– Scott, do you remember we rented a room with you not far from here? Your aunt was so funny, – Andrew businesslike pushed a saucer with a cup to himself and looked at the interlocutor.
– I remember, of course, she was a good aunt. She always said “Sons” so cheerfully. By the way, a week ago I saw her in the store not far from here. She got old, – Scott replied.
– Yes. Twenty years have passed, of course you will get old. She was fifty then, and now she must be seventy.
It was nice to meet student friends after so many years. We rarely communicated, mostly greeting each other on the phone or in social networks. And then Andrew returned to the city where he grew up to settle his inheritance – he got a one-room apartment of his aunt, on the outskirts of the city, and called Scott.
– She was kind, she fed us.
– She did not feed us anything, on the contrary, she climbed into our refrigerator, checked it, – Andrew was outraged.
– She climbed, Andrew, just to see if we had food or not. I understood this later, when you left, and I was studying and living in another apartment for the last year. Our aunt seemed like an angel to me then. Do you remember the sack of potatoes she kept by the door?
– Of course, as it helped us out a hundred times, we would take a couple of potatoes, you could not even see in the bag.
– Yes, you can’t see. She would buy potatoes, put the big ones aside, and leave the smaller ones in the bag for us. And she would throw in carrots with onions, knowing that we would cook soup and eat it. Do you remember, she offered to buy a bag of flour in a fold?
– Yes, she baked us bread.
– Only she spent all the flour on us, did you ever see her bread, did you see her eating it?
– No.
– Well,” said Scott, “neither have I. But wisdom comes with years. And when she started doing laundry, she always asked, do we need to wash something or not? After all, she could collect her laundry and wash everything at once, without us.
– I remember, Scott, I remember everything, only then I saw it completely differently, not like that.
– So did I. Then it only came to me when in the new apartment I was billed for light and water and for cleaning the corridor with a toilet and a bathroom, and I appeared there only late in the evening and slept. Then I began to understand. I changed the apartment later. But that’s all in the past. Tell me, come on, how are you doing? Are you staying long?
– I’m here on business. Listen, Scott, let’s go to this aunt, I don’t know… we’ll buy a cake, meet there, I wanted to thank her somehow.
– Let’s do it! – Scott agreed.
We agreed on Saturday, so as not to rush. We met at the entrance, went up to the second floor and stood in front of the door.
– What’s your name again, – Andrew asked holding a bouquet of chrysanthemums.
– Uh, – Aunt Maria.
The bell squeaked nervously, like many years ago. The door, changed ten years ago, did not open soon.
– Aunt Maria, good afternoon!” the friends answered almost in chorus.
The grandmother frowned and raised her hand to her glasses, looking at the young people.
– Scott? … Andrew, sons…, – she cried.
– Aunt Maria, what are you doing?
– Come in, my dear, come in, my sons.
The three of them sat at the same old table with a new oilcloth, remembering their youth, joking, laughing. Andrew looked out the window – how many evenings they spent in this kitchen. After all, almost nothing has changed: the same old Soviet kitchen set of light green color, wooden stools updated with new paint, a refrigerator from the 60s, still quietly grumbling.
– Let’s go outside, – Scott Andrew called, – we’ll be right back, Aunt Maria.
– And I’ll put the kettle on then, sons, – Aunt Maria began to pour water into the kettle.
Andrew for some reason was silent as they came down and stood next to the entrance, thinking about something very important, and looking at the asphalt. Scott just looked at the old man sitting on the bench near the entrance.
– Listen, why does she call us sons? She did then and she does now,” Scott asked.
– I don’t know, – Andrew shrugged his shoulders.
– Are you talking about Maria from 29?” the old man asked.
Andrew looked out from behind Scott’s back and also looked at his grandfather.
– Yes.
– Yes, something happened to her sons. They died twenty-five years ago. Then she was not herself for a year. And then she started to rent the room to the boys, and she felt a little better. It turns out that those who rented from her prolonged her life.
– Yes, it turns out, – Andrew confirmed.
– Listen, Scott, let’s do something good for her, help her somehow, – Andrew suggested as they climbed the stairs.
– Shall we make something or buy it?
– It hasn’t been repaired for a long time, you’ve seen the bathroom, and the toilet?
– Yes, I have. If we lay the tiles ourselves, it will be inexpensive. The toilet and sink need to be replaced.
– And I will take tiles from my friend’s warehouse, it will be very cheap, he often has leftovers or old collections – Andrew added.
– We agreed – the guys shook hands before entering the apartment.
They drank tea quickly, as if they wanted to get down to the business they had just discussed.
And then for a long time they did not dare to tell about the gift, waiting for everything to be bought.
Maria clapped her hands and shook her head, although she herself had been in the bathroom and toilet so many times, saw everything, but did not skimp on praise. Scott and Andrew made it within a month. They worked on weekends, tried their best, the work took longer than planned, but then they surprised themselves and were glad that they could. It turned out well and small expenses.
A sense of pride filled the boys. Scott looked up at the second floor windows. Andrew waved goodbye to Maria, who was watching them from the window.
– Yes, well, – Andrew said.
– Yes, – Scott agreed.
Maria looked up at the sky as the young people disappeared behind the house.
– Thank you. Thank you for everything. Sons, take care of Scott and Andrew, good guys, thank you.
