Dmitry Vinogradov spoke about his relationship with the famous TV presenter and about his current life
Ten years ago, on May 20, 2007, the most beloved TV presenter of the Soviet Union died. Aunt Valya from “Visiting a Fairy Tale”, Valechka from the program “With all my Heart” and news television programs. And according to the passport - Valentina Mikhailovna Leontyeva. It’s rare for a person on TV to be adored by both adults and children. However, Aunt Valya is just such a special example of universal love.
But it is possible that she would happily exchange national worship for the love of the one and only most important person in her life - her own son.
In the last years before her death, Valentina Mikhailovna lived as a hermit in a small village near Ulyanovsk. There were various rumors about their relationship with their son, including the most monstrous ones. They gossiped about the unbearable character of Dmitry Vinogradov (the boy took the surname of his father-diplomat), even about cases of assault on his part towards the legend of Soviet TV. And when Leontyeva died, her son disappeared for 10 long years. It was rumored that he had gone abroad. But MK managed to find the heir to the first lady of the Soviet television screen very close to the capital. And even call him for a frank conversation.
I am sitting in a beautiful two-story house more than a hundred kilometers from Moscow. In front of me is a huge gray-bearded man with steely eyes, somewhat similar to a Viking. This is the son of Aunt Valya, Valentina Leontyeva, Dmitry Vinogradov.
- Why did you leave Moscow, given that you are a purely urban person and have lived in big cities all your life?
I was planning to leave Moscow back in 2005. And he asked my mother to leave. I live in a very beautiful big house in the forest in an old Russian city, environmentally friendly, wonderful. I left because all normal people at a certain age go to live in nature. And those who remain in Moscow are banal losers.
-What are you doing here?
With my creativity, my work, I draw pictures, read books, ride a bike, swim in a kayak, walk in the forest - I enjoy life. In all its manifestations.
They said that journalists played an important role in your departure from Moscow. They annoyed you greatly when Valentina Mikhailovna chose to move away from you, to a relative in Novoselki.
When the journalists began to pester me, I had already bought this plot. It took me two years to finish this house. And what seems to journalists is normal, because they always seem to have something. That's why they are journalists.
If you remember how many times your name was splashed around in the media, did you want to justify yourself? Just to say: everything is wrong, guys.
Those who feel guilty are justified. And to whom should I justify myself? In front of journalists, in front of relatives? I don’t see a group to which I have to justify myself, and in general I don’t really care what they think about me.
- Then let's go in order. It is believed that you had a strained relationship with your mother.
We had a wonderful relationship with my mother. She never scolded me, for example, for bad grades, never got irritated, never raised her voice at me, and was always an absolute diplomat. The fact is that she is an extremely well-mannered and educated woman; she could not afford to behave the way some boorish people behave. And as a result, we had a wonderful relationship. And the large apartment allowed us to live completely independently and not disturb each other.
How different was Valentina Leontyeva in life from her image on the screen? For example, did she have any bad habits?
She was a bright, independent woman. In our family, when I was little, there was a black Chevrolet car - “Chevy”, as the Americans call it. Valentina Mikhailovna even rode it to the south herself. She smoked a lot, sometimes up to two packs a day. True, she smoked Marlboro - but her ligaments never sat down, her voice always remained young and sonorous. My mother was a purebred person.
- And at the same time surprisingly soft and friendly... Or is this part of the TV image?
I was told that my mother is a rather tough person. But this is natural! She worked on television since the late 50s - and a non-tough person cannot survive there. Valentina Mikhailovna had a large number of enemies, like any famous person. Moreover, when the so-called perestroika began, I immediately explained to my mother: most of the roads on television were ordered for her. She is a person of one country, and now she is a completely different country. Therefore, people like Leontyeva, Kirillov, Shilova, Morgunova, Zhiltsova, Vovk, Vedeneeva - all talented announcers - were left out of work, because we followed the path of American television. Thank God that times are changing now and our country is becoming a great empire again.
-Are you a supporter of the empire?
I am definitely a supporter of the empire, because my father was a diplomat, my mother was a troubadour of the regime, and I was brought up in the understanding that we have the biggest, best and greatest Motherland.
They loved to portray you as a lonely boy who developed complexes because of his famous mother. For example, he was jealous of Valentina Mikhailovna towards other children to whom she told bedtime stories from the television screen.
It was just some fool who wrote it, and other fools picked it up. I felt like an absolutely normal Soviet child. I went to Soviet pioneer camps until the sixth grade, spent a lot of time outside with my friends. Not only was the burden of my mother not pressing on me, but no one blamed me for her fame - no one, by and large, cared.
- And that’s why you, the son of famous parents, ended up in a school at the Caliber plant?
There was just a school from the Kalibr plant next to our house.
- Did you change schools often?
Well, how often... I went to first grade on Shabolovka. In the second grade - already on Mira Avenue, where there were three houses for television workers.
- Were your parents called to school? How did you generally behave at school?
At school I behaved normally, because every “goiter” - specifically with the letter Z - poked me in the face: they say, you have such a mother, and you act so badly. And, like any normal boy, I wanted to do even worse. I was the only non-Komsomol member of the three classes.
- What motivated you?
In no case is it a dislike for the Soviet regime. We never had transistors at home that broadcast Radio Liberty. The fifth column never took root in our home, and therefore non-joining the Komsomol was not connected with politics. Just a charter - it was bullshit that had to be memorized. But I can’t afford to teach bullshit.
- And you told this to the teachers?
I told them that the Komsomol is a voluntary matter. Then, of course, I joined the Komsomol. Before entering college, I worked in television as a lighting technician. And one Monday they pushed me into some stuffy, smoky room, someone voted there, and after some time they gave me a Komsomol card - so nominally I was still a Komsomol member. But I was never opposed to Soviet power. In general, I think that being opposed to power is tantamount to madness and, sorry, urinating on exposed wires.
- But your parents were party members?
Mom was non-partisan.
- I wonder how it was possible to work as an announcer on Soviet television without being a member of the CPSU?
