He had a matchbox in his pocket containing a little evening star they
had caught with a balloon the day before yesterday. The little star had
at last burned a hole in the matchbox and his pocket and had just stung
his leg. And that's why he was shrieking!
He jumped up, shook the star out, and it began glowing in the grass.
"Why, the little!.." said Danilka, picking it up and tossing it from
one hand to the other like a coal. Then he swung his arm and hurled it
into the sky. The star flew far away and disappeared among the other
stars which had already emerged in the lilac twilight...
The town's main clock struck resonantly through the silence ten
times.
"Oh, it's late," said Arkady anxiously, still rubbing his burnt leg.
"Lets get back before we get into hot water at home!"
Holding hands, they ran through the bushes towards the flickering
lights.
Not once had they ever quarrelled but then something much worse
happened.
"What was it?" asked Alex in alarm.
The Pilot sat down and leaned against the broken gate. Winding a
blade of grass round his finger and angrily tugging at it, he looked up
at Alex rather guiltily.
"If I'd have known..." he said, "I would never ever have gone off to
camp... But, you see, I didn't know things would turn out like this... My
parents talked me into it. Dad had to go away on business and Mum was
taking her institute exams and they decided to send me to camp to make
things easier. I tried to get out of it, of course, but they pleaded with
me, saying it was only for three weeks... I didn't stick it out for three
weeks and came back after two. But I was still too late because they'd
already left."
"Who had?"
"Arkady, Tima and Danilka... You see, they'd all moved to other
towns."
"All at once?" asked Alex in amazement.
"I didn't think that was possible either," said the Pilot sadly. "All
at once, Arkady's dad was sent to work on a construction site in Blue
Hills, Tima's parents were invited to a new theatre in Yasnograd -
they're actors, you see. And Danilka's mother took him to live in the
country."
The little Pilot fell silent and banged his fist against his knees.
"If only I'd known!.."
"But what could you have done?" asked Alex. "Well, you wouldn't have
gone away to camp. But the boys would still have been taken away."
Anton shook his head.
"Never! We'd have thought of something. We'd have simply held hands
and nobody would have been able to drag us apart. We could do anything
when we were together. But this time... It was all my fault..."
Alex thought that the Pilot was going to burst into tears and so he
said hurriedly, "Oh, come now! You're not that much to blame."
Anton glanced at him and said thoughtfully, "I know I'm not...
Because afterwards I did everything I could."
After losing his friends, Anton realised it was pointless crying
although his eyes sometimes smarted of their own accord. Anton missed
Danilka, Tima and Arkady terribly but people react to this feeling of
loss in different ways. Some simply sit about feeling miserable while
others look for ways out. And this is what Anton did.
Blue Hills, Yasnograd and Danilka's village were all a long way from
Kolokoltsev. You could not possibly get there on foot, and it would take
a very long time by train, too. Anton realised he needed a plane and, of
course, not an ordinary one which carried passengers with tickets for you
could not very well fly there and back every day on one of them.
Besides, there was no airfield near Danilka's village.
He needed a small, light, fast plane of his own which could land on
the wild wasteland which the boys called Antarctica.
Now, a plane isn't like a carrot: you can't grow it on a vegetable
plot. And even if you were to save your ice-cream money for the rest of
your life, you still wouldn't have enough to buy one in a shop. That's
why Anton went to his Dad's cupboard and dragged out some rolled-up
drafts.
Anton's Dad, Ivan Topolkov ran an aircraft model group at the
Pioneer's Club. He sometimes tried to explain to his small son what
ailerons, undercarriages and fuselages were but so far Anton had not
taken much interest in planes. Now, however, he had no choice.
He selected the draft of the most attractive model but it was still a
model and not a real plane and so he carefully added a naught in black
ink to all the figures signifying dimensions. For instance, the wings now
spanned ten meters instead of one and the fuselage was six hundred
centimetres long instead of sixty. Then he carefully drew see-through
hood over the cabin.
It's, of course, awful to deceive, Anton knew that perfectly well but
what else could he do? Besides, he considered he had also been deceived
when they did not write and tell him about his friends leaving.
