The boy Borya got on the train. His grandmother accompanied him. She asked me to send a message when she arrives!
Borya entered the car. He was a little boy (twelve years old) with rosy cheeks and a plump build. The places were occupied.
We will move! - said the old man. To the peaceful tapping of the wheels, a strange rustling was added.
The old man asked: "Where was the boy?"
"In the village," the boy replied. "Your baggage is heavy!" sympathized the old man.
The boy replied:
The guys are preparing housing for them, and I am taking the exhibits.
The old man asked: “And how many of them?”
- A few lizards, toads, four snakes.
- And all this is good for school?
- No, we'll exchange half at the school next door.
The attention of all passengers encouraged the boy, and he continued the story:
School is good for us. In the pet store: it costs almost eight rubles, but what about the glass aquarium and other exhibits?
- And spent a lot of time?
- About two weeks! He only came home to eat.
Everyone listened attentively, admired the boy's diligence.
There were more of them, but my grandmother is very afraid of them!
- Yes, your grandmother was unlucky!
“So I didn’t tell her anything about the viper!”
The man asked the question: “So you are also carrying a poisonous snake?”
- Yes, I looked for four hours. Here in my glass jar.
Everyone stopped smiling, and the lieutenant asked: “Maybe this is a harmless snake?” To which Borya proudly replied: “She is the best, I can distinguish!”
Some neighbors expressed a desire to see the find. The boy bent down and took out the dishes.
The real snake has yellow spots near the head, but the viper does not.
He looked at the jar from one side, then from the other side, slowly ran his eyes under the seat.
- What is not? the passengers asked.
- Probably, the handkerchief was untied.
Nobody needed a handkerchief, everyone looked nervously around and around the legs. When the conductor woke up, she looked with surprise as the grandmother was put on the top shelf. The conductor was upset and went to report to the authorities.
Here she is! Under the seat! one of the passengers exclaimed.
Everyone felt sorry for the boy. And they decided not to kill the snake. And try to catch. “If something happens to the passengers, we are reprimanded!”
What if you destroy the manual? There was an argument, and they decided to leave her alive. They brought a scoop and pressed it with a piece of iron. Placed neatly and secured well. Everyone calmed down and remembered childhood.
You have to be careful and think about the consequences of your actions. Respect other people's work!
Picture or drawing Centurion - Viper
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Viper
A lone lantern floated past the window of the carriage. The train stopped. Hurried voices were heard on the platform:
- Well, good time! Look out the window, don't lean out!
“I won’t, grandma.
- When you arrive, be sure to send a telegram! .. Borya, do you hear? Is it conceivable to carry such a dirty trick!
The train started moving.
- Goodbye, grandma!
- Kiss your mom. I put a handkerchief in your pocket...
An old man in a Panama hat made of stern linen remarked in a low voice:
- Yes, sir! Now, then, Borya will come here.
The door opened and Borya entered. It was a boy of about twelve, well-fed, rosy-cheeked. The gray cap sat crookedly on his head, the black jacket flew open. In one hand he held a laundry basket, in the other a rope bag with big jar green glass. He moved along the carriage slowly, carefully, keeping the bag at a respectful distance from him and not taking his eyes off her. The car was full. Having reached the middle of the car, Borya stopped.
“We'll make some room, and the young man will sit here, on the edge,” said the old man in the panama.
- Thank you! - Borya said indistinctly and sat down, after putting his luggage under the bench.
Passengers surreptitiously watched him. For some time he sat still, holding his hands on his knees and breathing deeply, then suddenly slid down from his seat, pulled out his bag and examined the contents of the jar through the glass for a long time. Then he said in a low voice: “Here”, put away the bag and sat down again.
Many people in the car were asleep. Before Boris appeared, the silence was broken only by the rattling of wheels and someone's measured snoring. But now these monotonous, habitual, and therefore imperceptible sounds were mixed with a strange continuous rustle, which obviously came from under the bench.
The old man in Panama put a large briefcase on his knees and turned to Bora:
Are we going to Moscow, young man?
Borya nodded.
- Were you at the cottage?
- In the village. By Grandma.
- So, so! .. In the village. This is good. The old man was silent for a bit. - Only hard, it must be, alone. What kind of luggage do you have, not in height.
- Basket? No, she's light. - Borya bent down for some reason, touched the basket and added casually: - There are only amphibians in it.