Apparently, this was a case where talent outweighed the significance of it. In addition, in our empire there were such people as demonstrative non-party people - that is, they were allowed to travel abroad. On the other hand, I suppose that in the personnel department, when she was sent abroad, they were so sure that she was a party member that they did not even question this fact. That is, there is some kind of political anecdote here - I can say that many non-partisan people occupied high positions. And you didn’t have to be a communist to be in power.
With my father, a diplomat.
Well, your father, an employee of the USSR diplomatic mission in New York, could not be non-partisan. By the way, you are incredibly similar to him, incredibly simple.
My father is a cheerful, educated, intelligent, encyclopedically savvy person in all respects. Who was never a snob, never surrounded himself with the special right people. He went on vacation for forty years - and even more - to a small seaside town. He was surrounded by academics, drivers, and retired boxers. It was he who taught me to enjoy communicating with all people, without dividing them into classes or castes... Dad ate and lived by large tablespoons in all respects.
-Which parent had a greater influence on the formation of your character?
Of course, dad. How can a mother influence a boy?
- Sometimes this happens.
This is in painful cases. And so the son takes everything from his father, it cannot be any other way.
- They wrote that your parents’ divorce had a hard impact on you. After all, you were already an adult when they divorced.
I was so worried that I even went south with my dad and my dad’s future wife.
“She wasn’t his wife yet?”
I already understood that dad was going to marry her. The fact is that in our family everything was built on respect for each other and freedom. If I were a stupid egoist and a wild person, I could say to dad: how can it be, like mom, and so on. But, on the other hand, what difference does it make to me who my dad communicates with? That is, it didn’t bother me at all, I didn’t feel any negative emotions towards my dad’s passion in advance.
-Have you talked to Valentina Mikhailovna about this? She was probably worried...
She probably didn’t find out right away, and she didn’t even ask me, because she understood that I would never betray my dad.
- Do you maintain relations with that family of his?
I don't support it. I have a sister, she works somewhere abroad, probably married. I think everything is fine with her. Probably, if dad had a son, I would communicate with him, but I’m somehow not interested in my sister.
You said at one time that the only thing you wanted to keep in memory of your dad was the stack (a small stick used as a whip - author's note) given to him by Jawaharlal Nehru. Why?
You never know what I wanted... I would have been glad to get it when I had stupid ambitions, but in reality it no longer matters. I don’t have my mother’s and father’s photographs placed in my house - I think about them, they are in my head and in my heart, and showing them to someone, demonstrating that I remember them, is stupid and some kind of posturing.
In general, about the carnival in which I lived since childhood, I would not say that it was so much fun. Mom always played a little - it was in her blood.
I would like to touch on that painful story - Valentina Leontyeva’s departure to her relatives in Novoselki three years before her death. Why did this happen?
Mom left for Novoselki because she received a classic injury for people of that age - she broke her femoral neck.
Did you just fall? In fact, there is a common version that during your family quarrels it came... how to put it mildly... to the use of force.
Listen, I blow men away with one blow, but my mother was small, fragile... how do you imagine that? What nonsense?! In general, relatives began to spread rumors that I beat my mother after they failed to get half of my mother’s apartment.
- Okay, let's return to Valentina Mikhailovna's injury.
She had an operation in the Kremlin, everything went well, but the question arose: she needed to invite a nurse, and this would inevitably attract the attention of journalists and so on. And then Aunt Lyusya, mother’s sister, and her daughter Galina offered Valentina Mikhailovna to live with them for a while.
-Have you already left then?
No, we lived together, we were just getting ready to leave. Accordingly, when my mother left for Novoselki, I began to send her entire pension and salary, quite decent money. In addition, Galina took a bunch of furniture from our apartment. She arrived in Novoselki with a KamAZ truck, which was packed to capacity. The Romanian retreating army would not have collected so many trophies. In general, I didn’t care - we were changing apartments, I had to leave it all somewhere.
Now about housing. At first it was said that there would be enough space in her sister’s apartment for everyone - and, of course, Valentina Mikhailovna too. After some time, Galina called me and said that an apartment in their building on the same floor was for sale and it would be nice for my mother to buy it. I was somewhat surprised by the price of this apartment, but I had no idea that my sister could play some kind of dishonest game with me, and I sent the money. But then I was extremely surprised to learn that this apartment was allocated by the local administration.
- How did you find out?
This was mentioned on one of the TV shows. And all this turned into a banal tale about a fisherman and a fish. And in the end it ended sadly, because ill-gotten things never bring happiness, and especially in such a situation. After some time, Galina’s two sons died, who simultaneously crashed in an accident, and less than a year after that, Galina herself died.
- She died of a heart attack, as they say.
Well, what difference does it make how the gods take it? They break on the asphalt and stop the heart. Because you must always measure your actions with the wishes of the gods.
- Was your strained relationship with your relatives one of the main reasons that you did not go to your mother?
We talked on the phone, communicated, I was going to come there, but, on the other hand, she was going to return, everything was already prepared.
- The apartment was exchanged. Where would she return?
I bought her an apartment on Tverskaya, and myself on Bolshaya Akademicheskaya.
Journalists made the greatest number of complaints against you because you did not come to Valentina Mikhailovna’s funeral in May 2007.
No one, especially greyhound writers, has the right to judge what I should and should not do. But speaking of her death... she wanted to be buried next to her mother. A place at the Vagankovskoye cemetery has already been allocated. And her relatives violated her will. And in the future they simply used my mother’s popularity to achieve their own personal interests.
- Did they try to communicate with you after the death of Valentina Mikhailovna? Did you call?
Yes. As I understand it, after my mother’s death they were extremely upset that I did not give them half of the Moscow apartment. As the French say, appetite comes with eating.
- Well, they still had an apartment in Novoselki, which they bought.
And a lot of money too. They received both an apartment and money. They received an apartment, money... and death.
- And you, it turns out, don’t even know where Valentina Mikhailovna is buried?
I visited my mother’s grave one day - this was before I left for the Moscow region, in 2012. Naturally, I didn’t visit my relatives.
Dmitry Vinogradov leads a secluded lifestyle.
