ROMEO AND JULIET

This story is true and has been preserved in the archives of our family’s memory. To a large extent, it resembles a famous story from long ago, that the name was borrowed from.

At the beginning of the last century, shortly after the end of the First World War, the family of Dmitry Evmenovich and Anastasia Ivanovna moved from the Ukrainian outback to the Orenburg province. They settled in a large prosperous village with a tasty name “Pshenichnoye”(made of wheat). This name was quite suitable for the villagers’ lifestyle. The immense Orenburg steppes generously supplied the peasants with rich harvests of grain, potatoes and other crops.

Fertile black soil, boundless pastures, a forest, a river nearby – all of these created perfect conditions for a comfortable life. And whilst the whirlwinds of revolution were howling in the rest of Russia, here, on the outskirts of the great Russian land, little had changed. For many years this territory had been a free land of the Orenburg Cossacks, protecting Russia’s southern borders, that’s why there was more freedom than in other provinces.

Dmitry had four sons and a daughter who was the youngest. The eldest son’s name was Andrey, then Afanasy, Grigory and Victor. Little Lida was about five years old when they moved to a new place. They didn’t have a lot of money, just enough to afford a small old cottage and a few heads of cattle.

Their neighbors were a large and well-to-do family of hereditary, Orenburg Cossacks. They had already lived there for several generations and heartily welcomed Dmitry’s family. The elder of the Berezovs, grandpa Khristoforich, was around eighty. Despite his age, he was quite a strong man with a wide and bushy beard, reminiscent of an Old Believer in terms of appearance. He helped a lot, frequently sending girls from their family to help the newcomers. They gave Dmitry’s family blankets, two dozen chickens, lent them lambs and two small pigs, sold a cow at a very low price, gave some wheat for planting, and from time to time brought either a basket of eggs, or a pot of flour, or a bag of potatoes. You can say they were welcomed in a truly Christian way.

Dmitry’s family tried to repay the favors. The eldest sons, Andrey and Afanasy often offered grandpa Khristoforich help around the house.

The Berezov family was quite large. Khristoforich was already a widower, his wife had gone into eternity about three years before, but he lived with his eldest son Nikanor, his two sons and their wives. There was enough room for everyone. Nikanor also had two daughters, that were born just one year apart, of 15 and 16 years old, and their lastborn was a boy named Vanya, who was the same age as Lida.

When you settle in a new place, there are always a lot of things to do, so at first, the villagers didn’t attach any importance to the fact that Dmitry and his family didn’t come to the big church in the middle of the village for Sunday service. High domes with gilded crosses, carved masonry and arches wonderfully decorated the blue and white building. The Sunday toll of its bells flew far beyond the Pshenichnoye area, calling the Orthodox believers to the service.

Some time later, Khristoforich, going home from the Sunday service, asked:

-        Dmitry Evmenovich, why haven’t we seen you in the church yet? It’s about time you met our priest. Time passes and it’s not good to go so long without taking communion.

-        Thank you very much, Khristoforich, for your concern, - said Dmitry, smiling broadly, - but we read the Bible and take communion at home. If you want, you can come visit us tonight, we’ll pray together, as neighbors. We’ll read the Gospel, sing psalms, rejoice together in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Kingdom of Heaven. They are always precious in our hearts, night and day…

And then they parted. At home, Khristoforich told his family about their conversation. Upon hearing this, Nikifor’s daughter-in-law, Daria threw up her hands.

-        Oh my God! Can they by any chance be Stundists? I heard, that’s how they do things: they get together at somebody’s home, don’t go to the church of God, read, sing, pray, but never go to the Orthodox service.

Everyone in the room was silent, gradually realizing what Daria had said.

-        It seems to be true, - Khristoforich said at last. – Such a thing has never happened here in Pshenichnoye. Bad luck with our neighbors… Now we need to be careful. It might somehow cause us harm.

All evening they discussed the unexpected news. What to do now? How to act around them?

To begin with, they decided to let the priest know about this, put up a fence and eliminate all interaction with the neighbors for the time being.

A few days later, Nikifor and his brothers put up a palisade between the yards and started keeping their gate locked.

