Бесплатный фрагмент - The door to another world

Seven brownie Stories

ACQUAINTANCE

— Timoshka, where are you a prankster? I hear some rustling. Where did you spend the night? Come tell me, what kind of bride did you have? — shuffling my slippers, I walked around the three-room apartment and talked to my invisible cat.

In response to my words, there was a strange sound that came from the kitchen.

Probably, Timoshka is climbing on the sideboard and rustling the packages that my wife Natasha left from last night.

— Well, I got a prankster!

But to my amazement, there was no cat. The kitchen was completely empty and glistened with cleanliness.

Strange thoughts immediately came into my head. Someone walks around the apartment, right? Maybe it’s a thief? And for safety, I took with me what was at hand, and it was a broom.

Now there was a noise in the living room, something resounding clattered on the floor. Bang!

«It looks like a flower has fallen from the windowsill»

I thought and already began to understand that this is definitely not Timoshka. After all, the cat was very smart and having lived with us for a long time never broke anything.

I ran into the room with a quick step and a broom in my hands, but out of surprise I sat down on the sofa that stood near the aisle.

There was a creature climbing up the curtain in the living room, something completely incomprehensible to me. It looked like a little man in a gray straw hat. He was climbing up like a rock climber climbing a mountain. At the same time, clinging to his little hands, he crawled and groaned loudly.

— Where are you going? — I calmly asked him, instead of a flurry of surging emotions.

— Yes, I am. I have to go upstairs,» the peasant grunted in response and continued to crawl, not paying attention to me.

— Wait, — I said.

It immediately seemed to me that there would be no danger from him and I became very interested in who I was dealing with.

— Who are you and where are you going?

— I’m in a hurry to get home, see? — without letting go of the curtain, the peasant said from above.

— Where is home, there’s a ceiling up there. Hit it when you reach the top.

— It’s your people’s ceiling. And we have a Non-Land beginning there.

— Wouldn’t… what?» I asked, confused.

Slowly and imperceptibly coming close to him.

— Non-fiction. Do you understand? The world in which brownies live, and we only go to work in your world. And I’ve been lingering here with you today.

— What’s your name? — I continued to ask my questions further.

— Zyuzya, — the brownie answered proudly.

«You have a funny name,» I said cheerfully.

— I know your name, you don’t have to tell me.

— And how? I asked, confused.

— Vasily is your name, like the cat from the next apartment. You are even sometimes confused.

«How do you know that?»

— I know all about you. We brownies are such a people, we know everything about people. And we write it down in our workbooks.

— And why?

— This is our job.

And then I took him by the leg, and began to pull him down from the curtain. Zyuzya began to resist with all his might, clinging to the curtain to crawl up. But suddenly his little shoe stayed in my hand.

— Vasily, give it to me, our things should not remain in your world, otherwise one of the worlds will simply disappear. «Do you understand?» the brownie said tearfully.

— Come on, you will come to me in the evening for seven days and tell the most interesting stories. And on the seventh day I will return your shoe.

— Well, well. He asked for it. Be it your way. I’ll be back!

And the room became quiet again, Zyuzya just disappeared into thin air and disappeared.

«He must have flown to his Non-land,» I thought.

The flower that was lying on the floor and the broken pot, as if nothing had happened, stood whole on the windowsill. Well, I was holding his tiny red shoe in my hand.

THE FIRST STORY

The sun was shining happily outside the window. It was a hot July. The boss gave me a short vacation, so I was happily sitting on the couch next to a lazily sprawled cat and preparing spinning for the long-awaited night fishing.

— Timoshka, can you imagine I saw a real brownie yesterday, I thought at first that it was you who came back from a party, — I told my cat, looking into his multicolored eyes.

One eye was yellow, and the other was a beautiful, real emerald.

— Yes, what do you understand now, — I continued, because you cats hear human speech, but you do not understand the words at all, you can only distinguish the intonation. Affectionate means good, and evil means you have to run.

— As if not so. You don’t know anything about these animals yourself, Vasily,» a familiar voice was heard in the room.

— Zyuzya?

I got up from the sofa and went to the curtain and began to shake it slightly.

— Vasya, stop shaking the curtain, I’m already here.

