I ENVY THE POWER OF LIFE AND ENERGY OF THESE FLOWERS THAT GROWN THROUGH THE ASPHALT.
You've probably seen grass breaking through the asphalt. This amazing phenomenon can be observed at every step: a soft, weak blade of grass breaks through hard asphalt. Maybe the asphalt cracks for some other physical reason, and plants grow through the crack? Maybe the seed germinates in a small amount of soil on the surface of the asphalt, and then destroys the asphalt with its roots? And if, after all, a blade of grass breaks through the asphalt, then by what force?
How does a weak blade of grass make its way through the asphalt?
Initially, the seeds actively absorb water, swell and begin to germinate. Huge hydrostatic pressure arises in the cells of the seedlings, which allows them to overcome the thickness of the earth, and, if necessary, even asphalt.
Plants have special adaptations that help them break through the ground. A corn seedling, for example, pierces the ground with tightly folded leaves, like an awl. Plants with a massive top (bean sprouts) overcome the resistance of the soil with the end of the stem bent in half. In castor beans, the stem is twisted into a loop to lift the lump of earth lying on top.
Anatomists even use swelling pea seeds to separate the bones of the human skull, which are connected by a serrated suture, and this requires a very large force.
Seed sprouts show pressure up to seven atmospheres.
Desert champignons break through the hard asphalt-like crust of desert takyrs. Common champignons pierce concrete and asphalt coverings of roads and sidewalks, concrete floors of garages and warehouses. In 1968, a large family of champignons broke through the asphalt in the very center of Moscow, near the Bolshoi Theater. The hyphae of some fungi are capable of drilling through thin plates of marble, limestone, and gold. Penetration is purely mechanical, caused only by the enormous intracellular pressure of the developing hypha. During the growth period, turgor pressure in mushrooms increases greatly, and the tissues of the fruiting body become extremely elastic. This pressure reaches seven atmospheres and is equal to the pressure in the tires of a ten-ton dump truck.
Lelka has a secret! No, not some kind of childhood secret, when “a secret is shared with the whole world,” but a real sacred one.
She heard this word “sacred” from her dad. Dad loves to express himself intelligently, he is a polyglot. That's what his mother calls him. What kind of dad is a polyglot if he swallows not fields, but books? It would be correct to call him a “bookworm.”
Dad said that if you have some secret that you cannot trust to anyone, then it is sacred.
- Absolutely, absolutely no one?! – Lelka was surprised. - And even you and mom?!
- No one at all! - the father answered seriously, hiding a chuckle in the corners of his eyes. - This is where its sacredness lies, which means its closedness. And if you tell such a secret to someone, then it will immediately die and disappear. It must be kept deep in the soul.
These adults are strange! They say something, but don’t say something, but you go figure out what’s what. Dad said that the soul is the keeper of secrets and mysteries. But he didn’t explain anything about how to hide them in this soul, and where it is located.
“The soul is not a pocket,” Lelka reasoned, returning home from kindergarten with her dad. “Where I should look for this invisible soul, and how I can hide something there is unclear.” But since dad said so, so be it.
And Lelka hid her secret deep in her soul in order to save her life. She didn’t tell anything even to her silent friends who knew how to keep secrets: the one-eyed teddy bear, the gray hare and the doll Katya, fearing that someone would accidentally overhear.
This circumstance upset her very much - it is very difficult to keep a secret to yourself. It gnaws at you from the inside, doesn’t allow you to live in peace, and tries to break out. Well, I just don’t have the strength to carry it around! And Lelka not only wore it, but “carried it out.” She heard this word from her mother when they were going to the grocery store.
“Mom,” she asked, looking back at the pregnant woman who was passing by, swaying heavily from side to side, “why does auntie have such a big belly?”
“She’s carrying a child,” the mother answered, casting a sidelong glance to the side.
- Why bear it?
- So that he grows up and gains strength. Otherwise, he will be born very small and weak, so he may die.
- How do babies get into the tummy? – Lelka asked and, looking at her mother, saw how she flushed and quickly turned her face away.
- Maaaam, how are you? Tell!
“This is a secret under seven locks,” my mother blurted out quickly. - You have a secret, so I have one!
This circumstance somewhat puzzled Lelka. If everyone hides everything from each other, life will be completely uninteresting.
- Maaaam... Come on - “swing on swing”! You will tell me your secret, and I will tell you mine.
- Aren’t you afraid that your secret will die if you tell about it? – she asked, narrowing her eyes slyly.
“He’ll die...” Lelka sighs sadly. She didn’t want this at all, but she was also very curious to find out her mother’s secret. What to do? And she decided to find out everything from dad.
Running into the apartment, she was delighted - dad was already home! You can ask him everything without revealing your secret. Moreover, he is a bookworm. And bookworms know everything! She jumped onto the sofa and hugged him, pressing her cheek to his shoulder.
- Dad, tell me: where do children come from?