The news that Dmitry's family are Stundists spread around the village very quickly. The villagers’ attitude towards them started to change noticeably. Their greetings were answered with either a dry nod of the head or just nothing. For a few months Anastasia got to know a lot of women from their side of the village, but the same as the Berezovs, they started avoiding her. Any help on their part had dried up. The news eventually reached the priest Father Zavedey. He delivered a lengthy Sunday sermon about the Stundists, which made things even worse for Dmitry and his family.

These circumstances naturally unified Dmitry’s family. On long fall evenings after a meal they spent hours sitting at the big dinner table till late at night. They read the Gospel, sang, prayed, asking God for strength to survive these hardships.

It was especially difficult to explain to little Lida why these sudden changes were happening.

-        Dad, why is Vanya no longer allowed to play with me? – Dmitry’s daughter asked with tears in her eyes. – We never argued or hurt each other. And now, he’s at home and doesn’t come to our place… And their gate is always locked and they put up a fence. Dad, tell aunt Ksenia, we’ll play very quietly, and we’ll never cry or fight…

-        Don’t cry, Lida, - Anastasia was trying to console her. – We’ll pray to Jesus, and He’ll help us. You will be playing with Vanya again. You just need to wait a little longer. And now sit with your mommy, my dear, I’ll never let anyone hurt you. – she whispered in her daughter’s ear, holding her little head to her chest.

After dinner, Dmitry Evmenovich opened the Bible and began family communication with a short prayer. Then he told his wife and children:

-        My dears, you can see that the circumstances we have found ourselves in require us to be closer to each other and our Lord. We need to be more attentive to our Lord’s commandments, for His word is a lamp for our feet. If we follow His commandments, He will protect us and give us strength to go through hardships and not be shipwrecked in our faith.

“I want to draw your attention to the Lord’s commandment that urges us to overcome evil with good. The time has come for this commandment to be manifested in our lives. The villagers began to consider us if not enemies, then apostates, but Scripture teaches that when people see our good deeds, they will glorify our Heavenly Father. It will happen sooner or later. But we need to stick to His ways.

The Apostle Paul teaches us: “When we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are cursed, we bless. Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink… People will see your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father…” My children, now it’s time, when we shouldn’t let evil and resentment into our hearts. You know how it happens in life. If you repay evil for evil, the evil becomes greater. At first, it was only in the other person, but if you repaid with evil, then it appears in you, so it doubles. If you respond to foul language with foul language, it means there are already two of you using cuss words, so cuss words multiply. You know if people start arguing, it’s difficult to stop them.

It is also true for beating. If somebody beats you and you beat them back, you give way for anger, abuse and hatred. And there’s no place for love left.

But if somebody tells you a rude and offensive word, and you endure, and don’t answer them with an offensive word, and tell them that God loves them and you love them, just as God loves us all – it means that the evil word has reached you and stopped, disappeared. It hasn’t grown or reflected in you like in a bad mirror. There is your victory. Evil reached you and disappeared. And the Lord and His holy angels in heaven will rejoice.

And on the next day, or any other day, when you see that your offender is carrying something heavy, come up to them and help with the load. And your eyes and smile should be kind, like the eyes of our Lord. Tell him: “Brother Ivan, let me help you.” Say it from the bottom of your heart. And then say: “Brother Ivan, or sister Pelageya, if I offended you, forgive me for Christ’s sake…” And again there will be joy in heaven and the person won’t be able to resist your kindness, for the Lord Himself will look at them through your eyes. Sooner or later, the person will be ashamed of their words, and then, maybe, repent for their misdeeds…

That’s how our Lord lived and taught us to live. No matter how much evil-speaking He heard from people and how much torment He experienced… Innocent, He was made guilty, disfigured more than any other human being, and they thought that He would get angry and start cursing them. But He was silent and His blood, holy and most pure, poured out of His wounds. People spat on Him, raging around the cross, while the Lord bowed His head and remained silent for several hours. And then He raised His head to heaven and said: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And all people stopped talking, amazed that in such suffering, He had strength not to curse them back, but on the contrary, pray for the Heavenly Father to forgive them. Nobody expected Him to say that.

