was stroking an affectionate wild animal with a short but fluffy coat.
Vitalka was squatting nearby and staring at me in bewilderment.
I silently lay face downwards, pressed my check, bare arms and legs
against the lovely warm carpet, and cuddled it. Then I felt that it smelt
not only of mould and mice but also of something mysterious and strange
that reminded me of the South. It was as if someone had rubbed the seeds
of some foreign plants into its fibre.
Sighing, I opened my eyes and saw that Vitalka was lying there in the
same way with his nose pointing towards me.
Why, this is really something," he said, smiling with his cheek still
pressed against the carpet.
I said nothing because Vitalka was certainly right.
"Auntie Valya's granddad probably brought it back from somewhere like
Persia," Vitalka went on. "Auntie Valya told me he did a lot of
travelling when he was young."
"Yes, it was probably made by some old craftsmen whose secret has
since been lost," I said.
"Probably..." said Vitalka.
We turned over slowly onto our backs.
"But didn't Auntie Valya know that it's... like this? Why did she
stuff it in her box-room?"
"Perhaps she did but then forgot," replied Vitalka. "After all,
she's... well, you know, not as young as she used to be. Elderly people
forget a lot of things."
"But she's got a good memory," I stood up for her.
"Well, yes, she has... But perhaps she didn't realise what it was
like. After all, she didn't roll on it like us."
"Why not?" I asked in surprise.
Vitalka grinned and said, "Well, you've seen that photo of her as a
young girl, haven't you? In a dress almost down to her ankles, with all
sorts of frills and lace and a bow at the back, and high buttoned boots.
Just try and roll about dressed like that!"
Feeling sorry for Auntie Valya, who had been deprived of such
pleasure, I blissfully stretched out on the carpet and began stroking it
again.
"It feels alive, doesn't it? And we beat the poor thing with
sticks..."
"Never mind," said Vitalka, consolingly. "It's clean now - unlike
us!"
He bent his grimy arm and blew on it and I spotted a red drop on his
elbow.
"Look, you've scratched yourself," I said.
Smiling, Vitalka touched the drop with his little finger and the drop
snapped in half, releasing a pair of transparent little wings and flew
off into the thick grass.
"Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home..." said Vitalka after it had
already disappeared.
"I wonder if ladybirds can fly high up in the sky like planets," I
said.
"Nope," said Vitalka. "Why should they? They live in the grass, after
all."
"Yes, but what if it wanted to? All of a sudden?"
"It never would want to," said Vitalka. "You may perhaps because
you're a person. But it's just an insect."
I was lying with my arms spread out, with my left palm in the grass
and the tall stem of a dandelion between my fingers. Absent-mindedly I
started playing with it while thinking about how I would still try to fly
higher and higher even if I were a ladybird. Of course, high up the
pressure's different and it's cold and there's not enough air but I would
still keep on flying until my breath ran out.
I imagined myself lying here like this and slowly starting to rise
towards a solitary cloud pierced through with July sunlight.
All of a sudden the ground under the carpet seemed to stir and
everything around moved. Something similar happens when you feel giddy
for a moment or two. The dandelion stem I was holding dived down and its
fluffy head slipped through my fingers, spilling its seeds. Then I
noticed that a cracked old barrel standing nearby was sinking down too.
"Mummy!" I shrieked and tumbled into the grass.
I had quite a painful fall because the carpet was already about five
feet off the ground!..
Even now I feel embarrassed when I recall this incident. You see, the
fact remains that I took fright and ditched Vitalka. The only consolation
I have is that Vitalka did the same: he shrieked and flopped into the
grass, only from the other edge of the carpet.
And then we sat in the flattened grass and stared in horror at each
other.
"What are you up to?" asked Vitalka.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"How did you do it?"
"I didn't Honest, I didn't," I replied because I realised at last
that Vitalka thought I had been playing a trick on him.
The carpet landed smoothly between us like a large sheet of paper. I
hiccuped and said, "That's who did it."
