"Valentin Katayev. The Cottage in the Steppe (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

They were migrating somewhere together with their children, copper
coffee-pots and large wicker crates filled with chickens. With great
difficulty Petya made his way to the top deck, to the fresh sea air, where
it took him quite a while to recover.
The first- and second-class passengers lived according to a strictly
prescribed routine: at 8 a.m. the middle-aged stewardess in a starched cap
entered their cabin, said, "Buon giorno," and set a tray with coffee and
rolls on the little table; at noon and again at 6 p.m. a waiter with a white
napkin tucked under his arm would glide noiselessly down the corridor,
knocking at every cabin door and rattling oft" in a truly commedia dell'arte
manner, stressing his r's. "Pr-rego, signor-ri, mangiar-r-re!" which meant,
"Dinner is being served."
First-class passengers had the additional privilege of five o'clock tea
and a late supper. But the Bachei family, belonging to that golden mean of
society that usually travelled second-class, failed to qualify.
The first and second classes had separate dining-rooms. The first mate
presided at the second-class table d'hote. The captain, who was inaccessible
to ordinary mortals and therefore shrouded in mystery, presided in the
first-class dining-room. Even Pavlik, who was such a pusher, saw him not
more than two or three times during the whole trip.
The first mate, on the other hand, was la jovial fellow and, judging by
his shiny purple-pink Roman nose, a drunkard as well. He was the life and
soul of the company. He pinched Pavlik gently under the table, calling him
"little Russky," he was attentive in passing the ladies cheese and filling
the gentlemen's wineglasses, and his snow-white, stiffly starched tunic
rustled pleasantly as he turned now left, now right, bestowing his
open-hearted smiles all round.
For dinner there were real Italian macaroni with tomato sauce, a second
course of roast meat and fagioli, which turned out to be beans, and for
dessert, Messina oranges with twigs and leaves attached, wrinkled
purple-green figs, and fresh almonds that did not necessitate a nutcracker,
but were easily cut with a table knife right through the thick green outer
husk and the still soft inner shell. Being served by a waiter somewhat
embarrassed them. He would hold the platter to the left of them, balancing
it on his finger-tips, and they had to help themselves. From a sense of
modesty they always took much less than they would have liked to.
Vasily Petrovich was shocked and furious when he found out that wine
went with the dinner-one bottle for three passengers. True, it was very weak
and rather sour Italian wine, and the passengers mixed it with water half
and half, but, none the less, Vasily Petrovich was outraged. The first time
he saw a large bottle without any label placed before his setting he was so
indignant that his beard shook, and he felt like shouting, "Take this brew
away!" but he controlled himself in time and simply moved the bottle away.
Later, however, when he tasted it, he realized that the steamship
company had no intention of making drunkards out of its second-class
passengers by serving them strong, expensive wines, and so allowed the boys
to colour their drinking-water with a few drops, in order not to waste it
completely, as it had been included in the price of the tickets.
This daily water-colouring was the high light of the dinner-hour for
Petya and Pavlik.