Aunt Valya was worried that you didn’t have children. Nevertheless, there are rumors that she still has a grandson. Can you say something about your son?
Yes, she has a grandson. I have a wonderful son, and I am very lucky that he was born when I was not 20 or 30 years old, but 45. Very smart, very kind, very attentive - the most important being for me in this world. I have no one except my son, and besides my son, nothing interests me. He comes to me on vacation and lives with his mother. Mom is a very good professional makeup artist, and there is simply no work for her here. Here we ride bicycles with him, swim kayaks, walk in the forest, read books, and my greatest achievement is that I weaned him from the computer. Nobody believes me, but in fact it is very simple: you just need to do it. And we give a computer, as a rule, when we cannot and do not want to take care of the child. I want and I can, so he doesn’t need a computer at all.
- How would you like to see him when he grows up? Similar to you?
I want him to be who he wants to be. I have no right to indicate here.
- But every parent dreams of some kind of future for the child...
This is ordinary primitive parental egoism. He has the right to live his life as he sees fit. I can give him some advice, but under no circumstances put pressure on him. The pressure is on people who are squeezed, enslaved, who live in some kind of non-existent cliches that they have built for themselves; therefore, whatever he wants, he will do.
- From what moment could you call yourself an artist? Or have you always been one?
Probably always. This is part of me, but no one is interested in me as an artist (Vinogradov began painting professionally in 2011 - that’s when they bought his first painting. - Author’s note).
- Do local residents know whose son you are? Did this somehow affect your communication with them?
They found out about this not so long ago. And this had no effect, because the further a person lives from Moscow, the more decent he is, everyone is used to this. There are a lot of comrades whom I have known for 12 years and who have no idea about my mother. This knowledge hindered me more than it helped.
One of Vinogradov's paintings. As one of his close friends says, Dmitry, being a rightful heir to the Russian avant-garde, more specifically, Suprematism, managed to catch the pace of modern life and not lose his philosophy. It’s good to meditate under his paintings; you either really like them or cause sharp rejection. Vinogradov’s paintings have an extremely unique energy, and a very strong one at that.
- What is your social circle like now? Has it narrowed?
Over the years, the number of friends of any normal person decreases. If the number of friends increases, he is an aggressive schizophrenic. Over the years, a normal person becomes more and more self-sufficient and selects people who are closest to him. Accordingly, before death, a normal person must find himself completely alone.
Who on current television can you put next to Valentina Mikhailovna - in terms of professionalism and manner of presentation?
I am not very familiar with modern TV - I have cable television, I watch some historical TV channels, but I don’t watch federal channels at all. Probably, something has begun to change recently, because we are starting to build a completely new society with a completely new country. If a national idea appears, television will change too. When we build an Empire, then we will have programs like “With all my heart,” and people like Valentina Leontyeva will appear. Because the Empire gives birth to such people. And the Empire is created.
May 20 marked five years since the death of the legendary TV presenter Valentina Leontyeva. She was buried in an ordinary village cemetery in the village of Novoselki, Melekessky district, Ulyanovsk region. Despite the fact that five years have passed since Leontyeva’s death, local residents do not forget about her and regularly bring fresh flowers to her grave...
Brezhnev’s favorite, whom viewers remember from the programs “Visiting a Fairy Tale,” “Blue Light” and “Good Night, Kids,” moved to the Ulyanovsk region three years before her death. An older sister lived in Novoselki Valentina Leontyeva Lyudmila with her daughters. They were the ones who looked after Aunt Valya until the last day of her life. A few months ago, Lyudmila herself died. According to the woman’s last wish, she was buried near her star sister.
“When Valya fell and broke her head, I immediately went to Moscow,” Lyudmila Mikhailovna recalled during her lifetime. “She already had a fracture of the femoral neck. When I saw my sister, I immediately heard: “Lucy, take me to your place. I can't stand here anymore."
In Novoselki, they rented a separate apartment for Aunt Valya in the same building where her sister lived. Leontyeva was very ill, but tried to hold on until the last. Those close to Leontyeva remember: she was transformed only at the moment when people came to her from television.
“She had amazing intuition,” recalls Irina, a friend of the Leontyev family. “She felt everything.” For example, shortly before her death, she herself asked to be buried in a local cemetery. I didn’t want to lie on Novodevichy. She was afraid that then her relatives would not be able to visit her. When her loved ones began to convince her not to think about death, Aunt Valya just sighed heavily. And as she looked into the water: after a while she began to develop pneumonia, and non-healing ulcers began to appear on her body.
Son Dmitry did not appear at the funeral of his famous mother. During his lifetime, he was very offended by Leontyeva due to the fact that she did not pay enough attention to him in childhood, and spent all her free time in the television center.
“She always felt guilty before him,” says Leontyeva’s friend, who asked not to use her name. “That’s why I spoiled her excessively - I thought that this could compensate for my mother’s absence. But everything turned out differently.
Valentina Leontyeva’s close friend Lyudmila Tueva has recently stopped communicating with Dmitry. Relatives from Novoselki do not communicate with him either: they say there are no common topics. Recently, Dmitry was offered to participate in programs dedicated to the next anniversary of the death of his famous mother, but he categorically refused.
“I don’t participate in the show named after my mother,” Dmitry snapped.
They say he still can't forgive her.
But Lyudmila Nikanorovna regularly remembers Aunt Valya in church.
“One day I came to church and forgot to order a memorial service for her,” she recalls. “That same night I dreamed of her: sitting at an empty table and showing with her hand that there was nothing on the table. I woke up: “Oh my God, I forgot to write her name!” Since then I have not made such mistakes.
Lyudmila Nikanorovna hopes that the memory of the famous Aunt Valya will live forever. In the near future, Tueva is going to write a book about her star friend, which will include unknown details from Leontyeva’s life and her rare photographs.
They don’t forget about Valentina Leontyeva in Ulyanovsk either. Almost immediately after the death of the Soviet TV star, a monument was erected here. The place for the monument could not have been chosen better - in the city center, opposite the local puppet theater. In addition, the Ulyanovsk region annually hosts the festival named after Leontyeva “With all my heart.” This year it starts on May 26th. Her celebrity friends will come to remember Aunt Valya: Sergei Shakurov, Nonna Grishaeva, Evgeniy Menshov and others. Local residents are waiting for her son to arrive. They hope that he will remember his mother at least after her death.
