Фотография, на которой меня нет

V derevenskui͡u shkolu priezzhaet fotograf. Ėto sobytie neveroi͡atnoe: nikogda takogo ne bylo. Fotografa poselili v luchshui͡u izbu, deteĭ prichesali, vse chistoe prigotovili, no odin iz rebi͡atishek nakanune katalsi͡a s drugom v karʹere snezhnom, da tak, chto razbil ego starcheskiĭ radikulit. Sam idti ne mozhet, a babushke ego na rukakh ne otnesti. . . Rasskaz - realʹnyĭ, iz zhizni samogo Viktora Astafʹeva, vpletai͡ushchego svoi͡u nelegkui͡u sudʹbu v biografii͡u velikoĭ Rodiny.

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.