In the story " Kaleidoscope"The story is told that in space, not very far from the Earth, there was a depressurization and destruction of a space rocket. Subsequently, the entire crew of the ship was thrown out into the void of space. Everyone was far from each other and could not do anything. Each astronaut was left to himself, his thoughts, his consciousness. The only way to communicate with each other was by radio, which did not last very long. And so each in his own way accepted all this, his helplessness and his fleeting death. As a result, the story ends with the fact that each of them died in his own way, separating from the others ...
It was just a plot. But upon careful reading, even without much reading, you understand that this is not just some small story about the space wanderings of people in space, this is also the most profound philosophical thought of the author. " Kaleidoscope”is not just a story, it is a story about the eternal. Here you can see the confrontation and awareness, and the concept of what Good and Evil are. Understanding the value - love, friendship and life.
Let's go deeper, starting from the beginning. Here, the Kaleidoscope is expressed as the Cosmos. A beautiful serene, in its own way, world filled with colors and patterns. Those astronauts were also particles of this beauty, they were part of it all, but they were unable to change anything.
A kaleidoscope, I also think, can be compared with time, the author himself incites us to this. A kaleidoscope, like a huge long time, our life, with its colors, sometimes dull, sometimes bright, sometimes even dark as darkness. And sometimes - CLICK! And everything has changed dramatically, everything has become the other way around, one thing becomes another, bright - dark, dark - bright. All this is uncontrollable, everything seems to come and go by itself, and we just have to watch it all and be part of this rainbow, trying to resist and adapt. People try to extinguish these colors themselves, and ignite the extinct ones. In the story, the Kaleidoscope is a boundless, layered, multidimensional, bizarrely delightful picture. How different everything is in this world ...
But this is only the smallest thing that can be seen. The most important thought of the author brings us to the fundamental question, which, in turn, the astronaut had to think about: “Are we all equal when we die?” .
From a biological standpoint, the answer is yes. After all, we are born, we live, we become obsolete, we die. And at the beginning and at the end, in essence, everyone is equal: there was no man - he appeared, there was a man - he disappeared. Then there are also a number of questions to which people are constantly looking for answers: “Why look for the meaning of life if in the end there will be nothing?”, “Why achieve something if in the end we will be equal compared to each other?” and most importantly, “Why strive for something, if that body lying in a coffin, or that dust, impartially lying in the ground, will no longer care?”. The kaleidoscope story helps to think and reason about this, using a very simple example of space, man and inaction to this, giving us and the astronaut time to think about these issues.
Hollis, the astronaut who is the central figure in the story, thinks about it, but doesn't realize it at first. Immediately he asserted to himself that his colleague and he were equal: they were in space, they were dying, they would soon die. Therefore, there is no reason to regret. But he was wrong only in one thing, Lesper did not want that he was dying, he was sorry only that it all ends and he will not be able to continue to enjoy life. He managed a lot, he achieved a lot, he will die with a sense of satisfaction with life, he will die with joy in his soul and peace in his mind. Hollis was amazed by this. He was not familiar with this, he went with the flow all his life, did like everyone else, and it was good ... but why he was so sorry to die, why he dies with a feeling of regret, he did not understand.
Why did he regret his life? And why do people, in principle, regret a lot before they die? Why reproach yourself if in a minute it will be all the same?
First you need to understand: Why death at all? Wouldn't it be better if it didn't exist?
No matter how paradoxical it may sound, but to measure is the engine of life. What makes us live. Without death there would be no concept - To live. It would just be existence. If people lived indefinitely, then people would live without any purpose. After all, why strive for something or rush somewhere, if there is more than enough time. Why leave a mark on yourself in history or in the minds of people, if you already exist and you are. You can cite a bunch of facts about the fact that death is an integral and important part of the completion of life.
I think that every person does not die with a feeling of regret only when he has happy moments that he can remember, that he is proud of and can rejoice in, when he can reconcile and accept death. Indeed, many and even very many people do not think about the good moments in life, about the fact that they will be remembered, or will try to remember them at the end of the journey. The author shows that a person's happiness is not in work, not in studies, not in creativity, and not even in achievements, but in emotions. Often people put a stigma on themselves, someone who has been working all his life, forgetting to live. And Happiness, in turn, is what satisfies a person morally. After all, Happiness is neither an object nor a goal, Happiness is a state of mind. Everyone has their own values. Some are happy when they have achieved their intended goals, some when they left at least something behind (an object, thought, idea) and the knowledge that they will remember it, some when there is faith (in someone or something )... And as the proverb says « Happiness is in us, not around us » , because everyone has their own happiness, their own moral values on which happiness depends. People can be satisfied throughout life, taking it as true happiness. BUT, IN MY OPINION, TRUE HAPPINESS IS ONLY WHEN A PERSON DOES NOT REGRET THAT HE DIES. Happy may regret the unfinished, but not that he dies.
Hollis died with hope in the good that he wanted and hoped to do, that when his mortal body would penetrate the atmosphere and eventually burn out, that at least someone would notice him in the role of a "shooting star" and rejoice, admire the beautiful landscape. After all, why do you need money, objects that please you physically, why these material goods, if you no longer need them and no longer have value, if you can do good to another. Reading the story to the end and thinking about what a person regrets before death, we can conclude that Hollis, an astronaut of a broken space rocket, resigned himself, believed in good, and in the good he did, and died happy.
An explosion with a huge can opener ripped open the body of the rocket. People were thrown into space like a dozen fluttering silvery fish. They were scattered in the black ocean, and the ship, disintegrating into a million fragments, flew on, like a swarm of meteors in search of the lost Sun.Berkeley, Berkeley, where are you?
— Wood, Wood!
— Captain!
— Hollis, Hollis, I'm Stone.
Stone, I'm Hollis. Where are you?
- I do not know. Can you understand here? Where is the top? I'm falling. You know, I'm falling.
They fell, fell, like stones fall into a well. They were swept away like twelve sticks thrown up by gigantic force. And now only voices remained from people - dissimilar voices, disembodied and frenzied, expressing varying degrees of horror and despair.
- We are separated from each other.
And so it was. Hollis, spinning slowly, realized this. Understood and to some extent reconciled. They parted to go their separate ways, and nothing could unite them. Each was protected by a pressurized suit and a glass helmet that draped a pale face, but they did not have time to put on their power plants. With small engines, they would be like rescue boats in space, they could save themselves, save others, get together, finding one, the other, the third, and now an island of people has turned out, and some plan has been devised ... And without a power mounted on the shoulder, they are inanimate meteors, and each has its own separate inevitable fate.