So people went back to the city, beating themselves up, lamenting and repenting for what they had done. And when a thief, who was slandering Him with his friend, heard these words, he immediately understood that it wasn’t a person, but the real Son of God on the cross next to him. He stopped speaking evil of our Savior, and prayed to Him with repentance: “Remember me when You come into Your Kingdom”. The Lord accepted his prayer and said: “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

And the centurion of Rome, who was standing nearby, glorified God, saying: "Indeed, this was the Son of God!"

This is how with one word, our Lord, even suffering on the cross, could make so many people repent. That’s what the power of good is like. Nothing can resist it…”

The Berezovs couldn’t stop talking about their neighbors. They recalled different conversations they had with them, discussed all the details, but failed to remember anything suspicious. Their neighbors lived like normal good people.

Nevertheless, the whole village was bustling with rumors about the Stundists and some secret night orgies they were said to be having. However, in several months of living next door, none of the Berezovs had heard shouts or noises at night, none of them had noticed secret night trips. They never heard Dmitry and Anastasia argue.

Little Vanya, who had become close friends with Lida, was most upset about the changes. None of the neighbors happened to have any children that were close to Vanya’s age, so Vanya and Lida’s friendship started in just a few days.

The tall, blond and sluggish Vanya and the black-eyed chatterbox Lida with two brown braids, complemented each other. Neither the Berezovs, nor Dmitry and Anastasia ever heard their complaints, which are common with children. As soon as the day started, they were together. With one of the adults, they went to feed chickens, pigs, petted new-born calves that felt like silk, looked for eggs in the hayloft, where hens often left them. They ate together and drank fresh milk after the evening milking, and their simple children’s games and fun activities didn’t end. There were so many interesting things around these five-year-olds living a simple village life!

Waking up, Vanya went out to the porch and looking at the neighbors’ yard, said:

-        Mom, can I go play with Lida?

Ksenia, smiling with the corners of her eyes, asked him with deliberate seriousness:

-        Aren’t they tired of you yet?

-        No, mom! Yesterday Aunt Anastasia told me: “Come to us again, Vanya!”

-        OK, if she said so, you may go. But you need to have breakfast first. Do you want to visit your friend hungry?

As fast as a bullet, Vanya ran to the dining table and breakfast was eaten without any persuasion.

The Berezovs liked their friendship and they had already gotten used to Lida. It was funny to hear how this black-eyed chatterbox asked the members of their family countless questions, especially Khristoforich, who she started calling “grandpa” right away.

He often sat on the bench in the living room after lunch and Vanya and Lida sat on his lap across from each other. Lida combed the old man’s wide and bushy beard. Then she and Vanya divided it into two parts and braided it.

Khristoforich melted with pleasure like a piece of wax in the summer sun. He told them every fairy-tale he knew a couple of times and made up probably three times more of his own stories.

Sometimes he let them in his wagon when he went for hay or to the store on the other side of the village. It was a real holiday for Vanya and Lida. Holding hands and impatiently jumping up and down, they watched how Khristoforich leisurely harnessed the horse and spreading an old felt blanket in the wagon, said:

-        Who has been a good child here?

High-pitched children’s voices answered:

-        Me, me, I’ve been good!

Khristoforich put them into the wagon, told them not to be naughty and they slowly set off. Sometimes, Anastasia, Khristoforich’s daughters-in-law or Ksenia would take the children with them to pick mushrooms or berries.

Thus, on the other side of the fence, the Berezovs had their own drama. Little Vanya flatly refused to understand why their neighbors and Lida all of a sudden became bad. Whatever they told Vanya about Lida, he kept repeating as a kind of spell: “No! No! She’s good!” In tears he could press his face to his mother’s lap or run to his room.

Deep in their hearts, the adults knew that his friendship with the neighbor girl couldn’t change anything. They didn’t have religious conversations. Just simple children’s joy and fun, children’s games, that’s it.

Autumn was already in full swing. The sky was increasingly overcast with clouds. Drizzle, rain, fog – it was typical fall weather. Sometimes, as presents, nature also gave sunny days. But in cloudy weather as well as sunny days, Vanya and Lida were often seen standing together at the far end of the fence. Occasionally, one of the Berezovs called Vanya to feed the chickens or pigs, trying to distract him. Vanya reluctantly followed, but then invariably returned to the same place.