Anton's father was away on business and the group was being run by a
monitor whose name was Senya Lapochkin and who was seventeen. And so
Anton brought the draft to the Pioneer's Club and handed it over to
Senya.
"Here... Dad said you're to start building it while he's away."
Senya unrolled the sheet of paper and whistled, "Why, this is a huge
plane, not a model. Why make it so big?"
"Don't known..." Anton shrugged his shoulders and blushed. It was
horrible lying, especially as he liked Senya. But what could he do? "I
don't know exactly... I think Dad said the plane's going to be carried at
the front of the column during the sports parade."
"Huh..." said Senya. "What an original venture. Only I don't
understand why it's got a real engine."
"Well, probably so that the propeller should turn like a real one."
"It's got a cabin, too. And even two seats..."
"Oh, well..." replied Anton, going even redder, "that's because Dad
promised to put me inside it during the parade."
Senya scratched the back of his head and adjusted the glasses on his
long nose.
"Well, then... Boys! Have a look at the order we've been given! Will
we cope?"
The boys, tall and serious teenagers, gathered round to have a look
and said they would.
They built the plane outside in the yard because if they had built it
indoors, they would not have been able to get it through a window or door
afterwards and the director of the Pioneers' Club would certainly not let
them knock down a wall. Anton hovered nearby all the time and watched how
the work was progressing and in bed at night dreamed of flying and
meeting his friends. Before going to sleep, he would stick his nose into
his pillow and whisper, "Good night, Tima, good night, Arkady; good
night, Danilka. Don't worry. I'll soon fly over and get you..."
The plane's body and wings were assembled from laths and covered with
silver film. Its engine and wheels had been taken from an old motorbike.
When the propeller was tested for the first time, a rustling wind raced
round the yard and the plane rose slightly on its springy undercarriage.
"I hope it doesn't take off," said Senya and Anton's heart began
pounding.
Anton's father came home just before the sports parade. He was very
surprised when he caught sight of the silver plane in the yard of the
Pioneers' Club. The boys showed him the draft. Anton's naughts were so
neat that his father did not suspect anything and decided that he had
muddled up the figures himself. He cursed himself for being so
absent-minded but did not get upset. After all, why shouldn't they take
their wonderful creation to the parade and surprise the whole town!
Meanwhile Anton was getting terribly nervous at the prospect of
flying. Don't imagine he was afraid, though! He was afraid of not getting
off the ground. You see, his only chance would be during the parade when
the column came out into the square. He could not very well take off from
the yard because of all the fences around and wires in the air.
However, on the morning of the parade, Anton grit his teeth and told
himself not to be nervous for he realised that if he was, he would spoil
everything.
The plane was so light that it was lifted and carried along by only
twelve people who were, to be sure, strapping lads from the senior
classes.
Anton swayed to and fro in the seat and touched accelerator. Before
they set off, Senya had said him, "When we get near the square, push the
lever but only gently just so that the propeller should start spinning."
Large brightly-coloured flags were fluttering in the wind, shiny
trumpets were blaring and drums beating. The square drew nearer all the
time.
Anton stepped on the pedals, placed his right palm over the control
lever and the left one over the accelerator. He felt frightened for a
second, but as soon as he imagined how surprised and happy Arkady and
Tima would be and how Danilka would roar with laughter when he arrived in
his plane his fear vanished. He lowered the cabin's see-through hood.
The houses parted and an empty space stretched out ahead. He pushed the
lever slightly.
The propeller jerked and began whirring like a large fan. "Go on,"
Anton ordered himself and pushed the lever slightly again. The plane
began to shudder.
"Hey!" someone shouted below. "Cut it out!"
"Now!" said Anton and pressed it harder.
The plane rushed forwards, cutting off a large bunch of balloons
above the column with a tip of its wing and flew low over people's heads.
Anton pulled the control lever towards him and the square began quickly
and smoothly to recede. He did not hear people shouting, of course, and
only saw them waving their arms. They had most likely decide the flight
had been specially arranged for the parade.
"I won't half catch it at home," Anton thought in a flash but
instantly put it out of his mind.
