“Get out of here, you pig!” - said the wife. “Get out of here, you pig!” - said the schoolgirl daughter. I found out about this much later. But in the morning at the planning meeting I did not recognize this athletic, very friendly man. Over the course of two weekends, he became haggard, hunched over, and it seemed to me that gray hair was shining... I have never seen such a transformation of a person in such a short moment... Now one could say a metaphor - the man’s Soul turned black. But he was silent, not a word, not a sound, no feelings... Only he worked that day even more carefully than usual. Leonid is thirty. Works as a top-level installer. Doesn’t drink (at all), doesn’t smoke, studies part-time at the institute…. Life was good. He earned good money and was the breadwinner of the family. I received an apartment in turn as a valuable specialist, and everything would be fine... But it’s the dashing nineties... Nobody needs the proletariat and its services, the directors of organizations who suddenly became capitalists pay themselves first of all... What about the rest? The rest have a little time to accept the new reality and find a market niche in it! Everything else doesn’t matter... My wife works in the service sector, cash every day, spoils my daughter with Snickers every day and scolds my dad... Then he appeared! On the cherry eight and in a very original manner he made an offer: “I don’t have a cooperative, I can’t offer you anything other than sex! (but gave money).” And it started spinning... From the beginning, you already knew the end of this story... But this is not the end... Men know how to solve problems, even in such situations... An excellent garage is exchanged for a ruined house without heating. A used Zhiguli car turns into a taxi... Favorite job? Institute? This is not the main thing now! After all, you need to pay alimony... And survive! Men know how to deal with the material world. Gas heating appears in the house, the car is now a used Ford... Sometimes he is surrounded by beautiful girls, but this is, so to speak, a feature of the times. Isn’t it love? Next to his house there are five-story panel buildings... And she lives there! Lena! Gorgeous! Good girl! Educated and with the prospect of real career growth! And her schoolboy son. The meeting was accidental! You will believe in an accident! But I don’t, I don’t! Once Leonid gave her a lift from the bus station to his area and for some reason didn’t take the money? He blushed, got confused in the explanations... Well, I basically finished my shift, and I live here next to way... Forgive me, but in general I cannot take money from you, and the trip is short... How they met, I learned much later by accident from his story... And he told a strange story and the essence of it is this. She came to his house, cooked food, fed the dog, stayed with him for an hour or two and went home... According to him, this has been going on for four years now... What else was interesting? They didn’t quarrel, didn’t share power, he didn’t come to her house, she did not demand that he be in a relationship with her... And regarding money, everyone lived only on their own. They did not make any plans for the future! (And how can one live without a future obligatory for a couple?) But they had only the present - here and now... It is possible that if the present is “OK”, then in life there is no place for the past and the future is nothing more than a mirage! But one day her son - the teenager asked: “Uncle Lenya, can you fight?” A good question for a freestyle wrestling student and a former sailor... Three or four times a week, Leonid began taking the boy to freestyle wrestling training with Uncle Magomed... Probably I I don’t know everything, but Uncle Magomed still paid special attention to his friend’s son... Or maybe the boy just had talent... And one day he asked: “Uncle, Lenya, can I call you dad?” It was later that they began to live together , two beloved children appeared, and a future appeared... The future of children with dad and mom... Once I saw a couple of his friends say, a little with a hint of his “ex,”: “Lenya, run home, you have a young wife!” We’ll hand over the object without you!” And I saw nothing except.