В куртке, например, в одном кармане у меня лежали монеты, с грязью смешанные, а в другом — проволока. Ну и из-за этой проволоки там дырка здоровая образовалась. Но я, конечно, не стал маме об этом говорить. Не стал я говорить об этом потому, что в школу опаздывал и потому, что утром язык во рту совсем не хочет ворочаться.
Вот о чём я думал вчера поздно вечером, когда лежал в кровати и пытался заснуть. Ещё я подумал, что если бы я всё-таки сказал маме, что потерял деньги, у меня не было бы всех этих мучений на весь вчерашний день, а может быть, даже и на следующий день тоже. С этими мыслями я вчера и заснул.
Сегодня, когда я проснулся, я сразу вспомнил всю эту вчерашнюю историю. И ещё я вспомнил о носовом платке, из-за которого потерял свои деньги. Что же это такое получается? Получается, что я высморкался, завернул всё это дело в платок и положил себе в карман. Это просто смешно. Что-то тут неправильно. Так не должно быть. Что-то тут не то.
The Handkerchief
I do not like to lie. My mom thinks that I never lie. Therefore, I never do lie. I do not even say things that are untrue. Because if my mom found out that I said something that was not true, it would be the end of the world. And I do not want it to be the end of the world.
But sometimes it is very difficult to tell the truth. Sometimes telling the truth is just impossible. But those are completely different things: to say something that is not true or not to tell the truth.
For example, yesterday Mom gave me money for school breakfast. And when she saw that I put the money into my pants’ pocket, she did not like it. She suggested putting the money into the pocket of my school jacket so that I would not lose it.
But I did not put my money into the pocket of my school jacket and just said that I would not lose the money, “Don’t worry, Mom.” And I went to school. Well, unfortunately, it so happened that I did lose my money. I think it happened because I had my handkerchief in the same pocket where I put my money. And it is most likely that I lost my money as I was taking out the handkerchief.
When I came home from school, Mom did not ask me whether I had lost my money or not. If she had asked me about it, I would never have lied to her. I would have certainly told her that I had lost the money. But it did not occur to Mom to ask me this question.
I also made it seem as though I was in a very good mood. Because if I had not been my usual self, Mom would have immediately asked me what was wrong. But I did not want Mom to ask me these kinds of questions.
In the evening, at dinner, Mom asked Dad whether he was late for work because he had left home later than usual. Dad said that he was not late for work. But he did get in later than usual and saw how people were running to the entrance gates. And Dad pitied them. Dad especially pitied the old women. They were barely able to run, but they were afraid to be late. So they ran. “However,” Dad said, “I hope that nowadays they will no longer send people to prison for being one minute late.”
And here Mom gave Dad THE look. It was supposed to mean that Dad should not have said this in front of me because I was still too young.
But in reality Mom does not object to Dad saying this in front of me. Because Mom knows that I am no longer little. If Mom really did not want Dad to say these things, Dad would not, under any circumstances, say anything. I cannot remember Dad ever doing anything that Mom did not like.
So I think that when Mom gives Dad this look, she does it just for my sake. To make sure that I understand that at my age I should not be hearing things like what Dad said. And if I, for whatever reason, did hear it, I should not talk about it anywhere.
Then Mom started to ask Dad what interesting things happened at work. And Dad said that nothing interesting had happened. Everything was as usual. And that all the tracing paper had been pilfered from the drafters again. And Mom said that she was not surprised. Because food could be properly wrapped only in tracing paper.
Then Dad complained that, for whatever reason, the standard menu for lunch suddenly had been changed and now they would be given jelly instead of dried-fruit compote.
And here I told my parents that my tooth hurt. I said this because I was worried that they might ask me about what I had eaten at school. Then I would have had to confess that I had not eaten anything because I had lost my money. And as soon as I said that my tooth hurt, I became sad. Because it turned out that I had lied. And this was even worse than when I pretended to be in a good mood.