Summary In the tests
E. S. Wentzel
On tests
Once in the summer of 1952 a crew of eight people went to a small regional center of Likharevka for military tests. Among them – Major General Siver, clever and erudite; Major Skvortsov, an officer appointed to be in charge of the flight, a dandy, a merry fellow and a favorite of women; designer Romnich, the only woman, tiny, serious and intelligent (the astute general Sivera was the first to notice “what her big gray, what sad eyes”); as well as a senior researcher Tetkin, friendly and reckless.
Designer Lida Romnich, unlike officers and generals, is lodged in an inexpensive barrack-style hotel along with two women; one of them, life-loving Lora Sundukova, is not indifferent to Tetkin. Skvortsov is very likable to Lida, she seems to him “a self-sufficient woman,” and he begins to look after her. Although Lida’s husband and son, and Skvortsov’s wife and son, they have mutual sympathy. Lida aspires to
Later it turns out that Major Thousand – the informer: having played drunk before the guests, after they leave, he instantly sobers, takes out a folder from the desk and writes: “For this evening, General S. has shown objectivity four times…”
Lida Romnich strikes the people around her with seriousness, intelligence (she designed
Meanwhile, life goes on as usual, and the time of trials is coming. Shooting is on the fuselage of the aircraft, but because of the strong wind, typical for these places, does not manage to hit the target. Finally, Skvortsov gets into the tanks, but the fuse does not work. To “save a valuable target,” Skvortsov decides to remove and neutralize the projectile. With him goes and frivolous Tetkin. But their attempt fails: an explosion occurs, and as a result, Tetkin gets injured. Laura and Lida take care of him. The injury of Tetkin further brings him closer to Laura, and they finally decide to get married.
The first day of August is coming – the last day of the trip. Major Skvortsov packs things and is about to shave. At this moment, Lida Romnych suddenly comes to him to say goodbye. From the surprise of Skvortsov cuts his cheek with a razor. It turns out that Lida does not go, but remains longer. They part sadly and quickly. Skvortsov flies home and thinks, thinks – most of all, of course, about Lida Romnich, as well as about the strange General Sievers and also about the fact that if Tetkin died in the course of the trials, it would be “guilty – wow, what a fault!” “. In general, Skvortsov suddenly begins to regret something that he could not say or do. Earlier he “somehow was convinced that life is endless and every mistake is correctable.” Today I understood and did not understand, but I felt with my skin that life is finite, very finite, and in it every kind of bast is on the line.
Soon Officer Skvortsov will return home, where his kind, eternally loving and eternally waiting wife is waiting for him. My wife left me in the hallway, “she was small, plump, with her hair smoothly combed back, her bulging eyes gleamed with childish joy.” Looking at his cheek in surprise, she wiped her hands on her apron and said subtly, in one breath: “Shaved, hurried, cut himself. “
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