Later, Leontyeva nevertheless tried on the role of an exemplary mother and wife. Her husband, diplomat Yuri Vinogradov, was assigned to New York, and Valentina followed him along with her three-year-old son. She remembered the two years she lived abroad as lost: she was unbearably bored. “I even came up with non-existent filming in my homeland, just to get out of there for a few days,” the TV presenter admitted... When the family returned to the Union, Valentina Leontyeva rushed to make up for lost time. She came home from work after midnight, and Mitya felt even more useless: he had already gotten used to having his mother nearby. And Yuri is tired of enduring the absence of his wife. - If I had known that I would get married on television, I would not have married at all! - he once said in his hearts. Valentina Leontyeva - Two Yuri Yuri Vinogradov was Leontyeva's second husband. She met her first husband, director Yuri Richard, at the Tambov theater, where she served as an actress. They lived together for three years, and thanks to him they moved to the capital. And then a banal and ugly story happened. One day Valentina came home late at night and was met on the threshold by an unfamiliar, impudent girl in a dressing gown: “I am the owner of this apartment, and who are you?” Leontyeva did not start a showdown - she put a cot in the kitchen, spent the night, and in the morning she packed her things and left, without forgiving her husband for betrayal. A few years later she met Yuri Vinogradov. It all started with a prank. Vinogradov bet with a friend that Leontyeva would mistake him for a foreigner at dinner in a restaurant. The prank was even too successful - Valentina fell in love. And the next day, Yuri, admitting to deception, again invited her to the restaurant to make amends. And so their romance began, the fruit of which was the son Mitya. The boy was always drawn to his father. I took his last name, but hid the fact that his mother was the famous Leontyeva from everyone. As soon as it became known that he was the son of a star, Mitya immediately changed schools, and this happened four times. His resentment and jealousy gradually turned into hatred of television in general. Any mention of his mother, who had forgotten about him, caused him pain. Even at the military registration and enlistment office, when filling out the form, he put a dash in the “mother” column... Valentina Leontyeva tried to help her son. She dressed him from the Berezka store, sent him to college, but he never received an education. And most importantly, he became more and more distant. And she couldn't do anything about it. In addition, the husband, after 16 years of marriage, left for another woman. “It was unexpected,” Leontyeva said in confusion. Then she was already 54 years old, and there was little hope for a new marriage. And Mitya, still a teenager of 15 years old, was essentially left without a mother and without a father. When Vinogradov died a few years later, Leontyeva was unable to see him off on his final journey because of regular filming. Only Mitya arrived. After this, his relationship with his mother deteriorated completely. They still lived together in a 4-room apartment in Moscow, but her son avoided her. It was getting ridiculous. One morning, the girl whom Dmitry brought ran into Leontyeva in the bathroom and, recognizing the famous presenter, was surprised: “What are you doing here?” And then something happened to Valentina Mikhailovna that she feared more than anything in the world. On her 65th birthday, she lost her job. The new director of Ostankino at that time of perestroika took all its programs off the air! Valentina Leontyeva could not believe that this was really happening. It turned out that it was all a matter of age: they say, it’s time to retire. No one understood that she was being deprived of the meaning of existence - after all, by that time, except for television, she had nothing left... - I’ll now hang a sign on my chest with the inscription “Blame the boss for my death” and lie down under the tram at VDNKh! - Leontyeva told this director. As a result, she was appointed as a consultant in the sign language interpretation department. “That’s why I’ve been grinding my tongue all my life, so that in my old age I can explain myself with gestures,” “Aunt Valya” said ironically. She understood: this position was formal, it was simply “written off”, like an unnecessary thing. How humiliating and vile this is! In desperation, Leontyeva wrote a letter to President Boris Yeltsin so that “With All My Heart” would be aired again. She even decided to undergo a rejuvenating procedure - she burned the top layers of skin on her face. The effect was amazing, but no one appreciated it - Leontyev’s program was never returned... Meanwhile, the son, having taken all her savings from his mother, invested them in his own business and went bankrupt. To top off all the troubles, Valentina Mikhailovna fell on the stairs and seriously injured her back. “They put me in the Central Clinical Hospital, but they didn’t treat me, they crippled me,” Leontyeva complained. “They gave me pills that had a strong effect on the blood vessels of the brain.” When I returned home, I looked at the objects and could not remember what they were called. It's very scary! And Mitya was very annoyed that I confused him with other people. In 2004, a new misfortune happened to Leontyeva: she was taken by ambulance to the hospital with a concussion and a broken femoral neck. She lay in a coma for three days. Many then said that her own son inflicted injuries on her, but Leontyeva herself did not admit this. At the same time, Dmitry sold his mother’s apartment and bought himself a 2-room apartment in the center, and for her a one-room apartment in the Sokol metro area. One former TV star could no longer live, and her sister Lyudmila took her to her place in the Ulyanovsk region. There “Aunt Valya” lived out her last days, hiding from everyone: she didn’t want “to be seen old and sick, let them remember young and beautiful!” She admitted that she didn’t want to live anymore... And she was also really looking forward to her son Mitya, but he never came to see her. As if he was taking revenge in this way for the many years of waiting for his mother in childhood.
The small Volga region village of Novoselki has never seen such a crowd of people. The square near the local House of Culture was jam-packed with cars: admirers of the talent of the brightest Soviet TV star Valentina LEONTIEVA came here. We came to see her off on her last journey. To pay tribute to the memory of a person who was for some a kind storyteller Aunt Valya, for others - the beloved presenter of “Blue Lights” and the most popular program of Soviet TV “With all my heart.”
I still remember how the children in our yard, throwing toys in the sandbox, shouted “Aunt Valya! Aunt Valya! “We ran home to watch the program “Visiting a Fairy Tale,” says pensioner Margarita NESTERENKO, who came from Togliatti. - We have lost such a sincere person! So sad!
