"And all this is the whim, nonsense, nonsense"

Excerpt from the unknown script Gennady Shpalikov

In September 2017, the poet and screenwriter Gennady Shpalikov would have turned 80 years old. The author of the scenarios for the films “I Walk around Moscow” and “Ilyich’s outpost”, who committed suicide at 37 by Klitzov, is one of the most underestimated poets of the second half of the 20th century. His unpublished manuscripts continue to be found so far: for example, the magazine “ The Art of Cinema ” in April published the unknown script by Shpalikov “Sing to me about the war”, written a few months before suicide. With the kind resolution of the Medusa editorial office, a fragment of this scenario represents.

Before the scenes described below, the protagonist receives an invitation to the city of N to meet graduates of the Suvorov Military School (Shpalikov himself graduated from the Suvorov Military School in Kyiv), hesge from work and decides to go. Together with him, Marina, a girl who dissuaded him from the trip.

Soon they were already standing on the street, and the weather was actually the same as it should be. Only the evening was slightly decorated, and the lanterns were already glowing, the pavements shone, and the feeling of dullness that prevailed during the day, disappeared by itself, and the evening glorious state appeared in the appearance of the city, when the trees, already dark, flooded, the branches shine, wet, black, and from somewhere from the river, or the fog flows. Yes, the time is glorious, especially if you are not alone, but one thing in such weather is good - to disappear, get lost.

“... Lesha,” said Marina, smelling of a cloak.

- What?

- Where are we going?

- I don't know yet. In general, Marina, we are going recently. We still think, ”Lesha said without hesitation.

“Well,” Marina took his arm tightly. -Firstly, secondly, my legs are wet. Understood?

“I also have,” said Lesha. “You would have come in to at all.”

- And it would not bother you.

- It doesn't bother me.

- How long will we talk like that? - asked Marina. “Let's go somewhere to the warmth,” said Marina. - You can go to me. But what do I have? There is not even a TV. And the player. And the refrigerator is empty, although you can buy something on the way. But it's boring. Tea is together.

“You can drink vodka,” said Lesha. - In this weather.

“You can,” Marina agreed. “But the two of them somehow ... went on a visit, huh?” To your colleagues. To your generals or not even to the generals, but in general. Although you have someone?

“No,” said Lesha.

- Here is a type! - Marina was surprised. - And not a single phone?

-No, in my opinion. Maybe there are at home. You know, let's go to me.

“No,” said Marina.

- Why?

- Lesha ...

- Because I can't be here alone now. -It burst out at Lesha somehow immediately, suddenly, and he fell silent.

“Lesha,” said Marina, “of course, I will go.” OK?

“Thank you,” said Lesha.

- There is no thanks.

They stood in the crowd, in a dense evening crowd.

“You see, I don’t want to see anyone,” said Lesha. “And you ... I don’t know ... You go home, I am so.” Well, you and I, Marina, are familiar yesterday or what ... I’m not offended, and all this is the whim, nonsense, nonsense-in a word ... And you don’t pay attention to me ... It will pass tomorrow, and in general I started all this in vain ... And now you see how stupid, and you have fun for the lifting ... I don’t see ... And in general, womeen home! Well, why did you stare at me?

They bought a package for five cents in a food store and put different purchases there, and the package, of course, torn while they stood alternately at different cash desks, in different lines - for sausage, cheese, dumplings, and I had to buy another package, and then Marina stood in line for onions, green, and it was sold in the self -service section, where the weight was checked - that the weight was checked - that It was taken here in this section, and what was made illegal, all this happened, and although there were a lot, but not very much, and they still looked at how beautiful the water in a large clean window washes continuously fresh vegetables, drank a glass of tomato juice, smacking the spoons into salt, and, with a sigh of relief, went out into the street, even more darkened, although even more darkened, although even darkened. With lanterns, only the wind suddenly blew on it, but they were lucky with a taxi. We sat down and went.

- Where? The taxi driver asked.

“On N ... station,” said Lesha.

- By garden or what? The taxi driver asked.

- Anyway, it doesn’t matter. If only quickly, goes?

“Come,” the taxi driver agreed, and they rushed.

- And ... do you have money? - asked Marina. - Ticket at least?

“Will you come with me?”

- Why do you need all this? Can you really explain? - Marina spoke irritatedly. - For what?

- Will you go? - asked Lesha again.

- I have a treshka. See? - She showed.

“Taxi driver,” Lesha asked, “do you need a cloak?”

- What kind of cloak?

“Yes, on me,” said Lesha.

“No,” said the taxi driver, without turning around. - Thank you.

“He is joking,” said Marina. “This is such a manner.”

“It happens,” said the taxi driver.

“Stop,” Lesha suddenly said. - Marina, sit down. I am now.

- Where are you? - Marina asked bewilderedly.

“She is on bail,” Lesha nodded to the driver. - I'm soon.

A taxi stopped near the cafe. Not the best of the cafe. Of those in the afternoon - a dining room, and in the evening - a cafe. Lesha went right away to the shipyard, to the kitchen. The heat there, the mountains of dirty dishes, and clean plates are dried, and the women are tired, in the darkened robes for a day. Lesha with a gesture called one of them. The conversation was not heard - what they are talking about. From the cafe, all the more thundered music. Lesha took off a good cloak on the outfit. The woman, having fluently examined him, went somewhere. Lesha remained to wait. Soon the woman appeared and called Lesha into the buffet. There, behind the counter, he saw a middle -aged and also a tired woman. She was somewhat surprised that Lesha was completely sober, that he was in a white shirt, in a tie, because people sell raincoats and other things only in great despair, but Lesha was calm, and polite, and silently expected his fate - about a cloak.