The father, continuing to read the newspaper, replied:
- From mom's tummy.
- How do they get there?
For some reason, dad was so confused that he dropped the newspaper from his hands. He bends down and takes a long time to pick her up from the floor.
“Well... you see, baby, there are a lot of angels in the sky,” he began, finally picking up the ill-fated newspaper. - They are invisible: the angels see us, but we do not see them. So, when mom and dad love each other very much, an angel flies into mom’s tummy. There he lives and grows for nine months. And if an angel in heaven has beloved friends with whom he does not want to part, then two angels, and sometimes even three, can fly into his tummy at once. They turn out to be little people, these are newborn babies.
- I used to be an angel too?
- Certainly!
Lelka thought and confidently stated:
- It’s good that they didn’t find me in the cabbage and that the stork didn’t bring me.
Dad was surprised:
- Why is it good?
- Well... if they found me in the cabbage, then I would be a “foundling.” And if the stork had brought it, I would have been a “foundling.”
- Well, yes! And so it turns out: you are an angel in the flesh,” said dad and laughed out loud. She laughed too. She was happy that she was an angel - and this is very nice - and that she learned her mother’s secret without revealing her own.
Lelka didn’t know how much longer she would have to bear this secret. Suddenly her life changed so much that there was no time for secrets. Or rather, the secret remained, did not go away, but hid very, very far away for the time being.
There was some unusually tense silence in the house. Lelka immediately felt it. And when dad came home, he and mom talked for a long time about something in the kitchen behind a closed door.
They always did this when they needed to keep secrets. And this is very offensive! For some reason, adults do not understand that the child is also a member of the family, and family matters should be discussed by everyone together. Lelka pouted her lips and waited for them to finally become secret. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and tiptoed to the kitchen door.
- You shouldn't have signed this order! – Mom almost shouted in a choked voice.
- I am a combat officer! – Lyolya heard her father’s firm voice. “You knew who you were marrying.”
- I married the defender of the Fatherland. But no one is attacking our Fatherland! Why should you shed blood for someone else’s village... or whatever it’s called, aul?! Why do you need this Afghan?!
“This is an international duty...” Dad’s voice suddenly softened. - Calm down, dear! Everything will be fine! Before you know it, I'll be back...
Lelka looked through the crack in the door and saw mom and dad kissing. “We made up!” – she sighed with relief. But then I heard something that almost fell to the floor near the door.
“You and I dreamed that we would give birth to a son,” she heard her mother’s quiet voice. - And now... I don’t know if our dream is destined to come true.
Lelka, afraid that the door would open unexpectedly and her parents would catch her in the pose of a curious Varvara, eavesdropping on other people's conversations, quietly retreated into the large room.
“That's it! – she thought in surprise, climbing up onto the sofa with her feet. “Mom wanted to give birth to a son for dad, but I didn’t have a brother and didn’t tell anyone about it!” She closed her eyes and imagined her mother walking around with a big, big belly, waddling from side to side like a duck. “It’s a pity that the angel didn’t fly into mom’s tummy,” Lelya sighed sadly. - I would have a brother, and I would play with him, go for walks, feed him with a spoon. It’s much more interesting than feeding silent dolls.”
But now there was no time for that. From an overheard conversation, she understood that dad was going to war. The military is there to fight. But bombs explode there, bullets whistle disgustingly, and sometimes they even kill. But this is no longer a joke!
Since childhood, as far as she can remember, Lelka hated films about the war.
One day she and her dad were sitting on the couch and watching a movie on TV. A German tank with a swastika was coming straight towards her, thundering terribly and clanging its tracks.
And then the tank, turning its muzzle towards her, booms, right at Lelka! She shuddered and, with her eyes widened in horror, watched as smoke came out of the barrel of the cannon, and bloody people fell to the ground. She screamed: “Maaaaa!!!”, and then the blanket on the sofa became wet.
Since then, Lelya has not watched films about the war, and does not even want to hear anything about it.
“I will never marry a military man! Even if he is very handsome, and even if he showers me with chocolates or the most expensive toys, I still won’t marry him. I don't want him to go to war. It’s right that mom scolds dad. I would swear too.” She grabbed the teddy bear that was lying forgotten in the corner of the sofa and hugged it to her.
The father entered the room. He was unusually concentrated, and without looking at his daughter, he took out a large travel bag from the closet and began to put his things in it.
“Paaaap,” Lelya called quietly, “are you leaving?”
“What?...” the father blinked his eyes in confusion. - Yes, baby, I'm leaving.
- For how long?
- I think no.
- Dad, why are you deceiving me? If you are leaving for a short time, then you take only a small suitcase with you - a diplomat.
- Yes... you're right, this time I'll be gone longer... But I'll try to come back as soon as possible.
He took an electric razor out of the chest of drawers and, coiling the cord, put it in the box.
-Where are you going? – my daughter continued to ask.
- On a business trip.
