Tell me, when you were a child, didn't you want to live in a house that looked unusual? For example, in a house that looks like your favorite animal or occupation. Perhaps it would be great: look at the house - and its owner as if in the palm of your hand! It's immediately clear who would live in a dog house, a cat house, and, say, a ball house. And what would you say about people whose house looks like...a New Year's ball?
- Probably," someone will say, "someone who likes to celebrate New Year's Eve lives there. And also, most likely, its owners love winter and are kind.
Well, what can I say... In some ways, they are right, of course, but not everything is so simple. Well, you'll find out soon enough.
***
Surely many of you have a brother or sister. If so, answer me two questions: Are you alike? And if so, in what ways? My sister Sveta looks a lot like me. In appearance. That's why they even named her that.
- Sister Light - you ask - and then who are you?
Svyatoslav. My name is Svyatoslav.
So, about my sister. If outwardly Sveta and I are, as they say, "two of a kind", we are completely different in character.
Sveta is a rambunctious, active bully. She never gets tired and can talk to anyone. She had the most to do even when she couldn't walk yet. I was different from childhood - calm and diligent, and my favorite activities were reading and making different figures from wood. Yes, if Sveta was like me, we would not have gotten into such a story... What? Listen to this.
That winter, Svetka's class went for a walk in the forest. Of course not alone - their teacher was with them too. And since it was a hike in the woods, Svetka and her classmates were told to talk about the hike at home and find out who else from the older ones could go. Our parents are dentists, mom is a therapist and dad is a surgeon, they work at a private clinic, and on the day Sveta's class was supposed to go on the hike in the woods, both were busy. There is also a grandmother, but she lives far away. So, from the "elders" in our family remained only me. I must say, this is not the first time that I was the eldest, and in Svetka's class no one was even surprised. I was well prepared, I even brought a real compass.
Nothing particularly interesting happened on the road or during the walk. But when I was about to return home, I suddenly noticed with horror that I had lost sight of my sister!
- Sveta! Sveta! - I shouted, going farther and farther into the forest, and finally exhaled when I saw a familiar red jacket.
- What are you, totally nuts? Don't you realize you might be lost?!
But Svetka, for some reason was neither frightened nor upset, but said with a smile to her ears:
- Svyat, look what I found!
I looked where she was pointing and saw... a house shaped like a huge Christmas tree ball!
- Everyone's gonna be so excited when I show them this!
- Yeah," I said angrily, "they'll be happy if we find them.
And then I was horrified to discover two things: first, it turned out that I couldn't remember which way the classroom was (and I couldn't even hear anyone's screams), and second, the compass stopped working for some reason!
- Well, Svetka," I said grimly, "hold on, we're lost.
- And do what? - The sister asked fearfully.
- There's only one thing left to do: ask for help from the inhabitants of this orb - I nodded in his direction and sighed - and hope they don't drive us away.
But before we could even approach the house, its door suddenly opened by itself. We couldn't see who came out, but it was someone walking straight toward us. When we could finally see who it was, it turned out to be...quite an ordinary grandmother. And she looked quite good-natured.
- Hello!" she said, smiling cheerfully, "You must be lost, aren't you? - We nodded, and the grandmother hurriedly added: "Come quickly to our place, or you'll freeze to death!
As soon as we got inside the balloon house, a girl came running out. I thought she was about nine or ten, though she looked even younger. She had long, braided dark brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a light tunic with embroidered flowers around the edges.
- You're hungry, aren't you? - She asked at once - Come to the table, grandfather will come and we'll have dinner.
- Don't talk like that, Lesya! - Grandma said a little angrily, "You'd better say hello to the guests!
- Hello - I said then - My name is Svyatoslav, and this is my sister Sveta. We went for a walk with her class, then fell behind, and...there.
- We got lost," Sveta interjected.
- Now I'll show you everything! - Lesya spoke again - And then we'll go eat grandma's pie!
And Lesya went to show us the house and her room. The house was warm, cozy and it was nice there, but at the same time everything here was somehow...old-fashioned. It was as if they lived in some village or farm or in another time.
Soon Grandpa came, who seemed like Santa Claus to my sister and me. We finally sat down to dinner, and I asked:
- Excuse me, but is this place a farm or a village? And what's it called?
- No, it's not a village, and it's not a farm, it's... - and with these words my grandfather named our town - and our house is like this because I built it myself.
After the meal, I tried to get in touch with my parents, but I couldn't do it. Not because my or Svetka's phone was dead, but because there was no connection here. At all. Then Lesina's grandmother came out from somewhere and asked:
- Is something wrong?
- I couldn't get in touch with my parents - I answered - Where can I call you from?
- We'll go to bed soon, and call your parents tomorrow.
And indeed, we stayed the night in the house. There were many rooms, and Svetka and I were assigned two neighboring ones. And everything was fine, except that before I fell asleep, I heard some footsteps.....
In the morning I saw from the window of my room that there was some strange building with a tower next to the house.
