Читать книгу Pearly woman. Prose in English - Natalia Patratskaya - Страница 2

Outside the window, worried sea. On the horizon was the white sail of the yacht. The woman watched in amazement at the man who put the peacock feathers in a narrow vase standing in front of the window. She just arrived at the Peacock Palace today, and he doesn’t even notice her!

– Ivan Sergeyevich, what do you do with feathers? She asked, lifting her lush white hair over her head.

– Victoria Lvovna, do not bother me! I am making an antenna, an ordinary antenna, “the man answered, continuing to hide the wires in the peacock’s feathers.

– Why so difficult, dear? You could say mystery.

– Tell you everything! I am minimizing life from trouble. I am watching my kingdom-state and my palace.

“Explain it in more detail,” Victoria Lvovna asked coquettishly, although she was less interested in this. She still hoped that she would return home forever.

– Do you remember the tale of Pushkin: “Reign, lying on your side”? So I fulfill the covenant of the great storyteller. I really like lying prone people.

– Explain to those who do not understand! – capriciously exclaimed the lady.

Victoria Lvovna was still trying to attract the attention of a man.

– Ok, I’ll explain. The fact is that I have a network of listening devices, and the antenna helps me to improve the quality of communication with my employees, and if someone touches it…

– And you are listening to me? – Viktoria Lvovna interrupted him in surprise, straightening the collar of a white blouse. Yes, and she was all dressed in white leather clothes.

– And then! Beloved woman should be under the control of the emperor!

“You are already a count, and a king, and an emperor!” Everything, I was offended.

Victoria Lvovna, the most beautiful of women, thought and sobbed. A mess of words flashed through her mind, which she had spoken at different times and on different occasions. She took a leather case on wheels, which had not yet been unpacked, called a taxi and left for the boarding house, while Ivan Sergeyevich, who was all called Count Peacock, set up antennas in a house that had belonged to him since time immemorial.

The sun was shining and warming. The waves of the estuary lazily ran to the shore. Two girls did not hurry. They lay on the rug, enjoying life. They were good. Desire completely absent. The euphoria of the holiday was complete. No one was lying next to them, so no one interfered with them.

The wind increased from the sea. The young wind was chillingly cold. The wind flew mysterious, in it lurked whole flocks of white butterflies. And all this mystery of nature swirled over sunbathing people. Beach audience began to take a vertical position. People quickly put on bright clothes. Sunny summer day quietly became overcast. One of the girls from the cold began to rotate.

– Bella, let’s go home! – She cried, nervously stamping in one place. – I’m cold and scared. The weather has changed so drastically! These butterflies! I do not like insects with wings! Oh, they got on me! Oh, I’m afraid of them!

The girl rose from her seat. She swung her hat over her head, brushing off white butterflies, bouncing in time with her hat and wind.

– Alla, let’s look at the butterflies. They are so beautiful! They fly so great! When will we meet the living white cloud of flying wings! This is a miracle! – inspired exclaimed Bella, touching her blond hair, looking at a flock of white butterflies.

– What to look at them?! Caterpillars are unfinished! – Alla said irritably, curving with her whole body and showing how she didn’t like white butterflies flying around them.

– I do not know where we rush. Before lunch, two hours. Put the veil on yourself and calm down! Yes stop you twitch! Butterflies do not bite! – instructively said Bella.

– Caterpillar caterpillar, can you not think about food? – a friend irritated her a little.

– Yes, I always want to eat! I always remember about lunch! But it’s so good here! I am pleased to sit on the beach in captivity of white butterflies. And not hot. And so beautiful with these flying butterflies all over the beach!

– You’re killing me! Yes, look at us from the side! If only one guy came to us! As if they are not on the beach! Because of you – lovers of food – and nobody looks at me!!! – Alla shouted.

The words of the girl heard the wind. He circled around the two young men and dragged them along the beach to the girls. Guys staggered in the jets of the sea wind. They were wrapped in white butterflies and, like two caterpillars, fell from a gust of wind at the feet of Alla.

– Alla, you are a gift from the wind! Whom you asked, that and received! Bella exclaimed, quite pleased with the situation. – Look how funny guys are in white butterflies! They are like in white shirts! They have butterflies on their faces!

– Boys honey plastered! They are so sticky that they have collected all the butterflies! – Alla exclaimed scornfully.

– Girls, help out! – shouted the blond. – We have a sunblock honey!

