Shorts stories written by Valeriy Shcerbakov, based upon his life, translated by Valeriy Shcerbakov and James McVay.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Because of Pa
Women over here retire at 55. My wife is over this age now, and gets a pension. New calculations showed that her pension will be lower than we expected, for the first check was for a month and a half. She will get a rough equivalent of 100 dollars. Maybe, a little less.
I have to work a further 5 years to get my pension (Men retire at 60, if they live to be that old). I'm afraid of this moment, because my pension will be just as small as my wife's if not smaller. I want to work as long as I live and die the moment I feel I can't work any more. Because living on that pittance would be impossible and I don't think our children will help us. They are so selfish! I'm different. I'm prepared to help Mom. But the problem is that Pa is there. He'll holler "Fuck off!" the moment he sees me. What then should I do?
I'd like to earn a bit on the side, but I am so busy with my principal work, that I have neither time nor strength for searching odd jobs, to say nothing of doing them... So it goes. I wonder how I did manage to write those stories of mine being as busy as I am. I've notices that the skin on my hands becomes dry and wrinkled. These are the signs of age. We say in Russian that all of the man's wrinkles are nothing to worry about except those on his tool :-)
Getting along all one one's own is financially difficult. Two make it easier. The more the merrier... Talked to Mom last night. She says she can hardly walk. She is 76. Pa is 82. I could try to live with them in the same apartment, talking my laptop with me. But Pa.... Oh, he's impossible...Our relationship broke off roughly in the early 1970s. He never cared for my concerns and problems. I wonder if I shall ever describe him in my stories.
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