Finally, the long-awaited summer of 1981 came, and with it the hot, well, just very hot time of graduation examinations. Here, I believe, it's time to say a few warm words about my dear and ardently beloved teachers of the 47th school, which I, truly, owe everything I have in this life!
The teacher of mathematics Vera Gavrilovna Krasnov (to my great regret I recently found out that she was dead) taught mathematics in my class from grades 5 to 10. She lived with her husband and adopted daughter in the neighboring porch of our house. It was a very affable, tall, slender woman with the kind face of Saint Matrona of Moscow and a very friendly attitude to people. Quite recently, in 2008, in Moscow, I learned from my mother Sergey Novikov Tamara Semenovna that Vera Gavrilovna always loved me almost with maternal love. I, of course, felt this and understood that it was not for nothing that this wonderful woman for five years did not call me to the mathematics board, taking care of my mental health, and at the end of the 10th grade I did everything so that I had a "good" algebra in the certificate And geometry instead of a legitimate "triple". The matter is that since childhood absolutely exact sciences have not been given me, and Vera Gavrilovna, of course, immediately understood this. And the wisdom of this woman consisted in the fact that she calmly accepted this fact, not arranging a scene of jealousy for her subject, as the young physicist constantly did, believing that I was ignoring her subject, giving preference to other academic disciplines. The problem was also that I always shone in all the subjects of the humanitarian cycle, which, of course, gave me some reason to think so. But no (now I can say it at the top of my voice), this woman was deeply mistaken - I was hopelessly stupid for the natural sciences, and when it came to trigonometry, in general turned into an idiotic soldier Svejk. Already Sergei Novikov, a born teacher, hastily promised to my mother, tried to do something in this direction, especially on the eve of the final exams, but he hopelessly waved his hand with the words: "Well, you, my friend, and the dumbass!" Of course, wise Vera Gavrilovna, the Kingdom of Heaven, did the very best that was possible in this situation, protecting me from public appearances and demonstrating my "extraordinary" mathematical abilities, but at the same time she turned me into a hostage to the situation - it cost her only To abolish and change to the teacher, as the journal in my graph on algebra and geometry instantly began to dazzle with "deuces". So there was no question of moving our family to another city before graduation - I really risked to remain in the new school without a certificate of secondary education. The second, dear to me, the person I want to talk about is Elza Grigorievna Rain, our class teacher, teacher of the Russian language and literature, who has been unchanged for a long and happy 6 years. Elsa Grigorevna was a purebred German, who was resettled in Kazakhstan from the Volga region during the Great Patriotic War. Our daughter Lilya also studied in our class - elegant, like a porcelain doll, always neat, in a snow-white apron, with a constant blush on the plump cheeks. The nature of the mother, and her daughter was God grant to everyone! They were very friendly, sincerely friendly to people, nice women, always ready to help everyone and everything. From the very beginning, Elsa Grigoryevna and I had mutual sympathy, which over the years only grew stronger and grew into almost a kindred affection. Elsa Grigorevna was an excellent teacher: for every lesson she, in German pedantically, very carefully prepared, each time coming up with something something to interest us. In my memory, such a remarkable lesson on literature in the 6th grade was cut. Elza Grigorievna with great feeling told us about the most amazing in the World History of Art icon Andrei Rublev "Holy Trinity". "Guys, look, this is amazing! The whole icon abounds in animals, and in fact the Byzantine school of iconography, to which Andrei Rublev belonged, was categorically forbidden to draw animals. You see, above the third Angel on the right is depicted a lizard, as if clinging to a rock, in it we see a bear with a raised muzzle, and in a bear - a howling dog. What Andrei Rublev meant to say is that none of the experts in the field of iconography can answer this question. In the lower left part of the icon, look - right on the frame, you can see the handle of a saber or dagger, and under it -
