З життя
Сердитий танок із пестрою куркою у великій кадці з водою.
Катерина Петрівна, схопивши за крила велику строкату курку, сердито занурила її у велику діжку з водою. Курка жалібно кричала й намагалася вирватися. Закінчивши купання, господиня кинула нещасну Рябку на вкритий травою двір. Нещасна, вона кинулася тікати, втрачаючи чорно-білі пір’їни, які підхопив бешкетний вересневий вітер і поніс далеко-далеко.
Катерина Петрівна підняла важку діжку і сердито вилила воду на кабачки, що товстими поросятами лежали вздовж паркану. Потім зайшла в хату і щільно зачинила за собою двері.
Ні, Катерина Петрівна була зовсім не злою жінкою, що мучила нещасну курку. Просто Рябка вирішила втретє за літо сісти на яйця. Два покоління вихованих нею півників і курочок вже бігали по пилявій сільській вулиці, а на дворі стояв вересень, і вилуплені курчата просто не встигли б вирости й загинули б у довгу холодну зиму. Тому господиня й вдалася до перевіреного народного засобу — занурити насідку в холодну воду.
Сидяча на паркані кішка Маруся, улюблениця господині, зі спокійною філософією спостерігала за Рябкою своїми великими золотими очима.
— От дурненька… — думала вона, намиваючи рожевою лапкою й без того чистеньку мордочку, — як знесла яйце, так і закудкудакала на весь двір… Мовчала б, дивись — і вивела б своїх курчаток… А я от мовчу-мовчу, та четверо кошенят в сіні ростуть… Зовсім скоро зможу порадувати улюблену господиню…
Кішка вигнула спину, позіхнула, показавши акуратний язичок, і попрямувала в сарай, де чекав її пухнастий вивідок.
Наступного дня пані Катерина пішла до сараю з тяжким серцем. Її улюблена кішка Маруся загинула, і її потрібно поховати з гідністю, поклавши до могилки свіжого сіна. Маруся стала жертвою однієї з лисиць, яких було багато в околицях села. Проте, їй вдалося вирватися з зубів лисиці і повернутися додому, щоб вирушити на місток веселки, востаннє побачивши люблячу господиню.
Нахилившись, щоб видерти жменьку сіна з ніжними ароматами, Катерина Петрівна побачила Рябку. Вона сиділа в чималому гнізді, розпушивши пір’я в різні боки, і задоволено квохтала. Гучно лаючись, господиня приготувалася схопити нещасну курку за хвіст і викинути з гнізда. Але Рябка надулася як кулька і зашипіла на господиню, як сердитий гусак.
Не чекаючи такого спротиву, Катерина Петрівна відсмикнула руку, а з-під пір’я, що стирчало в різні сторони, з’явилася… цікава кошача мордочка! Одна, друга, третя… Незабаром усі четверо Марусиних кошенят вийшли на світ божий з гучними криками! Як на замовлення: чорне, біле, смугасте і мила тришерстна кішечка, як дві краплі води схожа на покійну маму…
Тепер Катерина Петрівна щодня ходила до сараю, тримаючи у руках відерце з зерном для курки і чашку з молоком для її чотириногих «курчаток».
Невдовзі Рябка почала водити на прогулянку свій неспокійний вивідок. Розпушивши пір’я, вона грізно квохтала, охороняючи своїх «дітей» і наполегливо пропонуючи їм клювати зерно або з’їсти надзвичайно смачного черв’ячка…
Але малюки перекидалися в траві і бігали по двору, розпушивши свої крихітні хвостики-морквинки.
Настала зима. Всі четверо Марусиних малюків переселилися до просторої хати Катерини Петрівни. А Рябці… А Рябці довелося виділити просторий кошик під лавкою, адже вже доволі дорослі кошенята погоджувалися спати лише під теплим маминим крильцем.
