Читать книгу The City with the Name of Wind - Татьяна Зубкова - Страница 4

We were falling from a height of several thousand meters. Not a sound was heard in the cabin. And only one voice did not sound but squeaked. I did not even realise that it was a woman’s or a man’s voice:

– We are falling! – the voice was heard with almost no emotion and no colour! And then there was heard a professional, clear, although also without colour, response of the stewardess:

– No! We are slowly drifting down!

I shuddered and got out of half-conscious state. Forgotten emotions surfaced in the dream. At that time, I was going to defend my thesis. Finally: work was done, articles were published, papers were collected, abstract and thesis were printed, reports and gifts were delivered to opponents, clothes, documents and money were packed. Only one thing remained: defense! I was sitting on the plane that rose to the height of three or four kilometres. Twenty or twenty-five minutes later, the plane began to fall, and it was not gradually at all. There was complete silence. The stewardess, pale as a ghost, was running around and checking: whether the belts were fastened or not. I had three thoughts. First: «Was it worth to spend a lot of time preparing for defence and end up in a plane crash?» – and it seemed that it took me five years to get ready. Second: «I am too young to die!» – I was twenty-eight years old! And the third but the right one: «Who will take care of my little children?!» Probably, everyone had such thoughts! The plane stopped falling, turned around hardly, gliding quietly at such a height that even cars and people could be seen on the ground, and crawled to the airport. There was no panic. Everyone came out without crowding or pushing. When we were picking up our baggage at the airport, I heard one stewardess asking another one from our plane:

– What happened on your plane? – And she replied:

– Engine fire!

The next morning, I flew off on another plane. Everything that I had aspired to just happened: I defended my candidate’s thesis, and after eight years – my doctor’s thesis. A few years ago, we celebrated my fortieth birthday. I raised my children, organised the Department of Pharmacology and launched a similar business. I travel: now, I am going to my favourite Thailand once again.

It is known that only one animal is capable of falling from a great height and landing on all four paws. Although, this is not some sort of mark – not seven-and-something metres above the sea level! This animal is a cat! Its nature lives and waits for the right moment in every woman. No wonder that women are more likely to survive in disasters! Every woman has a genotype of the ancient Bastet – a goddess with the head of a cat. There is a dark side inherited from Sekhmet: a goddess with the head of a lioness. On Earth, the spirit of Bastet – Sekhmet protects every cat and every woman. As a nocturnal animal, the cat was dedicated to the goddess of the Moon, fertility and childbirth. But in Thailand, I realised: we are dependent on the Moon, which, based on its phases, carries the oceans with their tides. And only there, I came to understanding that the ocean was a terrible power.

In flight, I tried to read the guide:

– Animals were bored during the long voyage of Noah’s Ark. And they began to look at each other. The monkey’s male was fascinated by the lioness, and she, instead of eating him, reciprocated.

– It often happened at all times: sex out of boredom! – I thought and continued reading:

– And after a certain period of time, she gave birth to Siamese kitten. It was a wonderful animal with the habits of a monkey and courage of a lion. Indeed, of all existing cat breeds, the Siamese are the most unusual, combining grace of a panther, swiftness of a deer, strength of a lion, cunning of a monkey, and loyalty of a dog – this is a legend about the origin of cats from Siam! It is interesting to find out the duration of the lioness’s pregnancy from the orangutan, – I continued reading:

– Moreover, the superstition about cats originated in Thailand. It says that in order for a marriage to be happy and prolific, the newlyweds should bring a cat into the bedroom on their first wedding night: preferably large, hardened, and with a long moustache!

I closed the guidebook to Thailand. The Russian «charter» flew to Pattaya: the city with the name of the wind. The flight took me about ten hours like and was quite tedious. I wanted to have a drink and sleep until the end of my flight. But alcoholic drinks were banned, ostensibly because the Russians (what a blatant lie!) were the biggest drunks and brawlers in the world!

We are like everyone else! I spent time in pubs in London, and in beerhouses in Munich, so I know clearly that everybody drinks – schnapps with beer and beer with whisky. It is a well-known fact:

– Beer without vodka – money for the wind!

One needs to fly Thai airlines, as it is one of the best in the world: you will drink what you ask, you will get a glass of water, girls change national clothes several times, and there are orchids, my favourite flowers, in the toilet.