About ten minutes passed before the first fright was replaced by a metallic calmness. And so the cosmos began to intertwine unusual voices on a huge black loom; they crossed, scurried, creating a farewell pattern.
Hollis, I'm Stone. How long can we still talk to each other?
“It depends on the speed with which you fly away from me, and I away from you.
- Something about an hour.
“Yeah, something like that,” Hollis replied thoughtfully and calmly.
“But what happened anyway?” he asked after a minute.
The rocket exploded, that's all. It happens with rockets.
- In which direction are you flying?
Looks like I'm going to fall on the moon.
- And I'm going to Earth. Home to the old Earth at a speed of sixteen thousand kilometers per hour. I'll burn like a match.
Hollis thought about it with a strange detachment. It was as if he saw himself from the side and watched him fall, fall in space, watched as dispassionately as the fall of the first snowflakes in winter, a long time ago.
The rest were silent, thinking about the fate that brought them this: you fall, you fall, and nothing can be changed. Even the captain was silent, because he could not give any order, could not come up with any plan to make everything the same.
— Oh, how long to fly down. Oh, how long to fly, how long, long, long to fly down, - someone's voice said. - I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, fly down for a long time ...
- Who is it?
- I do not know.
“Must be Stimson. Stimson, is that you?
- How long, long, no strength. Lord, no strength.
Stimson, I'm Hollis. Stimson, can you hear me?
A pause, and everyone falls, and all apart.
— Stimson.
- Yes. Finally answered.
— Stimson, pull yourself together, we are all equally hard.
“I don't want to be here. Anywhere but here.
“We can still be found.
“They must find me, they must find me,” said Stimson. “It’s not true, what is happening now is not true.
“Bad dream,” someone said.
- Shut up! Hollis shouted.
And for the first time Hollis felt the unbearability of his situation. He choked with rage, because at that moment he wanted more than anything in the world to get even with Applegate. He's dreamed of getting even for years, and now it's too late, Applegate is just a voice in headphones.
They fell, fell, fell...
Two of them began to scream, as if only now they realized the whole horror, the whole nightmare of what was happening. Hollis saw one of them: he swam past him, very close, without ceasing to scream, scream ...
- Stop it!
Very close, you can reach out with your hand, and everything screams. He won't shut up. He will scream for a million kilometers while the radio is working, he will poison everyone's soul, he will not let them talk to each other.
Hollis held out his hand. It will be better this way. He tensed and reached for it. He grabbed his ankle and began to pull himself along the body until he reached the head. The cosmonaut was screaming and feverishly paddling with his arms, as if he were drowning. The scream filled the entire universe.
One way or another, Hollis thought. “Either the Moon, or the Earth, or meteors will kill him, why delay?”
He shattered his glass helmet with his iron fist. The scream choked. Hollis pushed off the body, letting it tumble further, fall further down its path.
Falling, falling, falling into space, Hollis and everyone else gave themselves up to a long, endless spin and fall through the silence.
Hollis, are you still alive?
Hollis didn't say anything, but felt his face heat up.
It's Applegate again.
“What about you, Applegate?
- Let's talk, shall we? There's nothing else to do anyway.
The captain intervened.
- Enough. We must think of some way out.
— Hey, captain, would you be silent, huh? Applegate said.
- What I heard. I didn’t give a damn about your rank, you are now sixteen thousand kilometers away, and let’s not make a laughing stock of ourselves. As Stimson said: we still have a long way to go down.
— Applegate!
- Oh, shut up. I declare a one-man revolt. I have nothing to lose, not a damn thing. Your ship was crappy and you were a bad captain, and I hope you break your neck when you hit the moon.
- I command you to be quiet!
- Come on, come on, give orders. Applegate smiled sixteen thousand miles away. The captain is silent. Applegate continued, "So where did we stop, Hollis?" Ah, I remembered. I can't stand you either. Yes, you yourself know about it. You've known for a long time.
Hollis clenched his fists helplessly.
“Listen to what I have to say,” Applegate persisted. - I'll make you happy. After all, I arranged it so that you were not hired by the Rocket Company five years ago.
A meteor flashed by. Hollis looked down: his left hand was gone. Blood spattered. Instantly, all the air was expelled from the suit. But there was still a reserve in his lungs, and Hollis managed to turn the lever at the left elbow with his right hand; cuff shrunk and closed the hole. It all happened so fast that he didn't have time to be surprised. As soon as the leak stopped, the air in the suit returned to normal. And the blood that gushed out so violently stopped when he turned the lever even more strongly - it turned out to be a tourniquet.
All this took place in the midst of oppressive silence. The rest chatted. One of them, Lesper, you know, was talking about his wife on Mars, his wife on Venus, his wife on Jupiter, about his money, adventures, drinking, games and happy times. Chattered endlessly as they continued to fall. Flying towards death, he reminisced and was happy.
How strange it all is. Space, thousands of cosmic kilometers - and voices vibrate in the midst of space. No one is visible, only radio waves pulsate, excite people.
Are you mad, Hollis?
He didn't really get angry. The detachment returned, and he became an insensitive block of concrete, forever falling into nowhere.
“You've been climbing all your life, Hollis. And he couldn't understand what happened. And it was me who put the foot on you just before they kicked me out myself.
“That doesn't matter,” Hollis replied.
Quite right. All this has passed. When life has passed, it is like a flash of a movie frame, one moment on the screen; for a moment, all passions and prejudices condensed and formed a projection onto the cosmos, but before you had time to exclaim: “That day is happy, and that unfortunate one, this is an evil face, and that is kind,” the tape turned to ashes, and the screen went out.
Finding himself at the extreme boundary of his life and looking back, he regretted only one thing: he just wanted to live more. Maybe all the dying have the feeling that they have not lived? We didn’t have time to breathe properly, as everything has already flown by, the end? Does life seem so unbearably fleeting to everyone - or only to him, here, now, when there is only an hour or two left for reflection and reflection?
- Well, I lived to my heart's content. One wife on Mars, the second on Venus, the third on Jupiter. Everyone with money, everyone groomed me. He drank as much as he liked, once he lost twenty thousand dollars.
But now you're here, Hollis thought. “I didn’t have anything like that. In life I envied you, Lespert, until my days were numbered, envied your success with women, your joys. I was afraid of women and went into space, but I myself dreamed about them and envied you with your women, money and violent joys. And now, when everything is over and I'm falling down, I don't envy you anything, because everything has passed, for you, for me, now it's like there never was anything. Bowing his head, Hollis shouted into the microphone:
“It's all gone, Lesper!
