home.
The cops left to interview his younger brother's friends and soon found him. When they began to lead him to the pipe, he began to scream and struggle.
- Let me go, policemen. I'll tell you everything.
And he began to talk. Ever since the 9th grade, he had been trying to hit on this girl who was a year older than him. But she did not pay attention to him and he suffered terribly from this. Moreover, she began dating his older brother. Friends once introduced him to an adult man who was reputed to be a local authority. He sat in the darkness and taught them all sorts of “wisdom.” Last night they drank a lot and the guy admitted to the authority that he had a problem. And he said that the problem was easily solved. It’s enough to fuck a girl and your brother won’t need her anymore.
They waylaid the girl when she was on her way to the bus to go on the night shift. Covering her mouth, they dragged her to the new building. But they broke down, since all the entrances and windows were locked from the inside. The girl struggled, she even managed to bite the authority figure’s hand. And then he hit her. She went limp and the man dragged her into this pipe so that they would not be noticed by passing cars. There he tore her dress and ordered the boy to rape the girl. However, out of fear, he was unable to do anything. Then the authority began to do it himself. Suddenly the girl came to her senses and tried to scream. And then the rapist plunged a knife into her throat and then slashed her across the stomach.
Suddenly, someone’s fist flew between the policemen and struck the boy in the face. The policemen were immediately surrounded by a crowd of men and women. Everyone tried to reach the freak, hit him, grab him in the eyes, in the face. The police tried to protect him with themselves. But blows fell on them too. Someone shouted that they had brought a rope and that this bastard would now be hanged right on the tree near the store.
Miraculously, the police managed to drag the boy, distraught with fear, into the gas station. The car began to roll forward almost over my feet. They hit the windows with their fists and spat on them. Then stones began to fall. The car barely broke through the crowd and disappeared behind our house.
Soon the house was occupied by families of officers. But there were rumors that the house brings misfortune, that people in it get sick, that families are breaking up... Who knows, maybe this is true.
