Funny Children's Stories. Bilingual Edition

Mom warned me not to go out of the house. And when I asked why, she replied that she did not want to look for me in all those junkyards that I loved so much. She also told me that I should not even think about getting my hands dirty and God forbid I should wash them, otherwise the number on my palm might wash off.

I ran home to do my homework. And literally in an hour, Mom came back. I was very glad that she came back so soon. But Mom said that they decided to form a group of six people within the line, so that only two people from the group would have to remain on duty by the store to make sure that our numbers were still on the list.

And Mom said that she had to return to the line by one o’clock and that we were really lucky because the roll-call would start at one o’clock and we could go there together.

At twelve thirty, Mom said it was time to go for the roll-call. So we went. However, everything turned out to be different from the way Mom thought it would be. First of all, it was very hard to find our group of people in line. Second, two hours prior, someone had conducted another roll-call, and as a result, Mom and I were crossed off the list.

Mom started to argue why they had conducted extra roll-call. And everyone who came back at one o'clock became angry for being removed from the list. There was a big scandal there. Everyone was yelling something. And it was all very funny.

And just then a rumor started going around that if you paid three rubles to the cashier in the store then you could buy flour from the store’s back door, without waiting in line. But Mom said that she was not about to pay anything to anyone.

Finally, everyone in line agreed that all those who were present at one o’clock would be put back on the list. And Mom said that we were lucky that there were a lot of people like us. That was why people in the line agreed to put our names back on the list.

Also Mom said that it was fortunate that they did not throw out the old list. They just crossed off our numbers.

During the roll-call at one o’clock, they created a new list. After about an hour, Mom's number and my number were restored on the new list. And Mom said that I could go home but she would stay until the end and not go anywhere.

In the evening, Mom ran home to get me. It turned out that while I was doing my homework, there were two more roll-calls. But Mom did not come for me because everyone in the line decided that one person could mark for two.

We went back to the store once again. This time, everything turned out to be fine. We got two packs of flour just before the store closed. And Mom said that we were lucky because if in the morning we had come half an hour later, there would have been nothing left for us. And that those who could come tomorrow morning would create a new list. They would guard this list all night. And Mom said that this would be a whole different story. Because whether or not the flour would be available for sale tomorrow was still up in the air.

Of course, I was very happy that everything worked out so well for us. But what made me especially happy was the fact that my mom was happy. And she really was happy that the day was not wasted.

After the story with the flour, there were a few times when I remembered the ink pencil and wondered again who invented it and why. I did not believe that it was invented just to write numbers on palms.

And I remembered that someone once told me that after the war, our soldiers brought from Germany a lot of ladies’ nightgowns. At the time, no one thought of them as nightgowns. And women started wearing them, thinking that they were dressing up. For example, they wore them when going to the theater.

And now I think that the same story happened with the ink pencils. They probably came to us from a place where they were used for some very important purpose. But here no one knew about that. Then people just started to use them to write numbers on the palms of people waiting in line. It just fit the purpose.

Дырка

Когда я стану большим, то у меня вся одежда будет красивая и без дырок. И я очень часто мечтаю, чтобы у меня нигде не было ни единой дырочки. Нигде, и ни одной.

А думал я сегодня о дырках, потому что мама заштопала мне штаны сзади. И когда мама штаны мои заштопала, то мы стали с ней смотреть, заметно это или не заметно, что штаны теперь мои — штопаные. Мама считала, что штопку совсем не видно. Но я не был с ней согласен. И мама сказала, что она сейчас поставит утюг на газ, всё загладит, и тогда будет совсем незаметно.

И вот мама поставила утюг на газовую плиту. А когда она нагрела утюг и загладила штопку, то сказала мне, что, мол, видишь, штопка теперь совсем не заметна. И я с ней согласился. Но согласился я с мамой потому, что мне было жалко её расстраивать и говорить, что штопку, конечно, видно.