Silence.
“As if nothing happened, Lesper!”
— Hollis.
He's a scoundrel. Meanness entered his soul, the senseless meanness of a dying man. Applegate hurt him, now he's trying to hurt someone himself. Applegate and the cosmos both hurt him.
“Now you're here, Lesper. Everything is gone. And there was absolutely nothing, right?
“When it’s all over, it’s like it never happened. How is your life better than mine now? Now, that's what's important. Are you better than me? Well?
— Yes, better!
— What is it?
I have my memories, I remember! Lesper cried out somewhere far, far away, indignantly clutching his precious memories with both hands to his chest.
And he's right. Hollis felt as if he had been doused with cold water. Lesper is right. Memories and desires are not the same thing. He only has dreams of what he would like to do, Lesper has memories of what has been fulfilled and accomplished. The consciousness of this turned into a slow, subtle torture, tormented Hollis mercilessly, inexorably.
- And what do you get from this? he called to Lesper. — Now then? What is the joy of what was and what was overgrown? You are in the same position as me.
“I have peace of mind,” said Lespere. - I took mine. And did not hit the end in meanness, like you.
- Meanness? Hollis turned the word over on his tongue.
For as long as he could remember, he had never been mean, never dared to be mean. Not otherwise, saving up all these years for such an occasion. "Meanness". He pressed the word into the depths of his consciousness. He felt tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. Someone heard his voice intercepted.
“Don't freak out, Hollis.
Actually, it's funny. I had just given advice to others, to Stimson, I felt courage in myself, taking it at face value, and this was just a shock and - the detachment that is possible with shock. Now he was trying to cram into a few minutes the feelings he had suppressed for a lifetime.
“I understand, Hollis, what's on your mind,” came Lesper's fading voice, which was now thirty thousand kilometers away. - I'm not offenced.
“But aren't we equal, Lesper and I? he wondered. — Here, now? What has passed has ended, what is the joy of it now? And so the end came." However, he knew that he was simplifying: it was like trying to tell the difference between a living person and a corpse. The first has a spark that the second does not have, an emanation, something elusive.
So it is with Lesper: Lesper lived a full-blooded life, but he, Hollis, did not live for many years. They came to death by different paths, and if death is of different kinds, then their deaths, in all probability, will differ from each other, like day and night. Death, like life, has many different facets, and if you have already died once, why do you need the final death, once and for all, what kind of death awaits him now?
A second later, he discovered that his right foot had been cut clean off. Just laugh right now. All the air was out of the suit again. He quickly bent down: well, of course, blood, a meteor cut off his leg to the ankle. You can't say anything, this cosmic death has its own idea of humor. Cuts you apart like an invisible black butcher. Pain whirled around his head, and, trying not to lose consciousness, he tightened the lever on his knee, stopped the bleeding, restored air pressure, straightened up and continued to fall, fall - there was nothing else left.
— Hollis?
He nodded sleepily, weary of waiting for death.
- I thought. Heard what you said. It doesn't fit like that. What are we turning ourselves into? An unworthy death is obtained. We pour all the bile on each other. Are you listening, Hollis?
- I lied. Just now. Lied. I didn't give you a leg up. I don't know why I said that. Apparently, he wanted to hurt you. Exactly you. You and I have always competed. You see - as life is coming to an end, you are in a hurry to repent. It is evident that your evil caused me shame. Either way, I want you to know that I've been acting stupid too. In what I told you, not a penny of truth. And go to hell.
Hollis felt his heartbeat again. For five minutes it seemed to not work, but now the limbs began to come to life, to warm up. The shock passed, the attacks of rage, horror, loneliness also passed. As if he had just taken a cold shower, breakfast and a new day are ahead.
Thanks, Applegate.
— Not worth it. Keep your head up, you old rascal.
"Hey," Stone said.
- What do you want? Hollis called back across the vastness of space; Stone was his best friend on the ship.
“Caught in a meteor swarm, such pretty little asteroids.
— Meteors?
- These are probably the Myrmidons, they fly past Mars to Earth once every five years. It got me into the thick of things. Around like a huge kaleidoscope ... Here you have all the colors, sizes, shapes. Wow, what a beauty, this metal!
“I'm flying with them,” Stone said again. “They got me. What the hell!
He laughed.
Hollis strained his eyes, but saw nothing. Only large diamonds and sapphires, emerald nebulae and velvet ink of the cosmos, and the voice of the Almighty resounds between the crystal reflections. This is fabulous, amazing: together with a stream of meteors, Stone will rush somewhere behind Mars for many years and return to Earth every fifth year, for a million centuries it will either appear in the field of view of the planet, then disappear again. Stone and Myrmidons, eternal and imperishable, changeable and impermanent, like colors in a kaleidoscope - a long tube that you pointed at the sun and twisted as a child.
— Happy! Hollis called after fifty thousand miles.
"Don't be ridiculous," Stone said, and disappeared.
The stars are getting closer.
- Goodbye.
- Cheer up.
Farewell, Hollis. This is Applegate.
Numerous: "Goodbye." Jerky:
"Goodbye". The big brain was falling apart. Pieces of the brain that worked so wonderfully in the cranium of a rocketship hurtling through space were dying one by one; exhausted the meaning of their coexistence. And just as the body dies when the brain ceases to function, so does the spirit of the ship, and the weeks and months spent together, and everything that they meant to each other, everything came to an end. Applegate was now nothing more than a torn finger; cannot be succumbed, cannot be despised. The brain exploded, and the dead worthless fragments were scattered, you can’t collect it. The voices are silent, the whole cosmos is silent. Hollis fell alone.
They all found themselves alone. Their voices died, like an echo of the words of the Almighty, spoken and resounded in the starry abyss. There the captain flew to the moon, there the meteor swarm carried off Stone, there Stimson, there Applegate on the way to Pluto, there Smith, Turner, Underwood and all the rest; the glass pieces of the kaleidoscope, which had been an animated pattern for so long, were scattered in all directions.
"And I? Hollis thought. - What can I do? Is there anything else I can do to fill the horrendous emptiness of my life? With at least one good deed to make amends for the meanness that I have been accumulating for so many years, not suspecting that it lives in me! But after all, there is no one here except me, but is it possible to do a good deed alone? It is forbidden. Tomorrow evening I will enter the Earth's atmosphere."
“I will burn,” he thought, “and crumble to dust over all the continents. I will be useful. A little bit, but dust is dust, more land will be added.”