- How much will you take? The woman asked.

“In general, I bought it for three hundred, but here is such a thing,” Lesha spread his hands. - You already watch ...

“I don’t need him.” I have no men ... He seems to be a little expensive for my son ...

- Let's take a hundred. I'll show you a passport. This is mine, true, ”said Lesha. - You see, it is very necessary.

“Yes, I understand,” said the buffet. - Do you sell the sweater?

- With a cloak? - asked Lesha. “Please,” he had already prepared and shoot a sweater. “Only on my shirt with buttons is not very in order,” he recalled.

“You’ll go here,” said the shuffle. “Here,” she showed for the raspberry curtain. - It is forbidden, you know?

“An exceptional case,” said Lesha. - Honestly!

Lesha left the cafe very soon, in a jacket, in a dazzling white, morning shirt. Merry, confident. He sat next to the driver.

- Let's go! - He turned to Marina, his boyish face, cheerful. Smiled triumphantly.

Marina could not utter words.

“Here,” Lesha handed her a bottle of wine, “put it in a bag.”

- What is this?

- This, Marina, wine. In my opinion, from the heart, from the heart. They all touched me to sew the buttons, but I was not given. On a living person to sew buttons - a bad sign, right?

- What buttons? - Marina did not understand anything.

- You see, Marina, the laundry, has - of course - its advantages ... But the trouble: having reached the stiffness of the collars and cuffs, they are not them - cars purchased from foreign states for frantic currency amounts - they break buttons ... So, these lovely women were tanking together to sew the buttons, crippled by the currency machine.

- Where is the cloak? - asked Marina.

- What kind of cloak? - asked Lesha. - There was no cloak. There was no and no! True, comrade taxi driver ... - Lesha read the name of the taxi driver on the front shield: - Comrade A.N. Sviridov?

“This is my shiftman A.N. Sviridov,” said the taxi driver amiably, “and I - Tolya.”

“And I am Lesha,” Lesha introduced himself. -And she is Marina, a famous test pilot. I hope to call you too much a surname. Travels incognito ...

Marina sat in the back seat, hiding in a corner, was silent, and the driver, while driving, let some fun music along the transistor-rode well. Lesha did not say a word anymore, did not turn around.

So to the station and they blackened, unfolded very cleverly - right at the entrance.

The train was, there were no tickets.

“There are no tickets,” they told them at the checkout, “no, understand?”

“We are any,” Lesha asked. - Is there on the roof?

- There is nothing.

“Comrade,” Marina intervened (she has already recovered several), “and soft?”

“There is nothing,” the woman answered them not at all irritably. - The train of the world - all tickets.

“We are also for the world,” said Lesha, but somehow already dull. - Honestly, and here is Marina ... She - please ...

And yet they left.

True, desperate, almost quarreling (Marina left, Lesha caught up with her, and it was too late, and in the station restaurant, where it was possible to wait out to better times and circumstances, they no longer let her go, and in general they didn’t let her go anywhere, where you could sit calmly, but stand up at the buffet, where they poured hot coffee, they could, but they can do it, but standing, but standing, but standing and standing, but standing and standing and standing and standing and stand Marya was especially tired, and somehow they managed to set themselves on a long bench, where they had slept, dinner, read, dozed, talked different visiting people-from all over the country, judging by their clothes, by dialects, in rash to the circumstances of the station and other inconveniences, and Marina and Lesha somehow settled down among them and did not even interfere with them, but they were even a place to them. They gave in to, so several ones moved away. A knife) two excellent apples, so huge, snow -white that it did not seem, but in fact, these apples radiated light and were so fresh, mature that they easily broke in half, spread an extraordinary aroma around, and how they crunched, these apples. And as they looked at how they crunched, this bearded owner, obviously, of a huge garden, where these fruits grew in some Chernihiv region or in the Lipetsk Territory, which, as you know, is also famous for apples, and Lesha, in order not to lose communication, asked the beard where he was going.

“In N-SK,” said the bearded man. - And you?

- We? - asked Lesha. - We ... do you want wine?

“Perhaps,” said the bearded man. - And what kind of wine? And the hostess does not mind?

“The mistress,” said Marina. - The mistress, when I eat, even at night, she is kind. So get down. And I will sleep if you do not mind.

And she lay down.

And Lesha covered her with a quilted jacket of a bearded man.

- Wife? - asked the bearded man when they drank.

“Ask her,” said Lesha. - I have a longing.

“Shut up,” said Marina from the quilted jacket.

- Here you go. And you can’t talk, ”Lesha sighed. - Yearning.

“Oh,” Marina got up. - Come out of here!

- Where? - surprised Lesha. - We are sitting, everything is fine.

- Went. I came up with.

“But the comrade is also going to N-SK,” said Lesha, “let's get it.”

“It may well be,” said Marina, getting up. - Went. Thanks for the knife and so on.

And yet they left.

The train was actually a train of the world. Such trains are why: friendliness prevails.

Nevertheless, you need to present tickets.

-Are you talking in any language? - Andrei asked, while they walked in a crowd of foreign delegates and escorting comrades. - Well, in the amount of secondary or higher school?

“With a dictionary,” Marina yawned, but she was determined. - You keep silent the main thing. We have no things, and - be silent.

On the platform they already sang “Evenings near Moscow”. Lesha joined the singing, escorting. Marina watched with surprise how he inspiredly said something to a man of a clearly Spanish species, then he made a speech-a short, in some strange language, then took Marina by the hand and resolutely led to the carriage. They were not asked for a ticket.

Read the full text of the script in the magazine " The Art of Cinema ".