flying. Caressed by the warm wind, each and every one of our skin cells
seemed to be electrified. You only had to close your eyes and the vast
earth with its little lights, river and dark wooded edges began revolving
underneath you again. A cricket would start chirring and it seemed that
Vetka was laughing quietly...
During breakfast our heads almost dropped into our plates and Auntie
Valya stared at us anxiously. "What's the matter with you?" she would
ask.
One day Vitalka shook his head to dislodge some grains of buckwheat
from his hair and asked gravely, "Auntie Valya, what would you say if we
suddenly got hold of a magic carpet?"
I froze.
Auntie Valya smiled ironically and said, "I would tell you not to
forget to clean it. You're terribly sloppy..."
"No, seriously," said Vitalka, ignoring my kicks under the table.
"Would you be awfully scared?"
Auntie Valya gazed attentively at Vitalka and then said thoughtfully,
"No, I wouldn't A lot of children have their own magic carpets. The ones,
that is, who know how to find them..."
"And did you?"
Auntie Valya chortled, pressed Vitalka's nose with her forefinger and
went out the room. Then he turned to me and said, "See! No need to kick
me!"
"All the same, I wouldn't tell her yet," I said. "She's talking this
way because she doesn't know but if she sees us flying, she'll get ever
such a shock."
"Yes, I realise that," agreed Vitalka.
At first we did not dare to fly far away from the town but the
distant woods kept enticing us. Then one day we made up our minds to try.
So we flew over the river (with our black reflection gliding across it),
skimmed over the meadows along the low bank and rose over the tops of the
totally black and silent wood. Everything below was impenetrable and
quiet but it seemed as though someone large was breathing very gently in
his sleep under the branches. The oldest pines and firs loomed over the
wood like the towers of bewitched town, and drifting to the left of us
was a yellow half-moon.
Once an owl lashed noiselessly by below us.
At last we caught sight of a clearing among the trees and landed in
the grass among the dark trunks and bushes. Vitalka switched on his
torch and boldly set off into the unknown. But the second later he
shrieked and jumped back onto the carpet. "Imagine coming all this way
to be stung by nettles. There're enough nettles in our yard."
How had nettles got here? After all, they usually grew near houses
and certainly were not woodland plants.
We shone the torch around and spotted a strange round building among
the trees. After flying closer, we saw that it was a tumble-down stage
above a wooden dance floor. There was obviously a settlement of summer
cottages somewhere nearby and we had got into a corner of an abandoned
woodland park.
"So much for exploring the jungle," I said in dismay.
We climbed over the railings and saw that the dance floor was
directly on the ground and not raised on a platform as was usually the
case. Tufts of grass were sprouting through its rotten planks and a small
crimson flower with five indented, black-flecked petals swayed on a thin
stalk. Most likely, it was a wild carnation like the ones we used to call
"little clocks" because it was said you could tell the time by them but
nobody knew exactly how.
We were thrilled to see it because we felt sure it was a mysterious
crimson flower out of a fairy-tale and not just an ordinary one. Nothing
magic happened, though. We simply flew back to town and tosses the flower
through Vetka's window to give her a lovely surprise...
"We must fly in the daytime," said Vitalka. "We can't see anything at
night."
"That's true," I agreed. "We might do worse than landing in nettles."
And so we started pondering what we should do.
It would be simplest of all, of course, to fly off to the woods
before dawn while the town was still asleep and then explore the woods
after sunrise. Nobody would see us there and even if they did, they
wouldn't believe their eyes.
But just try disappearing before breakfast. Auntie Valya would tap on
the ceiling and hit the roof when she discovered we weren't there!
Vitalka eventually had an idea. He insisted it was possible to fly in
the daytime. All we had to do was pick lanes with fewer people in them
and fly just above the ground, over the tops of the grass. And if anyone
suddenly appeared, we just had to flop into the grass as if we were
sitting on the carpet. And if anyone asked questions, we could say we
were taking it to the cleaners and had stopped for a rest on the way.
And perhaps they would not even ask. After all, nobody had spotted us
as we were flying to rescue Vetka's bicycle.