He fell quickly, like a bullet, like a stone, like an iron weight, renounced everything, completely renounced. No sadness, no joy in the soul, nothing, only the desire to do a good deed now that everything is over, a good deed that he alone will know about.
When I enter the atmosphere, Hollis thought, I'll burn up like a meteor.
“I wish I knew,” he said, “will anyone see me?”
The boy on the country road raised his head and exclaimed:
Look, mom, look! The star is falling!
A bright white star flew in the twilight sky of Illinois.
“Make a wish,” his mother said. - Make a wish.
Nora Gal, translation into Russian, 2012
Eksmo Publishing LLC, 2012
* * *
Translated by Nora Gal.
The rocket jolted and ripped open like a gigantic can opener had ripped open its side. The people thrown outside were fighting in the void with a dozen silvery fish. They were scattered in the sea of darkness, and the ship, shattered to smithereens, continued on its way - a million fragments, a flock of meteorites, rushing in search of the irretrievably lost Sun.
– Wood! Wood!
– Captain!
“Hollis, Hollis, it's me, Stone!”
"Stone, it's me, Hollis!" Where are you?
- I do not know. How should I know? Where is the top, where is the bottom? I'm falling. Dear God, I'm falling!
They fell. They fell like pebbles into a well. As if they were swept away by one powerful throw. They were no longer people, only voices - very different voices, disembodied, trembling, full of horror or resignation.
We are flying in different directions!
Yes, truth. Hollis, somersaulting through the void, realized it was true. Understood and somehow stupefied reconciled. They part, each has his own way, and nothing will ever unite them again. All of them are in hermetic suits, their pale faces are covered with transparent helmets, but no one has had time to put on a power device. With an energy device behind them, everyone would become a small lifeboat in space, then one could save oneself and come to the aid of others, get together, find each other; they would become a human island and come up with something. And so they are just meteorites, and each senselessly rushes towards its inevitable fate.
It must have been about ten minutes before the first attack of horror subsided and everyone was seized by a numb calm. The void - a huge dark loom - began to weave strange threads, voices converged, diverged, crossed, a clear pattern was determined.
Hollis, I'm Stone. How long can we talk on the radio?
- It depends on how fast you fly in your direction, and I - in mine. I think another hour.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Stone said dispassionately.
– What happened? Hollis asked a minute later.
“Our rocket exploded, that's all. It happens with rockets.
- In which direction are you flying?
Looks like I'm going to hit the moon.
- And I'm in the Earth. Returning to Mother Earth at ten thousand miles an hour. I'll burn like a match.
Hollis thought about it with startling detachment. It was as if he separated from his own body and watched how it falls, falls in the void, looked indifferently, from the side, as once, in time immemorial, in winter - at the first falling snowflakes.
The rest were silent and thought about what happened to them, and fell, fell - and could not change anything. Even the captain fell silent, because he did not know such a command, such a plan of action that could correct what had happened.
- Oh, how far to fall! How far to fall, far, far ... - someone's voice was heard. – I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, how far to fall…
- Who is it?
- I do not know.
Probably Stimson. Stimson, are you?
Far away, far away, I don't want to. Oh my God, I don't want that!
“Stimson, it's me, Hollis. Stimson, can you hear me?
Silence, they fall one by one, who goes where.
— Stimson!
Finally called back.
“Don't be upset, Stimson. We all got stuck in the same way.
- I don't like it here. I want to get out of here.
“Perhaps they will find us.
“Let them find me, let them find me,” said Stimson. “It’s not true, I don’t believe it, it couldn’t have happened.
“Yeah, it’s just a bad dream,” someone put in.
- Shut up! Hollis said.
"Come here and shut my throat!" suggested the same voice. It was Applegate. He laughed - even cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. "Come on, shut my throat!"
And Hollis felt for the first time how unimaginably powerless he was. Blind rage filled him, more than anything he wanted to get to Applegate. For many years he dreamed of getting to him, and now it's too late. Now Applegate is just a voice in a headset.
You fall, you fall, you fall...
And suddenly, as if only now the full horror of what had happened was revealed to them, two of those who were being carried away into space burst into a desperate scream. As in a nightmare, Hollis saw: one swims very close and yells, yells ...
- Stop!
It seemed that the screaming one could be reached by hand, it came out with an insane, inhuman scream. He will never stop. This cry will be heard for millions of miles, as far as radio waves reach, and will exhaust the soul of everyone, and they will not be able to talk to each other.
End of introductory segment.
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An explosion with a huge can opener ripped open the body of the rocket. People were thrown into space like a dozen fluttering silvery fish. They were scattered in the black ocean, and the ship, disintegrating into a million fragments, flew on, like a swarm of meteors in search of the lost Sun.
Berkeley, Berkeley, where are you?
Wood, Wood!
Captain!
Hollis, Hollis, I'm Stone.
Stone, I'm Hollis. Where are you?
Don't know. Can you understand here? Where is the top? I'm falling. You know, I'm falling.
They fell, fell, like stones fall into a well. They were swept away like twelve sticks thrown up by gigantic force. And now only voices remained from people - dissimilar voices, disembodied and frenzied, expressing varying degrees of horror and despair.
It takes us apart.
And so it was. Hollis, spinning slowly, realized this. Understood and to some extent reconciled. They parted to go their separate ways, and nothing could unite them. Each was protected by a pressurized suit and a glass helmet that draped a pale face, but they did not have time to put on their power plants. With small engines, they would be like rescue boats in space, they could save themselves, save others, get together, finding one, the other, the third, and now an island of people has turned out, and some plan has been devised ... And without a power mounted on the shoulder, they are inanimate meteors, and each has its own separate inevitable fate.
About ten minutes passed before the first fright was replaced by a metallic calmness. And so the cosmos began to intertwine unusual voices on a huge black loom; they crossed, scurried, creating a farewell pattern.
Hollis, I'm Stone. How long can we still talk to each other?
It depends on the speed with which you fly away from me, and I away from you.
Something about an hour.
Yes, something like that,” Hollis replied thoughtfully and calmly.
But what happened anyway? he asked after a minute.
The rocket exploded, that's all. It happens with rockets.
Which direction are you flying?
Looks like I'm going to fall on the moon.
And I'm flying to Earth. Home to the old Earth at a speed of sixteen thousand kilometers per hour. I'll burn like a match.
Hollis thought about it with a strange detachment. It was as if he saw himself from the side and watched him fall, fall in space, watched as impassively as the fall of the first snowflakes in winter, a long time ago.
The rest were silent, thinking about the fate that brought them this: you fall, you fall, and nothing can be changed. Even the captain was silent, because he could not give any order, could not come up with any plan to make everything the same.
