-Daddy, what kind of wife is right? – the youngest, Mishka, was curious.
“You’re still young,” the parent waved him off, “when you grow up, then you’ll find out,” as he prophesied.
As soon as the older brother, Alexey, appeared on the threshold with a suitcase, the father began:
– Kicked you out of the house again? Another bender with your faithful wife? Well, why are you like a fish in water, I can’t get a word out of you, you just keep bulging your eyes…
Lesha was silent, ate almost nothing for three days, did not sleep at night, sat on the porch of the house, philosophically gazing at the starry sky. And then again gathered his simple belongings.
“Will you really forgive me this time too?” the father was amazed.
“There are children there,” the son justified himself, “I can’t live without Masha and Pashka. What if we get divorced, she won’t give them to me and will turn them against me?”
Gradually, by the age of thirteen, Mikha had already formed an idea of what kind of wife was wrong.
“She’s a slob, a bad cook, and never irons the bed linen,” he heard this from his mother.
“He loves wine and has affairs with other men,” the father lamented.
Mishka definitely didn’t want such a wife. And when his friends were already flirting with girls, he treated this issue with all seriousness, unusual for teenagers. He kept thinking, what kind of wife is right? And how not to make a mistake in choosing? Otherwise, what if she pretends to be good, and as soon as she becomes his wife, she immediately changes.
– And you choose someone like your mother, – his father instructed him, – everything she does burns in her hands. She has never said a bad word to anyone in her entire life, and well… she has everything else.
– How could she not have said so when Aunt Nyura was offended at her for calling her husband a drunkard in front of everyone. And her a shabby woman.
-Well, that’s basically it… But she’s kind, docile, she doesn’t mean any harm…
-And Genka’s father says: judge not, lest ye be judged!
-So who is Genka’s father? – Pop!
-Father…
-That’s the point, listen to him less, otherwise he’ll tell you that if someone hits you on the left cheek, turn the right one.
– It’s not literal, dad. It’s about us not resisting evil.
– Seriously?! Goodness must come with fists, son, Mikhail Svetlov said that, a great man! Lenin Prize laureate, O…
The father raised his finger meaningfully.
Although Misha did not agree with his father, he visited his best friend Gena too often and talked with his father, a priest, however, he decided to take a closer look at his mother.
And he began to notice that she was always sad, dressed unfashionably, wore a headscarf on her head like an old woman. And Mishka began to suspect that her father did not love her at all: he never gave her flowers or beads, and she had never had perfume. And she her father?
He listens to him in everything, he’s probably afraid of him. Mishka didn’t really imagine such a family!
However, it was too early to think about it, well, I thought about it and forgot about it for a while… On the river, there were crucian carp biting well, and in the forest there were boletus mushrooms…
Another two years passed, his friends are almost all in pairs, some of them boast about their victories over women. Maybe they are exaggerating, in their village girls are brought up strictly. And Mishka still doesn’t have a sweetheart!
Lenka is the prettiest in the class, but she also has no end of admirers, she will drink hops and go from hand to hand, as her father says about his older brother’s wife. Irishka is not a beauty, but she is the smartest, a straight-A student. There is nothing to talk about with her, except maybe the Pythagorean theorem… Svetka… Already with Yurka. Irka with Maxim… You can’t approach Natasha on a mangy goat, she is painfully proud…
“You should take a closer look at the priest’s daughter,” the father advises.
-To Marinka, perhaps? She’s still little…
– It’s okay, by the time you finish technical school, you’ll serve in the army, and she’ll grow up. Even though I don’t like priests, they have a good upbringing, she’ll make a good wife.
————————————
Ten years passed. The sons gathered with their wives for their parents’ anniversary. Alexey, as we remember, had two children: a daughter, Masha, and a son, Pasha. And Mikhail lived with his wife for five years, but never had children.
After the formal part, the father called his youngest son into the garden.
“You seem a bit gloomy, Mikha,” he noted.
– I listened to you, father, and chose the right wife for myself. But I never had real happiness with her, she is cold. And she has everything in order, everything is on the shelves, every minute of our day is laid out. She is neat in everything, the house is a full cup, only there is no joy in it. She says it is too early to have children, we ourselves have not yet stood on our own feet. And what does she need? She has an apartment in the city, a summer house, a car that works…
“You will have, you will have more children,” the father-in-law supported his daughter-in-law, “but she is dressed decently, she hasn’t sipped her glass, she doesn’t take her eyes off the table, she is strict, she takes care of herself.”
– Is that really a blessing, dad? It’s so quiet here that it’s nauseating, all you can hear is the clock ticking, taking away the best years of my life, my youth.
-At least you don’t quarrel…
– It would be better if we quarreled, after that the reconciliation is sweeter. Look at our Lyokha with Lyudmila, his whole life was like a volcano, how many times he left her and came back. And now… They look at each other with loving eyes so that goosebumps run down your spine. And she didn’t cheat on him, he was just jealous, and you added fuel to the fire. And what children they have… Eh…
– I was a fool when I traded my Sonya for Karina. They were friends, after all – inseparable. Sophia is sweet, lively, cheerful, active… In a word – fire! But I was afraid of marrying the wrong person and chose the quiet Karina. I thought I would find peace with her. I found it… But it’s too early for me to retire, father!
-What are you saying? – Mikhail heard his wife’s voice behind him, – So that’s how you think of me. I do everything for him, and he… An impudent, ungrateful fellow!
The woman turned abruptly and walked away.
“Wait, Karinochka, you got it all wrong,” her father tried to stop her.
“She understood everything correctly,” his son stopped him, “let her go…”
“How can this be?” the mother wailed in the evening, after the guests had left, wiping away her tears with her apron.
“That’s how it is,” Mikhail retorted, “I want children, love, passion, NOW… And not sometime later, and…” he waved his hand, “you’ll never get passion from her, she’s too perfect!”
A month later, Mikhail received a divorce from Karina.
– Open the gate, mother, father, – he shouted joyfully, taking bags out of the trunk of an old car. – This is Sonya, please love and favor her. Can we stay with you for a while? I left the apartment to Karina…
After Sonya appeared in the house, the mother seemed to come to life. She laughed merrily at how the girl awkwardly copes with the dough or, having dropped the hoe, crawls around the garden, examining the bugs. The mother straightened up, dressed up in all new clothes and took off the scarf from her head. And on her neck she put on a chain with a pendant in the form of a heart, which Sonya gave her, and on her wrist – a gold bracelet.
– Ugh, – the father angrily threw away his cigarette butt, watching his wife and future daughter-in-law, – all this is wrong! You listen, mother, tell her to put on a longer skirt…
“Go away, old man, you don’t understand anything,” his wife mischievously waved him off for the first time in her life.
Which of the wives do you think is wrong?