The same was with Lida. Sometimes, Anastasia called her to come home from the cold:

-        Lida, get in the house. You’re going to freeze there! Look how hard the wind is blowing. It’s not summer any more.

After staying home for a while, Lida asked if she could go outside, walked around the house and then went to the same place again.

-        I feel so sorry for the kids, - the eldest daughter-in-law of the Berezovs, Daria sighed. – Any time Vanya goes outside, there’s no entertaining him, he still goes to the fence. They became so attached to each other. They don’t understand our concern. They should be playing together as before. Vanya looks like a ghost. He is eating badly and grieving all the time. Ksenia and I have tried everything, but we can’t amuse him.

The other daughter-in-law Natalia shook her head in frustration:

-        The other day Vanya stood there for two hours and maybe more. The girl next door put her finger between the stakes of the fence, Vanya held her finger, and so they stood till he was called home for lunch. In the evening I went out and saw them holding fingers again. I didn’t pay attention to their games before, how they were standing there, but now I look at them and don’t know what to say. I couldn’t make myself drive him home. Let him stand there, I thought. God willing, he’ll get bored of it.

Their neighbors didn’t try to stop such interaction either. Anastasia asked her daughter about Vanya a couple of times: what is he telling her? Are they scolding him at home? Lida answered that the neighbors didn’t allow Vanya to talk to her. At first, Anastasia was surprised that for such a long time they stood there silently, and then got used to it too.

Cold days were getting closer. It had already snowed a couple of times, but the snow melted. Nights were quite freezing, and Dmitry’s family was preparing for their first winter in the new place. The situation with food supplies was more or less good. They had enough potatoes, wheat, and canned vegetables, their pigs, lambs, chickens and geese got bigger, their cow calved and milk was plenty, a few haystacks were piled up and firewood was stored.

As it often happens in life, trouble came out of the clear blue sky. One morning Anastasia, having seen the men off to work, was doing some things around the house. Busy with housework, she didn’t notice that Lida was in bed for too long. Anastasia came to the door of her room and called:

-        Lida, why are you still in bed? Are you having an interesting dream? – Anastasia said in a deliberately cheerful voice and bent down to kiss her. When Anastasia touched the girl’s forehead with her lips, she gasped: “Jesus Christ! You have a fever. What’s wrong with you, sweetie? Where did this sickness come from? Just yesterday you were happily running around the house. And now, my poor baby! Don’t get up, stay in bed, my dear, I’ll make you some tea with raspberries and honey.”

Spread out on the bed and red in the face, Lida could hardly open her eyes:

-        I’m hot, mommy…

Anastasia rubbed the girl with a special herbal tincture, that was used to cure colds, gave her tea with raspberries, put a cool wet towel on her forehead and ran to the other side of the village to bring the village doctor.

The doctor was a tall, gray-haired man, about sixty years old, with a neatly trimmed beard. He served in the army for more than thirty years, went through the First World War and settled in Pshenichnoye a couple of years before. He had already heard something about the Stundists in the village, but as a person who had seen a lot of different things in his life, didn’t pay much attention to it. Having asked Anastasia where they lived, he said he would come to them in the afternoon.

After examining Lida, he shook his head:

-        She has a bad cold. She’s wheezing, her throat is all red, her temperature is high. Apparently, a fever knocked her off her feet. Don’t let her set foot outside. If her temperature goes up, cool her head with a damp towel, so that she doesn’t get worse.

He left one bottle of medicine for her to gargle, and another one to take four times a day till she got better.

-        That’s it for now, - the doctor said, - I’ve done what I could. Now treat her with every remedy you have at home. Chicken soup will be great, maybe, you have some herbs or cough tinctures. It would be good if you can rub her with bear fat. If she doesn’t get better in a few days, I’ll come to look at her again.

In the evening, Dmitry’s whole family gathered around Lida, raising fervent prayers for her health to heaven. Hour after hour, she got no relief. The night passed in worries and distress, then the day, then another night, and in the early morning of the third day, Lida passed away.