Oh, how long to fly down. Oh, how long to fly, how long, long, long to fly down, - someone's voice said. -I don't want to die, I don't want to die, fly down for a long time...
Who is it?
Don't know.
Must be Stimson. Stimson, is that you?
How long, how long, no strength. Lord, no strength.
Stimson, I'm Hollis. Stimson, can you hear me?
A pause, and everyone falls, and all apart.
Stimson.
Yes. - Finally answered.
Stimson, pull yourself together, it's hard for all of us.
I don't want to be here. Anywhere but here.
We can still be found.
They must find me, they must find me,” said Stimson. - This is not true, what is happening now is not true.
Bad dream, someone said.
Shut up!” shouted Hollis.
And for the first time Hollis felt the unbearability of his situation. He choked with rage, because at that moment he wanted more than anything in the world to get even with Applegate. He's dreamed of getting even for years, and now it's too late, Applegate is just a voice in headphones.
They fell, fell, fell...
Two of them began to scream, as if only now they realized the whole horror, the whole nightmare of what was happening. Hollis saw one of them: he swam past him, very close, without ceasing to scream, scream ...
Stop it!
Very close, you can reach out with your hand, and everything screams. He won't shut up. He will scream for a million kilometers while the radio is working, he will poison everyone's soul, he will not let them talk to each other.
Hollis held out his hand. It will be better this way. He tensed and reached for it. He grabbed his ankle and began to pull himself along the body until he reached the head. The cosmonaut was screaming and feverishly paddling with his arms, as if he were drowning. The scream filled the entire universe.
One way or another, Hollis thought. Either the Moon or the Earth or the meteors will kill him, why wait?
He shattered his glass helmet with his iron fist. The scream choked. Hollis pushed off the body, letting it tumble further, fall further down its path.
Falling, falling, falling into space, Hollis and everyone else gave themselves up to a long, endless spin and fall through the silence.
Hollis, are you still alive?
Hollis didn't say anything, but felt his face heat up.
It's Applegate again.
What about you, Applegate?
Let's talk, shall we? There's nothing else to do anyway.
The captain intervened.
Enough. We must think of some way out.
Hey, captain, would you be silent, huh? Applegate said.
What I heard. I didn’t give a damn about your rank, you are now sixteen thousand kilometers away, and let’s not make a laughing stock of ourselves. As Stimson said: we still have a long way to go down.
Applegate!
Ah, shut up. I declare a one-man revolt. I have nothing to lose, not a damn thing. Your ship was crappy and you were a bad captain, and I hope you break your neck when you hit the moon.
I command you to shut up!
Come on, come on, give orders. Applegate smiled sixteen thousand miles away. The captain is silent. Applegate continued, "So where did we stop, Hollis?" Ah, I remembered. I can't stand you either. Yes, you yourself know about it. You've known for a long time.
Hollis clenched his fists helplessly.
Listen to what I say, - Applegate did not let up. - I will please you. I arranged it so that you weren't hired by the Rocket Company five years ago.
A meteor flashed by. Hollis looked down: his left hand was gone. Blood spattered. Instantly, all the air was expelled from the suit. But there was still a reserve in his lungs, and Hollis managed to turn the lever at the left elbow with his right hand; cuff shrunk and closed the hole. It all happened so fast that he didn't have time to be surprised. As soon as the leak stopped, the air in the suit returned to normal. And the blood that gushed out so violently stopped when he turned the lever even more strongly - it turned out to be a tourniquet.
All this took place in the midst of oppressive silence. The rest chatted. One of them, Lesper, you know, was talking about his wife on Mars, his wife on Venus, his wife on Jupiter, about his money, adventures, drinking, games and happy times. Chattered endlessly as they continued to fall. Flying towards death, he reminisced and was happy.
How strange it all is. Space, thousands of space kilometers - and voices vibrate in space. No one is visible, only radio waves pulsate, excite people.
Are you mad, Hollis?
He didn't really get angry. The detachment returned, and he became an insensitive block of concrete, forever falling into nowhere.
You've been climbing all your life, Hollis. And he couldn't understand what happened. And it was me who put the foot on you just before they kicked me out myself.
It doesn't matter, Hollis replied.
Quite right. All this has passed. When life has passed, it is like a flash of a movie frame, one moment on the screen; for a moment all passions and prejudices condensed and formed a projection onto the cosmos, but before you had time to exclaim: “That day is happy, and that unfortunate one, this is an evil face, and that is kind,” the tape turned to ashes, and the screen went out.
Finding himself at the extreme boundary of his life and looking back, he regretted only one thing: he just wanted to live more. Maybe all the dying / feel like they never lived? We didn’t have time to breathe properly, as everything has already flown by, the end? Does life seem so unbearably fleeting to everyone - or only to him, here, now, when there is only an hour or two left for reflection and reflection?
Well, I lived to my heart's content. One wife on Mars, the second on Venus, the third on Jupiter. Everyone with money, everyone groomed me. He drank as much as he liked, once he lost twenty thousand dollars.
"But now you're here," thought Hollis. space, but he dreamed about them and envied you with your women, money and wild joys.And now, when everything is behind and I'm falling down, I don't envy you in anything, because everything has passed, for you, for me, Now it's like nothing ever happened." Bowing his head, Hollis shouted into the microphone:
It's all gone, Lesper!
Silence.
As if there was nothing, Lesper!
He's a scoundrel. Meanness entered his soul, the senseless meanness of a dying man. Applegate hurt him, now he's trying to hurt someone himself. Applegate and the cosmos both hurt him.
Now you're here, Lesper. Everything is gone. And there was absolutely nothing, right?
When it's all gone, it's like it never happened. How is your life better than mine now? Now, that's what's important. Are you better than me? Well?
Yes, better!
What is this?
I have my memories, I remember! Lesper cried out somewhere far, far away, indignantly clutching his precious memories with both hands to his chest.
And he's right. Hollis felt as if he had been doused with cold water. Lesper is right. Memories and desires are not the same thing. He only has dreams of what he would like to do, Lesper has memories of what has been fulfilled and accomplished. The consciousness of this turned into a slow, subtle torture, tormented Hollis mercilessly, inexorably.
And what do you get from this? he called to Lesper. - Now then? What is the joy of what was and what was overgrown? You are in the same position as me.
I have peace of mind,” said Lesper. - I took mine. And did not hit the end in meanness, like you.
meanness? Hollis turned the word over on his tongue.
