On August 12, 18 **, the ten-year-old Nikolenka Irteniev wakes up on the third day after her birthday at seven in the morning. After the morning toilet, the teacher Karl Ivanitch leads Nikolenka and his brother Volodya to greet their mother, who is pouring tea in the living room, and her father, who is giving orders to the clerk in his office.
Nikolenka feels in herself a pure and clear love for her parents, he admires them, making accurate observations for himself: “... in one smile is what is called the beauty of the face: if a smile adds charm to the face, then it is beautiful; if she does not change him, then the face is ordinary; if it spoils it, then it is bad. " For Nikolenka, mother’s face is beautiful, angelic. The father, by virtue of his seriousness and severity, seems to the child a mysterious, but undeniably handsome man who "is liked by everyone, without exception."
The father announces to the boys his decision - tomorrow he will take them with him to Moscow. All day: both studying in classes under the supervision of Karl Ivanovich, upset by the news, and the hunt for the father to take the children, and the meeting with the holy fool, and the last games during which Nikolenka feels something like her first love for Katya, - all this is accompanied by a sad and sad sense of impending farewell to their home. Nikolenka recalls the happy time spent in the village, courtyard people, devotedly devoted to their family, and the details of the life lived here appear before him vividly, in all the contradictions that his childhood consciousness is trying to reconcile.
The next day, at twelve o'clock, a stroller and a chaise stand at the entrance. Everyone is busy with preparations for the road, and Nikolenka is especially acutely aware of the inconsistency of the importance of the last minutes before parting and the general fuss that reigns in the house. The whole family gathers in the living room around the round table. Nikolenka hugs her mother, cries and thinks of nothing but her grief. Having reached the big road, Nikolenka waves her mother’s handkerchief, continues to cry and notices how tears give him “pleasure and joy”. He thinks of mommy, and all the memories of Nikolenka are imbued with love for her.
For a month now, father and children have been living in Moscow in their grandmother’s house. Although Karl Ivanitch is also taken to Moscow, new teachers teach children. In the name day of her grandmother, Nikolenka writes her first poems, which are read in public, and Nikolenka is especially worried about this moment. He meets new people: Princess Kornakova, Prince Ivan Ivanovich, Ivins' relatives - three boys, almost the same age as Nikolenka. When communicating with these people, Nikolenka develops his main qualities: natural subtle observation, inconsistency in his own feelings. Nikolenka often looks herself in the mirror and cannot imagine that someone can love him. Before going to bed, Nikolenka shares her experiences with her brother Volodya, admits that she loves Sonya Valakhina, and in his words all the child’s genuine passion of his nature is manifested. He admits: "... when I lie and think about her, God knows why it is done sadly and terribly want to cry."
Six months later, the father receives a letter from the village from the mother that she, during a walk, caught a cold, fell ill, and her strength is melting every day. She asks to come and bring Volodya and Nikolenka. Without hesitation, father and sons leave Moscow. The most terrible forebodings are confirmed - the last six days, mommy does not get up. She can’t even say goodbye to the children - her open eyes can’t see anything anymore ... Mama dies in terrible suffering that same day, only having to ask for blessings for the children: “Mother of God, do not leave them!”
The next day, Nikolenka sees her mother in the grave and cannot reconcile herself with the thought that this yellow and waxy face belongs to the one he loved most in life. The peasant girl, who is brought to the deceased, screams terrified in horror, screams and runs out of the room Nikolenka, struck by bitter truth and despair before the incomprehensibility of death.
Three days after the funeral, the whole house moves to Moscow, and with the death of her mother, Nikolenka ends the happy time of childhood. Arriving later in the village, he always comes to the grave of his mother, not far from whom Natalya Savishnu, faithful until the last days, was buried.