- Some amphibians and reptiles. She is quite light.
There was silence for a moment. Then a broad-shouldered worker with a dark mustache boomed:
- How to understand this: amphibians and reptiles?
- Well, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes ...
"Brrr, what an abomination!" said the passenger in the corner.
The old man drummed his fingers on his briefcase.
- N-yes! Interesting! .. And what subject are you talking about, so to speak ...
We are making a terrarium for the school. Two of our guys are building the terrarium itself, and I'm catching.
– What are they doing? asked an elderly collective farmer lying on the second shelf.
“A terrarium,” the old man explained, “is, you know, such a glass box, like an aquarium. It contains all these…
- These bastards?
- W-well, yes. Not reptiles, but amphibians and reptiles, in scientific terms. - The old man again turned to Bora: - And ... and a lot, then, do you have these amphibians?
Borya raised his eyes and began to curl his fingers on his left hand:
- Already four pieces, two toads, eight lizards and eleven frogs.
- What a horror! came from a dark corner.
The collective farmer rose on her elbow and looked down at Borya:
“Are you going to take everyone to school?”
- Not all. We exchange half of the snakes and frogs for newts at the girls' school.
- It will get you from the teachers ...
Borya shrugged his shoulders and smiled condescendingly:
- "Got it"! It won't hit at all. On the contrary, they will even thank you.
“If it’s for training, then it won’t hit,” the mustachioed worker agreed.
The conversation interested other passengers: a young, tanned lieutenant came out of the next compartment and stopped in the aisle, resting his elbow on the second shelf; two kolkhoz girls came up, cracking nuts loudly; a tall bald citizen in pince-nez approached; two craftsmen approached. Borya, apparently, was flattered by such attention. He spoke more animatedly, no longer waiting for questions:
“You know how useful we are to the school… One is already in the pet store for seven-fifty, and even try to get it!” And the frogs... Even if it's a three-ruble piece, that's thirty-three rubles... And the terrarium itself! And you say "hit"!
The passengers laughed and nodded their heads.
- Well done!
– What do you think! And they are actually beneficial.
And how long have you been catching them? the lieutenant asked.
- Two whole weeks. In the morning I'll have breakfast - and immediately go hunting. I'll come home, have lunch - and catch again, until the evening. Borya took off his cap from his head and began fanning himself with it. “It’s still nothing with frogs and toads ... and lizards often come across, but with snakes ... I once saw one, rushed to him, and he - into the pond, but I could not resist - and also into the pond. Think it's not dangerous?
"It's dangerous, of course," the lieutenant agreed.
Almost the entire car was now listening to the conversation. Smiling faces protruded from every compartment. When Boris spoke, there was silence. When he fell silent, muffled laughter and low voices could be heard from everywhere:
- What a fun little boy!
- Small, but conscious!
- N-nda-s! - noticed the old man in Panama. - Socially useful work. In our time, citizens, there were no such children. There were no such children!
“I would have caught even more if it weren’t for my grandmother,” said Borya. She's scared to death of them.
“Your poor grandmother!
“I didn’t tell her about the viper anyway.
- About whom?
- About the viper. I followed her for four hours. She went under the stone, and I was waiting for her. Then she got out, I pinched her ...
“So you’re bringing a viper, too?” the worker interrupted him.
– Aha! I have it in my bank separately. Borya waved his hand under the bench.
- This is still missing! moaned a passenger in a dark corner.
The audience became somewhat silent. Their faces became more serious. Only the lieutenant continued to smile.
"Maybe it's not a viper?" - he asked.
- "Not a viper!" Borya was indignant. - What do you think then?
- Another one.
Do you think I can't tell the difference?
- Well, show me!
- Leave it! they talked around. - Well, her!
Let him show. Interesting.
- Well, what's interesting! Look disgusting!
- You don't look.
Borya pulled out a bag from under the bench and squatted down in front of her. Those standing in the aisle parted, those sitting on the benches rose from their seats and craned their necks, looking at the green jar.
“I’ve lived for forty years, but I can’t tell a viper from a snake,” said the citizen in the pince-nez.
- Here! - the old man said instructively. - And if you had a terrarium at school, then you could.
“It has such yellow spots near the head,” said Borya, looking inside the jar from the side. “And the viper has such spots ...” He suddenly fell silent. His face took on a concentrated expression. - The viper ... the viper has such spots ... - He again did not finish and looked at the jar from the other side. Then he looked under the bench. Then he slowly scanned the floor around him.