Lyolya knew what a “business trip” was. Dad left the house more than once, and in such cases my mother always walked around sad and sighed heavily: “Oh, these business trips of his. How tired of them I am!”
But they didn’t fight about this before, and dad didn’t walk around so confused. And then... he puts things away, then takes them out, then looks for something and rearranges it.
- Dad, where are you going on a business trip?
- Far…
- How far is it? – she did not let up.
- I can't tell you that.
- A military secret? – Lelka guessed.
“Yes, baby, it’s a military secret,” the father answered, remembering that he forgot to put a towel in the bag. - Do you know where mom put my favorite towel? Well, the one with blue stripes.
Lelka got up from the sofa and went to the kitchen:
- Now I’ll ask my mother.
She couldn't wait to find out why mom didn't come out of the kitchen, and why was it so quiet there? She opened the door and walked to the kitchen table. Mom kneaded the dough. “Probably wants to bake some pies for dad on the road,” thought Lelya and was about to ask her where the towel was, when she saw droplets of tears on her eyelashes. It was very strange!
Mom never cried, even when dad left for a long time. And here from the eyelashes: drip-drip... drip-drip. The tears first accumulated, then got entangled in the long eyelashes and, when they became quite large, like shiny and transparent beads, fell straight onto the dough.
Mom cried silently. How does this happen?! When Lelka was very upset about something, she cried avidly, out loud, so that everyone could hear. It makes crying sweeter. And to do it like this, silently... it’s much harder and more bitter.
“Mom,” she called quietly. - Dad can't find his favorite towel. Where is it?
- A! – the mother caught herself and answered inappropriately. - We will eat pies now.
But Lelka didn’t want to eat pies with her mother’s tears. With cabbage or potatoes, it doesn’t matter. But not with tears! “That’s why adults quarrel, and then walk around upset and cry?” - Her eyes immediately stung and she lost her appetite.
- Dad asks: where is his favorite towel?
“On the top shelf of the closet,” she heard in response.
“In the closet, on the top shelf,” Lyolya conveyed my mother’s words to her father, who was sitting on the sofa with drooping shoulders.
She sat down next to him:
- Dad, why is mom crying?
- Because she doesn't want me to leave.
- Well, will you come back? – she asked, looking with her huge gray eyes at her father.
“Yes, of course, baby... I’ll definitely come back,” he answered and hugged his daughter tightly to him. - In about a month...
She began to count the days after her father left. Mom explained that a month is thirty days. Every morning Lelka ran to the wall calendar and crossed out one number at a time, and then together with her mother she counted how much was left.
It was unbearably difficult to wait for dad! In order for time to pass faster, it must be adjusted. She heard somewhere that time can drag on for a long time, or it can fly by quickly. It depends on what you are doing at the time. And I had to do something interesting. Taking out her album and colored pencils from the nightstand, Lyolya began to draw a picture of how dad returned home, and she greeted him with flowers. On the top side of the piece of paper she wrote “No to war” in block letters and put a bold exclamation point “!” next to it.
But neither a month nor two later dad returned.
One day some people in military uniform came. She and her mother talked for a long time about something behind closed doors, and Lelka understood only a few words from the overheard conversation: missing in action... the search yielded nothing... the withdrawal of our troops has begun...
Mom walked silently, quietly, and at night sobs were heard from her room. To questions about dad, she answered: “He’s on a business trip. And when this business trip ends and dad returns is unknown.”
“What kind of business trip is this? – Lelka racked her brains, putting the dolls to bed. - Is there no mail there at all? Why can’t dad at least write a letter or a postcard?” It was very disappointing that her birthday passed without her dad, and he didn’t even call or send a gift. Dad promised to give her Snow Maiden skates. These are not just any skates, but skates from the Snow Maiden herself - the granddaughter of Father Frost. And she was waiting for this gift, dreaming of going out on the ice in them.
True, her birthday is in the summer, but before winter she would simply learn to walk in them and lace them correctly. But it’s even more annoying that the First of September is coming soon, and dad is still not there. “Well, where did he go? - Lelya asked her dolls, a bear and a bunny. - Where?". But they looked at her with cheerful beady eyes, indifferent to her grief.
Chapter 4.
Days dragged on, and somehow the First of September crept up unnoticed. Lelka with huge fluffy white bows, in full dress uniform and with a bouquet of white asters walked to school. Or rather, she didn’t walk, but trudged along indifferently. Her mother carried her backpack.
The first of September is probably a holiday, but for Lelka this day was not a holiday at all. She wanted her dad to take her to school by the hand. It’s somehow calmer and more fun with him. And here's mom! And not just any mother, but a teacher. She works at the same school where Lelka is forcibly dragged. This means that mom will know about all her pranks and tricks. And this is somehow completely uninteresting! And she dragged herself to this disgusting school without any mood or desire.
But a friendly teacher and a restless group of classmates gave school life some meaning. It became interesting to study.