Bella swung the rug over the young people: the butterflies were blown away like a wind.

– I am a junior wind assistant! Bella exclaimed, not taking her eyes off the blond, slowly folding the rug made under the mat and putting it in a beach bag.

Young people began to rise from the ground, trying to shake off the last butterflies stuck to them. They seemed to have grown out of the sand: big and beautiful, young and strong.

– Yura, look what girls! What girls! Shine!

– Pasha, what do you want them for? Are you missing girls?

“So the brunet is Pasha,” Bella said.

“Boys, we are ordinary girls,” Alla said playfully.

“Girls, but we are not from your collection,” said Yura, a fair-haired young man of medium height of twenty-six.

Bella quickly put on her shorts and top. It may seem strange, but she was not in a solid swimsuit and looked quite normal. Alla slowly got up and dressed. The young people looked at the girls with an appraising glance and looked at each other. They appreciated them pretty quickly.

– And you girls are nothing! – Exclaimed Pasha, a young man of strong appearance about twenty-five. – Girls, unite their efforts in holding idle days? Our vacation is not over yet.

“I agree,” Alla said quickly, fearing that they would change their mind, and looked inquiringly at her friend.

All four stood up and left the place where they were attacked by butterflies. The wind quickly flew and quickly disappeared. The coolness remained.

A young man with thin features, with a flexible figure, walked to the seashore. He looked with interest at the three-story palace. The Peacock Palace, as all the locals called it, stood on the first line from the seashore. The sturdy building seemed carved from the rock forever. None of the people living in these parts represented the seashore without this ancient building.

Soon he was already lying in a white lounge chair and was looking at a yacht with white sails sailing on the horizon. He noticed how a white cloud appeared over the yacht and flew to the shore. His name was Ilya. He was bored. He looked sadly at the shore and noticed two girls lying on the sand not far from him. He liked one of them very much. He forgot about the sea, the palace, the white yacht, the sun that burned his shoulders. He saw only her. He saw white butterflies fly at young people.

He thought that the butterflies came from a white yacht on the horizon. Most likely, these butterflies were a white cloud over the yacht. He approached the place that the young people had left, and looked after the girls. He slightly regretted that he was again ahead of two guys. Again, he did not have time to meet the girls first. And at the same time, he realized that it always happens to him in life. He chooses – he is taken away.

Two girls and two guys walked slowly along the beach. The guys had flippers in their hands, and the girls carried beach bags with portraits of strangers.

– Girls, where are you staying? Where are you going? – Yura asked and quickly continued to speak, without waiting for an answer. – And we came to the central beach with flippers, and there is no place to dive here at all. We walked, walked on the water, and everything was shallow. This is a children’s beach. We always go to another beach, there is deep.

– Yura, Pasha, we live in the private sector. We have a house for two, – Alla answered in unison to him. – We walk on shallow water on this beach and we sunbathe.

– Well! – exclaimed Pasha. – So, we have the same conditions of life with you. We live in a boarding house together in the same room and cannot swim in the sand of a shallow beach.

– Wow! – Alla exclaimed. – And they say: the conditions are the same! Yes, in our house there are only two tiny rooms: in the one we eat, and in the other we sleep. The windows are tiny and do not open. The window is one and that tiny!

– Girls, we will throw things in a boarding house and will be at your feet today! – Pasha said, not listening to Alla’s indignation about her harsh life.

– Gentlemen, we will bring our rugs and go out. Where will we meet? – rattled Alla, quite smiling at such nice young people.

– See you at the fountain! She still asks, – Yura dismissively remarked and pointed to a fountain at the end of the beach, from which a trickle of water slowly rose and fell.

– Well, – Alla answered.

The girls quickly went to the house, standing in the shade of the trees. They smiled and talked about the beach wind, about wonderful butterflies and about young people. They entered a small room, fell on old metal beds with feather beds and huge white pillows. Bella lay down on the bed under the window. On a small window were three peacock feathers, leaning against the glass, they reminded of the sunny road to the sea.

The grass rang in the sun and turned into hay at the root. It was unbearably hot. Bella and Alla drove in a large cabin of a passing car along with the driver. They drove the steppe reserve. After some time, the car drove into the peninsula, drove past the storks. Their huge nests were located on power transmission poles.

The car quickly drove the village, surrounded on three sides by the sea. On the one side of the village there were two beaches: one wild, with steep shores, and the other ordinary.