For as long as he could remember, he had never been mean, never dared to be mean. Not otherwise, saving up all these years for such an occasion. "Meanness". He pressed the word into the depths of his consciousness. He felt tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. Someone heard his voice intercepted.
Don't freak out, Hollis.
Actually, it's funny. I had just given advice to others, to Stimson, I felt courage in myself, taking it at face value, and this was just a shock and - the detachment that is possible with shock. Now he was trying to cram into a few minutes the feelings he had suppressed for a lifetime.
I understand, Hollis, what's on your mind, - sounded the fading voice of Lesper, to which now it was already thirty thousand kilometers. - I'm not offenced.
“But aren’t we equal, Lesper and I?” he wondered. “Here, now? However, he knew that he was simplifying: it was like trying to tell the difference between a living person and a corpse. The first has a spark that the second does not have, an emanation, something elusive.
So it is with Lesper: Lesper lived a full-blooded life, but he, Hollis, did not live for many years. They came to death by different paths, and if death is of different kinds, then their deaths, in all probability, will differ from each other, like day and night. Death, like life, has many different facets, and if you have already died once, why do you need the final death, once and for all, what kind of death awaits him now?
A second later, he discovered that his right foot had been cut clean off. Just laugh right now. All the air was out of the suit again. He quickly bent down: well, of course, blood, a meteor cut off his leg to the ankle. You can't say anything, this cosmic death has its own idea of humor. Cuts you apart like an invisible black butcher. The pain swirled his head like a whirlwind, and, trying not to lose consciousness, he tightened the lever on his knee, stopped the bleeding, restored air pressure, straightened up and continued to fall, fall - there was nothing else left.
He nodded sleepily, weary of waiting for death.
I thought. Heard what you said. It doesn't fit like that. What are we turning ourselves into? An unworthy death is obtained. We pour all the bile on each other. Are you listening, Hollis?
I lied. Just now. Lied. I didn't give you a leg up. I don't know why I said that. Apparently, he wanted to hurt you. Exactly you. You and I have always competed. You see - as life is coming to an end, you are in a hurry to repent. It is evident that your evil caused me shame. Either way, I want you to know that I've been acting stupid too. In what I told you, not a penny of truth, And go to hell.
Hollis felt his heartbeat again. For five minutes it seemed to not work, but now the limbs began to come to life, to warm up. The shock passed, the attacks of rage, horror, loneliness also passed. As if he had just taken a cold shower, breakfast and a new day are ahead.
Thanks Applegate.
Not worth it. Keep your head up, you old rascal.
Hey, Stone entered.
What do you want? Hollis called across the vastness of space; Stone was his best friend on the ship.
Caught in a meteor swarm, such nice little asteroids.
Meteors?
These are probably Myrmidons, they fly past Mars to Earth once every five years. It got me into the thick of things. Around like a huge kaleidoscope ... Here you have all the colors, sizes, shapes. Wow, what a beauty, this metal!
I'm flying with them, - Stone spoke again. - They captured me. What the hell!
He laughed.
Hollis strained his eyes, but saw nothing. Only large diamonds and sapphires, emerald nebulae and velvet ink of the cosmos, and the voice of the Almighty resounds between the crystal reflections. This is fabulous, amazing: together with a stream of meteors, Stone will rush somewhere behind Mars for many years and return to Earth every fifth year, for a million centuries it will either appear in the field of view of the planet, then disappear again. Stone and Myrmidons, eternal and imperishable, changeable and impermanent, like colors in a kaleidoscope - a long tube that you pointed at the sun and twisted as a child.
Happily! Hollis called after fifty thousand miles.
Don't be ridiculous, - said Stone and disappeared.
The stars are getting closer.
Cheer up.
Goodbye Hollis. - This is Applegate.
Numerous: "Goodbye." Jerky:
"Goodbye". The big brain was falling apart. Pieces of the brain that worked so wonderfully in the cranium of a rocketship hurtling through space were dying one by one; exhausted the meaning of their coexistence. And just as the body dies when the brain ceases to function, so does the spirit of the ship, and the weeks and months spent together, and everything that they meant to each other, all came to an end. Applegate was now nothing more than a torn finger; cannot be succumbed, cannot be despised. The brain exploded, and the dead worthless fragments were scattered, you can’t collect it. The voices are silent, the whole cosmos is silent. Hollis fell alone.
They all found themselves alone. Their voices died, like an echo of the words of the Almighty, spoken and resounded in the starry abyss. There the captain flew to the moon, there the meteor swarm carried off Stone, there Stimson, there Applegate on the way to Pluto, there Smith, Turner, Underwood and all the rest; the glass pieces of the kaleidoscope, which had been an animated pattern for so long, were scattered in all directions.
And me, thought Hollis. What can I do? Is there anything else I can do to make up for the terrifying emptiness of my life? With one good deed, to make amends for the meanness that I have accumulated for so many years, not suspecting that it lives in me! But because there is no one here but me, and is it possible to do a good deed alone? It is impossible. Tomorrow evening I will enter the Earth's atmosphere.
"I will burn," he thought, "and crumble into dust over all the continents. I will be useful. A little bit, but dust is dust, more land will be added."
He fell quickly, like a bullet, like a stone, like an iron weight, renounced everything, completely renounced. No sadness, no joy in the soul, nothing, only the desire to do a good deed now that everything is over, a good deed that he alone will know about.
When I enter the atmosphere, Hollis thought, I'll burn up like a meteor.
I wish I knew, he said, will anyone see me?
The boy on the country road raised his head and exclaimed:
Look mom, look! The star is falling!
A bright white star flew in the twilight sky of Illinois.
Make a wish, his mother said. - Make a wish.
MAY-JUNE 2017
Close a window
I lay in bed and was sick from morning to evening. Terribly boring.
In the evening, dad came home from work and brought me a gift - a kaleidoscope. Dad will always bring something like that ... Well, why do I need a kaleidoscope, what am I, a little one?
“Here, brother,” beaming, dad handed me a package with a gift. - Can you use it?
Dad calls me like a man "brother", and gives me all kinds of baby mura.
“Thank you, dad,” I said, pretending to be terribly glad. — Oh, what a thing!
Dad patted my head and explained:
“This, brother, is a kaleidoscope. When I was sick as a child, I always looked into a kaleidoscope so that it would not be sad. You look into the eye. There are beautiful glass patterns.
I looked, what do I feel sorry for, or what? There were no glasses. Clearly, dad was sold a defective item. Normally. Instead of colored glass, I saw in the peephole my own old wallpaper on the wall, faded, with ducklings in the reeds.
- What do you see? Dad asked and smiled broadly.