A tall, freckled girl with a shock of red hair named Lisa was seated at the same desk with her. But in the class they immediately began to call her “Liska.” Elizabeth, having learned about this, first pouted her lips, and then thought and publicly declared:
- I like this. Call me "Fox"!
And Lelka, as the smallest in the class, was nicknamed Button. And she didn’t become indignant either. Button, so button!
She and Lisa are walking home from school and chirping cheerfully about something. In a matter of minutes, Lelka learned everything about Lisa: where she lives, who her parents are and what kind of brother she has.
- Why are you silent? “Tell me about yourself,” the friend asks interestedly.
Lelka, adjusting her backpack, looked at the passing cars and reluctantly answered:
- What can I tell you? You know my mom, she works with high school students. And dad...
Lelka hesitated. Here's how to explain to a stranger that dad is on a “business trip.” That's what it's called for fun. And in fact?
- Dad is fighting abroad... but this is a military secret.
Lisa's eyes widened:
- You're lying!!!
- True... only he went missing.
Lelka’s lips began to tremble, and Lisa, glancing quickly at her friend, decided to change the subject:
- Listen, I have a secret! Do you want me to tell you? – she grabbed Lelka and dragged her into her yard. - Look, I have a secret here.
She ran up to the lilac and swept away the withered grass at its roots with her hand. Hidden in the hole, under a piece of glass, were colored buttons, beads and old brooches.
- Well, how? Like? – Liska asked proudly.
“I like it...” Lelka answered hesitantly. – But is this a secret? Every girl has such secrets.
- So what?! – Lisa frowned. She felt offended that her friend did not share her joy. She irritably covered her little secret with leaves and twigs:
- But I have a secret, and you don’t!
- And here it is!
- Don't lie! – Lizka encouraged. - You have no secret!
- I'm not lying about anything. Eat! But she cannot be given to anyone, otherwise she will die.
- You're a liar! – my friend blurted out. - And I’m not friends with liars.
She took her backpack and went to the entrance. Lelka was afraid that Lisa would be offended. “What if she tells the whole class that I’m a liar? – an alarming thought flashed through. “Then no one will be friends with me.”
- Liska... Lisa! – she called. - Well, okay, so be it. I'll tell you!
Elizabeth immediately turned around and, like a fox on the hunt, began to creep up to her friend. Her eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity:
- Is there really a secret?!
“Yes...” Lelka sighed. – I’ve been keeping it for a long time. But I really want to tell it to someone.
Lisa climbed onto the bench and, pretending to look indifferent, began swinging her legs:
- Well, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to tell me. What do I care?
Lelka sat down next to her and thought. “If I tell my secret, she will die. And if I don’t tell you, our friendship will die. What should I do?
This puzzle was beyond the ability of a little girl who had just started school. Now, if only dad, a bookworm, was nearby, then you could ask him. And so... you'll have to make the decision yourself. She thought a little more and waved her hand:
- Okay! I'll tell you. Otherwise, it’s not interesting to carry a secret alone.
The friend immediately moved closer, pricking up her ears.
- You see, Liska, I really, really want to learn to play the piano and become a real musician... well, one that will travel the whole world. My dad and I were at a synphonic concert...
“Symphonic,” Elizabeth corrected her.
- Well, yes... at the symphony. And there was a pianist playing the piano. How she played, Liska! I was covered all over with pimples. Her beautiful hands fluttered like the wings of a butterfly. And the music is just so lovely. It was so good! - Lelka spoke so inspiredly that her friend listened with bated breath. - I dreamed about this music many times later. Can you imagine? When I told my dad about this, he bought me the record. I listened to it when no one was home. I imagined that it was me sitting at the piano... - suddenly she realized it. - Just don’t tell anyone, otherwise they’ll laugh at me...
She was surprised:
- What's funny about that?
Lelka felt her lower lip tremble, and in order not to burst into tears, she hurried to bite it:
- Well... you understand? I asked my mother to buy a piano, and she said that I would never make a musician... A bear stepped on my ear, I have no hearing. I've never seen bears... only at the circus...
No matter how she fastened herself, beady tears fell from her light eyelashes one after another. Lelka learned to cry silently.
- Do not Cry! - Elizabeth frowned. - Otherwise I’ll burst into tears too.
“I’m not crying,” Lelka sniffled, wiping away her tears.
- Hmm... - Lisa thought. – Is this your secret?
- Yes. I want to become a famous pianist.
- Without hearing?!
“No hearing,” the little dreamer nodded sadly and grinned. - “Earless musician”! Funny, right?
- Not good. “Come on, let’s go to my mother,” Elizabeth jumped off the bench and took her backpack.
- Why to your mother, Liska?! - Lelka was scared.
- Why are you chickening out? - she was surprised and pulled her friend along with her. - She graduated from music school and works as a music worker in a kindergarten. Let's ask her what to do with your secret.
Chapter 5.
Liska’s mother, Svetlana Petrovna, set the table and invited her friends to dinner.