“The central beach is distinguished by fine sand and shallow water, you can walk along the shallows for a long, long time, and the water does not rise above the chest,” said the driver, taking the fare.

The girls came to the sea, rented a house with facilities in the yard. Opposite their house stood the house in which an elderly couple lived. Older people used to meet every summer at a local beach, then they got married and bought a small house, later they built their house according to a fashionable project at the time.

Two houses were connected by an arch with branches of grapes, which wrapped around a wooden lattice in artistic disorder. In the yard grew apple and plum trees. Outside the site was surrounded by quince trees. The amenities in the courtyard included cold water from a pipe that ran idly to the dishes or the kettle. Next to the crane was a table and two shops, they were eaten in the summer.

The owner of these two houses most often worked in the workshop, attached to a large house. In the yard hosted Ivanovna. She gave visitors a small house and grew tomatoes for sale. Tomatoes covered the entire floor of the veranda, leaving a small walkway. The hostess constantly told how difficult it was for her to sell tomatoes…

Bella stopped remembering the day of arrival and said:

– Alla, let’s not go on a date at the fountain. I do not want adventure with these young people! I’m afraid of them! I don’t understand them and don’t know, “the girl whined, touching the peacock’s greenish feathers.

– Bella, and I am too lazy to go, but I really want adventure. I’m tired of boredom! What do we do? And laziness, and fear, and really want adventure? For once, young people appeared on our horizon, but we are too lazy to make out. You know, I’ll go, and you lie on your side and be afraid! I’ll go alone to them, “Alla said ominously, looking at the clothes in the closet.

– Go alone. And I will not go! “I want to sleep,” Bella said in a sleepy voice.

– Agree. I’ll go alone to the fountain with drinking water, and you cook dinner! We will not go to the cafe today, “Alla instructively said and looked at Bella. She saw on her pearl beads a white pearly butterfly. “Where did the butterfly appear on the beads?” – She thought, it seemed to her that the butterfly was shaking her little head in time with Bella’s breathing.

Alla waved her friend a hand and ran out of the house. She was a slim girl of medium height, with brown hair below her shoulders. Pretty quickly she went to the fountain. On the other hand, Yura, a young man of medium height with blond hair, approached the fountain. Both of them looked at each other with undisguised interest in the steel eyes.

“My name is Alla,” she said and smiled friendly.

– And my name is Yura, – smiling young girl, a young man introduced himself, – and I personally like you, and even more.

– I am pleased that it was you who came. I immediately noticed you, – Alla answered, smiling with a white-toothed, open smile.

“And I am pleased that you are pleased and that it was you who came here,” said Yura, continuing to smile, showing wonderful white teeth.

– What do we do? Where to go? – asked the girl.

– Alla, are you not afraid of heights? I’d like to climb the tower. Height beckons me! I want to see the lighthouse. With him watching the sea.

– Well, let’s go to the tower. I do not mind. The lighthouse here is called the tower…

Alla and Yura went towards the tower two steps away from each other, but with each step they approached each other, and at some point their fingers joined. Both stopped and looked into each other’s eyes. I didn’t want to go.

– Yura, are we not going to the tower? Looking at each other?

“Let’s go to the park, here any group of trees is called a park, if they are not fruit trees,” said the young man and squeezed the girl’s hand more tightly.

Park it or not, but they sat on the nearest bench under a chestnut tree.

– Yura, who do you work? If it ‘s not a secret? – Alla asked, playfully glaring at the eyes of a young man.

– We. No one. Nothing. Not married. Did not participate. Were not.

– But seriously? I really want to know who I am talking to, who I liked! To continue the acquaintance, – and she smiled her best smile.

– We are from special forces. We are great and terrible marzipans with butterflies!

– Joke? You’re all kidding! And I get offended for myself that I’m talking to someone unknown to anyone, “Alla pouted her lips.

– No, you are, – Yura objected, – how could I dare to joke with a girl! I’m a serious person! I will answer directly: we are from special forces!

– Yes, you are strong guys, but your hair is long-haired.

– Yes, we are nimble guys. And who are you?

– We? To know who we are? We are two girls from the beach.

– Alla, yes, your answer is even steeper, and I do not like it!

– We are two artists. We paint the boxes, “she replied sadly.

– Isn’t it boring to paint boxes under riveting? – he laughed.