In this situation, people, who haven’t found God, have questions, tearing their hearts apart, such as: “What for? Why us?” Christians, who trust their life to God, ask one question in their hearts and prayers: “Lord, why did You let it happen?”

It was also true for Dmitry Evmenovich’s family. Overwhelmed with grief, they were seeking comfort in the promises from the Scriptures and prayers.

-        We do not know, Lord, why You allowed us to have this loss, - Dmitry prayed. - We have nowhere to go for consolation, for You have the words of eternal life. You know, Our Father, how much we loved this flower of life, that had just started to blossom and scent, bringing us joy. Almighty, you could cure her in just one moment, but You decided to lift her up to Your eternal abodes. We know, Lord, that she will be indescribably better there, than on this sinful earth, where we all are mere travelers and strangers. That’s how You judged, Judge of all the earth. You gave us Lida for a short time, like a warm ray of sunshine. We rejoiced with her, and now, Lord, we let her go with a blessing, not curses. We humble ourselves under Your strong hand, knowing that we are not parting for good. For You have no dead. When our time comes, You will call us to You, where we will meet Lida and all the saints at Your feet, Lord, and our perfect joy will never end. Lida won’t come to us anymore, but we’ll come to her. Blessed be Your name, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

-        Amen… – the rest of the family quietly repeated…

There was quite a big cemetery just outside Pshenichnoye. The village was large, because the Cossacks had been living in this area for more than a hundred years. Before burying the deceased, they held a service under the awning of the cemetery chapel. Next to it, there was a small office, recording the dead and charging for the burial place and the funeral service.

Standing at the cemetery gate and looking around at the burial mounds, crosses and fences, covered with snow, Dmitry and Andrey remained silent.

- Well, we couldn’t even imagine such a beginning for our first winter here, - Dmitry Evmenovich quietly sighed.

Having entered the office, Dmitry and his son took off their hats and greeted a tall bearded man dressed in a long black monastic robe. The room was well-heated and lit with several candles, there was a large table against the opposite wall with folders of papers on it, under the walls on both sides there were oak benches, and the dark log walls had icons on them.

Seeing that after taking off their hats neither of the men made the sign of the cross in front of the icons, the minister disapprovingly shook his head and went back to working with papers.

-        Our daughter, a girl of five, died, - Dmitry said, - we need a place at the cemetery to bury her tomorrow. Please, tell us how much it will cost and where we can dig the grave.

-        It costs one and a half roubles, plus a separate charge for the funeral service, - the clerk said, not standing up from the table.

-        We are ready to pay for the place and registration, but there’s no need for the service, our Lida is already with the Lord.

Several seconds of painful waiting followed. Raising his eyebrows, the clerk silently looked at Dmitry. Finally, he threw up his hands and said:

-        How can you bury someone without a funeral service? Have you ever seen anything like this? Are you Tatars, or something like that? It’s an Orthodox cemetery and burying someone without a service is not allowed. If that’s what you want to do, bury her somewhere else, but no Busurmans, Stundists, or other pagans have ever been buried here and they never will be!

Understanding that asking, arguing or persuading him was pointless, Dmitry and Andrey left the office and headed to the cemetery gate.

At home they told everyone what had happened. Dmitry’s wife listened to him, not saying a word and stroking her daughter’s hair, who was lying in a coffin.

-        Can you believe this, my heart? - Anastasia wailed with tears running down her cheeks. - They don’t even let us bury you properly… May our Lord, the Savior, make them understand that we all are children of one Father, and may He, the Merciful, convince people in Christian mercy…

In the end, they decided to bury Lida in a clearing not far from the village. It was called Maria’s glade. Nobody knew when, why, or who called it that. On three sides the clearing was surrounded by trees and its open side faced Pshenichnoye. Lida liked this place very much. She often asked Anastasia or somebody from the Berezovs to go and play with Vanya there.

On fine summer days it was a heavenly place. The grass was so high that when the kids, got caught up in their games, ran deep into the clearing, it was hard to find them. Birds chirping on the outskirts of the forest, fragrantly smelling flowers, buzzing of bees and bumblebees, mushrooms, berries… During the summer months, nature fully made up for the long slushy fall nights, the snow and cold of winter days and never-ending waiting for warmth in spring.