Lisa devoured the rich cabbage soup with sour cream on both cheeks, and Lyolya indifferently picked at her plate with a spoon. She didn’t know where to start the conversation, but she had to start somehow. Let Svetlana Petrovna be just a music worker in a kindergarten, and play for all the little ones. But she is still a real musician. And the words suddenly disappeared somewhere, and Lelka could not find them. She glanced hopefully at Liska. She, feeling her gaze, nodded her head:
- Mom, we have something to do with you!
- What the hell?! – Svetlana Petrovna smiled. - I wonder which one? You eat, eat! I also have pancakes. Lelya, why are you lagging behind Lisa?
- Yes, she can’t eat, mom. Worried!
- Worried? – Lisa’s mother looked at her little guest in surprise. - What happened to you?
Lelka blushed and lowered her head.
A friend rushed to her rescue:
- She dreams of becoming a famous pianist...
- ABOUT! Good dream. What's the problem?
“The bear stepped on her ear,” Liska blurted out and began to eat pancakes.
Svetlana Petrovna began to peer intently at the girl:
- Lelya, what about the parents?
- And her dad is abroad, and her mother considers this pampering. “She refused to buy a piano,” Lisa blurted out her friend’s secret and didn’t even blink an eye.
Lelka looked at her disapprovingly: “She’s also my friend. A secret to the whole world! I won’t tell her anything else,” she pouted.
“Without an ear for music... Hmm, this is not an easy task,” Svetlana Petrovna plunged into deep thought. – Although... I’ll write you the address of the music school now. You go and talk to the director Tatyana Semyonovna. She is a good woman - a teacher with extensive experience. But... it is advisable to go with your mother.
Lelka lowered her head low so that no one could see large tears falling from her eyes:
- Mom won't come. She said: “There are no earless musicians.”
Svetlana Petrovna shook her head and, having written the address and name of the director on a piece of paper, handed it to Lelka.
- Talk to her again. Maybe she will agree... Just need to hurry up! The school year has already begun, you're already late. But if there is a shortage at school, they may take it. Although... there is little hope that they will accept without hearing. But trying is not torture. There are exceptions to the rules! In the meantime, you don’t have your own piano, you can come to practice with us, I’ll help you.
Lelka flushed and smiled gratefully: “What a good mother Liska has! And she's also a musician. With such a mother, I would definitely become a real pianist.” The spoon immediately came to life, and the fragrant cabbage soup disappeared in a matter of seconds. And in pursuit of the cabbage soup, pancakes with apple jam ran into our mouths.
Chapter 6.
Lelka, inspired by hope, flew home as if on wings.
“Mom, I just talked to Aunt Sveta - Liska’s mother... She works as a musician in a kindergarten,” she blurted out from the doorway, throwing her backpack on the floor. “She promised to work with me if you enroll me in a music school.”
“It’s all nonsense and whim,” my mother calmly answered, setting the table. - Go eat and wash the dishes after you. I need to check my notebooks.
“Maaam,” Lelka felt the joy disappear somewhere. - I ask you: let's go to school! Aunt Sveta wrote the address of the school and the name of the director.
- I won't go anywhere with you. What else did you come up with? You have no hearing, but I have no money to pay for tuition. Do you know how much a piano costs? No, no, don't even think about it! I'm not going to give in to your whims.
- This is not a whim, mom, but a dream!
- All this is whim, nonsense and whim! – Mom answered in a firm teacher’s voice. – It would be better if you learned to sew, cook and knit. It's much more useful. It's better to be a good dressmaker than a bad pianist.
Mom walked into the room and, sitting down at the desk, pulled a huge stack of notebooks towards her. She began to read deeply.
Lelka, remaining in the hallway, slid down the wall to the floor: “If only there was a dad!” He would understand me. And so... When will he return?
Liska, noticing that her friend had been walking around as if lost for days, began to inquire:
- Well, did you talk to mom?
- I talked...
- And what?
“Nothing... everything is the same,” Lelka waved her hand. - It’s a whim, he says, it’s also a whim.
“It’s bad,” Liska sympathized. - Need to come up with something.
But there was no need to invent anything. Everything happened by itself.
Lelka, coming to school the next day, was greeted with laughter and hoots. The healthy Mishka Savechkin walked towards her, growling and clubbing his feet, and the whole class laughed:
- Come on, Mishka! Step on her ear! Button is an earless musician. Ha ha!
Liska was sitting at her desk with the most innocent look. Lelka jumped up to her, choking with indignation:
- You... do you know who? Traitor!
- So what? - Elizabeth shrugged. - Just think, get upset over some nonsense.
- I'm not friends with you anymore! - Lelka turned around and went to the back of the class, where there was an unoccupied desk.
- I don’t understand what’s so funny? For example, I also have no ear for music. And I know that many people don’t have it,” handsome Ruslan said confidently. - Button, sit at my desk! Don't be friends with this Fox anymore. It’s vile to reveal other people’s secrets! - He looked accusingly at Lisa.