Anatoly BELEVTSEV
Only three people who knew Valentina Mikhailovna closely from work came to the funeral: her former administrator Andrei Udalov and students Lyudmila Tueva and Andrei Orlov. The current TV bosses and broadcast stars, many of whom took their first steps on TV under the leadership of Leontyeva, limited themselves, at best, to telegrams of condolences.
Life after fame
For the last three years, Valentina Mikhailovna lived in the Ulyanovsk village with her sister, where she bought an apartment. She moved to Novoselki after a serious conflict with her son.
There were rumors that Dmitry severely beat his mother: that is why she ended up in the hospital, where Leontyev was barely saved by doctors. Relatives took care of Aunt Valya, but her son never came - he only called occasionally. But fans did not forget their favorite TV presenter: she received letters and parcels from all over the country every day. Valentina Mikhailovna was invited to visit and offered financial assistance.
Since the end of last year, Leontyeva’s health has deteriorated sharply. She almost stopped getting up; doctors diagnosed “progressive senile insanity.” “She can’t even move around the room on her own, we feed her with a spoon,” Leontyeva’s older sister Lyudmila Mikhailovna complained to Express Gazeta correspondents at the time. “Valechka lies and moans all day long: after a concussion, she gets terrible headaches. She also suffered a mini-stroke.
I had a presentiment of my death
In mid-May, Valentina Leontyeva asked her sister:
Lucy, bury me in the local rural cemetery. No Moscow, no Novodevichy! You won’t be able to travel to the capital often, but here I will be under supervision... Lyudmila Mikhailovna tried to laugh it off: they say, Valya, it’s too early for you to talk about death! But Valentina Mikhailovna took her relative’s hand and said: “I feel, Lyusenka, I don’t have long left.” The Lord will soon take it to himself... Alas, that’s what happened. A few days later, Valentina Mikhailovna developed pneumonia and her temperature rose to 40 degrees. The doctor who arrived said that he was unable to help.
All night long in delirium she called her son: “Mitenka... Mitenka...” When Valya passed away, I called my nephew on his cell phone,” Lyudmila Mikhailovna could not hold back her sobs. “He took the news of his mother’s death very dryly, as if it didn’t concern him, said that he was abroad on important business, and asked not to wait for the funeral. They say he will come later somehow. Although I don't think he will come. While Vali was alive, he didn’t find the time. What now?
All day people called the Leontyevs' house: to express condolences, to ask how they could help. Bouquets of flowers were brought to the entrance where the TV presenter lived - sincerely, with all their hearts. Aunt Valya was buried according to Orthodox customs: the small village church where she was buried could not accommodate everyone who wanted to attend the ceremony. - On a bright day they bury Valentina. To Nikola! - the old women gossiped. - So she was a good person. May the kingdom of heaven rest with her! ...When the coffin was lowered into the grave, applause rang out. Only great artists are seen off this way.
BY THE WAY
A month before her death, Leontyeva donated her belongings to the Ulyanovsk Museum of Local Lore - photographs, letters, an evening dress, in which she received the TEFI television award on her 75th birthday. All of them took pride of place in the exhibition.
Plastun
Rice. N. Kulikovsky
VILLAGE HOLIDAYS
The summer holidays came, I finished sixth grade, and my parents suggested that I go to the village for two weeks to visit my mother’s friend Aunt Valya. I knew her and her son Fyodor well, who was a year younger than me; they visited us, each time bringing village products.
I often heard that my mother, in conversations with my father, said that Valya was an alcoholic, mentioning that in the past she was a good athlete and together with her mother they went to the sambo section. True, my mother quickly gave up the sport, and Valya received her first adult rank. Then she got married, went to the village to get married, gave birth to Fedka, and her husband either drowned or froze to death. Mom said that perhaps this was why my friend drank.
However, they maintained close relations with each other. After thinking about my parents’ proposal, I agreed to go on a visit, especially since most of my city friends had also left. And so the minibus took me to a village located a little over thirty kilometers from the city.
Fedka met me at the stop and helped me carry bags with gifts for them and other attributes for me.
- Mom is baking pancakes, waiting for you! - Fedor said importantly.
We walked along the dusty streets of the village to the very outskirts. A deep ravine separated the three houses from the rest of the village. Aunt Valya lived in a wooden one-story house; a fence covered with rusty tin enclosed an area with a dilapidated barn and a plot of land. Aunt Valya joyfully greeted me, hugged me tightly and led me into the house. She was forty-three years old with black hair just below her shoulders and a face with rough features, a plump build, about seventy feet tall, with bags under her eyes from alcohol, but nevertheless she did not give me the impression of a drunken woman. She was dressed in a blue sweater and tights with red stripes on the sides.
The house had a vestibule, from which a door led to two rooms, one larger - a hall, the other smaller - a bedroom. There was little furniture, a TV and a video recorder were present, which is not bad. While setting the table, Aunt Valya asked about her parents, she herself talked about her affairs. As a result, we went to bed after midnight.
Four days passed, I liked it in the village, Fedka and I spent the whole day driving through the forest, swimming, sunbathing on the river, playing at home. They also worked on the farm, where you give feed to the chickens, where you weed the grass in the garden, but this was not a burden. One day he and I went to the “cold room” for jam, that’s what the closet in the entryway was called, there, among many different jars, clothes and other property, there were weights with worn handles, two of one and a half pounds, one of two pounds. I discovered them when I cracked my foot on them in the dark.
-Did you put some iron near the passage? - I said dissatisfied to Fedka - I also found a great guy! - by this I meant the opposite; the skinny kid, of course, could not be compared with this word.
-And the weights! “Yes, these are my mother’s, sometimes she attacks her, she begins to crave them, especially after sprees,” Fyodor said casually, “Take a jar of strawberry jam over there, and I’ll take the compote.”
-How does it pull? – I asked dumbfounded.
- Usually, throws, catches, presses up. You know how healthy my mother is, even though she drinks.
I, of course, was impressed by what I heard, although I thought that Fedka was lying to embellish his mother.