We decided to risk it. After breakfast we flew off our roof, swooped
over the fence and flew along Anchor Street, keeping under the hedges of
the front gardens and just above the dandelions growing along the
pavements.
And we did actually have to "sit snug" in the grass several times.
But passers-by took no notice of us for, after all what was so
special about two boys sitting on an old carpet by a gate? Obviously
their mother had told them to take it out into the street and clean it
but they were just playing about...
Then the street became completely deserted and we grew bolder and
flew just above the road towards a crossroads.
The silence was suddenly shattered by a policeman's whistle. We
stopped in surprise. Where had the policeman come from?
"Breaking the Code, are you?" he said rather unsurely.
We cringed at first but the policeman was young and not very strict,
it seemed. And so Vitalka asked rather cheekily, "In what way? We were
going along the right side."
"But have you got a license?"
"What for? This isn't a car!"
"What is it, then?" asked the policeman caustically. "A cart? Where's
your horse, then?"
"Well, if it's a car, where're its wheels?" asked Vitalka.
We were hovering a couple of feet above the ground. The policeman
glanced underneath the carpet, straightened up and blinked.
"How are you doing it, lads? Huh?" he asked quietly.
"The principle of the air cushion," Vitalka replied promptly.
"And it's... anti-gravitational," I added.
"Has such a thing already been invented?" asked the policeman with
respect. "I thought it was still something out of science fiction... Are
you from the Pioneers' club?"
"That's right. From the young technicians' workshop," said Vitalka
glibly. "We're trying out a new model."
"Well... do take more care... And keep off the roadway!"
"Right, we shall!" we called out cheerfully and set off home. And the
policeman remained standing on the corner, full of admiration for modern
science.
"No, it's better flying high up," said Vitalka. "If we climb a bit
higher, we may not be noticed. Grown-ups don't usually look up at the sky
much because they're kept so busy by things down on the ground."
"But what about other children?" I asked.
"Well... they'll think it's something flying... a kite perhaps!"
"Without a tail?"
"Well, we'll make a tail. That won't take long, will it?"
What a good idea!
We tore an old sack into strips and made a tail like a real kite's,
only about fifteen metres long, and sewed it onto the carpet's corners
with thick thread.
We were rather scared that the carpet might take offence at being
pricked by a thick needle or we might accidentally harm it, and so we
sewed the tail on as we flew over the floor because we reckoned that if
it disliked our idea, it would land at once. But the carpet stood the
operation without even flinching.
Leaving Vitalka on the roof, I flew up until he became as tiny as a
cardboard soldier. The strong warm wind coming from beyond the woods
caught up the sacking tail and began twirling and flapping it.
It was the first time I had flown so high in a sunny sky. The vast
green earth stretched out for thousands of kilometres around and was so
lovely and bright that I wanted to take a good look at everything. But
tiny Vitalka was dancing about our minute roof and waving his arms to
make me come down at once.
So I had no choice but to fly back.
"It's fantastic!" he cried. "It looks just like a kite! Only why were
you sitting on the edge? Kites don't usually have anyone sitting on them,
do they?"
We decided to fetch Vetka and then set off on our first big flight in
daylight.
But Vetka had cycled over herself and, ringing her bell at the gate,
called out, "Did you see that kite in the sky?!"
We roared with laughter. Kite, indeed! What a joke! So it really did
look like one.
"What's up with you?" asked Vetka in surprise.
"It's not a kite!" we cried joyfully. "It's not a kite! Got it?"
"What do you mean it's not? Have a look for yourselves. No, not that
way! Look, over there!"
We turned round. Sure enough, soaring among the puffy clouds was a
brightly-coloured rectangular kite with a thin forked tail.
Chapter Seven
There was nothing special about seeing a kite in the sky because lots
of children in the town flew them. And so Vitalka and I weren't
surprised. But Vetka said, "Lovely, isn't it? What a beauty!.."
The kite certainly was beautiful. Large and red- and yellow-
patterned, it glided smoothly and almost motionlessly in the sky.
But so what? If we had wanted to, we could have made one just as
good.
But then Vetka said again, "Let's have a look at who's flying it."
"Why?" asked Vitalka rather jealously.
