Raisa Nikolavna has never been in charge. I just worked hard without giving up any work. I didn’t know how she was the boss. Not big, but still.
They rushed her into the party. Because the Komsomol does not look solid in such a position. We got a separate office with a phone. More precisely, a wagon, to be closer to ordinary builders. And at the same time, she could be in charge: shelves to conduct, “on the carpet” to call.
Nikolaevna’s predecessor loved it very much. He will call the offender and explain to him “party policy” for half a day. It’ll blush. It’ll burn. He screams like he drowns out jackhammers. And the educated often can not understand what his fault, but according to nods his head.
Got it?
Got it.
Better not argue with your boss. It’s worth it.
They kicked out the boss. To drinking. His face blushed not only from worries for the faults of subordinates.
For a long time, the smell of hot drinks weathered from the trailer. For a long time, the new boss found empty bottles of wheat, capital, Zhigulevsky in secret places. It smelled like a Red Moscow wagon and … valerian. It’s nerve-wracking.
I wish only the subordinate nerves were rattling. But every boss has his own boss. And he likes to make phone calls from top to bottom. Therefore, Raisa was afraid of phone calls and tried not to stay in her office. She’ll do the planning and run through the facilities. He’ll grab a spatula somewhere to show a young intern how to wipe the seams, and he’ll get carried away.
I didn’t make it today. I pulled out of the bottom drawer of the table a loose folder with documentation, and under it — a tin can of German beer. Full. Nikolavna’s predecessor once led a delegation from the GDR to the construction site. Where the bank Raisa — guessed, and what to do with it — could not understand. Should I go to the KGB?
That’s where the phone rang.
— Zakharova, are you completely crazy?!
— Andrey Arnoldovich, I am the only one, — Raisa justified herself, trying to push back the naughty bottom drawer of the table with her foot.
— What are you hiding in there?
— It’s not mine!
— What the hell is going on in there?
Then Nikolavna suddenly realized that a high-ranking interlocutor does not see her, does not read her thoughts and somehow assumed that his face is red.
— Do you know how this could end for you?
Raisa, pressing the phone tube to her ear with one hand, reached for a valerian bottle with the other. Andrey Arnoldych continued to fall asleep with questions, among which came across and not rhetorical.
— Your Avdeevs?
Mine.
— Both?
— Both.
With Verka Avdeeva Raisa was familiar from childhood. She lived in a nearby village. At district events for schoolchildren met. Kolka Verka has already found himself in the city, on construction. He’s rural, though. The first Avdeev girl was born. Just came Verka from the decree, as again in the decree time. Two months ago, the Avdeev family was replenished with a boy.
Do you know where your Avdeevs were last weekend?
— They went to the village.
— What kind of family?
It was a rhetorical question, but Raisa Nikolavna tried to answer it.
— To Verkina’s mother.
I would tell you what kind of mother they went to. They were in church.
— What church? — Raisa’s gone.
— The baby was baptized… Anyway, your mistake, Zakharova. We have been building a bright future for the seventh decade, and obscurantism is blossoming under your nose.
Nikolavna finally reached the valerian.
— But wait for a heart attack to jog. Fix yourself.
How? To call a Komsomol meeting and baptize a baby? These questions Raisa, of course, did not voice.
— Andrey Arnoldovich, but Vera Avdeeva is still on maternity leave.
Call the head of the family and talk to him. What am I explaining to you as a little girl? You know what to say. Then report back.
Half an hour later, a young father sat in the wagon of Raisa Nikolavna Zakharova and smiled rather.
— What are you happy about? — Zakharov’s boss tried to be angry.
— So son!
— Baptism?
— Baptist.
— What am I supposed to tell you?
— Congratulations, coma.
Raisa baptized the eldest daughter of the Avdeevs. Even before his career. They baptized secretly. To the priest who performed the sacrament, she still came to consult.
— Father, they want to nominate me as boss, and I’m afraid I won’t cope.
— Don’t worry. You can do it with God’s help. Be gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent.
— But I don’t want to cheat.
— Don’t be mean. Be patient, things will change soon. And don’t forget who our boss is.
Andrey Arnoldovich secret Cabinet reported that the conversation with Avdeev held, he realized everything and more son will not baptize.
It is impossible to baptize a person a second time. We believe in a single baptism.
The author of the story:
Priest Vladimir Rusin
The Holy Land Charitable Foundation
Soul investment!
Orthodox stories from life