At breakfast, I asked Lesa:
- I heard some strange footsteps last night. Do you know who it was?
- Ah, footsteps! - Lesya replied calmly, "So it's grandfather walking! Have you seen, we have a tower near the house? - I nodded. - That's where he goes.
- What's in that tower? - I asked again.
- Nothing interesting. Heating, plumbing... You know, pipes. Grandpa built this house himself, and the tower too. I've never even been inside.
- I see - I answered and did not ask anything more about the construction.
The next event of the day was that I discovered that the connection never appeared. Of course, I was upset, and when Lesya asked what was wrong and I answered, she said:
- You and Sveta can stay with us as long as you want! Don't worry, we have a big house!
And the grandfather, who had heard everything, added:
- Parents won't even notice!
- What do you mean they won't notice? - I didn't understand. But no one else answered me.
In the meantime, I realized that this family has a lot of weirdness.
First of all, I always thought Sveta was almost hyperactive, but after meeting Lesya, I realized that compared to her, my sister was a quiet silent one. There were a lot of Lesya's things in the house, but there were no school supplies. I didn't know exactly how old Lesya was, but even if she was younger than I thought, she couldn't be younger than Svetka. But if she was, she'd been going to school for a long time. But she doesn't, and what's more, neither from her, nor from her grandparents, Sveta and I didn't hear a word about school and Lesya's studies there. Why? I couldn't explain that.
The second oddity was that no one said anything about Lesya's parents. As I guessed, Lesya came to her grandparents for vacations, and she and her parents lived somewhere else. And, unlike us, she didn't miss her parents.
So I decided to try to get her to talk, and I asked her:
- Lesya, don't you miss your parents?
- And what should I miss them - unexpectedly indifferent replied that - anyway they will come tomorrow, take me away.
But the next day no one came, so I asked:
- Where are your parents?
- Parents? - Lesya didn't understand.
- Well, they're supposed to come and get you today," I explained.
- How do you know?
- That's what you said!
- Yeah? Well, I must have gotten it wrong. It happens to me. They'll be here tomorrow.
But the next day Lesya said... almost the same thing, that my parents would come tomorrow. I didn't understand anything, except one thing: something had to be done about it.
No, the fact that Lesya was confused about dates and days of the week didn't surprise me. I had a sister like that myself, and I could easily imagine a girl a little older than Sveta behaving the same way. Not only that, but I knew that my parents rarely had such behavior, only because they lived on a schedule. I was the only one in our family who wasn't confused about dates. That's just the way I was born. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. And I realized I needed Svetka's help.
- Sveta," I said, "I need your help.
She looked at me incredulously.
- You don't have to do anything special," I explained, "just go to Lesa and ask her what date it is today.
- Why don't you go yourself? - Sveta was stubborn at first, but then she said, "All right, I'll ask.
Here Lesya intervened in the conversation.
- What kind of secrets do you have here? - she asked
- There are no secrets," Sveta replied calmly, "I just told Svyat that I couldn't remember what day it was. He said that I was a slacker. Maybe you remember?
- You can look in my room, there's a calendar there," Lesya replied.
We went to her room and saw the calendar... No, the year was correct. But the day was January 8th.
January 8th, even though it's long past Old New Year's Eve! How could she have January 8th on her calendar?!
At first I thought that Lesya had mixed up something, or just hadn't changed the date on the calendar since January eighth. But we found several other calendars in the house, and they had the same date on them.
- Why don't they all remember what day it is? - I thought, and then I remembered Lesya's grandfather. Lesya said that they had pipes in the tower that were responsible for heating and plumbing. Let's say it's true. But why did the grandfather go there every night if there was no problem with that? And why at night and not during the day? So I decided to follow him.
At night, everyone went to their rooms, and I just pretended. As soon as the house was quiet, I quietly went to the front door, put on my jacket and left the house. Then I went to the tower and watched for my grandfather. Soon he really came, he lit the light in the tower, I saw through the window what was there... and only by a miracle I didn't scream. No, there really were chimneys, but there was also a huge white clock. Grandpa walked up to it, and I realized that he was going to turn the hands backwards! Terrified that Grandpa would find me or that I would be harmed by his ritual, I rushed to my room. I made it to my room without my grandfather noticing me, but I heard him muttering something inaudible to himself as he passed my room. I crawled into bed, and only then did I realize what my grandfather was muttering.
- You will live," he repeated.
But who will live? Who is in danger in this house?
I couldn't stop thinking about it. Who is Grandpa so afraid of? It turns out that this someone, if time goes on as usual, will not live long. He'll die right after New Year's vacation ends. But what will happen to him? And who is it? Grandpa said: "you'll live." So someone had to suffer. Lesin's grandfather was strange, of course, but kind, so I doubted he would do such a thing for himself. And it was definitely someone who was in the house now, and was a member of his family. So there were only two options: Lesya and grandmother. But what could happen? No one in this family was sick. One thing was clear: only one person could know the truth. I had to talk to Lesya's grandfather.