– Bored? Not. We like. We work as photographers. Reliable, the girl answered seriously.

– Are you married? The question is fundamental to the relationship.

– No, we are free girls! In our factory, only girls and women work. Men rarely look into our art studio only when the boxes are brought in for work. No, we are not married! – Alla put an end to the question and began to look sadly towards the sea.

– Alla, sorry, but what city are you from? Can I call it? – continued to knock questions Yura in the almost closed door.

– From the regular. There is such a town, – Alla answered, ready to turn around and go in the direction of a small but cozy house.

– Understood, speak and call your city you do not want. And Pasha and I came from the capital, we both work as programmers, – said Yura, – We are not married and have not been married. We studied, served in the army and worked.

– Yura, you said that you are from special forces. Now you are deceiving me, – Alla said with unconcealed insult in her voice.

– SWAT is a hobby, and so we work with computers.

– It is clear to you that everything is incomprehensible, but very entertaining. And this is not you accidentally bought in the city all the hotels?

Jura’s eyes radiated cold. Alla realized that she asked stupidity. They fell silent, as if they had run a hundred meters for speed and were tired, although they were sitting on a bench. It was a rare warm rain. Alla opened the umbrella. Yura moved to the girl and took her hand with an umbrella in his hand. They looked at each other. Hands got warm…

– Get up, Alla, the rain has passed. In the evening, come with your girlfriend to a boarding house on the dance floor. We have dancing today. We’ll be waiting for you!

“We will definitely come,” Alla agreed without much joy.

And they went in different directions.

Alla came home annoyed, she smiled tightly.

– Alla, what was? Where have you been for so long? Said Bella.

“Yura came to a date, he asked who we were and where we were from,” said Alla sadly.

“So I didn’t want to go,” Bella muttered.

“They are waiting for us in the evening at the dances in the boarding house,” Alla said thoughtfully and looked at herself in the small mirror on the white wall.

– It seems you knowingly went on a date and you agreed to something! Lunch is ready! Sit down Bella said cheerfully.

The girls sat at the table, ate and soon fell asleep. At four o’clock in the afternoon, they woke up and began to think about what they should go on their first date.

Rested eyes shone in anticipation of the meeting. Thick hair waves fell on his shoulders. Clothes for a date lay on the bed. The girls themselves shone from unconscious hope for the future.

Ivanovna looked into the room:

– Girls, and you prettier! Where are you going? And then you’re all at home sitting.

– To the disco! – shouted the girls, considering the clothes.

– Girls, I repeat, do not bring gentlemen here! I will not let them go!

– We know. We remember the prohibitions well, Bella said quietly.

Mistress retired. The girls sat in two chairs and decided to read a little, but the lines in front of her eyes did not move. They simultaneously put down the books and thought. Increased general tension.

“I’m scared,” Bella blurted out. – I feel uneasy. I shiver all.

– What are you afraid of? And you are trembling because you are frozen on the beach, “Alla commented, combing luxurious chestnut strands of hair.

“I’m scared because I don’t know these men,” Bella whined as she brushed her blond hair.

– Always everyone does not know someone, and then they get to know each other. At the dances, by the way, other people will, “Alla instructively said, putting her foot in a chair, examining it for the presence of vegetation, and, not finding anything extra on her feet, put her foot on the floor.

– If only so. I’m scared anyway. I still had no one, and they are such mature men! You see, Alla, they are men, not classmates! They are not boys! – objected to Bell of the last forces against the date, which was approaching with incredible speed.

– Your name is not in bed, but to dance! What are you scared of? – Alla said with a touch of irritation, putting a light dress in front of the mirror.

“Oh, your mother asked us not to get in touch with anyone, to beware of anything incomprehensible in relations between men and women,” Bella recalled her last argument.

– And you do not mess up going, and dance. A coward, that’s who you are! – Alla shook her hair, circling in a dress in one place.

The girls took books in their hands, put their noses in them, since there was no TV in the white house. On the clock, time was slowly moving. In summer, dances don’t start early.

A warm evening floated with a slight coolness. Yura and Pasha were sitting on the railing of a wooden veranda.

– Girls, where have you been? We are waiting for you, waiting! Everything is here, but you are not! – spoke Yura, running a five in his hair.

“We waited for your dinner to end,” Alla replied and approached Yura.

