Chapter 8
Dionysius’s plane was approaching to Atlanta. A local airport had his own sparkle of life, and, amazingly, it was dear to Dionysius’s heart, while it was alien to his soul. It is like you always dwell on the outskirts and suddenly move to the downtown. The plane was landing in a dangerous manner: on one wing and with Costa Rica pilots’ mastery. When some people next time will ask me what they do wrong, I will show them these pilots: “Learn from experienced people.” The touchdown was a miracle. A seasonal storm, looking as a hurricane—either Katrina or Alice, but in Russian it would be just “Damn this aircraft! I’m terrified!” These were the words shouted by a Russian passenger, who was on the board of that airliner, looking at a palm tree behind the cabin that reeled from side to side as a person who went astray on the life path. They flew law, and pilots could not understand why they felt like fish out of water: because they could fail to handle with the airplane or could survive and yell like Dmitry Guberniev after the Russia triumph in biathlon. They landed perfectly; people succeed in their professional doings, but at times stress hampers the success.
Fighting with Atlanta weather, Dionysius went towards the town along the short avenue, but today it seemed to him of compelling length and breadth; there were no buses at that time. But he needed to walk, because it was the only rule Dionysius followed—to be always in movement. He did not appreciate any breaks, so he set off far away to find Luisian. “It is not the result which is crucial, but the constant work,” he said. “People who work for the result make a big mistake. Without doubt, these people will attain their desires, maybe even faster than somebody else. Yet the meaning of life is not in the outcome, and a person will not die if he does not fulfill the things he wanted. And there rises a question: “How can a man who turned a winner in a competition and afterwards is depressed live on?” He worked towards the result and got it. Actually you ought to work for work itself. As one man of wisdom with a beard said, «Work is important, but to notice the process of work is more essential». If work is your first priority, you will not lose the interest to work after the achievement of the result,” so thought Dionysius, reciting his poems to wind of the hurricane. The weather worsened, and, perhaps, there was a state of emergency imposed in the town with hope that there would not be a seasonal hurricane that often appears in North America latitudes. Dionysius could only conjecture about it, for example, watching a young palm brunch flying in the distance. He did not imagine his life with no adventures and with now, let’s say, this palm brunch hurt his head and leaving him the long-lasting experience. For this reason Dionysius was full of joy and excitement to see something new when he saw the hurricane approaching to Atlanta. He was dauntless and somewhat crazy—it was his nature. Call to mind the story, when being in the motherland, France, Dionysius was walking one beautiful May day after his university lectures among beautiful avenues, and there was no sign of trouble… A couple of minutes later, a policeman and he were running away with a watermelon stolen from a small shop. Dionysius walked, and the heavy rain changed into a hurricane, as if it was still the rain which took him by surprise in Costa Rica; this rain was like a symbol of his life, it reminded him that the winds of life will never stop blowing, and he will be to live and enjoy the life with them.
Dionysius went and pondered about peculiarities of his life. To be honest, he did not realize how people around him could be clumsy and heavy as aged trees and be much fond of self-analysis. He both did not and did understand how these people might looked like—as Costa Rica and Paris placed close to each other. However, people unlike towns have consciousness… Yet consciousness of towns is built on people’s consciousness. The airport in Atlanta is considered one of the vast and busiest airports in the world. A school-leaver sees the world as a cluster of things depicted as negative and inappropriate at school; the colossal anthill of people, happened during the hurricane in a modern building, proved that anything can come true in this world—the thing is to make right question. It also proved that the majority of people are weak when it is time to do something extraordinary, given that any person is easily able to do that. The road where Dionysius went resembled a new Hollywood film. Everything was unbelievable and a company of zombies seemed to appear right from under flooded asphalt and to settle into that area. Dionysius walked along real American highway with six lanes, and the heavy rain was pouring down, and palm brunches were flying at that time. As someone placed that scenery into a wind tunnel and started filming. There were no cars on the highway and it was better for them, because it was unpredictable whether they would be overflowed with water as last time or not. Dionysius was perplexed, “Why can’t people once desire something, get it? Anything is possible in our world!” Yuri Gagarin was in cosmos, so is now: you should just start sleeping every other day, and you will get more than a hundred of extra working hours after a month. Dionysius always achieved aimed doings, and he soon became bored, overtaking others, although the outcome was far from the impeccable one. Dionysius found himself in today and literally repudiated the past. It gladdens, my friends, when you just try not to remember something for a joke! Dionysius had a pittance in a pocket: it would be enough to stay in a hostel somewhere in the center of the town and to buy a couple of hot dogs with a cup of instant coffee. Is anyone happier than this person who is going to the warm place after a rain storm?
There was a ramp on the right side of the highway. Probably Dionysius reached the town center. It took him approximately two hours and a half. Of course, it was not much, but Dionysius pulled himself together since the beginning of his forced and a bit absurd journey, and, as a consequence, did not pay attention to the occasion that he could shorten the way by running. Some people coped with marathons within such time given—he did not. The second Dionysius’s rule was the perception that time passes by quicker, when you do something.
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And now time passed by too.
Dionysius planned to move on, return the mascot to Luisian and then make his old dream to experience working on construction site in Russia come true. Why this dream? The fact is that his first memory of the childhood was a picture, in which his father and he were going near a huge house, and he saw a man eating noodles on a crane. Dionysius saw with his childish eagle eye that he devoured every piece of the dish with pleasure beyond words and during brakes looked at the moon’s host full of great secrets of the night, who observed the entire town from his height. It dawned on Dionysius that the life never ends, so you should always move forward and tick carried out doings. His dream seemed childish and foolish for others, but it was new for Dionysius in its oddity and simplicity. And he thought that construction site in Russia (this country always attracted him with the creative chaos) would be the most marvelous place. You could learn the craft of life there, then turn it into art and meet powerful and interesting people. Speculating this way, he ate a hot Detroit-style pizza—an iconic dish for that hostel in the town center, since the hostel owner was born in Detroit and treated his guests to it. He looked not young: his condition was as if he was an instrument in a three-day use. You could not imagine that hostel owner with twenty years of given none of these details, as you cannot imagine autumn without yellow trees and rusty cars with no sharp lines and bumpers. He said to Dionysius, “You are a strong and clever fellow. I see no defects in you, but when you start, you may well excel yourself. And there you are menacing for yourself. As menacing as the biggest shark for it is always difficult to be first and constantly ward off enemies with dullness. Be careful, Dionysius, and find the energy to stand up if the wand of peppered life will slay you. At times life forces to cook food in trays. Yet it worth pretending this food at times. This is the last mistake of strong people, who can forgive themselves. It is the mistake of their pride.” Despite it was dark as in the evening, the sun rose. The storm of life was leaving the American town.