In the morning, after breakfast, when the girls had gone off to do some business of their own, I found my grandfather in the yard of the house, and said to him:
- I know everything.
- Excuse me, young man, what are you talking about? - Grandfather asked with a smile.
- I know that you change the clocks every night, and because of that neither Svetka, Lesya nor I can get home. But why you do it, I don't know, but I'd really like to know.
- Well," Grandpa said with a sad smile, "let's go. I suspected that someone would figure it out sooner or later anyway.
He and I went to the tower where I saw the clock again. Grandfather pulled a lever, and I saw that there was a small locker in the wall. Grandfather took a key from his jacket pocket and opened it.
- Do you read newspapers? - He asked me sadly.
- No," I replied.
- It's a pity - and my grandfather handed me the newspaper, which was open on the page that told about the accident. The accident had killed a girl who would have been ten years old this year. I couldn't understand at first why my grandfather had even shown me this newspaper, but then I looked at the picture of the girl, and I almost fell over. It was Lesya.
Meanwhile, the grandfather began his sad story.
- Lesya's mother is my daughter Masha, who works as an actress in our theater and often tours. That day Masha herself had to come to pick up Lesya, and her granddaughter was very much looking forward to it. Usually mom herself took her away from us, but here Masha called and said that she didn't have time to pick up Lesya and asked us to take her home. I was busy, so Lesya went with her grandmother alone. Granddaughter was in a hurry to see her mom, so they decided to take a shortcut. Apparently they were not the only ones... That's how they got into the accident.
I didn't know whether I would succeed with the clock or not, because I had only heard about it in fantasy books. But I knew that there was no other way to bring my granddaughter back to life, and I didn't need life without her. So I started the clock and went to sleep. When I woke up, I was overjoyed: my granddaughter was with me again! Alive and well! But a few days later, I realized that if I didn't wind the clock again, the same thing would happen to Lesa. So I did. And then I did it again. And again. I'm willing to translate them as much as I want, but each time I'm afraid Lesia will miss her mom, or someone else, or even the summer. And I don't know what I'll tell her if she ever starts asking to go home.
That was the end of my grandfather's story. I didn't understand only one thing: we lived in a time when Lesya was no longer alive. Then how could we have found her alive? But I knew one thing for sure: Lesya had to be saved, and I had to do it. Otherwise Svetka and I wouldn't be here. But how could we save her?
The ideal option would be to tell everything to Lesya's mother, because she is the main authority for her, but since it was impossible to call anyone, I realized that the problem should be solved only with the help of those people who are in the house. There was only one option left.
No matter how Sveta was, I always knew one thing: my sister would never give away her own, much less anyone else's, secret. And I needed to consult someone urgently. So I went to Sveta and told her everything.
- I feel sorry for Lesya, she's good - almost crying said Sveta.
- You and I have to save her," I answered, "and we have to figure out how. But don't suggest calling her mom, there's no connection.
Sveta thought for a moment, then said:
- Well, if we can't tell Lesya's mom, why don't we tell her ourselves? Just don't tell her the story's about her.
I hesitated for a moment, then said:
- It's a good idea, but will it work? All right, let's give it a shot.
After a while, Lesya and I were sitting watching TV. My sister and I looked at each other, and we decided it was time. And I said:
- Lesya, we know that you love your mom very much and miss her. And I remembered that before we came here, a girl from our town had an accident.
I wasn't sure Lesya would be interested, but she asked:
- Why?
- Her name was..." I thought about it, "Alice, and her mother also worked on frequent business trips. I don't remember who, but I remember that Alice, who also spent vacations at her grandparents' house, wanted to meet her very much. - I sighed and continued - After the vacation, my grandmother went to see her off, they were traveling by car and had an accident.
- Why? - Lesya asked again.
- Alisa was in a hurry, and she and her grandmother decided to take a shortcut... I don't know what happened next, but Alisa didn't survive the accident. I ask you, Lesya, whoever goes to see you off, don't ask to take a shortcut, because all of you - you and your grandparents - may end up in hospital with serious injuries, and that will be half the trouble. You realize that's not going to make your mom happy, and it's not going to get you any closer to meeting her, right? - I finished and saw that Lesya was crying.
- I feel sorry for my grandparents," she said, sobbing, "what if they die in the accident? Or I die and my mom gets mad at them for it?
And before I could answer her, I found myself in the forest. Sveta was next to me, and there was no balloon house. But there was my phone, which rang like a victim. I picked it up.
- Saint, it's Dad. Can you tell me where you are right now? Is the compass working?
- It's working! It's working! - Svetka jumped up and down beside me.
And indeed, it was working. So we quickly got out of the woods (as it turned out, we hadn't gone far), Dad found us, and we went home.
***
I don't know how Lesina's fate turned out, but I haven't found any articles about the accident anywhere. So I think she's doing fine. Maybe we'll meet again someday.
The end