With shovels and a garden pick Dmitry and his sons went to dig a grave. They didn’t have horses yet, so having put the tools on a sleigh, they pulled it along the fresh snow. Even though the winter had already began, it hadn’t been really freezing yet, that’s why they managed to dig the grave quickly and returned home from this depressing work before dawn.

On the following day Dmitry and Gregory made a cross from an oak log, fixed a nameplate on it and wrote these words from Scripture: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. See you in Heaven, our heart. "

Having packed all the necessary things, they put the coffin with Lida on the sleigh, covered it with a lid and set out. Grigory and his brothers were pulling the sleigh, followed by Andrey carrying the cross on his shoulders, Dmitry and Anastasia , holding hands, were walking in the rear.

“Like Christ, walking to the crucifixion, - Dmitry thought, looking at the cross on his eldest son’s shoulder.

On their way, they had to pass by the neighbors’ yard. Seeing the procession, walking out of the neighbors’ gate, Natalia covered her mouth with her hand and out of shock unable to find words, was looking at them with her eyes wide open.

When they caught up with her, having forgot about all the prohibitions, Natalia frightenedly asked:

-        Anastasia, what is going on? Who are you going to bury?

Anastasia raised her face full of tears:

-        Our Lida died two days ago, and they won’t allow her to be buried in the cemetery. So we are going to bury her, our baby, on Maria’s glade, where we can… Help us, God…

The final farewell at the coffin, last words, prayers and quiet singing of the funeral psalm didn’t take much time. They put a cross on the little mound of the grave, decorated it with a small wreath that Anastasia made of paper flowers on the last night of her farewell to Lida, and a couple of hours later Dmitry’s family was already going back home.

Khristoforich and some other Berezovs were standing at their gate. Vanya peered out from under Khristoforich’s coat, hugging his leg. Not saying a word and making the sign of the cross, they watched the passing neighbors all the way to their yard.

After coming home and praying, Dmitry and his family, before changing clothes, sat down in the room, where Lida’s body had been just a few hours before. Her spot was empty. Nobody sat on this bench as if Lida could have needed it again. The whole house, the walls of which would never again hear the pretty voice of the deceased girl, seemed as empty and cold.

-That’s all, we sent our joy, our little sunshine, on her final journey, - Dmitry Evmenovich sighed. - Now we have our own angel in heaven, - he added, embracing Anastasia, who couldn’t stop wiping her tears.

It was getting dark, Grigory lit the lamp, put some more wood in the stove and the family started to prepare for their first night without Lida.

The Berezovs’ household was also in a gloomy mood. Their simple feelings of Christian compassion were confronted by religious barriers. As human beings, they were sorry that such a misfortune had fallen on their neighbors. Devastated by the unexpected news, they were sitting in silence, from time to time exchanging a couple of words.

Clearly, the right thing to do was to go to the neighbors, grieve with them, console them and offer their condolences… But several months of alienation, the fence, they themselves had put up, and all the strict prohibitions, they themselves had established, kept them from doing it and they didn’t know what else to do. How could they go to the neighbors now? How would they look them in the eye?

What is more, they just couldn’t wrap their minds around the fact that Lida wasn’t buried at the Christian cemetery, like all people, but somewhere at the edge of the forest. They categorically disagreed with it. Why ban it? Could the funeral of this innocent girl have desecrated the entire cemetery?

The Berezovs put out their lamps and went to bed, unable to decide what they should do.

Lida’s death was hardest on Vanya. Finding out that Lida was buried in the ground made him turn to stone. He didn’t cry, but silently looked at the same spot.

At first the adults considered it normal. They thought time would make him forget this childhood drama and everything would go on as usual. But days passed, and Vanya’s condition didn’t change. A certain melancholy, unnatural for kids, deep sadness, confusion and helplessness were reflected in his face. Every time he went out to the yard, after walking around the barns and stables once or twice, he invariably stopped at the place where he and Lida used to stand holding fingers.

