Фотография, на которой меня нет

V derevenskuu shkolu priezjaet fotograf. Eto sobietie neveroiatnoe: nikogda takogo ne bielo. Fotografa poselili v luchshuu izbu, detei prichesali, vse chistoe prigotovili, no odin iz rebiatishek nakanune katalsia s drugom v karere snejnom, da tak, chto razbil ego starcheskii radikulit. Sam idti ne mojet, a babushke ego na rukah ne otnesti. . . Rasskaz — realniei, iz jizni samogo Viktora Astafeva, vpletaushego svou nelegkuu sudbu v biografiu velikoi Rodinie.

A photographer arrives at the village school. This event is incredible: it has never happened before. The photographer was put in the best hut, the children were combed, everything was clean, but one of the children rode with a friend in the snow quarry the day before, so much so that he suffered from senile sciatica. He can't walk by himself, and his grandmother can't carry him in her arms . . . The story is real, from the life of Viktor Astafyev himself, who weaves his difficult fate into the biography of his great Motherland.