Why Does It Matter Who Looked After Gran? By Law, That Flat Should Be Mine! — My Mum Argues With Me Over My Grandmother’s Home My Own Mother is Threatening to Sue Me — All Because My Gran’s Flat Went Not to Her, or Even to Me, But to My Daughter. Mum Claims It’s Unfair, Insists the Flat Should Be Hers. But Gran Made a Different Choice. Why? Perhaps Because My Husband and I Lived With Her and Cared for Her Those Last Five Years. You Could Easily Call My Mum Selfish — Her Needs Were Always Far More Important Than Anyone Else’s. Mum’s Been Married Three Times, But Only Had Two Daughters: My Younger Sister and Me. We Get On Brilliantly, But Neither of Us Has a Great Relationship With Mum. I Don’t Even Remember My Dad — He Split From Mum When I Was Two. Up Until I Was Six, I Lived With Mum at Gran’s. For Some Reason, I Thought Gran Was Awful — Probably Because Mum Was Always Crying. Only When I Grew Up Did I Understand: Gran Was Good, She Just Wanted to Help Her Daughter Make a Better Life. Later, Mum Married Again and We All Moved In With My Stepfather. That’s When My Sister Was Born. But After Seven Years, Mum Got Divorced Again. This Time, We Didn’t Go Back to Gran’s. Stepfather Went Off to Work and Let Us Stay in His Flat for a Bit. Three Years Later, Mum Married Husband Number Three and We Moved In With Him. He Wasn’t Pleased Mum Had Children, Though He Never Hurt Us — He Just Ignored Us. So Did Mum. She Was Obsessed With Her New Husband, Always Jealous, Always Causing Rows and Breaking Crockery. Once a Month Mum Would Start Packing, But Stepfather Always Talked Her Round. My Sister and I Got Used to It and Stopped Noticing. I Ended Up Looking After My Sister — Mum Didn’t Have the Time. Thank Goodness for Our Grandmothers, Who Helped Us So Much. Eventually, I Left for University, and My Sister Moved In With Gran. Our Dad Always Supported Her; Mum Would Call Us Only at Christmas. I Accepted Mum For Who She Was and Stopped Expecting Her to Care, But My Sister Never Did. She Was Always Hurt, Especially When Mum Skipped Her School Leavers’ Party. We Grew Up. My Sister Got Married and Moved Away. I Was Living With My Long-Term Boyfriend; We Visited Gran Often and Stayed Close, Though I Tried Not to Be a Nuisance. When Gran Fell Ill and Went Into Hospital, I Visited Every Day: Shopping, Cooking, Cleaning, Chatting, Making Sure She Took Her Medicine. Sometimes My Boyfriend Helped Out Too. After Six Months, Gran Suggested We Move In to Save for Our Own Place, So We Did. Six Months Later, I Was Pregnant. We Got Married, Had a Simple Family Do — Mum Didn’t Come, Not Even a Phone Call. When My Daughter Was Two Months Old, Gran Broke Her Leg. Caring for Both Was Hard and I Desperately Needed Mum’s Help, But She Refused, Saying She Wasn’t Well and Would Come Later. She Never Did. Six Months On, Gran Had a Stroke and Was Bedridden. If Not for My Husband, I Don’t Know How I’d Have Coped. Gran Slowly Improved, She Even Got to See Her Great-Granddaughter Take Her First Steps, and Lived Another Two-and-a-Half Years. She Passed Away Peacefully in Her Sleep. My Husband and I Were Devastated By Her Loss. Mum Only Came for the Funeral. A Month Later, She Tried to Evict Me So She Could Have the Flat. Mum Hadn’t Realised Gran Had Left It to My Daughter Right After She Was Born. Naturally Mum Was Furious, Demanding I Give Up the Flat or She’d Sue Me. “Look How Deceitful You Are! You Duped the Old Woman, Took Her Flat, And Now You Live In It Yourself! You Won’t Get Away With This! It Doesn’t Matter Who Looked After Gran — That Flat Should Be Mine!” But Mum Won’t Get That Flat, I Know That for Certain. I’ve Spoken to a Solicitor and a Notary. We’ll Stay in the Home Gran Gave Us, and If Our Second Child Is a Girl, She’ll Be Named After Gran.
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