Lisa blushed and, burying her face in the textbook, pretended to read. Everyone immediately fell silent. The boys respected Ruslan. His older brother is a world boxing champion and is friends with Nikolai Valuev himself. And Ruslan himself has been going to the sports section since he was four years old, it’s better not to mess with him. And each of the girls dreamed of being at the same desk with him. After all, he was the cutest boy in the class. But Ruslan preferred solitude. From the very first day he took an empty desk and kept to himself.
Lelka was grateful to Ruslan for his support. He's the only one who got it right. She sat down next to him, looking triumphantly around the silent class.
After school, she walked home no longer with the talkative Liska, but with the silent and strong Ruslan. He carried both heavy school bags filled with textbooks.
- What do you have with this rumor? Tell! Let's come up with something together.
Lelka looked at her new friend and, from his serious eyes, realized that he could be trusted. She didn’t even notice how she blurted out everything: about the symphony concert, which made a strong impression on her; and about dad, who went missing; and about a mother who does not want to believe in her dream; and about Lizka’s mother, a musician, who offered her help.
Ruslan listened attentively and did not interrupt. And when she finished her story, he said:
- It's great when, when you have a dream! I wasn’t accepted into the sports section either...
- You didn’t take it? You?! - Lelka gasped. - Why?
- According to doctors' opinions. My parents told me that I was born very sick and weak,” Ruslan smiled. “You should have seen their faces when I told them that I wanted to be just like my older brother.”
He clenched his hand into a fist:
- Feel my biceps, Button! - and caught himself. - Aren't you offended that I call you that?
“Nope,” she smiled and pointed her finger at his hard bicep. - Wow! How did you persuade them to enroll you in the section?
- No way! I went and signed up. At first they didn’t know anything... - Ruslan grinned. “And when they found out, my mother almost fainted, and my father screamed so loudly that you could hear him on the street.”
- How did they calm down later? My mother wouldn't allow me.
- My brother came and told me: “We must achieve our goal. The most important thing is not to give up! Otherwise, not only others, you won’t respect yourself.”
Lelka nodded her head and thought: “The ridicule at school will not stop if you continue to be a coward. Ruslan is brave. He wasn't afraid! I need to pluck up courage and go to music school. They won’t eat me there.”
Gray-haired Tatyana Semyonovna was sitting in the director’s office. Above her head was a frame with a diploma, which announced that she was “Honored Teacher of the RSFSR.” Someone knocked softly on the door.
- Come in! - she shouted and began to watch in surprise as a little girl timidly squeezed into the office through the slightly open door.
- What do you want, baby?
- I... this. I want to learn from you...
- Why are you alone? You must come with your parents. And the school year has already begun. You're already late.
No matter how hard Lelka tried to strengthen herself, tears still flowed in a stream:
“I want to study... but my mother...” she cried, “doesn’t want to enroll me.”
- Why? – the director was surprised.
“There is no money for study and... a piano,” Lelka was already sobbing avidly.
- Well, well, what are you doing? – Tatyana Semyonovna got excited. - Why cry? Sit down! “Sit down,” she forcibly sat the sobbing girl on a chair. – You can sign up for some club. Embroidery, for example, or knitting.
- I... don’t want to go to knitting class. “I... love music,” Lelka choked with tears.
- What, so much?
- Yessss!
- Fine, fine. Do not Cry! Now we'll come up with something.
Tatyana Semyonovna looked out the door and shouted to the watchman:
- Please invite Lydia Sergeevna to me.
A music school teacher entered the office. The director, briefly explaining the situation to her, asked:
- Check it out, Lidochka, this is a miracle of nature. Who knows, maybe it will be of some use. I'll be gone for a minute.
Tatyana Semyonovna left, and the teacher brought the crying girl to the piano and said:
- Now we will test your ear for music...
Lelka felt her eyes darken, the ground under her feet opened up, and she flew into the abyss...
Lidia Sergeevna, noticing how pale the girl had turned, joked:
- Why are you so scared? It does not hurt! I’ll play now, and you clap to the beat of the music...
- For what? – Lelka was surprised.
- That's necessary. To test your rhythmic ear.
- I won’t play the drum, but the piano.
“Good joke,” the teacher smiled. - And yet - we started!
Lelka did not understand well what they were saying to her, and even worse - what she was doing, but when the headmistress returned to the office, Lidia Sergeevna shrugged her shoulders and threw up her hands in disappointment: nothing.
Tatyana Semyonovna let her go and, taking Lelka by the hand, led her to her chair. Having sat down, she carefully looked into the girl’s eyes and said:
- Sorry, but I can't help you. You have neither natural gifts, nor talent, nor calling for music.
- What natural data?
The director took her hands and brought them closer to her eyes:
- You see how short your fingers are. You can't take the octave from C to C. A real pianist must have long fingers. Understand?
