Ten days later, the convicts, former officers (commanders), were brought in again; We, who were left over from the first offensive, were merged into a new marching battalion, transferred to another sector of the front, where we tried to occupy the German trenches and suppress the firing points, but failed, and almost all died, I was seriously wounded, ended up in the hospital, spent months in a hospital bed, and, most importantly for me, I had an X-ray of my legs and healed multiple fractures. When I told the surgeons how my grandmother Anna treated me, they laughed and did not believe me. An X-ray of my legs later helped me to check my biography in the NKVD.

He was treated, sent to a penal battalion, thrown into battle three times, remained unharmed twice, received a bullet and shrapnel wound the third time, spent three and a half months in the hospital, and was simply sent to the army. He fought like everyone else, was demobilized from the army as a lieutenant in July 1945, came to Moscow to his mother, where he had lived before, was registered not without difficulty, and began to look for a job. I will come and fill out a questionnaire: in the columns whether I was in captivity, on enemy territory, in prison, in camps, I write that I was. They will look at it when politely, and sometimes rudely, they refuse. He got a job in industrial cooperation as an accountant. Of course, he left the army and as soon as he was demobilized, he wrote letters to Marfa Pavlovna, Maryushka, Pyotr Sergeyevich and with all his heart longed for them, but he could not go right away.

A friend of mine, with whom I studied, worked in a defense box near Moscow, as the head of the computational mathematics department, invited me to work with him. I came to the HR department (there was an application for me), filled out a questionnaire, wrote a long autobiography, they asked me for a long time and, imagine, sympathetically, they told me to come back in three months, I decided that the number was empty, they just politely refused and I would not be able to get a job, then only my friend found out several times asked the head of the enterprise about me. A month passed, I was summoned to the military registration and enlistment office, to room number 13; I went to the information desk and asked where the thirteenth was. The captain looked at me and somehow pitifully showed me where to go. I found the door and knocked. Log. Two soldiers in the uniform of the NKVD were sitting, they invited me to sit down, took out two huge folders and began to ask where I was born, studied, the army, the unit, when my legs were broken, and I saw an X-ray; where he crossed the front, the camps, the assault battalion, the penal battalion, in general, he told everything, even about grandmother Anna and about the Vyropayev family. They asked me and looked at each of my answers, apparently the documents in the folders. They interrogated me for four hours, sometimes they asked me to leave the room, I think they called me on the phone.

At the end of the interrogation, one of them said: Everything coincides with the documents. A month later, I received a letter to report to the personnel department, and I was hired, where I worked until nineteen hundred and eighty-seven. Without any troubles or difficulties, and in this was the great mercy of the Lord to me, a sinner.

While they were applying for a job, I went to Smolensk, to the villages, to Maryushka, picked up food in a backpack and two bags, there was only one thought: to meet as soon as possible. When I got there, the settlements suffered little, only eight of the forty yards burned down. Marfa Pavlovna's house was not damaged, but it was dilapidated and (so it seemed to me) smaller. The door is propped up with a stick, the owners are not at home. I was worried, there was no one to ask, not even the children on the street. I sat down on the logs, worried, waiting, it was already evening. I saw two women coming, and I rushed to them and saw Marfa Pavlovna; hugging, kissing, crying both and the first question, where is Maryushka? Where is Pyotr Sergeyevich?

We entered the house, dragged a backpack and bags and rushed to ask questions. Marfa Pavlovna said: There will be conversations afterwards, let us thank the Lord and our Lady the Mother of God, under whose protection she entrusted you and Maryushka, who has preserved you, and we began to pray. When they were finished, Marfa Pavlovna began to tell me, and I was all waiting for Maryushka, what had become of her during these years. She was sixteen years old, and now she is twenty-one years old, anything could have happened. As if reading my thoughts, Marfa Pavlovna said: "Don't worry, Alexei Maryushka has only been thinking about you, she has been waiting all these years. I heard footsteps, the door creaked, and my Maryushka came in, and I hid behind the curtain, and her first words were: "Mother, have you brought any letters from Alyosha?"