“Beautiful patterns,” I said, so as not to upset my father.
- Well done! Dad complimented me. - And if you turn the kaleidoscope, the picture will change. This, brother, is a magical thing!
Then mom called dad into the kitchen, and he went out.
“If you turn, the picture will change,” I mimicked dad out of annoyance and put the gift on the bedside table, next to the medicines. I have nothing to do, only look into a useless kaleidoscope, which, moreover, is without glass.
Mom and dad were fighting again in the kitchen.
- And why are you giving him all sorts of nonsense? - quietly angry mother under the menacing hiss of cutlets in a frying pan. - Bring something useful, some book.
- I brought my son a gift from the heart! Papa answered, also quietly, but also angrily. - He's bored! He wants a holiday, bright, colorful, fun! If I sat with him at home, he would not be bored!
- And I have to iron the linen! .. And cook dinner! .. And to the shops! And for an apartment! .. To the clinic! ..
The kettle whistled.
The next day I was again lying and sick. And in the yard there was noise and din. Opposite our windows was a kindergarten. Slides, houses, horses, swings ... And children. Why are they so pissed off? Much louder than usual. But usually they yell so much that you can’t hear car alarms ... Curious, why such a pig squeal?
I crawled out from under the covers and padded to the window, stepping on the ends of the woolen scarf. It is not clear what happened to them there. Everyone crowded in the corner of the site and clamored. Some binoculars would be nice... Such a thing is useful, but we don't have it! It would be better if dad bought binoculars instead of a kaleidoscope yesterday.
I went back to the nightstand and took my dad's gift. Still, the useless kaleidoscope has a peephole, maybe it will be better seen through it.
He sat down on a chair by the window and aimed the blue cylinder at the platform. Wow! Yes, they have fun! One small one climbed a birch and cries, the second crawled towards him and caught something on a branch, neither here nor there. The rest are waving their hands. In, the teacher is running ...
I automatically turned the blue barrel to sharpen it. I forgot that these are not binoculars. Then the blockhead from the upper branch swayed and jumped onto the neighboring maple. Well, just a flying squirrel! Hey class! He grabbed the top of the maple and roared so that I covered the window.
The teacher spread her arms, trying to catch her cheburashkas from the birch and from the maple at the same time. She shouted, too, be-here. I think I know her. Our neighbor, right?
I again mechanically turned the blue tube, without looking up from the peephole. The teacher jumped up like a kangaroo and pulled off the stuck on a birch! In gives! Panther, not a teacher!
In surprise, I spun the kaleidoscope, and the teacher jumped on the maple after another client and threw him onto a rope net, stretched for some reason on the site in the manner of a trampoline. The "flying squirrel" jumped twice and fell silent in the net. Others wishing to jump climbed up to him.
I twisted the kaleidoscope a little more. The super-educator climbed higher on the maple tree, settled herself in the branches like a mermaid, and whimpered, wiping her tears with her fist ...
And then I guessed ... I understood everything! What did dad say? “And if you turn the kaleidoscope, the picture will change. This, brother, is a magical thing! Also, what a magical ... Wow ... My temperature even rose with delight. Wow, toys began to be made ... Yes, with such a kaleidoscope, this can be done! You just have to be careful turning. What else to check?
I climbed back into bed and aimed the blue cylinder of the kaleidoscope at the opposite wall. Turned ... The picture has changed! Through the glass peephole, I saw how the old wallpaper was repainted. Faded ducklings were replaced by cool sailboats, cannons, anchors, rope bays and old maps. This is the only wallpaper I would choose!
I lowered my kaleidoscope hand and stared at the wall. Among the tired ducklings in the pond, a chic sailboat really swam! So…
After half an hour of hard work, I replaced the wallpaper in the entire room. There was no marriage. Sometimes I twisted the tube too sharply, and then it turned out not a sailboat, but a crocodile. And if you turn 180 degrees, then instead of a pond and ducklings in the reeds there will be a desert and camels. So over my table a camel was melancholy chewing on an old map, and a crocodile was at anchor by the closet. But nothing, even cool. I admired my new wallpaper and, like a sick man, fell asleep.
- I told you - auto-mat! - Mom was indignant in syllables. - And you bought things for children! And I need it for a washing machine!
“But this one won’t fit the car, or what?” Dad immediately got angry. - Isn't that washing powder? Well, not cocoa! Why are they so different?
- Yes, they are different, since it is written - for children's things or for a machine gun! Mom scolded. - They won't write in vain!
I quietly got out of bed and walked out into the hallway. In my hand was my precious blue kaleidoscope.
I took aim, aimed a peephole at my mom and dad, and slightly turned the receiver. I tried to act very carefully, I didn’t want to get two crocodiles or camels instead of my parents ...
- And you ... - Mom turned to dad, - ... you are also tired, probably. Excuse me for asking you to come in for this powder. It’s her own fault, I had to run to the store when Vitalik fell asleep, and that’s all ...
“Forgive me,” dad smiled and hugged mom. - I was in a hurry, did not look at the box, grabbed the first one that came across. I hurried home after work. To you.
Mom smiled too. And I plugged the glass eye with my finger so that the picture would not change accidentally, and quietly returned to the room.
I lived happily ever after! The next day, when my sore throat really got to me, I pointed the kaleidoscope at my own neck and slightly turned the tube. The pain is gone.
- Tra-la-la! I sang with joy. - Tra-la-la-la!
Mom came into the room and stared at me.
- What happened to you?
Mom, my throat doesn't hurt! I exclaimed and brought out a whole roulade with my voice.
- Wait, it hurts - it doesn’t hurt ... - my mother looked at me as if I had dyed my hair. Are you singing right now?
- And then who! I agreed cheerfully and sang out with alacrity: “And who, who, who, if not me, if not me!”
“Lemeshev,” my mother said. — Caruso. Robertino Loretti.
She kissed me on the forehead and ran to call her dad.
Since I was no longer sick, I had to go to school. But with my school kaleidoscope, I was no longer afraid.
“And here is the work of Vitaly Karavaev,” said Olga Valeryevna, and with hostility took my dictation from the table. So many mistakes, so many missing commas and unfinished letters! It is necessary to write like this: “The swallow hurt her snout on a thorn bush!” Olga Valerievna waited until the laughter subsided. “You have to re-read what you write, Vitaly. It is, of course, "two" ...
I deftly aimed my miracle kaleidoscope at Olga Valeryevna under the desk and began to turn. - ... it would be, - continued Olga Valerievna. - Yes, it would probably be "two" if Vitalik had not been ill for several days. Of course, he is slightly behind, but he will catch up, he is such a capable boy! I gave you four, Vitalik, - smiled Olga Valeryevna and put my work on my desk. Under the dictation, a fat four flaunted.