Lelka shook her head negatively:
- They will grow up!
- OK then. What about hearing?
- It will appear! That is, it will develop,” Lelka, like a drowning man, clutched at a straw. – I will try very, very hard.
- Who will pay for studies? And what will you practice if you don’t have an instrument at home?
This argument finally finished off the little dreamer. She had no strength to restrain herself anymore, and she shouted in despair:
- If... if you don’t take me, I’ll complain to the Goron about you!
Lelka, whose mother is a teacher, has heard this word from her more than once. But she was sure that Gorono was a scary and evil guy, whom all teachers were afraid of.
- To whom will you complain about us? Goron?! – the director burst into such laughter that a surprised watchwoman looked into the slightly open door.
“Go, get out of here,” Tatyana Semyonovna waved her hands at the girl, “before I burst with laughter.”
And turning to the watchman:
- No! Have you ever seen such impudence? She came alone without her parents... She has no talent for music... And she also threatens... ha ha! that he would go to complain to Goron. This is necessary! Oh, I already had tears in my eyes from laughing.
Lelka jumped out of the director's office as if stung, and, walking through the foyer, plopped down on a chair at the exit, feeling completely broken.
She is absolutely, absolutely not suitable for music! Her dream did not come true. It was so unfair, offensive and bitter that the annoyed Lelka, not expecting it from herself, began to roar at the top of her voice, sobbing bitterly, without being embarrassed by anyone.
The frightened watchwoman hurried to the director’s office:
- What should we do with her, Semyonovna? A? Howls, heartfelt, as if for a dead person. The child is small. It's a pity! Semyonovna, why are you silent?
Tatyana Semyonovna sat thoughtfully, leaning back in her chair.
“I wish everyone would be so eager to study with us, who has both talent and natural abilities...” she said, when suddenly, looking at her “Honoured Teacher” diploma, she perked up and grabbed the phone receiver. - I think I know what to do! Tell that howler monkey: let him sit there and don’t leave.
Chapter 8.
The front door swung open and an old, dry and nimble woman hurriedly entered. A small old-fashioned hat, a pointed nose and thick horn-rimmed glasses made the old woman look like Shapoklyak. She, adjusting her glasses on her nose, nodded to the watchwoman, who was concentrating on knitting something, scurried with quick steps towards the sobbing Lelka and plopped down next to her on the next chair:
- Well, madam, tell me? What's happened?
Lelka looked askance at the unfamiliar old woman and sobbed:
- They don’t... take it!
- Do you want to study? – a smile flashed in the old woman’s eyes.
- Yeah! - Lelya nodded and wiped her wet nose with her fist.
- Tell me, colleague...
At the word “colleague,” the watchwoman burst into tears.
- Nothing funny! – feigning sternness, the old woman reprimanded her. – I am a former pianist, and this young lady is a future one. So we are colleagues.
-Are you a pianist?! – Lelka perked up. - Aren’t you kidding?
- What kind of jokes are there? – the old lady became more dignified. – If you become my student, we will study at my home. There you can see my photos and awards. But... first, young lady, you will have to learn how to use a handkerchief.
She pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to the tear-stained girl:
- They wiped away the snot, straightened their back and quickly answered the question: What prompted you to such a grandiose feat?
- What... “feat”? – Lelka asked, wiping her wet face and nose.
- Like which one? You raised the whole school on its feet, demanding that you be enrolled. So I'm trying to find out: why did you want to study music?
The girl looked into the eyes of the old woman and felt the kindness emanating from her. I immediately felt calm, as if my own grandmother was nearby. Lelka did not remember her grandmother: neither her face, nor her voice, nor the color of her eyes. I only remembered that next to her it felt somehow especially warm and good.
She thought: “Why did I want to study music?” Just recently she dreamed of the stage, of a beautiful sparkling concert dress, of trips around the world, of bouquets of flowers and thunderous applause. And now it all seemed so nonsense, stupid and completely unimportant.
- I want to learn how to play magical music so that people... get bumps on their skin! – she blurted out completely unexpectedly for herself.
The watchwoman buried herself in her knitting, shaking her whole body with laughter.
- I'm sorry, what?! Bumps??? Did I hear right? – The old woman’s eyes widened, and her glasses slid down to the very tip of her nose. - How is that?
And Lelka told her about the symphony concert she attended with her dad.
- I listened, spellbound... It was some kind of magical music. I have a navel... well this... goosebumps ran all over my body. It was so great! – she finished her story. Her eyes shone with delight.
The old woman, adjusting her glasses on her nose, peered intently at the girl. Finally she said:
- Hmm... bumps are a serious argument! Serious! - She nodded her head and stood up. - Okay, I’ll go ask the director for you. Oh yes! My name is Margarita Abramovna. “Margarita,” by the way, is a pearl, a pearl, let it be known!
- And I’m Lelka... Oh, Olga Turgor.
- Turgor?! Do you know what your last name means?
