In general, everyone in the family obeyed the priest. Volodya did not like Natalia Ivanovna's willfulness. In the evening he told me: "Everyone is asleep, the day is over, tell Natalia Ivanovna to stop rattling pots in the kitchen." But it was useless to talk to her. She pointed out the dirt to me, assured me that the soot could be cleaned, and continued to scrape my black pans. My father shook his head: "What a restless woman! He will bring himself to a heart attack. Go unscrew the corks." I obeyed. "Oh, what a misfortune! The light went out," Natalia Ivanovna sighed and got to her bed in the dark.

No matter how grateful we were to Natalia Ivanovna for her selfless help and selfless work, we still tolerated her only out of need. The presence of a stranger in one's family always brings disharmony to the usual way of life. Children quickly begin to adopt from a new person something that they have not met before: the manner of behaving, speaking, acting. For example, it had never occurred to my children before that it was possible to disobey, not obey, argue with their parents. A bad example is contagious. There were also cases of disobedience and self-will with older children, but this was quickly stopped by the strictness of parents. But over "Baba Nata" (as Fedya called Natalia Ivanovna) Volodya and I could not exercise our power. She stubbornly remained in her opinion, and we - in ours. For example, when Fedya grew up, Natalia Ivanovna began to demand that his underwear be washed separately from other children's. No, I could not single out Fedya. It happened that the kid broke and destroyed everything built on the floor by the elders. The children defend their houses, drive Fedya away, and he shouts and resists. Natalia Ivanovna hears him crying, comes in and says: "Who is mine? (i.e., "Who offended me?") Come on, every single one, so that there is no one!" commands Natalia Ivanovna. This means that all the children must leave the room, leaving Fedyushka to scatter both blocks and toys. "No," I say to the nurse, "this is not good. Fedya must know the word "impossible." But Natalia Ivanovna was not able to be strict with her favorite, she pampered him.

We noticed that as soon as Fedya sees a bowl of water brought to the table to wash his face and hands after eating, he comes to life, stops turning away from the spoon, splashes with delight. Taking advantage of the moment, Natalia Ivanovna manages to put a few more spoonfuls of soup into the baby's mouth at these moments. Then a basin of cold water began to be put on the table at the same time as porridge, soup, and any food. Fedyushka was twitching, washing, the table was flooded, water was flowing on the floor. Pleased with Fedya's joy, Natalia Ivanovna quickly put spoon after spoon into his mouth. At one of these moments, my father came in and asked:

"What is it?"

Natalia Ivanovna replied with a smile:

"That's how we eat, daddy, we can't do otherwise.

"Stop this pampering!" Father barked.

"He won't open his mouth otherwise, he's so used to eating," Natalia Ivanovna defended Fedya.

"If he wants to eat, he will open his mouth!" Father said firmly. "And I don't want to see such a swamp again.

In the next feeding, one-year-old Fedya slapped his hands on the oilcloth for a long time, showing us that we had forgotten to put water. But I said that you have to listen to your father. Natalia Ivanovna almost cried with grief. Of course, Fedya began to eat without water, but Natalia Ivanovna began to leave for her Perlovka more and more often. "I bless you to go and take a break from us," Father Vladimir said to her affectionately. Natalia Ivanovna submitted, but she could not live long without Fedya. A week or two later, she came again (by car), and brought Fedya new expensive toys, shoes, etc.

Fedyusha's childhood

The younger brother Fedya was always a joy for all family members, an object of love and care. Once Rivva Borisovna began (of course, as a joke) to ask four-year-old Lyubochka to give her a brother. She spoke for a long, serious and convincing time:

"Lyubochka, why do you need Fedenka?" He cries, does not let you sleep at night, takes a lot of time from his mother... Give it to me!