He could stand there for a long time. Only God knows what was going on in his soul. An unbearable burden of loss and powerlessness bound his little child’s heart with heavy chains. Ksenia and the whole family saw how, having put his finger between the fence boards, Vanya stood leaning on the fence. His lips quietly moved, uttering words that only he could understand, and the Berezovs didn’t know what to do about it.

 After a family meeting, they decided to entertain Vanya somehow, and Nikanor and Khristoforich took him to the city fair. All in vain. Amid the festive running around, laughter, music, swings, merry-go-rounds and the whole fair atmosphere, Vanya’s eyes didn’t light up even once. Showing no emotions, he indifferently looked at the fun around. Sweets, fragrant buns, pretzels, toys, nothing could remove the stamp of deep melancholy from Vanya's face. He never asked his father to buy him something and a few hours later started tugging at the sleeve of his coat.

-        Dad, I’m tired. Are we going home soon?

Khristoforich and Vanya’s father looked at each other, wondering what else they could do for him. Before returning to the village, they bought him toys, all kinds of pastries and sweets, a new coat and hat, and left without waiting for the fair to end.

This trip made the Berezovs earnestly worried. It had been one and a half months, and no change for the better. They noticed that Vanya had become visibly thinner. The light in his bright cornflower-blue eyes went out and during all that time no one had heard his laughter or even his loud voice.

Every morning Ksenia and Khristoforich had to put a lot of effort into making Vanya eat breakfast. After much persuasion, he ate about a half of what he used to eat before. The same pattern repeated at lunch and dinner. Most of the time Vanya spent sitting in his room. No one managed to amuse or somehow entertain him. A couple of days after the fair, making his bed, Ksenia found a half of vatrushka and a candy wrapped in a towel under his mattress.

-        Vanya, why would you hide a vatrushka here? It’s already stale. Come here, dear, I’ll give you a fresh and hot one.

A little embarrassed, Vanya lowered his eyes, and after a pause, said:

-        Mom, I want to carry it to the grave. Don’t throw away the vatrushka. When we go to Lida, I’ll put it there.

For a few seconds Ksenia was befuddled, and then she started hugging Vanya, telling him whatever came to her mind, just to say something.

-        Vanya, sweetie, I’ve always known you have a very kind heart. We’ll definitely go to Lida’s grave and bring her fresh vatrushkas, and candies, and apples. Just don’t hide anything here for her, okay? When the weather is better, we’ll go there together and you’ll take everything you want…

It was becoming clearer every day: Vanya was in trouble. What to do? How to help him get over it? How to get him back to normal? The family tried a lot of options, but all to no avail.

A few more similar weeks passed. One morning Ksenia came into Vanya’s bedroom to tell him that breakfast was ready and saw him sitting on the bed with shining eyes and a bright face, as if nothing had happened. Ksenia’s heart started beating faster. Finally!

-        Good morning, Vanya, - she cooed with joy. – Did you sleep well last night? Were you warm enough? Your dad overslept and didn’t put more wood in the stove.

Vanya barely glanced at her and started staring past her, as if seeing something behind her back. It was so plausible that Ksenia involuntarily looked around. There was nothing except the wall.

-        Mom, - Vanya said, - I saw Lida last night.

Dumbfounded, Ksenia silently looked at Vanya. Some unfamiliar chill started filling her on the inside. She expected to hear anything but this. While she was looking for words in confusion, Vanya continued:

-        Mom, there was a big long-haired man dressed in white clothes holding Lida, just like in an icon. She was so happy, so beautiful, and the man had very kind eyes. This man told me: “Don’t cry anymore, Vanya. Soon you will be playing with Lida again…” And Lida was hugging the man’s neck, laughing and clapping her hands… Mom, it was so beautiful there, like I’ve never seen before. There were other kids too, and they all wanted to play with me…”

Ksenia, wiping away her tears, sat down on the bed and hugged him, not knowing if she should be happy or sad:

-        You see, Vanya, our Lord, Jesus Christ sent you this dream as a message, so that you wouldn’t grieve anymore, wouldn’t sorrow. Lida is alive, she hasn’t died and she’s with the Lord now. She feels good there, she’s playing with other kids. When we die, we’ll be with the Lord too. We’ll meet Lida there and all Christians from our village and all of Russia… If you want, we can go to aunt Anastasia today and you’ll tell her about your dream. They are grieving for Lida too now… Let me hug you, my little sunshine.