She washed her face and hands at the washstand, pulled and shook her dress, and with an eternal feminine gesture began to straighten her hair, which was braided into braids. He came up quietly, embraced Maryushka, shuddered, frightened, and angrily began to break out, turned around, clasped my arms around me, squeezed my head painfully, and whispered one phrase: Alyosha! Alyosha! Baby, it's back, it's back! Thank You, Lord! Thank you, Mother of God!

Pyotr Sergeyevich also entered, there was no end to his joy, but his first words were: Let us pray to God! He grew old, he was slumped, he was already in his seventy-first year. Thin and sickly-looking. Marfa Pavlovna prepared dinner, laid out the food I had brought, and said: "Alyosha! It's hungry in the village, they eat quinoa, I'll take some things to the people, and especially to my grandmother Anna, and I'll call for dinner with us now. I took what I found necessary, and the three of us stayed and began to tell and question each other. Presently Marfa Pavlovna and grandmother Anna came, dined, and talked almost till nightfall.

Two days later, Maryushka and I went to the village council, registered the marriage and returned to the settlements. But it was a formal marriage, it was necessary to get married in a church, and only then would we become husband and wife. The registered marriage was celebrated with a cake and grandmother Anna was invited. Almost five years passed, she suffered a lot of troubles, two sons were killed, a daughter with two children died in a fire, the house burned down, but the grandmother did not change, a friendly smile often appeared on her face, she was friendly and kind. Several times I brought her to us in Moscow, and the house became happier and brighter because of the fragile little old woman.

He stayed for five days and took Maryushka to Moscow, joyful, happy, blessed by Pyotr Sergeyevich and Marfa Pavlovna. I endured a lot of hardships, I was facing death throughout the war, but I received the biggest blow when I came home. We arrived, overflowing with the happiness of mutual love, entered the room (we lived in a communal apartment), shouting: Mom, mom! Maryushka has brought my wife, look at my beauty!, and Maryushka is really a beauty, such as you will not find, and there is so much affability, charm and inner attractiveness on her face, you can't take your eyes off. Of course, she is dressed like a peasant: a headscarf, a collective farm katsaveika, and rough shoes.

Mom got up. She came up to us, looked at Maryushka coldly, calmly, and instead of a joyful greeting suddenly said: "Don't you understand? He brought the village to the house, he couldn't find an intelligent one in Moscow, and without greeting her, she left the room. We were confused, the words spoken with contempt and malice hurt me and Maryushka, and, above all, it is not clear why. My mother knew that I was going after Maryushka, she knew that this family came out and saved me. Know. Mother disliked Maryushka, so much so that life became unbearable, remarks, condemnations, spiteful words were heard.

Maryushka did not respond to any of her mother's words, she prayed in her mind, fulfilling everything that her mother demanded. I was already working in the box, and Maryushka entered night school in the eighth grade. We lived there for four months, and I saw that it was impossible to live like this. I tried to talk to my mother several times, but I heard nothing but insults and insults from Maryushka and me. I didn't understand what happened to my mother, I always saw in her a deeply religious person, sympathetic and kind, but now?

He knew that she was the spiritual daughter of Father Arseny. No one knew where he was in 194546, whether he was shot or died in the camp. I talked to Nina Alexandrovna, Vera Danilovna, Yulia Sergeevna, Natalia Petrovna, my mother's friends in the community. He told us about our situation, introduced us to Maryushka, they fell in love with her, and we even lived with Irina Nikolaevna for some time. They talked to their mother, but she became even more angry.

I didn't understand my mother's attitude, my anger, and I saw that nothing would change her now. Upon our arrival in Moscow, we were married in Irina Nikolaevna's apartment, and the wedding was performed by Father Eugene, who had come from Kostroma, and who had already served in the church under Patriarch Alexis. We lived for almost seven months in an atmosphere of complete hatred, and the further it went, the worse it got. It became impossible to live together. We went to Mytishchi, rented a room with great difficulty, gave the money for two months in advance, packed our things and told my mother that tomorrow we were leaving, it would be easier for you without us.