In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 8: Old Colony, Part 3

Antenna for Borsch Antenna At the end of June, my parents were honored to buy a radio. The device was one of the cheapest, and therefore was one of…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 8: Old Colony, Part 2

Forty Trampled Attempts to give me a nickname resumed in third grade. Probably everything grows in childhood. I was no exception. Along with the…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 8: Old Colony, Part 1

My parents got a separate apartment, when I had not yet gone to school, in a new building on the "circle,” as Victory Square was called in…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 7: Again, the Transience of Being, Part 2

Deaf The whole village knew of Semenych. He was deaf. But Semenych was not deaf from birth; he became so from the war. He was commissioned back in…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 7: Again, the Transience of Being, Part 1

Sasha, Eat It! What woman does not dream to see her child strong, vigorous, and healthy? Such, probably, does not happen. My aunt---my mother's…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 6: Score

I learned to count even before school. And there was a reason. Vaska, a ten-year-old idiot, told me and Mishka how he had fooled his two six-year-old…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 5: My Friend Sasha Bichukov

The story of Sasha Bichukov should be told separately. From my point of view, he was one of those boys who is not capable of meanness. To confirm…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 4: Football as it Is

The Death of the Ball Football was played mainly by older boys. They had a real three-rand leather nipple ball. They took us to their games…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 3: Cognizing Life

Sadist Uncle Zhora The Crime For the first time, I faced the most severe flogging of a child during the first summer school holidays; this happened…


In the Shadow of the Belt, Chapter 2: School? This is Just the Beginning, Baby…

The First Pass in First Class I remember the first class due to several events that were unexpected for me: the huge bouquet that my mother and aunt…