Then Mom gave Dad THE look. That meant that Dad was not supposed to ask this type of question in front of me.
Dad did not say anything. He just closed his eyes and, after a second, opened them again. That meant that he did not completely agree with Mom.
Mom raised her eyebrows. And her eyes opened wide for a second. And I understood that to mean that Mom had agreed with Dad but with some reluctance. And she replied that she did not know what happened to the previous tenants.
Serge still does not come out to play. His mom does not let him. She is still too scared.
My mom knows that Serge's mom does not let him go to the yard, but she does not know why. And when my dad heard from Mom that Serge's mom is scared to let him go out to the yard, he asked, “Aren’t they scared to be at home?”* Maybe he had the knock-knocker in mind. Though I am not sure about it at all, of course.
Lisa
On Sunday evening, I went for a ride on my bike. And I saw Lisa coming out of her building. She had a bag in her hand. And while I was riding around the yard, she passed my building, turned right at the corner, and then turned right again. By that time, I already knew for sure that she was going to the trolley bus stop. And I knew exactly what store her parents had sent her to.
And Lisa and I had a strange thing happen to us. Two years ago we were merged with the girls in school. The first time we heard a rumor about that, everyone started saying how bad it would be. Not one of our boys wanted to be merged with them. And since everyone said that, I also had to say the same thing.
Though I would not be the first to say that it would be really bad. But if someone else said so and asked me to confirm that it would be very bad, I was just forced to say that it would be very bad.
But really, I wanted to have girls in our school. And right up to the beginning of the school year, I thought it would be too good to be true. And I now think that everyone perhaps wanted to be merged with them at that time. But nobody wanted to acknowledge it.
My friend, Gleb Paramonov, once told me that if any girl, even if she was not pretty, approached him and told him that she wanted to be friends, he would be very happy. But after that, he still told everyone that he was against being together with the girls. And when I reminded him of our conversation about “any girl, even if she was not pretty,” he told me a story.
Gleb told me about a time when he and his mother stopped by their friends’ apartment. At that moment, their friends were having dinner and invited Gleb and his mother to join them. Gleb was just about to sit down at the table when his mother suddenly and unexpectedly for Gleb said that they had just eaten and did not want to eat.
When Gleb later asked his mother why she had refused to eat, his mom replied that well-mannered people should always refuse a meal. Only ill-mannered people can say, “All right, now we will eat everything that you have here.” And Gleb asked me whether I knew about such a rule. I replied that I knew certainly about it.
And here Gleb asked me not to tell anyone about this story.* When I replied that I did not see anything wrong with it, Gleb said that I did not understand anything. And that I should not tell anyone about it. Gleb said, “I am not worried about myself, I am worried about my mom.”
I asked Gleb how it all was related to girls. Then Gleb said that people did not always say what they thought. And although Gleb's example did not convince me, I stopped arguing with him. Although I did agree with him about the meals.
One time it so happened that I ate at someone’s home. And as I helped myself to the food, everyone watched what I took and how much. I did not feel comfortable there and ate almost nothing.
And then, two years ago, before we were merged with the girls, my mom once told me that she met Lisa's mother. And Lisa's mother told my mom that at every school desk, a girl would be sitting with a boy. And that Lisa, when she found out about it, said that she wanted to sit only with me. And my mom sounded very indifferent when she told me that.
For some reason, whenever I come home with wet feet or wet back, Mom always makes a huge deal about it. Though I come home with something wet nearly every day. But as for Lisa’s comment, my mom reported it in such a casual manner as if she was talking about some event that happened every day. In the same tone as she would say that Lisa had a runny nose.
It turned out that when my mom was talking to Lisa’s mom, someone else’s mom was there too. And since someone else's mom was there, shortly afterwards everyone found out about that conversation. And everyone began to say things about me and Lisa. And the things they said were ridiculous and stupid.
And then, two years ago, when we came to school together with girls for the first time, we were all asked with whom we wanted to sit at the same desk. And Gleb said that he wanted to sit with me. And I then said that I wanted to sit with Gleb.
So Gleb and I again sat together at the same school desk. And everyone sat like that: boys with boys, and girls with girls. And Gleb ran around the school, telling everyone how happy he was not to have to sit next to a girl. To this day, we still sit this way: boys with boys, girls with girls. To this day, boys and girls never talk to each other.
Only Lisa and I talk sometimes. Therefore, silly rumors still continue to go around about Lisa and me.
Because of that, I started to think about Lisa all the time. I start to think about her as soon as I wake up. And at school I think only about her. I think about her when I come home from school. And I think about her only because of all that ridiculous and stupid gossip. And when I try to sleep, I also think about Lisa. Even though I do not want to think about her at all.
So yesterday evening, when I saw Lisa go to the trolley bus stop, I also rode out to the street and began to chase the trolley. Because I wanted to surprise her by how far from my house I can ride.
When Lisa got off the trolley, I rode over to her and asked, “Working?” But Lisa did not reply and only slightly shrugged in disapproval. And when Lisa shrugged, I became very ashamed. And I started to scold myself for what I did.
I was in a bad mood all Sunday. On Monday, I tried not to bump into Lisa. Because I thought that she might shrug again and say something unpleasant to me.
But on Tuesday, I finally bumped into her on the school staircase. And suddenly she said, “What if I tell your mother how far you go on your bike?”
I did not know what to reply to her. I just shrugged indifferently. But still, as soon as she said this, I felt very happy. I do not think I have ever been happier in my life. And I was very surprised at how much my mood could change so drastically because of nothing. I mean, that it could be my best mood ever. Well, maybe just once before, I was in a better mood. When my parents bought me a bike.
A Symphony Orchestra
It was raining all day today. I came home from school and decided to do all of my homework first. But when I was finished with everything, it was still raining. You do not go to the yard in the rain. Though you could try and find someone on the staircase. But it is pretty boring on the staircase. There they either torture cats, fire up smokers, or hang candles.
Well, I cannot stand cats. But chasing them around the stairs is not for me. They do cause a lot of harm, of course. On the stairs, it always stinks of cat urine.
Well, actually, that is what everyone says. But I think that it is not only cat urine that stinks. It is very possible that drunks go to our staircase. That is why it stinks of urine.