"Well... it'd be interesting."
"What difference does it make who it is?"
But then an alarming thought flashed through my mind and I asked,
"Listen, what if he saw me taking off? After all, he's looking up at the
sky all the time."
Vitalka glanced dazedly at me.
"That's true... But what can we do?.. Well, never mind! If he saw
you, he probably thought it was another kite. But perhaps he didn't
because he was looking the other way."
"All the more reason to scout about and find out whether he did or
not!"
Scouting was a different proposition. It was a kind of adventure, and
Vitalka agreed at once.
"Off we go!" Vetka cried happily and dashed towards her bicycle.
"So that's your game!" said Vitalka. "You'll cycle while we'll run
along on foot? No, let's go and look through the telescope in our
watchtower. Come on up!"
After Vetka had climbed up the ladder to the roof, we crawled through
the window into our "cabin".
Through the telescope it looked as if the kite was just outside the
window. We could even see splashes of paint and spots of glue and little
knots in its criss-crossed threads...
"It really is beautiful, isn't it?" said Vetka. "Come on, let me have
a look, too."
Next it was Vitalka's turn. He barely glanced at the kite, moved the
telescope to one side and down. I realised he was sliding down the
thread.
The telescope stopped, moved again and then stopped for good. Vitalka
looked through it for a few seconds and then smiling for some reason,
said, "There he is... Don't know him. Look!"
I looked through the lense. I remembered that everything was upside
down in it but I still started at first: a fair-haired boy was standing
upside down on an inverted roof and staring at the overturned sky. It
seemed that any moment now he was going to plunge head-first into the
blue abyss. But he remained standing firmly as though his old plimsolls
were magnetised to the sloping plank roof.
He was moving his fingers and elbows as he fed out the thread and his
lips were moving as though he were murmuring something. He was dressed in
a bright-green open shirt. The wind was pressing it against his back and
flapping its open ends.
He looked like a little green flag or a small wind-blown tree and was
probably about as big as us.
Although old, our telescope was still in fine shape and I could even
make out the mole on the strange boy's ear-lobe and a scratch on his
cheek. I could not see his eyes, however, as he was standing sideways and
his head was turned away from us.
Then all of a sudden he glanced round. Someone must have called to
him. He smiled and said something in reply. I thought he had a very nice
face but I could not get a good look at it because everything was upside
down. And I very much wanted to!
So as I could not turn the picture round, I decided to turn upside
down. Leaning on Vitalka's shoulder, I jumped onto the window-sill and
bent down over the telescope.
But my head overbalanced and I went crashing to the floor telescope
and all, bashing my forehead against the boards so hard that I
immediately saw lots of stars.
I sat on the floor shaking my head dazedly.
"Oh," Vetka gasped quietly.
Then I picked up the bronze telescope in silence and pressed it
against the bump on my forehead, but Vitalka grabbed it, saying that the
bump was not serious, put it back on the window-sill and started looking
through it himself.
"Look!" he said (although we couldn't, of course). "He's tied the
string to an aerial and is going down..."
"He's probably gone to lunch," said Vetka. "He always has lunch at
this time."
I forgot about my bump and Vitalka tore himself away from the
telescope and we both asked in unison, "How do you know?"
"Well..." began Vetka, blushing so much that we had to turn away.
"Well... I... I was once going by and I saw... him flying planes from the
roof. And then someone called to him."
Vitalka and I exchanged glances. Once, my foot! She said he ALWAYS
had lunch at this time.
It would have taken only a couple of questions to drive Vetka into a
tight corner but we simply glanced questioningly at each other again.
Although we felt rather sad, we pretended nothing was wrong and Vitalka
merely asked, "Well, what's his name?"
"Sanya... or Sasha. I don't know! I only heard with half an ear."
Vitalka shook his shaggy head and glanced mischievously at me, "Well,
let's find out! Let's all get acquainted with this fellow! We'll give him
a surprise first and then make friends!"
Vetka was, of course, very keen to get to know him and so was I for I
had instantly taken a liking to him. But why give him a surprise? And
how?
"While he's sitting at home, let's fly over to the kite and tie a
message to its tail," explained Vitalka.
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