- What, no? someone asked.
Borya got up. Hands on his knees, he was still staring at the jar.
“I… I checked it just recently… There was…”
The passengers were silent. Borya looked under the bench again:
- The rag is untied. I tied her very tightly, and she ...
The rag didn't interest anyone. Everyone looked apprehensively at the floor and shifted from foot to foot.
“God knows what! - the citizen in the pince-nez gritted through his teeth. - It looks like she's crawling around here somewhere.
- N-nda! Story!..
- It will sting even in tight quarters!
An elderly collective farmer sat down on a shelf and stared at Borya:
- What have you done to me! Cute! I have to get off in three stops, and I have things under the bench. How can I follow them now?
Boris didn't answer. His ears were dyed crimson, and there were beads of sweat on his face. He either bent down and peered under the bench, or stood with his hands down, mechanically tapping his thighs with his fingers.
- Got played! Little ones! exclaimed a passenger in a dark corner.
- Aunt Masha! Ah, Aunt Mash! one of the girls shouted.
- Well? came from the end of the carriage.
- Be careful there. The viper crawls under the benches.
– What-oh? What viper?
It became very noisy in the car. The girl-conductor came out of the service compartment, blinked her eyes sleepily and suddenly opened them wide. Two fellow artisans were seating a neat old woman on the second shelf:
- Come on, come on, granny, evacuate!
The lower benches, recently overcrowded, now had many empty seats, but from every second shelf hung several pairs of women's legs. The passengers who remained below sat with their heels on opposite benches. A few men stomped in the aisle, lighting the floor with flashlights and matches.
The conductor walked along the carriage, looking into each compartment:
- What's the matter? What do you have here?
Nobody answered her. Dozens of voices were heard from all sides, both indignant and laughing:
- Because of some boy, people are so worried!
- Misha! Misha, wake up, we have a viper!
- A? What station?
Suddenly there was a heart-rending female squeal. Silence instantly reigned, and in this silence, from somewhere above, an affectionate Ukrainian dialect sounded:
- Don't be afraid! The chain strap fell on you.
Borya blinked his light eyelashes so guiltily that the conductor stared at him and immediately asked:
- Well? .. What have you done here?
- The rag came untied ... I tied it with a rag, and she ...
- I wonder what kind of teacher makes students carry poisonous snakes! said the citizen in the pince-nez.
“No one forced me,” Borya murmured. “I… I made up my own mind to bring her.
“I showed initiative,” the lieutenant chuckled.
The conductor understood everything.
Borya got down on all fours and crawled under the bench. The guide grabbed his boot and shouted louder than before:
– What are you? Have you lost your mind?.. Get out! Get out, they tell you!
Borya sobbed under the bench and twitched his foot slightly:
- I myself ... I missed it myself ... I myself and ... I will find it.
“That's enough, friend, don't be foolish,” said the lieutenant, pulling the hunter out from under the bench.
The conductor stood for a moment, turned her head in confusion and headed for the exit:
- I'll go and report to the elder.
She did not return for a long time. Passengers are tired of worrying. The voices were quieter, quieter. The lieutenant, two craftsmen and a few others continued to look for the viper, carefully pulling suitcases and bags from under the seats. The rest occasionally inquired about how things were going for them and talked about venomous snakes in general.
“What are you telling me about cobras!” Cobras live in the south.
- ... bandage the hand tighter, suck out the blood, then cauterize with a red-hot iron.
- Thank you! "Hot Iron"!
An elderly collective farmer complained to no one:
- Somehow I’ll climb after them now! .. In forty-four, my sister-in-law was bitten by such a one. I spent two weeks in the hospital.
The old man in Panama was already sitting on the third shelf.
“Your sister-in-law got off cheaply. The bite of a viper can be fatal,” he said coolly.
- Eat! Here she is! one of the craftsmen suddenly exclaimed.
It seemed that the car itself breathed a sigh of relief and rattled its wheels more cheerfully.
Where is "here"?
- Beat her quickly!
The craftsman who squatted down was surrounded by several people. Pushing, interfering with each other, they looked under the side seat, where the lieutenant shone his flashlight.
Under the bench, you say? passengers asked.
– Aha! She crawled into the corner.
- How to get it?
- Difficult!
- Well, what are you waiting for? Leave!