Eh! Slightly up to five did not trust! We still need to practice, work, experiment. Magic things - they are, they do not like the lazy.
At recess, I finally decided to sort out my personal life. Looked around. Masha and Polina sat at the first desk. I considered the options and quickly found the right solution.
- Pauline! I wasted no time asking the prettiest girl in the whole class, or even the whole school. - Do you love me?
- Are you crazy, Karavaev? Polina looked at me in surprise and added after a second: “Of course I do.” Is it incomprehensible?
In front of the astonished classmates, she kissed me on the cheek, then on the other, then sat down on my knees and tightly hugged my neck, almost strangled me! There was dead silence in the classroom, and someone could be heard dropping a textbook. I, perhaps, twisted it ... I barely escaped! Leaving the class, I noticed how stunned Masha was. Of course.
Pashka Rublev, of course, was waiting for me behind the school. Just Polina and I went out together. Polina wanted to walk me home, wrap me in a warm blanket and drink rosehip syrup. And here is Pasha! I thought so. They, together with Polina, have already gone to the cinema twice ...
Of course, Pashka was not alone. With two friends from parallel. They saw me - they immediately made a stand. Okay, now the picture will change ...
“Wait for me, please, on the swing, I’ll be quick,” I ordered Polina. She obediently sat down on the seat, excitedly whispered quite a suitable text: “Don’t go, Vitalik, I’m afraid,” and I dropped my backpack so as not to interfere, squeezed a kaleidoscope in my fist and went to sort it out.
About three meters before them, I aimed my weapon, looked through the peephole and immediately turned 180 degrees, why stand on ceremony there.
- Go, go, why get up! Pashka was about to yell, taking a step towards me, and the other two also came off the wall and moved towards me. - Go, there is a conversation ...
Here his friends interrupted him. One pushed Pashka in the chest, the other drove the backpack on the back, so Pashka did not fall, but only straightened up, solemnly extended his hand to me and said:
- I'm waiting for you to say an important thing. Let's be friends with you, Vital! You are awesome person!
"I'll think about it," I answered importantly. - I'll look at your behavior.
I looked sternly at the friends, they stretched out along the line, as in physical education. Okay, enough of them. I covered the eye with my finger, put the kaleidoscope in my pocket, and went to the swing.
I have chocolate, would you like it? Pashka called pleadingly after him.
"I'll eat tomorrow," I promised, looking around.
Pashka nodded happily. Polina fell off the swing.
My mother decided to enroll me in the boys' choir. Actually, I wanted to take karate, but we'll figure it out on the spot. Now it costs nothing for me to make a sports section from the choir studio!
Polina follows me like a sewn on! She invited me to the cinema, promised to buy popcorn and cola herself. He asks me what kind of films I like. And I think that I will deal with the film in the hall. If you don't like a cartoon, I'll change it to a comedy or an action movie. The picture is changing!
The weather is bad, the rain is pouring, and the wind, and Polina invited me to the amusement park ... So, now we'll fix it. Now let's wind up a cloudless sky and plus twenty ...
- Mum! I ran out of the room. - Mom, when you did the cleaning, didn’t you see my kaleidoscope ?!
Mom froze for a second with the iron raised, and then slowly shook her head.
- I didn’t see ... What a kaleidoscope?
— Yes, the one that my father gave me last week! I yelled and grabbed my head.
- Vitalechka, I haven’t seen it ... Don’t worry so much, we’ll buy another one ...
But I was already poking at the buttons, typing dad.
“Dad…pick up, dad…dad!” I yelled into the phone. — Have you seen my kaleidoscope?.. Your gift?.. How?! Why did you throw it away?.. No glass pieces... And when?! In the morning… and took out the bucket… Ah… okay, nothing… thank you, dad, no need for another one… Bye, dad.
I went outside and opened my umbrella. There was no janitor, of course, and the door to the trash can was locked. And how would I find it there? Who would let me dig in the garbage?
Complete hopelessness. Gray, wet yard, and this picture will not change. I wandered through the puddles. How to live now? What will I do without my kaleidoscope...
What will i do? Here mom and dad fight - so what? "Never mind! Someone suddenly thought in my head. - Reconcile them. They love each other, so they can be reconciled!” Okay, what about in class? “What about the lessons? Think big deal! You will check yourself, re-read the dictation, learn the paragraph, decide the example yourself. Nonsense! Well, after all, I studied before! ” And the choir? What am I going to do there, it’s singing to the lantern for me! I don't want to sing! “Well, don’t sing, go straight to karate! And you will not interfere with others to sing. And what about Polina? “Do you need her so much, or what, this Polina the peacock? You are bored with her. And anyway, you always really liked Masha, remember? You dreamed of going mountain tourism with her ... There she goes, by the way ... "
Masha really walked towards me across the yard! She saw me and smiled. Blimey! And the rain stopped, and the puddles became blue and sunny! Life is beautiful, no hopelessness! Wow, everything is wonderful, bright! This kaleidoscope completely confused me, turned me into a crook, into a fool! Enough! I myself will live without pictures! I've got it all turned out great. Here comes Masha. And my pocket money turned out to be very handy in my jacket pocket, enough for two movie tickets, and maybe even for popcorn! I waved my hand to Masha, I deftly jumped over the puddle, I straightened my shoulders and closed the useless umbrella, I…
I noticed it by accident. On the playground, on a hill, stood a little boy and looked into a green plastic tube. He stared at me with a glass eye and twisted the green cylinder. He changed the picture ... Then he closed the glass eye with his finger, lowered his hand and smiled from the top of his head.
Green kaleidoscope. Not blue. So not mine. Another kaleidoscope bought from a simple toy store.
- Hey! Masha rejoiced at me. - It's great, we met, it's necessary! Do you live here?
“Yeah…” I answered with difficulty, following the boy. - Great ... Mash, I'm here now ... I urgently need to go to the store, my mother asked ... I'll tell you later ... Well, bye!
I ran into a toy store and almost ran over my aunt with a huge package coming out. There was no time to apologize.
- Kaley ... plank ... py ... is there? I sighed heavily at the counter.
“There are a few,” the saleswoman said.
— Can I... can I first... look into them?
“The goods are packed,” the saleswoman answered gloomily, looking at her watch.
- I ... for everything ... everything, - I decided, pulling money out of my pocket. Rolled coins jingled.
But what if?..