Ksenia pressed Vanya to her chest and did not let go for a long time.

-         Well, get up, my dear. I will feed you a big breakfast, and we’ll go to aunt Anastasia.

She put his clothes on her lap and wanted to help him get dressed. But Vanya looked at her with a surprisingly calm look. That look seemed to still keep the reflection of the unearthly world, he had visited last night.

-         Mom, - he said so quietly, she could hardly hear him, - when I die, bury me next to Lida, okay?

These words, uttered so softly, sounded like a thunderclap. Ksenia’s heart sank. She was looking at her Vanya, unable to take her eyes off him, and gradually understood: he didn’t belong to her anymore. Some Higher Power, which no one can resist, made a decision. And she saw this decision so clearly in the unearthly tranquility of Vanya’s eyes.

Having pulled herself together, she hugged him again and, swallowing tears and trying not to cry, kept talking in a confused and incoherent way.

-        What are you talking about, Vanya? It’s too early for you to die. Don’t say that… You’ll soon get better, grow up and become big like your dad. You’ll build your own house. Your daddy will send you to the city to study. You might become a doctor and cure all kinds of ailments, or maybe you’ll be an officer on horseback, leading soldiers and defeating enemies at war…

But the more she talked, the better she understood that nothing earthly interested Vanya. He silently looked at Ksenia and smiled at his own thoughts.

A few days later, Vanya’s soul quietly left this earth. After the funeral service, remembering his request, the whole procession went to Maria’s glade, where Vanya’s grave had already been prepared next to Lida’s.

The entire village gathered for the funeral. Maria’s glade was filled with people as if someone famous was about to be buried. Ksenia, Nikifor, all the women of their family,Vanya’s brothers and sisters were weeping aloud. As far as one could see, there were tears in people’s eyes. Dmitry Evmenovich’s family was standing next to Lida’s grave. Anastasia was crying, with her head on her husband’s chest. They were crying about both Lida, and Vanya.

The story of the astonishing love between two little hearts was passed from one person to another. The women cried aloud, the men silently wiped away tears with their mittens. A continuous groan of repentant human compassion for these kids, who could not survive the ordeal that had befallen them, but retained love, was carried away far beyond Maria’s glade.

When they started filling in the grave, Khristoforich, hatless, his gray hair disheveled by the wind and sheepskin coat unbuttoned, headed to Dmitry’s family. People stepped aside to make way for him.

Having approached them, Khristoforich made a wide sign of the cross and said loudly, pronouncing the words with difficulty:

-        Forgive us, Dmitry Evmenovich, that due to our folly, we separated our kids while they were alive… But now they are united in their deaths… Forgive us, for Christ’s sake, and…

               He wanted to say something else, but sobs drowned out his voice. He hugged Dmitry and they stood with their heads on each other's shoulders. Ksenia followed Khristoforich to Anastasia. Not saying a word, the two mothers, embraced like sisters, and cried near their children’s graves. Both loved their babies more than life, and now death tied them with a lifelong bond.

“Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. … for love is as strong as death…” – writes the wise king Solomon. Immense like the dawn over Russian fields, power of love, manifested in the two children’s hearts, shook and destroyed the walls of human callousness, prejudice and misunderstanding.

The drama of this extraordinary love melted the ice of alienation for good. The villagers’ attitude towards Dmitry’s family had completely changed.

Since then, children in Pshenichnoye were buried only in Maria’s glade, which became a children’s cemetery.

Dmitry Evmenovich and Anastasia Ivanovna had two more sons, but no more daughters.

 A few years later, Dmitry Evmenovich's third son, Grigory Dmitrievich, got married. His wife’s name was Elizaveta Kononovna. Their first-born child was a daughter, who Grigory named Lidiya, in memory of his late sister.

In 2019, Lydia Grigorievna turned 91. She has lived a difficult life and gave birth to nine children. She has 27 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren. This is our beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother of the Mysin family.