And when I turned back, I saw my yesterday’s guest lying on the sofa instead of Timoshka.

— How did you sneak in so unnoticed? But I am very glad to see you! I exclaimed.

«Well, I’m not happy at all,» his voice was heard in response.

— Why is that?

— It’s interesting for people to study our world, and we know yours. We come here to you only for work and I already told you yesterday,» Zyuzya replied and a strange gleam appeared in his black eyes.

— Yes, I remember saying about the notebooks that you keep some kind of record about us.

— Well, Vasily, I’m going to tell you one of our ancient stories about cats. Listen and draw conclusions,» the brownie giggled merrily.

— Come on, I’ll listen, — I said and sat down contentedly in a chair opposite Zyuzi, that the most interesting thing about Timoshka was nowhere with the appearance of the brownie.

— It was a long time ago, a hundred thousand years ago, as our chroniclers write. Nebylandiya was a real paradise for all creatures, and cats were idolized there and were always kept as a talisman in their family clan. These cute fuzzies loved Non-Land very much, but as it turned out later, they loved our world, but not us.

They were taken with them on trips to different worlds and even to work here on your Earth.

But cats have neglected our trust and love. They had their own thoughts about Non-Land. They took a poisonous ointment from our enemies ghosts from the world of Shadows and began to smear wool with it constantly.

— Come on, you don’t believe it. And what happened next?

— And then all the brownies from the world of Non-Land who had cats in the clan began to sneeze endlessly. And they even began to die from endless sneezing and runny nose, suffocating from an incomprehensible smell. When we understood the reason, we immediately expelled the conspirators of cats from our world.

— That’s what you are, so you drove them to us, knowing that they are so dangerous and cunning.

— Apchi, you see your Timosha is gone, and the poison is already working, — wiping his nose, said Zyuzya.

«So it’s an allergy,» I said, laughing at the brownie.

— That’s what you think. But we know what it is. As for their escape to your world, it was they who chose it. Perhaps to fulfill their plans.

— That’s the story you told me, how am I going to live now?

— There are still six stories left, do not forget about our agreement with you, — said Zyuzya and immediately disappeared.

And instead of him, my Timosha appeared on the sofa with his paws spread out impressively.

— Why do you want to take over our world, you cunning man? I asked him.

Timosha curled up into a ball as if nothing had happened and fell asleep.

THE SECOND STORY

— And so the peasants got ready for one, two, three drove, — a familiar voice was heard from the room.

Something hit the floor again, it looks like a flower fell from the windowsill.

I was in the kitchen at that time, preparing dinner. Natasha was supposed to come home from work soon.

— I guess whose fault the pot of flowers broke, — I said loudly, wiping my hands on a waffle towel, went into the living room to scold the brownie.

But when I entered the room, a strange picture appeared in front of me, which I definitely did not expect to see.

There were as many as three brownies hanging on the curtain and they were all completely different. Zyuzya was in charge and commanded them.

— Is that what you arranged at my house? I said loudly.

— Don’t swear, Vasily. It’s me and my brothers competing. We are supposed to arrange competitions like this in Nabyland sometimes. We especially love to hold these events in your world.

— No, I am against such competitions, you have already dropped a pot with a flower on the floor, and it broke.

«Then give me my shoe, and I promise I won’t show up at your house ever.»

— No, I told you, when you tell seven stories, then I will return your thing to you. I don’t wear your shoe, it doesn’t fit me.

— If you don’t want it in a good way, now you’ll see it in a bad way. Don’t you know who brownies are?

— No, I don’t read fairy tales, — I answered with a smile, looking at Zyuzya.

— What would you understand, we are obstinate spirits. And if we are very angry, we can be very angry. Come on, guys, stare at him with your evil eyes.

And the two brownies who were standing next to Zyuzya flashed their eyes at me.

I was really getting uneasy by the minute.

— And now let’s give Vaska the heat, — shouted Zyuzya.

And the three brownies began to race around the room at high speed and throw things off the shelves.

Suddenly the bell rang, I wanted to go open the door. But Zyuzya blocked my way.

— Listen, give me my shoe! — he said plaintively.