Vitalka looked round thoughtfully, glanced under the carpet for some
reason and then stared enquiringly at me again. All sorts of conjectures
and fantastic ideas flashed through my mind: Perhaps it was a little
earthquake that shook us up?.. Perhaps we were both dreaming or
hypnotised?.. Perhaps... Perhaps... But what on earth could it have
been?!
I hiccuped again and asked Vitalka, "Shall we have a go?"
"Well... all right..." he said unenthusiastically.
Slowly we sat down on the carpet as if it were a hotplate.
"It's not g-going up," said Vitalka.
"That means, we just imagined it did."
"Both of us?"
I hiccuped a third time and rubbed my bruise. Had I imagined my
bruise too?
"Did you do anything when it... well, you know what?" asked Vitalka
in a whisper.
"No, nothing. I wasn't even thinking of it."
"What were you thinking of, then? asked Vitalka exactingly.
"Wait a mo... well, of the ladybird, I think... And whether it would
fly up to the clouds or not."
"You WERE thinking about flying," said Vitalka excitedly. "So that's
it... Let's have a go!" He screwed up his eyes and ordered. "Come on!
Let's try!"
The carpet lay still.
"Off we go!" Vitalka said and began rocking as if urging the carpet
on.
But it did not move.
"I want to go up to the roof," said Vitalka, almost pleading. And I
did, too. It was rather frightening but I still wanted the carpet to move
and the wall of the house to slide down smoothly and the patterned eaves
to loom before us.
And then... And then we were lifted up by a gentle, caressing force.
We saw straight ahead the edge of the iron roof and the wooden eaves with
their dainty carving and round openings from one of which a sparrow was
curiously peering at us as though from a port-hole.
My first instinct was to do my trick again, holler and tumble off but
Vitalka grabbed hold of my shirt and yelled, "Don't! We're too high
up..."
I froze and the carpet began to descend slowly.
"That's it," whispered Vitalka. "You can't jump off every time. We've
got to get used to it."
And with these words we landed.
"If only we know what makes it fly," said Vitalka in a whisper again
and then had another go, "Well, come on! Let's fly!"
Then I guessed...
"You don't have to order it! You just have to want to fly. I mean,
you just have to imagine you're flying... Wait a mo..."
I looked at the clumps of wormwood and burdocks growing by the fence
and thought how we would be rising and skimming over the grass towards
them... And off we went!
I mentally did a complete turn by the fence and imagined I was
circling and the carpet obeyed!
"Faster!" I not so mush commanded as willed it. The oncoming wind
began rustling as we flashed by the log, the porch, the shed and past the
log pile again... Then I landed in the middle of the yard. My heart was
booming like a drum. Vitalka was sitting close to me and clinging onto my
shoulder.
"Now you have a go," I said generously. "You know how? Just imagine
you're flying all by yourself and that's all there is to it."
"I see," he said hurriedly. "Right... now..."
We gently rose again and the carpet cut across the yard, flew
smoothly over the fence and over the street and I noticed a square shadow
racing along the road below.
"What are you doing? We'll be spotted!" I yelled.
We flew back into the yard and landed smoothly in the same place as
before.
"It does as it's told..." said Vitalka in a quiet delighted voice.
"Does as it's told! I said reproachfully. "Why on earth did you go
over the street? Somebody might see us!"
Vitalka beamed and shrugged his shoulders.
"So what. After all, it's only a dream..."
He sprawled on his back, and, dreamily kicking his legs in the air,
said with a wistful sigh, "It's a lovely dream. If only it would last for
a long time."
I glanced at his shaggy hair, grabbed hold of a fair lock and pulled
it quite hard.
"Ow!" he roared, "What did you do that for, you jammy toadog?"
"See, you're not dreaming!" I said but then all of a sudden an
alarming thought occurred to me: what if I was?!
"Now you pinch me," I said quickly.
Vitalka got his own back by pinching me really hard above the elbow
and I yelled not so much with pain as with joy for it meant I wasn't
dreaming after all!
And so, delirious with joy, we hugged one another and romped about
the carpet, bashing all the remaining dust out of it with our elbows and
feet. Then we stopped for it suddenly occurred to us both that we might
be hurting it, and so we quietened down and began stroking it like a big
dog. Vitalka thoughtfully touched the lock of hair I had tugged and said,
"You mean this is really happening and it's not a dream?"
