Читать книгу Wandering souls - Dmitry Nazarov - Страница 5

“Margot, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Everything is in absolute order, you just recently took your girl from the salon.

“Mish, I don’t know what happened. I’m already on my nerves today, and then there’s this…

“And what happened to scare the iron lady?”

– Don’t yell!

“I’m sorry, Rita, what happened there?”

– Yes… I was driving to my friend, drove to the intersection, braked… and then the trolleybus crashed into an advertising pole. The trainee was driving, his Lada cut off, the guy sharply turned the steering wheel – and into a pole.

– So what? Do you feel sorry for the trolleybus? Or a pole?

– Jerk! I feel sorry for the girl who was crossing the road at that moment. She was literally crushed by this pillar. She was wearing high heels and got stuck, apparently… I tried to warn… Everyone fled, but she did not have time. It was so terrible – to see how that colossus falls, and it beats like a fly in a web…

– I’m sorry, Margosh… maybe it’s fate?

– Well, yes, fate, what else?

– I understand, it’s scary, but why are you killing yourself like that? Like risking your life in racing, it’s not scary, but here… It’s as if you’ve never seen an accident. Or a dead friend of yours?

– No, not a friend. I do not even know. Just among the crowd that crossed the street, she stood out strongly. All so bright yellow, flying, sunny… The girl would have survived if she hadn’t stared at me. And now I feel guilty.

– Come on, Margo. You still blame yourself… Such is the fate, at least do something, but you won’t run away.

“I understand, but that doesn’t make it any easier now. When the banner was raised, there was solid blood… And her yellow dress no longer resembled a piece of the sun. I’ll probably never look at yellow calmly again. Before my eyes, this unfortunate girl will lie like a broken doll.

“Rit, accidents happen every second. So that? Are you going to represent all the dead now? If you want, remember it to a pig state and leave it in the past.

– I don’t drink, Mikh, you know very well. I share with you, and you…

– Okay, consider – I have a band-aid in my mouth. So what about Kawasaki?

– I do not know! When everyone figured out… with her. The traffic police was there, an ambulance, the testimony was taken from me and another dozen people were interviewed… I tried to start Vasya, but she didn’t. Deaf as in a tank. In general, I called a tow truck and to you…

Consciousness returned slowly, along with strange sensations. I heard a conversation between a woman and a man, and at the same time I felt someone touching me. Finally, my vision cleared, and to my complete shock, I stared at the top of the head of the guy in the blue overalls. At that moment, he, bending down, lifted a large black wheel with a red disk and… began to fasten it to me.

From the ensuing shock, everything inside me exploded with emotions and a scream of fear. Yes, but it sounded strange: a powerful roar of the engine, and a dazzling light escaped from my wide eyes, causing the man to jerk to the side, curse and close his eyes, dropping the wheel from his hands. A powerful wide circle, writing out a figure eight, circled on the floor with a dull sound and froze.

And at that moment I inadvertently noticed a reflection of myself on the shiny polished side of a nearby car. It reflected the girl that was at the crossroads, the man and the red motorcycle. The same one… But I myself was not reflected there. But here I am, and the hand of a black-haired girl, who, as I understood from the overheard conversation, is called Margo, lies on my back. Wait, why in the reflection is her hand resting on the curve of the black Kawasaki seat?

The soul in a panic rushed from side to side, but was unable to escape from the captivity of the metal.

“No, no, this can’t be…” I mentally screamed.

And inside of me, the engine roared from overflowing emotions. Now deaf, then torn, intermittently. The way my heart would beat at a critical moment.

– What’s wrong with him? Misha exhaled hoarsely.

– Are you asking me? Margo chuckled nervously. – Which one of us is special? You or me?

– You need to pull the key out of the ignition and disassemble the engine and…

The threat washed over her in an icy wave of fear and disgust. I don’t want to be touched, let alone taken apart. And so it feels like part of my leg is lying on the floor. Apart from me! Creepy!

With an incredible effort of will, I forced myself to calm down and immediately heard the smooth, soothing sound of the engine. Misha and Margot looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, understanding without words that something strange was going on with Kawasaki. The master commented phlegmatically:

– These freaks, you see, they dilute gasoline with donkey urine. Or some other rubbish. So your Vasya bucked.