«If you tell me six more stories, then I’ll give them to you,» I replied in a calm voice.

— What kind of person are you, nothing will scare you. This was the second story, there are still five left,» Zyuzya said and disappeared, followed by the others.

And in the room, all the things were back in their places.

THE THIRD STORY

— Vasenka, have you and Natasha got another cat? — Tamara Georgievna asked, she was a grandmother, she looked about seventy years old.

— Mom, where did you get this from? I asked in surprise.

— I thought there was a cat in the living room. After all, I let Timoshka out for a walk in the morning. But my eyes don’t see well, and I didn’t see who was running around the room.

— Mom, well, you go lie down and rest, and I’ll take a look… maybe the neighbor’s cat really ran into us by mistake, — I said.

And he went into the living room and immediately closed the door so that she could not hear anything.

— Come out, they’ve already snitched on you,» I said quietly.

Zyuzya got out from under the sofa and chattered quickly.

— And you know how it was. I walk down the curtain from the Non-Land, and with my fifth point I feel that someone is looking at her, I realized that it was an old woman and slipped under the sofa so as not to get slippers.

— Nothing, Mom was without glasses.

— Do you want me to tell you a story about an interesting world that I sometimes go to with friends through the cube center.

— Of course I want to, I’m generally interested in how everything is arranged there and what worlds exist.

— In your World of Flesh, you are not supposed to know about all the worlds and about their structure, — said Zyuzya seriously.

— Well, at least tell me something about them, — I asked.

— Okay, I’ll tell you a little. You have already heard about one world, this is our world of brownies, which is called Non-Land, there is also a World of Shadows where evil ghosts and spirits live, The World of Oblivion is a mirror world, you can’t stay there for a long time, otherwise you will forget everything and even your name, The World of Radiance is not a world for everyone, it is high frequency and pure energy, if a simple creature gets into it, it can simply dissolve or disappear forever. There is also my most favorite World of Imagination in which you can invent whatever you want, but the most important thing is not to overdo it.

— Great. Have you told me about all the worlds just now?

— No, of course not…

I scratched my head thoughtfully and thought.

— Why is our World of Flesh so limited in possibilities. The roads to other worlds are closed to us.

— Well, Vasya, I need to get home now, — Zyuzya interrupted my thoughts and prepared to climb up the curtain.

— Wait, but you didn’t tell me about the interesting world that you and your friends sometimes visit.

— Oh, I didn’t tell you, but I don’t have time for that anymore. I’ll tell you next time then. Four stories left. Don’t forget, four!

The brownie climbed up to the ceiling on the curtain and immediately disappeared.

THE FOURTH STORY

The night turned out to be stellar today, the stars poured out in the sky in a fine scattering and brightly twinkling lights winked at each other. The moon was full and shone through my open window, so bright that I couldn’t sleep.

«Summer, what a wonderful time of the year, and summer nights can’t be compared to anything at all,» so I lay and thought without closing my eyes, and the time was already two o’clock in the morning.

And then I realized that if I continue to lie there and do nothing, I can spend this night completely without sleep.

So I decided to go to the balcony and breathe fresh air into my lungs, and then fill them with cigarette smoke.

Well, I smoke, I smoke, what can you do with me now.

Very quietly, I got out of bed so as not to wake Natasha, put on my slippers and went as quietly as possible to the balcony, which was in the living room.

Parting the curtains, I went out to him. After looking around the neighborhood, I stretched and took cigarettes from the windowsill.

— What a beautiful view, isn’t it Vasily? — the already familiar voice of the brownie sounded, somewhere very close to me.

I looked around, then looked around again, but I didn’t see anyone.

«I can hear you, but for some reason I can’t see you, come out,» I said happily.

— The most important thing is that there is a connection between us and this is already good, I don’t like the smell that is coming from you now, Vasily, — the invisible Zyuzya continued to speak.

— Don’t you smoke there?

— We don’t smoke. Vasily, so where were we last time? — the brownie asked.

— You wanted to tell me about some very interesting world that you and your friends visit, — I said thoughtfully, letting out a ring of cigarette smoke.

— Yes, this is my favorite World of Imagination, now I’ll tell you an amazing story.