Everything is in the perfect bundle, Aunt Fira!

Перевела на английский (для своих детей и внуков) "Всё пучком тётя Фира! http://proza.ru/2021/10/10/1368
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Alexei struggled with negative sentiment from his classmates, who bestowed upon him the moniker 'Bundle' (Puchok) and neglected to use his given name thereafter. Despite his tender age, his countenance was perpetually frozen in an unremarkable, awkward grimace that invited blows or pushes from each lad who crossed his path.

Lyosha, who had grown accustomed to the physical pain and emotional scars inflicted by his father's frequent beatings, chose to ignore those around him, showing a sense of indifference that was almost palpable.

Aleksei struggled with dyslexia, which made reading and memorizing text a challenge. His father employed harsh methods to motivate him, but Aleksei often ran away from home and associated with a troublesome crowd.


- How was it going? - his criminal friends would ask him.
-everything in the  perfect bundle! - Alexei answered them, sniffing his nose.



It was fun and  rewarding  with the criminals.  A noisy group would pile into the stores... They shared everything equally.

One day, on his way home, he saw an old lady next door. Patched up, crying, covered in mud, she was sitting in a puddle and made no effort to get up...

- Everything will be in the bundle, Aunt Fira! - Lyosha muttered confusedly as he helped the old woman up. Barely fumbled for the switch...
A gasp! The room was filled with paintings, brushes and paints
lying on the floor...

- Lyoshenka, sweetheart, how can I pay you for your kindness? Maybe I can teach you to paint? - affectionately asked the artist.
Lyosha didn't sleep all night. He dreamed of brushes, gripped in a bundle, tied with a silver ribbon!
The paints themselves were laying on the canvas, the outlines of the abusers in gray-brown tones revealed their nasty essence...

Lyosha jumped out of bed, in a cold sweat! His heart was beating fast, tears spurted from his eyes.
Without even having breakfast he ran to the neighbor's house!
The door was open...
Aunt Fira was waiting for Alyoshenka, oh how she was waiting for the sunny boy! There was a plate of cottage cheese pancakes on the kitchen table.
The pancakes gave off a sweet and intoxicating smell, begging: Eat us, eat us!
- More sour cream? - the neighbor cooed affectionately.
When Aleksei was full, Auntie Fira cleared the table, put a large sheet of white paper and a pencil and ordered:
- Draw what you want, that's what's fussing in your head, draw!
The big circle looked like a frying pan, and out of it popped circles of the cottage cheese pancakes ..
And in the circles... The angry faces of his classmates, fried in the frying pan!

"Talent!" - thought to herself, the artist.
Selecting bright, iridescent tones of paint,
mixed them on a palette and handed them to the boy!
- Now draw your dream," Aunt Fira asked affectionately. -
Remember, the dream has a good heart and a cheerful face!

Alexei didn't finish school, didn't get his high school diploma...
He was not admitted to the art school and got a job on a painting crew.
Opening a can of fresh, pleasant-smelling paint, spreading it on the wall with a brush, he imagined himself an artist!
Aunt Fira gave him a palette and paints. And he painted, painted kind hearts and cheerful faces!

Years went by... Fifty-year-old Alexei Mikhailovich Puchkov, a famous self-taught artist, owner of an art gallery and an art school for gifted children, was having a hard time fending off yet another art dealer. He wouldn't sell a portrait of an old, smiling woman for any price!

The title of the painting: "Everything  is in the perfect bundle, Aunt Fira.