Margo shrugged her shoulders doubtfully, accepting such an assumption as more likely.

I calmly let Misha screw MY wheel onto me, then dutifully endured a new batch of checks: visual inspection, electronics diagnostics. He looked into my every hole and crevice, and from this I felt disgusting, dirty, creepy, but endured in silence. What a torment, I will never forget this moment!

Margot went to the administrative nook. I saw through the window that she paid off and, smiling, talked about something with the man. Then she took her helmet from the chair, waved her hand and left the room.

A minute later, she sat on my back and suddenly stroked between the shoulder blades… probably, although it could be a gas tank in my current state, she whispered: “Well, you, Vasya, scared me!”

I almost had an engine failure again. If only she knew how confused I am… Yes, she became Vasya, albeit a female! My name is Lena… was called… it seems, in another life.

Then a strange apathy rolled over, humility. I wanted to cry, but there was nothing. I trusted her hands. I was slowly rolled out of the box, the engine purred inside, and we briskly started from the site of the auto repair shop.

I adore the wind, speed for the extraordinary feeling of freedom. And now we are literally flying along the roadbed. I felt Margot pressing her whole body against me, her warm, almost hot, hands and her living warmth unexpectedly warmed me from the inside. And the wind blew away all the sorrows, fear and pain of loss, such an absurd death. In those moments, it seemed to me that the mad speed – almost a flight – was also necessary for a motorcyclist to forget my death. And I… I just renounced everything, I was wildly afraid to think about everything that had happened. Therefore, from the bottom of my heart I enjoyed the wind, the view of the setting sun, which seemed to personify the sunset of my former life, and the hot asphalt, as if eaten by my front wheel.

After half an hour on the road, which gave me so many new experiences, we drove into the underground garage of an elite high-rise building with security at the entrance. A couple of turns – and finally, my, apparently, now a permanent home. Or temporary? After all, it is not known how long I will be in the property of this mistress. Margo stopped the engine and sat on top of me for another minute, removing her helmet and sighing heavily. It is not so easy to forget someone else’s death, which you have witnessed. She trembled and rubbed her face a couple of times with her hands. For me, her emotions were felt, as if she were dear, close. I saw her in “that” life, and now she is with me, and she even gave a new name and talks as if she were alive. At least some landmark in a new way of life for me.

After stroking my polished red metal side, the girl got off and, hanging her helmet on the handle, went to the elevator. I wanted to scream so that she would not leave, would not leave me alone with grief and misunderstanding among the cold, lifeless machines. But not a single sound escaped me, I fought inside the metal in hysterics, unable to break out. But the elevator doors closed inexorably, hiding the girl, and the underground garage was covered with an echoing heavy silence.

The outburst of emotions was replaced by apathy. I did not want to live, flutter in this agony. Better to just close your eyes and die. Horror, but at that moment I dreamed of dying and thought about death as a deliverance. I did just that – closed my eyes and fell asleep. Sometimes I was pulled out of an anxious slumber by someone’s footsteps, voices, or cars passing by with people in a hurry to go home. A car was parked beside me – a soulless, cold car – which made me wince involuntarily in my metal trap. And then the silence came again, which frightened and made me more acutely feel the loneliness and emptiness around me. It’s like I’m in a vacuum, and the whole world is behind a wall.

* * *

In the morning I was awakened by people, men and women, starting their cars and driving away. And I was looking forward to Margot. Now she is my beacon in this life. When the elevator doors once again opened and I saw her in leather trousers and a tight-fitting jacket, black today, I would burst into tears of relief if I could. That’s for sure! The girl walked with a respectable man arm in arm. Suddenly, a black Mercedes pulled up and shielded the pair from me. But I heard them.

– Where are you now?

“University, dad.” I have to pay off the debt – there is only one credit, and all that remains is to work out the practice.

– Ritus, don’t drive too fast! Mom has already rotted me so much that I allowed you to buy this monster.

– Dad, my baby is a girl, and her name is Vasya. Don’t worry, I follow the rules of the road and yours too.