In the evening we watched TV, Aunt Valya was not at home, and somewhere at the beginning of twelve at night the front door slammed, a bucket rattled in the hallway and something heavy fell on the floor.
“Well, I got drunk, I haven’t drunk for a month and I’m tired,” Fedka said angrily. “Now he’ll be buzzing for a week.”
We went out into the hallway on the floor lying on our backs, Aunt Valya was sleeping, her long skirt and blouse were covered in dirt. The smell of alcohol was such that wow!
“Let’s put her on the sofa, or something,” I suggested.
“Yeah, if you put a hundred kilograms in it, it’ll probably freeze and get up on its own,” Fedka answered, but still decided to help me.
I put my hands under Aunt Valya’s armpits and raised my upper body, the woman was really heavy, Fedka was fussing around next to me. We fussed with her, but never threw her onto the sofa; Aunt Valya muttered something in her sleep. Leaving her in the same position in which they were found, we went to bed.
At seven o'clock in the morning I got up and went to the wooden toilet outside. Passing through the entryway, I heard the sound of water and snorting, looking out the window, I saw Aunt Valya standing near the barn and pouring cold water from a bucket. The woman was wearing a red bra and black panties. Fedka wasn’t lying when he said that his mother was healthy. And now I saw that it was not complete, but tightly knit. The belly was covered with fat, but the top two abs were visible, a strong thick neck was attached to wide shoulders, and two decent-sized biceps were visible on the arms. In general, she had the figure of a weightlifter. I left the house and, greeting the woman, walked past her.
-Vitek! Already up. Let me sprinkle some water on you, you’ll be running around like a clockwork all day,” the aunt suggested.
- No need for Aunt Val. Fedka and I race all day long anyway.
“Well, as you know...” the woman was rubbing herself with a towel, I looked at the mounds of her muscular arms while she dried herself.
Having done my business in the toilet, I returned and went to bed. Fedka and I woke up at ten, Aunt Valya was not there, after breakfast, we took the lunch we had prepared for her with us and rushed off to the river. When we returned home closer to nine in the evening, we saw that a feast was taking place in the entryway. Together with Aunt Valya there were three drunken men of unknown age and two similar women.
There were bottles of moonshine lying on the table and under the table, boiled potatoes were lying on the table, mixed with other food. The house was noisy and smoky, no one paid attention to us, taking food, we went into the bedroom and turned on the video recorder.
Soon the company left, but Fedka commented on this by saying that they went for vodka and exactly thirty minutes later they returned. Glasses were knocked, the front door slammed when they went outside for some drunken reason, there was more than enough noise.
However, no one from the company entered the rooms of the house; the drinking session was limited to the entryway. Conversations revolved around the metal of who collected it, how much and where; the hoarse female voice especially stood out; Fedka said that it was Shchuchikha, Aunt Valya’s neighbor and drinking companion. The reason for the binge, as we understood, was the delivery of scrap metal for a good amount.
It was getting dark outside, it was just past eleven, Fedka had already fallen asleep, but I didn’t want to sleep. I began to listen to the conversation of the drunken company. In the entryway they argued over who should run for the moonshine, which was in short supply. No one wanted to get out from behind the table and walk into the village in the dark, but everyone wanted the banquet to continue. The pike, supported by the other women, pressed the men that this was a man’s business, and they unanimously assured the opposite.
Yes, and collect metal, and sell it, and get food, all of us with Valka and Nyurka, and you just eat and drink! - Shchuchikha yelled in a hoarse voice, - Let's go get some moonshine.
“We already took it and paid our money, now you have to run,” the men objected to her, “What would you have done if we hadn’t decided with the tractor, you wouldn’t have seen the metal!”
- Why are you tearing your throat out? - Another drunken female voice, apparently Nyurka, intervened in the squabble - Come on, Shchuchikha with the men in your arms, fight, whoever loses to him, and run and pay.
The company laughed drunkenly at Nyurka's proposal.
-Lets do it! We are women against men, each with a hundred for the common fund. The winners take the winnings - Shchuchikha enthusiastically supported.
I became interested, and I went out into the hallway. The participants in the drinking party were sitting at the table, three thin, black-tanned, long-unshaven men with worn-out muzzles. Dressed in tattered jackets and the usual tights, they made up a colorful group. Matching them were Nyurka and Shchuchikha, equally smoky and thin, but dressed in cleaner clothes. Pike was only taller than the entire company. Aunt Valya stood out against this background both in her clothes and skin color.
-The boy will watch and keep score! - Shchuchikha pointed at me, she was wearing a chintz dress, and a knitted jacket with holes was thrown over top - Nyurka, let’s start with Grishka!
Nyurka, dressed in faded sports pants and a men's jacket with patches, sat down opposite Grishka. I silently called the men twins; it was really difficult to tell them apart.
Nyurka and Grishka grabbed their palms, I counted to three and the competition began. I thought that the man would quickly cope, but the opponents grunted for more than a minute, their faces turned red, but still Grishka slammed Nyurkin’s hand to the table. The victory was celebrated with an infusion of alcohol. The pike bit the moonshine with potatoes.
-Come on, Shuchikha, now you’re with Stepan. Show him where the crayfish spend the winter! - Nyurka shouted.
The pike drunkenly nodded her head and took off her jacket, leaving her in a sleeveless dress; I noted that the woman was quite wiry. The arms, although thin, were quite muscular with visible veins. The opponents locked their hands, I counted, and they began to fight. Stepan pressed on the woman’s hand, such a small hard bicep tensed on Shchuchikha’s hand, the veins in her neck bulged. The fight has passed a minute, but no one has gained the upper hand yet. Gradually, Pike’s hand began to deviate downwards.
The woman made efforts to stop the onslaught, but Stepan pressed, seeing that she was losing ground and even used part of her body.
Shchuchikha's hand was pressed to the surface of the table.
-Strong, strong, well done Shchuchikha! - Stepan shook his head.
-Oh, women, run for half a liter! - the men laughed drunkenly.
-We're open, we've just begun! - Shchuchikha snapped - Now Valya and Mishka, well, hold on, you punks. Valek will take care of you, she is a healthy woman, I worked with her on the railway. I know. She has muscles wow!