The eldest appeared, and with him a girl-guide. The elder bent down and, without taking his eyes off the dark corner under the bench, waved to the conductor with his hand laid aside:
- A stump! .. A stump! Bring the stump!
The conductor left. The car was silent in anticipation of the denouement. An old man in a panama hat, sitting on the third shelf, took out his watch:
Moscow in forty minutes. Imperceptibly time has passed. Thanks to… um… thanks to the young man.
Someone laughed. Everyone gathered around the artisan looked at Borya, as if they had just remembered him. He stood aside, sad, tired, and slowly rubbed his soiled palms against each other.
- What, friend, did your work disappear? the lieutenant said. - I hunted, hunted, completely finished my grandmother, and now this uncle will take and slam your visual aid with a poker.
Borya raised his hand to his very nose and began to scrape off the dirt from it with his index finger.
"Sorry, hunter, huh?" the craftsman asked.
- You think not! Borya whispered.
The passengers were silent.
“It looks like the truth is not going well,” the mustachioed worker suddenly boomed. He calmly sat in his place and smoked, crossing his legs, looking at the toe of his clay-stained boot.
- What's not good? The elder turned around.
- Not for pampering, the little one is lucky. It's kind of awkward to kill.
“What are you going to do with her?” asked the citizen in the pince-nez.
- Catch! "What to do"! the craftsman replied. - Catch and give to the hunter.
The conductor came in with a poker. She looked militant.
- Is there more? Didn't leave? Light someone up.
The lieutenant carefully took the poker from her.
– Comrades, maybe we won’t, eh? Shall we have mercy on the viper?.. Look at the boy: after all, a man worked, worked!
The puzzled passengers remained silent. The senior looked at the lieutenant and blushed:
- You laugh, comrade, but our brother can be attracted if something happens to the passenger!
“And if you kill a viper, you, father, will be attracted for something else,” the artisan said seriously.
- "They will attract" ... - the conductor drawled. - What is this attracted to?
"For damaging school property, that's what."
Everyone around laughed and argued. Some said that the school would not keep a viper anyway; others claimed to be kept, but under the special supervision of a biology teacher; the third agreed with the second, but considered it dangerous to give the viper to Bora: what if he again releases it in a tram or in the subway!
- I won't let go! Here is an honest pioneer, I will not let you out! - Borya said, looking at the adults with such eyes that even the elderly collective farmer was touched.
- He won't let go! she said pitifully. - Chai, now a scientist! After all, you also need to have sympathy: other kids run around and frolic on holidays, and he and his bastards spent two weeks toiling.
- N-yes! So to speak, respect for the work of others, - said the old man in Panama.
The citizen in the pince-nez raised his head:
You are philosophizing there. Would you take him home?
- I? Hm! .. Actually ...
The lieutenant waved his hand.
- OK! I spend... Where do you live?
- I live on Chernyshevsky Street.
- I'll follow. Say thank you! I'm making a hook because of you.
– Nu as, hunters, killed? someone asked from the other end of the car.
- No. Pardoned, - the artisan answered.
The elder sternly looked around at the “hunters”:
- Children are small! - He turned to the conductor: - Bring the scoop. We slip a scoop under it, and press it with a stalk. Bring it!
- Children are small! - repeated, moving away, the conductor.
Ten minutes later the viper was in the jar, and the jar, this time very solidly closed, was on the lieutenant's knees. Borya sat next to the lieutenant, silent and radiant.
All the way to Moscow, passengers recalled their student years aloud, and it was a lot of fun in the carriage.
Yuri Vyacheslavovich Sotnik
A lone lantern floated past the window of the carriage. The train stopped. Hurried voices were heard on the platform:
Well, good time! Look out the window, don't lean out!
I won't, grandma.
When you arrive, be sure to send a telegram!.. Borya, do you hear? Is it conceivable to carry such a dirty trick!
The train started moving.
Goodbye, grandma!
Kiss mom. I put a handkerchief in your pocket...
An old man in a Panama hat made of stern linen remarked in a low voice:
Yes, sir! Now, then, Borya will come here.
The door opened and Borya entered. It was a boy of about twelve, well-fed, rosy-cheeked. The gray cap sat crookedly on his head, the black jacket flew open. In one hand he held a laundry basket, in the other a rope bag with a large green glass jar. He moved along the carriage slowly, carefully, keeping the bag at a respectful distance from him and not taking his eyes off her.