Chapter Four
We laid the carpet between the camp-beds in our watchtower and then
began anxiously to wonder if it would fly again. So we sat down and tried
to fly up to the ceiling.
"Hurrah! We've done it!"
Then Auntie Valya banged on the ceiling and called, "Soldiers! Your
dinner's getting cold!"
Catching sight of us, she gasped and ordered us to fill the tub with
water and wash each other clean. We meekly did as we were told.
That meal-time we behaved so perfectly that Auntie Valya began
worrying we might have swallowed some germs with the dust and gone down
with something. However, after feeling our foreheads and setting her mind
at rest, she told us to go and buy some potatoes at the market after
lunch. Now, this was the chore we hated most - dragging a heavy basket
right across town in the baking heat. This time, however, we joyfully
jumped at the idea.
Anything to make the time pass more quickly!
Anything to make the night come sooner! For we could only test the
magic carpet out properly at night. If we did so in the daytime, you can
imagine what a rumpus we would cause in the town!
Of course, we did not wait until it grew completely dark. In
midsummer the nights here are silvery as if the air has been sprinkled
with aluminium dust. Sometimes you can even see well enough to read a
book, especially if it is printed in bold type. At night, however, the
streets become deserted and there is less risk of being noticed.
We brought back the potatoes and loitered about in the yard for a
while. All of a sudden a frightening thought occurred to us: what if the
carpet had lost its magic powers? So we ran up to our watchtower to
check. The carpet dutifully lifted us up to the ceiling. Feeling slightly
dazed again, we tiptoed downstairs and sat down to a game of chess, but
we could not concentrate. Then we went into a nearby side-street where
some lads were playing football, but our heart was not in the game, and
five minutes later my sixth-former neighbour Klim told us to sit on the
reserves bench.
Then we went down to the river for a swim but it did not seem much
fun that day.
And what on earth had happened to time?! It seemed to be standing
still to torment us.
We went to bed well before sunset, alarming Auntie Valya once more.
She felt our foreheads again, and we had to assure her we had worn
ourselves out playing football. She shook her head and left us.
"How on earth does it work though?" Vitalka whispered for the
thousandth time, and this made me angry.
"What does it matter! The main thing is that it works!"
Ignoring my bad temper, Vitalka said, "We've always been taught that
fairy-tales are only make-believe. Does this mean the carpet isn't?"
"Oh, yes it is. Only it's real as well," I objected.
"But perhaps it's a kind of machine? Remember that book THE SECRET OF
THE YELLOW STAR? Its inhabitants had similar flying machines controlled
by the mind! Ratioplanes, they called them! They invented... well, you
know, against gravity! What did they call it?.."
"Antigravitation. But that was on another planet!" I said. "I wonder
where our carpet came from?"
"Perhaps some astronauts flew here on it from another star a long
time ago and then left it behind..."
I lowered my head from the bed and had a look at the carpet, at its
brownish-grey pattern and frayed edges. Here and there brown threads of
its warp were showing through its worn pile. But there was nothing out of
the ordinary about the threads or the carpet...
"Look here, Vitalka, stop talking nonsense. If it was from another
planet, it would be in better shape. Do you think they're fools? They'd
have made seats and port-holes and a cockpit..."
"But perhaps they don't need them. Perhaps they don't have seats on
their planet!"
"Well, all right. But where's the piece of equipment making it
antigravitational? Do you reckon they made it out of wool?"
"Yes, that's a real mystery," said Vitalka gloomily. "It's something
new for science... And in that case we ought to inform the Academy of
Sciences about it so that they can study it and come up with the answer."
I had not thought of that! But Vitalka was right: we ought to write
to the Academy or else it might turn out we had been hiding an important
scientific discovery.
"But that will be the last we see of our carpet! They'll take it
away," I said sadly.
Vitalka sighed.
"But perhaps there's nothing scientific about it?" I said unsurely.
"It's just an ordinary magic carpet..."
Vitalka sighed again.
But sighing got us nowhere.
And then I had an idea.
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