I had long been meaning to continue the description of my childhood and youth in the “khrushchevka.” Twist it how you will, but at the present moment this is my brightest recollection! I have already written that we lived in a one-room apartment. For a family of three they then gave one-room apartments. The apartments were state, people stood in a queue at their place of work, and when they were distributed, everyone knew about one another, who was entitled to get what.
And next to our apartment was the Sidorenko family, who received a three-room “luxurious” (that is how I thought at 9) apartment with walk-through rooms. I want to clarify such a name of a room as BEDROOM. At that time Soviet people rarely had bedroom-rooms. Those are completely bourgeois notions! So my neighbours, the Sidorenkos, received this apartment for six adults!
The mistress of the apartment — granny Sidorchikha (she herself introduced herself to me that way at our acquaintance) had five grown daughters and a hardworking husband. The eldest daughter was married and lived separately. The next daughter by seniority, Lena, was working at the same factory as her father, and granny Sidorchikha immediately allotted her a separate room. It seems to me Sidorchikha treated this daughter with greater love, respect and understanding. Lena was already “approaching 30,” and that at that time was already the age of an “old maid.” But Lena earned for herself, and Sidorchikha valued that, although she contributed only ten roubles to the family budget. The remaining three daughters were still studying, I think at a technical college, and the youngest was finishing school. It turned out that this whole “company” was housed in two rooms.
I remember very well their first acquisition for the living room — a domestic folding sofa-“book.” Inside the sofa were springs (foam rubber appeared later), which I joyfully tried out, sitting “at a run” on this new sofa and a couple more times, sitting, bouncing, after which my mama made a remark to me. I of course took this remark into account, otherwise they would not have let me to the neighbours any more. They had no television. Sidorchikha’s husband was a completely silent man, reading thick books, sitting sideways to the radiator, on a stool by the window. I don’t remember him in another position.
I don’t know whether Sidorchikha was considered a Mother-Heroine; she could not work with such a family. She was a housewife. There was no refrigerator in the kitchen. And there was no kitchen furniture at that time, only a cupboard table with two doors. Sidorchikha had to cook soups and borscht every day in a five-litre green saucepan. A glass of milk was allotted only to the working members of the family — that is the husband and Lena. And the remaining girls were half-hungry.
I remember that one of the daughters, Vera, went in for sport — athletics, took part in competitions, and she, as an athlete, was fed at the competitions. How she strove to become a Master of Sport, so as to receive 30 roubles a month for the title! But it didn’t work out, she didn’t reach the Master norms. And how to “reach”? when you live half-starved. Later fortune smiled on little Vera, there was a wedding, marriage. My mama sewed her a wedding dress. And Vera left to live in her husband’s family.
And the eldest daughter had a misfortune — her husband was hit by a train at night, returning from work. Two children were left… Soon another daughter, Olya, also got married. They said it was “for love.” The fiancé was not very healthy. I think there were problems with his legs. I remember his gait, as if he had flippers on his feet instead of shoes. The neighbours gossiped about how such a beauty decided to marry? Well, you know yourselves — “love is evil…” Anyway, two girls remained “unplaced” — the youngest and Lena.
And suddenly, in some year, granny Sidorchikha dies. I remember how Lena howled for hours! And there was nobody to comfort her. The old man started drinking from grief. And then he brought a woman into the house. Scandals began! Lena and the youngest would not let her into the house, and the old man began to defend his rights, would get drunk and get into fights with them. Once the youngest knocked at ours and shouted to my papa: “uncle Sasha, father is fighting, help!” Papa opened the door and I well remember how he said: “I cannot interfere in your family affairs, I cannot!” And still the daughters deprived their father of the right to a personal life.
But soon the youngest had a boyfriend — a cadet of the Higher School of Communications, soon they married, the cadet finished his studies and lived with them in this apartment. “Quiet and calm” reigned. The cadet turned out to be an intelligent fellow from Leningrad. And he managed to set relations with everyone. Soon he was posted to service somewhere beyond the Ural mountains. And the youngest left her father’s house, going away with her husband the officer. This was already 1970–1971. I finished school and we received a three-room apartment in a new building. I promise to write a continuation….