Читать книгу The Adventures of Tim and Janik. The magic chest - Aliyah Meirbek - Страница 3

During the day, all family members only pretended to go about their business. In reality, they were watching Grandma and waiting for her to start acting oddly. Tim went outside and in the garden saw Janik sitting on a tree and watching Yenisaya through the window.

“What are you doing up there?”

“Shush! Stop yelling. I’m spying on Grandma.”

Janik climbed down from the tree.

“She noticed me because of you!”

“What did you manage to see?”

Janik got wide-eyed and said, swinging his arms: “Grandma just pulled a sword out of the chest! It was thiiiis big and golden! She brandished it like a ninja.”

“Brandished what?” Tim did not believe a word his brother said.

“The sword. And then she saw me and threw the sword back into the chest. And she put a lock on it.”

“Stuff and nonsense!”

Tim saw that Grandma came outside and was slowly walking towards them. She was carrying two small boxes.

“We’ll ask about the sword,” Tim wanted everyone to understand what a nasty little liar his brother was.

The lady walked past her grandchildren, sat on a large swing, and invited the boys to sit next to her. They settled on both sides.

“When I was little, I was just as curious as you,” she said to Janik. He blushed. “The incurious have a boring life.”

“What have you got in that big chest?” the youngest grandson could not resist asking.

“I put my worldly wisdom and memories in it,” Grandma laughed.

She opened the cardboard boxes she brought with her, and pulled out two small gray chests, just like her big one, but in miniature.

“These are my gifts to you. Now each of you has your own chest. You will be able to store your own memories in them, and you will not need to poke your noses into other people`s chests,” grandma smiled and touched Janik`s nose with her finger.

“Nothing will fit in such a small chest,” Janik said, looking at the gift, thinking how to bring up the sword.

“These are no ordinary chests. They will grow with you. And someday they’ll be as big as mine.”

“And we’ll have to carry them around, too?” Tim asked, not very happy with the prospect.

“We all carry our chests with us. The question is what’s inside. If there are good things, it doesn’t seem so heavy.”

That night, when Father went to the children`s room to wish his sons sweet dreams, Tim and Janik asked him what Grandma kept in the chest. The answer made them even more intrigued.

“I’m forty years old, and I have no idea what my mother keeps in that chest. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are potions, dried snakes, or frogs. A neighbor once said that when I was little, my mother never treated me with pills, only made me herbal tea and worked her magic. I don’t remember any potions, but I remember that if something went wrong, my mother would collect more butterflies in the house, and we would play with them and laugh a lot. There are so many rumors about your Grandma that it’s hard to separate the truth from falsehood.”

The father kissed the children, turned off the light, and left. As soon as his footsteps faded, Janik began to annoy his brother.

“Tim, Tim, are you asleep?”

Tim decided to ignore him. Janik got up and jumped on his brother`s bed.

“I saw Grandma put the key in the pocket of her dress,” he whispered, shaking his brother by the shoulder.

“Do you know what happens if Grandma finds out you stole her key?”

“You’re saying that because you haven’t seen that sword. It was so nice and shiny. I don’t care about you, I’ll go and take a look.”

Janik quietly made his way towards his grandmother`s room. The door was closed, but not locked. Janik carefully opened it. The curtains only covered half of the window, and a clear moon illuminated the room. Grandma`s dress was hung on a chair. Janik went up to it, when suddenly the old lady muttered something and moved. The boy quickly hid behind the chair.

When he was sure that his grandmother was asleep, he reached into the pocket of her dress. He almost screamed when someone grabbed his arm.

“What if she finds out and never comes again? Do you know what Father will do to us then?”

“You donkey. You scared me. We’ll just take a look and put everything back in its place.”

Janik quickly reached into the pocket and pulled out the forbidden key. He tiptoed over to the trunk, holding the key to his chest with both hands in anticipation of something unknown. He put the key in the lock, turned it, and opened the lid. Tim also crept up to the trunk. It was dark and hard to see anything. Janik bent over and ran his hand along the bottom, but the sword was nowhere to be found. The chest was empty.

“No sword, no body,” Janik said. “Why is it so heavy then?”

“Of course, there’s no sword. You lied as usual,” Tim turned his eyes from the chest to the sleeping Grandma and back.

Janik, unwilling to give up, decided to climb into the chest and search for the sword.

“Don’t step on anything,” whispered Tim.

Janik first put one leg over, moved it along the bottom and, finding nothing, got the other leg over. Suddenly he fell into the darkness.

“Janik, Janik!” Tim called his brother in a low voice, but there was no answer. “Hey, donkey, where are you?”

But nothing broke the silence except his heart, which was pounding so loudly that it seemed like the sound of it could wake all the neighbors.

“Where are you? Janik, Janik! Shoot.”

Tim thought about waking the parents, but quickly changed his mind. What would he tell them? He sat on the edge of the chest, turned to look at his grandmother, who was sleeping peacefully. Then he jumped into the darkness. A moment later, he was falling down and thinking how just a few minutes ago he was a happy boy, lying in his own bed, and that this time he would definitely hit his brother hard. That is, of course, if he ever sees him again.