Waiting for the ferry, grandfather Arkhip and Lenka lay in the shadow of the cliff and looked at the waves of the Kuban River. Lenka dozed off, and his grandfather, feeling chest pain, could not sleep. Lenka was a small, fragile boy of about ten years old, in his rags he seemed a clumsy bitch, broken off from his grandfather - an old withered tree. The grandfather coughed every now and then, the cough was hoarse, suffocating, forced his grandfather to rise and squeezed large tears. The steppe haze covered everything in the distance, but my grandfather was not familiar with this phenomenon and believed that the heat and the steppe deprived him of his sight, as he took away the remaining strength in his legs. Today he was worse than usual, he felt that he was going to die, and he was worried about the thought of a grandson. Where will Lenka go? Grandfather became sick of this thought and wanted to return home, to Russia, but this is far away. And here, in the Kuban, they serve well, although the people are rich and do not like the poor.
Lenka woke up and raised his grandfather's large blue, not childishly thoughtful, eyes. The ferry did not approach, but stood nearby, because no one called him. Lenka wanted to swim, but a quick river could blow him. Grandfather suggested tying a belt to Lenka’s leg and holding it, but Lenka realized that the river would carry them both away. Then he said that the earth here is continuous dust, that they saw many cities and people, and, not being able to express their thoughts in words, he became silent. Grandfather praised him for his mind and agreed that everything around: both they, and cities, and all people - dust. He regretted that the boy could not learn to read and write, and for the umpteenth time translated the conversation on the topic of his own death and the fate of Lenka.
The boy was tired of these conversations, because they ended in quarrels, because at first he felt scared, then bored, and his grandfather, noticing this, was angry, thinking that Lenka did not love him and wished him death. This time my grandfather thought that they did not consider the poor for people, they served only for the sake of purifying conscience, well-fed and hungry enemies to each other. Lenka wanted to go to work in a tavern. Grandfather was afraid that they might beat him there, but the boy promised everyone not to be given. The monastery is better, grandfather thought.
Then a well-fed, strong and healthy Cossack appeared on the arba and called for a ferry. Grandfather complained that in Russia hunger and people are dying like flies. According to the grandfather, the famine began because people sucked, drained the earth, and the Cossack objected that the stone would give birth from good hands. On the ferry Lenka standing dozed off and fell.
The Cossack brought them to the village. On the way, Lenka thought that he would again have to beg, to lie about the hunger in Russia, so that he would be served more, and the boys would again lift him up. Mostly food was served from the alms, but it deteriorated, and no one bought it here, but it would be better to give it in money.
Upon arrival, the Cossack called himself Andrei Cherny and invited them to spend the night. Lenka wanted to break up with his grandfather, although separately he collected much less. Grandfather dragged on his song, and Lenka fell asleep in the bushes. He was awakened by a loud cry. A girl of about seven with black eyes walked along the road and cried. Lenka wanted to help her. She said that she had lost the new scarf that her father bought her. Lenka decided that her father would beat her, but still ordered her to go home, confess everything, and even offered to protect her in front of her father. But the girl refused - her mother did not like the poor - and left.
Lenka went to the church, where they agreed to meet with his grandfather, thinking on the way that if the girl is from a wealthy family, then she will be beaten, since all the rich are hunks, and if from the poor, then no. Grandfather was served a lot, and he decided to go look for Andrei Cherny. But the Cossack who approached them led them to the national team (the house where the stanitsa board was located). On the way, my grandfather gave Lenka a bundle so that he would throw it away and remember where. Throwing it away, Lyonka noticed a girl’s shawl in flowers in a bundle of blue flowers. The national team accused them of stealing a headscarf and dagger. Once, in Taman, my grandfather stole linen, he was beaten and kicked for it. He then prayed for a long time and called himself a thief. The grandfather told the team that he was not to blame. Lenka became ill, and he fell. They were released and taken out of the village.
On the way, my grandfather picked up a bundle with a scarf and a dagger and showed Lenka. The boy immediately imagined everyone laughing in their faces, and that girl, sparkling with blue eyes, calls him a thief. A thunderstorm began. Lenka screamed at his grandfather, called him a thief. Grandfather shouted that he was doing everything for Lenka, his future. The boy was frightened and began to call his grandfather back to the village, and he spoke and said everything.
The thunderstorm was in full swing. Frightened, Lenka could not stand it and ran away. The next day, my grandfather was found there, he was still alive, but his tongue was withdrawn. He was looking for someone in the crowd, but could not find and cried. By the evening he died. It was impossible to bury grandfather on a graveyard like a thief: a scarf and a dagger were found next to him. Grandfather was buried in the same place where they found. They found Lenka a few days later: he was lying in the mud near the ravine face down. He was buried next to his grandfather and put up a stone cross.
