Ну что, зима-таки? Сегодняшняя морозная ночь напомнила мне...

Well, winter after all? Today's frosty night reminded me of another, many years ago. And here you have a completely Christmas story. In the distant ninety-one year, we went for the winter holidays with the whole family to the recreation center. The place was beautiful, but deaf (at that time): several brick three-story buildings "for rooms", a separate "club", and under the mountain (and the terrain is uneven there) - a bathhouse. And since it stood in the middle of the forest, electricity was the only source of life. That is, electricity, heating and plumbing worked from electricity. And so, the evening of December 31. Overboard -20, so that in every room there is a contraband heater, and in connection with the holiday, of course, they still boil tea and boil dumplings in a kettle. Network congestion is predictable and inevitable, but in my 13 years I don’t care, I have a more serious task - to wash. “We have a tradition with friends, we go to the bathhouse on December 31” - that’s all. Well, I just wait out the crowd of local young ladies pretending to have a feast - and at least not wash ourselves together under one shower. Therefore, I go to the bathhouse at twelve o'clock, when decent people already finish the third portion of Olivier. And - lo and behold, in fact, I’m practically alone in the washing and sanitary station. When I knock with my teeth, I take off my three legs (it’s -20 on the street, and there are no additional heaters in the bathhouse), I get into the shower with a thrill, I soap myself so thoroughly - since the braid was still up to the waist. And here! Now, of course, I would use foul language, but in those years such words were not included in my vocabulary. But, one must think, an exclamation of slight amazement nevertheless voiced the showers when the light suddenly ended there (and, I recall, the base in the middle of the forest means there is complete darkness and no flashlight) - and after a few moments it’s hot first (having understood the ambush, I I wash my hair convulsively) - and then all water in general. The matter is compounded by the fact that I have severe myopia, as a result - night blindness, and of course I can’t get any glasses. Well, what can you do, as they say. I find the dressing room by touch, somehow pull things on my wet body. Holding onto the wall, I make my way to the front door, swing it open ... and find myself in the middle of another world. While I was washing, a blizzard began: huge flakes of snow are flying up and down and in all directions, curling in vortices so that you can’t tell where the sky is and where the earth is. I take a step ... and fall into white nothingness: from all the dope from a rather high porch I fall into a deep, magnificent snowdrift. I somehow get out, finally losing my orientation and hope ... And then I hear a voice from afar: - Saaaashaaaaa! - and I see somewhere above (a bathhouse under a mountain), in the midst of a blizzard and darkness, a distant light. Mom came out to look for me with a flashlight :). And a woolen, hot and licky thing flies at me - she took a dog with her. So one day on New Year's Eve, your humble servant was miraculously saved from death in a snowdrift ... and spoiled the holiday for everyone, of course. Because instead of eating salad and tangerines, everyone was worried about where Sasha had stocked up, once again. And here is what I want to tell you. That night was far behind, and my mother has long been gone with me, however, there isn’t that dog either. But sometimes it’s thought: I’ll die someday, sooner or later (better later, of course). Everything will end in an instant: both light, and warmth, and my life, comfortable and familiar. The door will open, I will step - and fall into white nothingness. And I’m worried and lost, and I don’t understand where to go. And suddenly a voice is heard calling me by name, and a distant light comes on. And the dog will run to me through the darkness.