Bella went to Pasha. Yura noticeably cheered up:

– Oh, we already broke in pairs! We don’t need dancing either?! We won’t be bored anyway. Or see how they dance here?

Everyone laughed in response.

On the veranda, the first dance chords sounded invitingly. The people along the paths and paths began to flock to the veranda to the sounds of music. The audience was of all ages: from five to eighty.

– Wow contingent! – exclaimed Pasha. – What should we do here?

– Budding, – answered Yura. – You did not know that there is a disco out of age? Here who knows how to walk, he comes.

“But not to that extent!” No, this disco is not for me, – muttered Pasha, slightly contemptuously looking at the public.

– Normal degree of contingent. We just need a little walk. Old people and small children will soon go to sleep, then we will return here to dance, “wisely judged Yura, without emotion, looking at the crowd that wanted to dance.

Young people with girls left the veranda.

– Guys, where are we going? Asked Bella. – In an hour it will be dark.

“To the tower,” Pasha responded, “we will walk to the lighthouse.”

– Pasha, are you going to the tower? – Yura was surprised. – You – and the lighthouse!

– With Bella, I can go to the tower. I think you and Alla will go.

– Will they let us in there? – Asked prudent Alla. – Suddenly we will not be allowed on the tower? It should be closed to us.

“If they pay, they will let them go,” answered Yura. – I heard from tourists that the tower is accessible to tourists, but at a rate.

Having broken into pairs, the four went to the tower of the lighthouse on the other side of the village. The superintendent, after meeting with Pasha’s hand, missed everyone on the tower and told them not to stick out. The guys went up to the balcony. Bella began to look toward the estuary.

The sea is stormy. White yacht rocked on the waves. On the yacht, two men stood in the rack of wrestlers. Sail flipped them on the torso, but they did not respond to his blows. One man did a foot kick. The second man fell and caught the sail. Sail wind deviated overboard, and the man hung over the sea. The first man kicked the second man off the sail.

The spectators were surprised, then screamed at the same time and ran to the caretaker to ask for a boat to save the man. The caretaker pointed to the boat, made a movement with three fingers. Pasha thrust money into his hand and went to the boat. The paddles in the boat have already been inserted into the oarlocks.

“Girls, stay on the shore, we will sail alone,” said Yura, getting into the boat and picking up the oars. Soon he earned oars.

The boat slowly conquered the waves. Sailboat quickly went to the side. The buoy had a head. The man waved his hand. The guys sailed to the buoy, dragged the man into the boat and with difficulty came to the shore. The waves were getting closer to the shore, then they were being carried away from it. The girls happily met the guys. The rescued man approached the caretaker. The superintendent put money in his hand.

Young people were numb from the spectacle.

– Guys, why did you open your mouths? We have a marine performance on a dachshund.

The four went to the side of Apricot, discussing what they had seen. They walked alongside the carriageway, on which rare cars drove at that time. Bella looked at her companions and realized that word of mouth in the Apricot shop worked on tower advertising. She guessed that they just bought them. But the guys were pleased with their courage, and the girls checked that the guys served alongside the special forces.

All four of them returned to the disco. By their return, the audience on the veranda remained youth and sexual in appearance. Two couples took their place among the dancing couples. Music enveloped them with their intrusiveness. Darkness enveloped the veranda on all sides. Lamps were shining above the dance floor and rare lanterns on the tracks.

– Yura, and I was afraid of you. But you turned out to be so brave: they immediately rushed to save the man from the yacht, did not even spare the money, – Alla quietly whispered.

He did not answer, only he pressed the girl closer to him.

“Bella, you are so good with a fluffy tail of hair,” said Pasha. – It’s nice to dance with you. I feel your tender body under your arms, “he said mysteriously and with a hint.

– Oh thank you! And they tell me that I like to eat. Everybody is joking at me, – Bella replied laughing, feeling her biceps with pleasure under her palms.

– You are so homey as a bun. And no husband? More likely no than yes! True? – Pasha gently cooed, slightly squeezing her hands.

– I don’t have a boyfriend either! Bella exclaimed. – Alla and I have been friends for a long time. We are friends from school.

– Yes, and we are normal friends, – Pasha answered seriously, – and I personally like you, it is cozy with you and there are no bad thoughts in your head.

“And I am pleased to feel your strong arms,” thought Bella.

Tango is over. More energetic music made the audience dance a distance from each other, the dance allowed to see the partner, but did not feel it.