To avoid embarrassment, she agreed to live with a hunchbacked man… But when he whispered his request in her ear, she knelt…

“Vasja, is it you, my dear?” “Yes, Mama, it’s me! Forgive me for being so late…”

His mother’s voice, trembling with worry and tiredness, came from the dimly lit hallway. She stood there, wearing an old dressing gown and holding a lantern, as if she had been waiting for him all her life.

“My darling, where have you been until so late? The sky is already black, the stars shine like the eyes of forest animals…” “Mama, Dima, and I were reviewing our lessons… I lost track of time. Forgive me for not warning you. You sleep so badly…” “Or maybe you were with a girl?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You’re in love, aren’t you?” “Mama, what nonsense!” Vasja laughed, taking off his boots. I’m not the kind of boy they wait for under the garden gate. Besides, who would want someone like me? Hunchbacked, with the arms of a monkey, and the head of a dandelion…

A spark of pain crossed his mother’s eyes. She didn’t see a monster in him, but the son she had raised alone, in misery, cold, and loneliness.

Vasja was never handsome. He was barely five feet tall, with a hunched back, his long arms almost touching his knees. His head was large, framed by messy curls reminiscent of dandelions. As a child, he was called “the little monkey,” “the forest goblin,” “the wonder of nature.” He grew up to become more than just a man.

At ten, he and his mother, Galina Petrovna, moved to this kolkhoz farm, fleeing shame and poverty: his father had been imprisoned, his mother had abandoned him. Now it was just the two of them left, facing the world.

“That boy won’t last long,” old Tataia murmured, looking at him with contempt. “He’ll sink into the ground and leave only a shadow.”

But Vasja didn’t disappear. He clung to life like a root to stone. He grew, worked tirelessly. And Galina—a woman with a heart of steel and oven-worn hands—fed the entire village. Ten hours a day, year after year, until she collapsed.

When she became truly ill, Vasja became her son, daughter, doctor, and nanny. He cleaned the floor, prepared porridge, read aloud from old magazines. And when, one silent morning, she died, he stood by the coffin, his fists clenched, unable to cry—he had no more tears left.

The village didn’t forget him: neighbors brought food and warm clothes. Then, little by little, they began to come to him. First, the radio-loving boys: Vasja repaired radios, adjusted antennas, and soldered wires. His hands, though clumsy in appearance, were made of gold.

Then came the girls. First, to drink tea and taste the jam. Then they stayed longer, laughing and talking.

One day, he noticed that Arina, one of them, was always the last to leave.

“Aren’t you in a hurry?” he asked her one evening, after everyone had already left. “I have nowhere else to go,” she replied gently, her eyes lowered. “My stepmother hates me, my three brothers are cruel and drunk, my father drinks, and I’m a burden… I’m staying with a friend, but it won’t be forever… I don’t feel alone here.”

Vasja looked at her, and for the first time in his life, he realized that someone might need him.

“Come live with me,” he said simply. “My mother’s room is empty. You’ll be the mistress of the house. For my part… I won’t ask you for anything.” Not a word, not a look. Just stay.

Gossip soon spread: “A hunchback and a pretty girl? How ridiculous!” But time passed. Arina cleaned, cooked soup, smiled. And Vasja worked, silent, attentive.

When he had a son, the whole village marveled: “Who does he look like?” they asked. Little Denis looked at Vasja and said, “Dad!”

Vasja, who never thought of being a father, suddenly felt a sun rising in his chest. He taught Denis how to fix electrical outlets, fish, and read. And Arina would tell him: “You should find a wife, Vasja. You are not alone.” “You are my sister,” he would reply. “First, I will marry you off to a good man. Then… we’ll see.”

An honest young man from the neighboring village arrived. They married, and Arina went with him.