The car was full. Some of the passengers even climbed onto the upper shelves. Having reached the middle of the car, Borya stopped.
We will make some room, and the young man will sit here, on the edge, - said the old man in Panama.
Thank you! - Borya said indistinctly and sat down, after putting his luggage under the bench.
Passengers surreptitiously watched him. For some time he sat still, holding his hands on his knees and breathing deeply, then suddenly slid down from his seat, pulled out his bag and examined the contents of the jar through the glass for a long time. Then he said in a low voice: “Here”, put away the bag and sat down again.
Many people in the car were asleep. Before Boris appeared, the silence was broken only by the rattling of wheels and someone's measured snoring. But now these monotonous, habitual, and therefore imperceptible sounds were mixed with a strange continuous rustle, which obviously came from under the bench.
The old man in Panama put a large briefcase on his knees and turned to Bora:
Are we going to Moscow, young man?
Borya nodded.
Were you at the cottage?
In the village. By Grandma.
So, so! ... In the village. This is good. The old man was silent for a bit. - Only hard, must be, alone. What kind of luggage do you have, not in height.
Basket? No, she's light. - Borya bent down for some reason, touched the basket and added casually: - There are only amphibians in it.
Some amphibians and reptiles. She is quite light.
There was silence for a moment. Then a broad-shouldered worker with a dark mustache boomed:
This is how to understand: amphibians and reptiles?
Well, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes...
Brrr, what an abomination! said the passenger in the corner.
The old man drummed his fingers on his briefcase.
N-yes! Interesting! .. And what subject are you talking about, so to speak ...
We make a terrarium for the school. Two of our guys are building the terrarium itself, and I'm catching.
What are they doing? - asked an elderly collective farmer, who was lying on the second shelf.
A terrarium, - the old man explained, - is, you know, such a glass box, like an aquarium. It contains all these…
These bastards?
N-well, yes. Not reptiles, but amphibians and reptiles, in scientific terms. - The old man again turned to Bora: - And ... and a lot, then, do you have these amphibians?
Borya raised his eyes and began to curl his fingers on his left hand:
There are four snakes, two toads, eight lizards and eleven frogs.
What a horror! came from a dark corner. The elderly collective farmer raised herself on her elbow and looked down at Borya.
Are you taking everyone to school?
Not all. We exchange half of the snakes and frogs for newts at a nearby school.
You'll get hit hard by your teachers...
Borya shrugged his shoulders and smiled condescendingly:
- "Got it"! It won't hit at all. On the contrary, they will even thank you.
If it’s for training, therefore, it won’t get in, ”the mustachioed worker agreed.
The conversation interested other passengers: a young, tanned lieutenant came out of the next compartment and stopped in the aisle, resting his elbow on the second shelf; two kolkhoz girls came up, cracking nuts loudly; a tall bald citizen in pince-nez approached; two craftsmen approached. Borya, apparently, was flattered by such attention. He spoke more animatedly, no longer waiting for questions:
You know what a benefit we bring to the school ... One in the pet store costs seven fifty, and even try to get it! And the frogs... Even if it's a three-ruble piece, that's thirty-three rubles... And the terrarium itself! And you say "hit"!
Composition
The stories of Yu. V. Sotnik cause sincere laughter and joyful fun in all readers. Their heroes are incorrigible visionaries and dreamers, endowed with ingenuity, the desire to perform a miracle, to surprise people with their invention. The centurion portrays the guys as they are in real life, with a smile and subtle humor describes their funny adventures, even liars and cowards the author ridicules without malice and cheerfully.
For example, the story "Viper". The conflict of this work is based on the fact that Borya, the main character of the story, having caught snakes and frogs for the school zoological corner during the holidays, takes them home on the train and inadvertently releases a viper from the jar. There is a commotion in the carriage. The conductor shouts: “Climb now under the bench and catch it!”
The boy arouses the reader's sympathy with his readiness to face danger, and this readiness of his is not the bravado of a smart-ass. The author shows the conscientiousness of Boris, who believes that he himself must correct what happened. At the same time, the writer emphasizes that the boy is scared when he crawls under the bench in search of a snake...
Absolutely all the stories of the Centurion are kind, funny and witty. Often behind the light irony of the author lies something that the reader should think about. With his works, the writer claims that the child has the right to make a mistake, and adults should understand him and tactfully suggest how to correct this mistake.