- May you have Pike, otherwise you will scare everyone before the start! - Aunt Valya sat down opposite Mishka and after my countdown, she pinned the opponent’s hand within five seconds. The company didn’t even have time to understand anything.
A-a-and what did I tell you! - Shchuchikha rejoiced - Valka will put everyone to death.
The first round is over! - I announced - The score is two-one in favor of the men.
At the end of the first round we had a drink and a snack. Then we started the second round. Nyurka fought with Stepan, who defeated her. Pike grappled with Mishka, the fight was intense. The wiry woman was a stubborn competitor, both were flushed, sweat pouring down their faces. The woman’s hand with a ball of hard muscle slowly but steadily began to tilt Mishka’s hand towards the table until it sealed it.
-Yeah! Same thing. Where are you from us? Get ready to run to the village! - Shchikha triumphed, playfully bending her arms at the elbows, showing off her hard little muscles.
Aunt Valya also emerged victorious in the duel with Grishka, which lasted, like the previous one, less than ten seconds. I saw that even though she was drunk, she effortlessly dealt with her opponents. After the second lap the score became three-three. Excitement gripped the company, they even skipped drinks, the hubbub and arguments intensified.
The third round began with a duel between Nyurka and Mishka, the woman tried to at least take the victory here, but in vain. The man placed her hand on the table. Before the fight with Shchuchikha, Grishka even took off his jacket, leaving him in a T-shirt, which was large and dangled on him. The rivals grappled, I compared them, the man’s hands were closer to the concept of “thin”, while Shchuchikha’s were sinewy. And she had biceps, which indicated the strength of her arms. In general, in terms of volume and length of arms, Shchuchikha was the leader. She took advantage of this circumstance, the veins on Shchuchikha’s hand almost burst from tension, increasing the pressure from above, she pressed Grishka’s hand to the surface.
-Everyone Valyukha kill Stepan, otherwise there’s nothing to drink! - Shchuchikha shouted - Stepan, don’t rock the boat, but get ready for the village! Valka, show the bitsukha and let them check it out.
At the same time, she pulled off her blouse, under which there was a blue T-shirt with short sleeves. Aunt Valya, smiling drunkenly, rolled up her sleeve and bent her arm, which formed an impressive bicep.
- Look, there's a rock! - Pike touched her aunt’s bicep, Nyurka and the men joined her, squeezing the woman’s muscle and nodding approvingly.
Despite this, Aunt Valya and Stepan sat down opposite each other and clasped hands. Stepan was stronger than the previous men, but he had no chance against Aunt Valya, under the joyful cries of the women and the encouraging cries of Grishka and Mishka, his hand was laid on the table. True, he lasted more than ten seconds, during which he became sweaty from the effort of stopping Aunt Valya’s hand.
- Well done Valyukha! I put them all down! - Shchuchikha screamed - Where is our money?! - Pike grabbed the bills from the table - Two hundred rubles each. “Come on, let’s get a bottle,” she turned to the men.
They were dissatisfied with quarreling among themselves and Shchuchikha and gathered for alcohol. Stepan, Mishka and Nyurka went to the village, and the rest stayed at home; Grishka soon began snoring on the sofa. The women went out into the yard and sat down on a bench, and I also sat down next to them.
- You made them cleverly on your hands! - I said.
- Why should their dead people do that, they’re nothing but skin and bones. - Shchuchikha answered, - Previously, when they laid sleepers on the road with Valyukha, such people would have been smeared on the wall. When I worked, my hands were no smaller than the Valkins’. They even jokingly called me a jock at work.
The women began to remember work, I sat for a while and went into the house. Those who returned with alcohol gave impetus to the drinking, but soon Aunt Valya, Grishka and Stepan passed out. Before going to bed, I went out into the yard and heard drunken voices near the fence; a scandal was clearly brewing. Nyurka was jealous of Shchuchikha for Stepan, and she, without denying the fact, swore at Nyurka.
Looking around the corner of the house, I saw that the women were standing opposite each other, a drunken Mishka was rocking next to him, muttering something incomprehensibly. Nyurka grabbed onto Shchuchikha’s dress and pulled it towards herself; the old, faded fabric could not stand it and cracked. Both women fell and began to roll on the ground, Nyurka tried to scratch her opponent’s face and grabbed her by the hair. The pike turned out to be an experienced fighter; she crushed Nyurka under her and hit her in the face with hard fists. Nyurka soon howled in pain, her face turned into a bloody stain, but she could not throw Pike off of her.
Mishka intervened in the fight; he pulled Shchikha towards him, but could not stay on his feet and fell. The woman perceived him as a new enemy and, leaving Nyurka, stood up and began kicking the lying Mishka. The torn dress hung loosely and her bra hung from the torn straps. She was almost naked, I saw that Shchuchikha had a flat stomach with sculpted six-pack abs. Mishka tried to get up, but the woman’s blows threw him back to the ground, and soon he began to ask Shchuchikha to stop hitting him. He shrugged off her blows ineptly and covered his head; Pikechikha smashed his whole face. Nyurka, smearing the blood, screamed for Shchuchikha to stop.
Finally, she considered that the job was done and, having calmed down, sat down next to Nyurka, hugging her and inviting her to her home. The women stood up and walked staggeringly, then Shchuchikha stopped and returned to the unconscious Mishka. Her wiry figure stood out well in the moonlight. She put her hands under his body, easily lifted him and, placing him on her shoulder like a log, staggered and moved home. Nyurka, still crying, trailed behind.
Entering the entryway, I saw that Stepan was snoring on the floor, and Grishka was lying near the closet door, Aunt Valya was sleeping on the sofa, her legs were hanging on the floor. I approached and, throwing the woman’s legs onto the sofa, noticed that the T-shirt had ridden up, revealing a strong belly, and the skirt had slipped down, revealing part of her underwear. Obeying conflicting feelings, I touched my elastic belly, then lifted the sleeve of my T-shirt and bent my aunt’s arm at the elbow. Even in a calm state, the bulging biceps inspired respect with its volume and hardness. I squeezed and touched him with pleasure, Grishka stirred on the floor and I, fearing to be caught doing such a thing, went to bed. Full of impressions about recent events, I could not sleep for a long time, remembering the details.