A splendid dark-blue sky swept open above. The earth had grown vast
and lost its edges in far-off mists. Somewhere to the north beyond the
mists lay Blue Hills and Anton turned his plane towards them. He did
everything just as he had read in the flying handbooks and the plane was
responding and being as meek as a lamb.
"That's it, my little dragonfly..." Anton said to it.
The plane flew over the north edge of Kolokoltsev, and Anton caught
sight of his house, his school and the pond where some boys were fishing
for perch, and the museum's white tower and the old clock. And beyond the
last street stretched the green field of Antarctica.
And then all of a sudden the engine failed.
It grew quieter and quieter and the propeller began turning more
slowly as if someone in front of the cockpit was waving his arms and
asking for help. The fuel tank had run dry for, you see, nobody had got
the plane ready for a long flight and Anton not thought of this either.
The plane's nose dipped and plunged downwards.
Anton was not afraid or, rather, he was not afraid of crashing but
afraid that the plane would be taken away from him and he would never fly
to his friends.
He landed his obedient plane on the wasteland with relative ease.
The weeds began rustling under its wings and it grew very quiet. He
rested his forehead against the cold instrument panel and stayed still
for a long time. Then he heard shouts.
People were shouting in alarm as they hurried towards the plane
through Antarctica's tall weeds. Among them was Anton's father, the
manager of the Pioneers' Club and the head mistress of Anton's school,
Vera Severyanovna. A policeman was running ahead of them blowing a
whistle.
Anton climbed out of the cockpit, hung his head and waited to be
scolded and punished.
"You wicked boy," said his father breathlessly. "You almost gave me a
heart attack."
And this was true.
"Oh, everyone knows Topolkov here. He's the worst behaved pupil of
the Form Three B," declared Vera Severyanovna in a menacing tone.
But this was not true.
The policeman started getting his pad and pen out of his bag and it
was all very unpleasant.
Then all of a sudden a tall, stern-looking man in a blue uniform and
white peaked cap appeared (Anton never understood how he got there),
carefully drew Anton by the elbow towards him and said quietly, "Would
you all please be so kind as to calm down and leave the boy alone. He's
under Fairy-Tale's protection."
"And then what happened?" asked Alex because the Pilot had fallen
silent.
"Then the man took me into a large room containing all sorts of
equipment with walls lined with various maps. He sat me down in a chair
and asked if I'd like an apple. I thought for a moment and then said I
would because, you see, I really did feel like one. And as I was munching
it, he said, "We've got a very serious problem, Anton. A little girl's
fallen ill and she may even die. She was on her own at home and ate
something she shouldn't have but what it was exactly, nobody knows and
the doctor can't understand what he should treat her for. We've got to
help.'
"I, of course, kept silent because I'm not a doctor, after all. But
then he again said, "There was a furry toy monkey with the little girl at
the time and it saw everything but, you see, it can't speak. Get what I
mean?'
"But I hadn't understood a word. He began explaining that far away
in the north-west there was a magic forest and a wizard lived there who
could speak to toys. He asked me if I could fly the monkey there so that
the wizard could have a word with it."
"Can you?" the man asked Anton and looked him gravely in the eye.
"You're not afraid?"
Anton was not afraid of flying and was not very afraid of the wizard
either.
"Are there no grown-up pilots?" he simply asked in surprise.
The man grinned and said, "You see, in order to fly to the magic
forest, you've first got to believe that it actually exists. No grown-up
pilots believe in fairy-tales."
"Do you think I do?" asked Anton.
"I know you do. Otherwise you and your friends wouldn't have invented
your Antarctica."
"All right, agreed Anton. After all, if the little girl did die no
fairy-tales would be of any use.
He put the one-eyed toy monkey on the back seat. Some mechanics
filled the fuel tank and he set off on his second flight.
"Did you find the wizard?" asked Alex.
"I didn't even need to. The monkey started speaking to me in the
plane."
"Really?!"
"Yes. It said the little girl had swallowed two tubes of shaving
cream and one of its glass eyes."
"Did she get well?"
"Of course. Only then I had to fly to Black Lake straightaway because
a hole had appeared in the mermaids' underwater school and they needed a
diver."
"Well, and what are mermaids like?.." asked Alex nervously.
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