I woke up when it was already noon, there was no one in the house, Fedka was on the street feeding the chickens. When he saw me, he shouted that he would come now and we would have lunch. Traces of the feast were removed from the entryway. I asked Fedka where Aunt Valya was.
-Yes where! They had a hangover at our place in the morning, and then went to the village and are now drinking at Shchuchikha’s house next door.
I told him how Shchuchikha beat up two drinking buddies, he didn’t believe it, and after dinner I showed him the place of the fight. Broken bushes, blood stains and pieces of cloth convinced him.
“Well, actually, she’s a fighting lady and won’t let anyone hurt her, she used to work as a foreman on the railroad, she was her mother’s boss,” Fedka said.
I returned to the house and lounged on the sofa in the hallway, dozing off from a full dinner. The front door slammed and Fedka rushed in with bulging eyes.
-Vitka is there, Shchuchikha is having a fight again!
Running out into the yard, we saw that Shchuchikha had grappled with Mishka, whose face was difficult to recognize after the night fight. They grabbed their shoulders and tried to push each other to the ground. The woman dressed in a colorful dress was taller and stronger, her tanned naked arms trembled with tension. She pulled the man to the side, and he flew to the ground; Nyurka, who was standing behind Shchikha, suddenly jumped on her back and grabbed her hair, tearing it out by the roots. The pike screamed in pain and, shaking her head, smashed Nyurka’s nose back, causing her to fly off her opponent’s back. The pike punched her in the stomach and she fell to the ground and began vomiting.
Stepan, who jumped out of the house, turned Shchuchikha around and hit her in the face, the woman fell, and the man began to kick her with tarpaulin boots, Mishka also joined in this activity. The pike screamed, rolling on the ground, trying to cover her head with her hands, but the blows rained down one after another. At that moment, Aunt Valya intervened in the beating; with an iron hand she threw Mishka away, and he flew into the bushes with potatoes. She grabbed Stepan by the waist from behind and threw him over himself, the man’s legs flew above his head, and he temporarily lost his orientation in space.
The third man, Grishka, grabbed Aunt Valya from behind by the neck and began to choke her; she grabbed the man’s strangling hand with one hand, and with the other she grabbed the collar of Grishka’s jacket. Bending sharply forward, she threw him over, and when he fell to the ground, she applied a painful lock to her arm. Grishka squealed like a pig, Pike, having recovered from the blows, beat Mishka.
Aunt Valya didn’t see how Stepan stood up at that moment and took a sharpener out of his pocket, but she saw Nyurka, who yelled at him not to make a fool. Stepan, enraged by alcohol and resentment, turned on the woman, not paying attention to the screams of all his drinking companions.
-Stepan, don’t play around, drop the awl! - said Aunt Valya, she took a stance.
He poked with an awl, but the woman jumped back. Stepan repeated the attack again, but the aunt dodged. Suddenly, Aunt Valya, during the next blow, stepped forward and to the side and grabbed the hand with the sharpening, twisted Stepan’s wrist, and the awl fell out of his hand. Without letting go of the grip, the aunt performed a maneuver, and when the man fell, she twisted his hand with such a crunch that everyone understood that Stepan would not take the awl for a long time.
The man screamed in pain, instantly sobered up, and lost consciousness. A drunken group fussed around him, Shchuchikha shouted that there was no point in waving a feather, the men lifted Stepan and dragged him into the house. The most amazing thing is that after half an hour the drinking continued, Stepan also took part in it with his arm in a sling. Then the whole crowd retired to the village, Aunt Valya returned late at night and fell asleep as usual in the hallway.
In the morning, when I woke up, I began to wash my face, Fedka came up to me and added water to the basin.
- Where is Aunt Valya? Are they drinking again? - I asked.
- No, he’s practicing in the backyard. I’m telling you, when he finishes drinking, he takes up sports.
- Let's go, let's see! - I quickly dried myself.
“Let’s go,” Fedka shrugged. “Why watch that, I’ve already seen it a hundred times.”
- So you are, but I’ve never seen it! - I objected.
Behind the barn there was a small area, there was a wheel from a heavy-duty vehicle, and a horizontal bar had been dug in. Aunt Valya smiled at us, and we sat down on the balloon; I looked at her with delight. She was wearing a cream bra and sports shorts, so washed out that it was impossible to tell their color. The woman was squeezing one and a half pound weights over her head, and with powerful hands she pushed them upward. She did three sets of twenty reps, and then began to lift in front of her.
Fedka soon got tired of it, he went off to watch TV, and I stayed. Aunt Valya left the weights alone and moved to the horizontal bar, on which she performed fifteen pull-ups three times. The broad female back played with strength, the biceps swelled and rolled beautifully under the skin.
“Come on, I can’t force my cool guy to hit the horizontal bar,” she suggested to me.
- No, I’m reluctant, I don’t know how! - I refused.
-You'll learn. Let me help.
I stood up and my aunt, taking me by the waist, lifted me onto the horizontal bar, with her help I pulled myself up four times.
- Look, Vitya, grab me around the waist to make it heavier. - my aunt took hold of the crossbar, I did as she ordered, pressing myself against my hard stomach. She performed twelve pull-ups with me as a load.
Jumping off the horizontal bar, I couldn’t resist touching her muscles, so hard and voluminous after doing pull-ups. After finishing the workout with push-ups, Aunt Valya went to wash herself, and I joined Fedka.
-Well, have you seen enough of everything? - he asked.
“Yeah, look, your mother is so strong, such healthy biceps,” I answered with admiration.
- Yes, she has it. The boys always argued with me before when I told them about her.
There were no more drinking parties, although characters from the feast came to Shchuchikha, but Aunt Valya did not go. By the end of the second week, I got ready to go home, they put food in my bags for home, chicken butter, sour cream. Aunt Valya and Fedka walked to the minibus and said that they would come to visit in the winter.
Personally, I will be looking forward to them.