- No...
- “Turgor” is a huge pressure that helps a small fragile sprout break through the thickness of the asphalt. Scientists say it is equal to the tire pressure of a 10-ton dump truck.
“I don’t know...” the girl shrugged. “My parents didn’t tell me anything about this.”
- OK then. Sit here, young lady, I'll go to the director.
Minutes passed by minutes. They seemed like an eternity to Lelka. She nervously fiddled with the wet handkerchief.
“Don’t worry so much, my dear,” the watchwoman reassured her. - If the director called Abramovna, then everything will be fine. Do you know who Margarita Abramovna is? No? Ooooh! This is the best teacher. Don't look at her, she's so... funny. In fact, she is an “Emerited Teacher”! Birds of high flight flew out of her hands.
- How is that? “Lelka couldn’t concentrate.
- Famous musicians, composers... they say she has some kind of wonderful teaching method. If she practices with you, you will become a real pianist.
- Is it true? - Lelka exhaled.
“True, true,” the watchwoman nodded her head and continued her knitting.
Finally the door opened, and Tatyana Semyonovna called out to her:
- Come in!
Lelka stood up and hesitantly entered the director’s office. Margarita Abramovna sat victoriously on a chair.
- Sit down next to your teacher! So, so,” the school principal began, waiting for the girl to sit down on the chair. – Tomorrow you will bring your “Birth Certificate”. Understood? For now, we are taking you on a two-month probationary period. You will study with Margarita Abramovna. She is now retired and gives music lessons at home. In two months there will be an attestation commission... - catching the girl’s blank look, the director hurried to explain. - Well, it's something like an exam. If you play at least a scale, we will officially enroll you in school.
- And pay? – Lelka asked timidly.
- There is no need to pay. You will study on a budget basis - free of charge. But the demand from you will be strict. If you start loafing, skipping classes and getting bad marks, then we will transfer you to a paid basis or expel you. Understood?
- Understood! – Lelka flushed with joy. - I will try very, very hard.
- Let's see! – the headmistress chewed her lips. - That's it. Go for it!
Lelka jumped up and almost squealed from overwhelming happiness:
- Thank you! I will learn to play the piano! Hooray!!!
Margarita Abramovna grinned, and the director, shaking her hand, whispered:
- All hope lies in your magical technique, mother. And the girl is lovely!
Chapter 10.
Lelka, still not completely believing in her luck, walks down the street next to Margarita Abramovna.
- Will it upset you, colleague, if I switch to “you” with you? We're already friends, aren't we? – asked the teacher.
- It won't upset you. What should I call you?
- You can call me “Margot”, but not “Shapoklyak”! I can’t stand this harmful old woman who looks so much like me,” and, imitating Shapoklyak, she sang in a thin, rattling voice: “Whoever helps people is wasting his time! Ha ha! You can't become famous for doing good things! Ha-ha-ha!”
Lelka bursts into loud laughter. Oh, how funny this old lady Shap is... oh, Margot! So funny and funny!
I just can’t believe that all my worries are behind me and now I can take a deep breath. It’s autumn outside, and butterflies are fluttering in her soul: the sun is shining tenderly like spring, and the sparrows are chirping cheerfully, and the people she meets are smiling kindly.
- What a pretty granddaughter you have! – a woman passing by admires.
Lelka looks at her teacher with curiosity, what will she answer? She proudly glances at her “granddaughter” and proclaims:
- Otherwise! No one has these!
The happy girl breaks into a smile.
It’s great that she has her own teacher! Now she will really learn to play the piano, and not strum on a toy one, and even with missing keys.
Thank you! – she can’t stand it. She is overwhelmed with joy, she is bursting out. “I thought you didn’t agree to study with me.”
“Apparently, baby, the time has come to pay my debts,” Margarita Abramovna says mysteriously and adds:
- Let's sit down on the bench. The weather is wonderful today. Indian summer!
- For what debts? – Lelka sits down next to the teacher, looking into her face.
- But listen! I was in the same position as you. I arrived at school very late. We came to the city from the village. There have never been music schools there.
- And what? – Lelka fidgets with impatience.
“Well,” Margarita Abramovna sighs, plunging into distant memories. “Where we used to live, there was a war going on. It was dangerous to stay. Our whole family moved here - to the Far East. Our relatives lived here. And just like you, I was once on occasion at a symphony concert, and just like you, I had bumps on my skin,” she grins, noticing the girl’s embarrassment.
- Yes Yes! Real little bumps. My whole skin was covered in goosebumps! And so I decided to study music. But as? My mother has seven of us in the shops, my father is fighting the Nazis at the front. And you have to pay for school. And you can’t practice at home without a piano.
- And what? What did you do?
- But just like you: she came and made a fuss! I roar and shout: “Take me!” The whole school came running, they didn’t know what to do with me. One teacher took pity on me and started teaching me. How should I study if a bear stepped on my ear?..
Lelka jumped up:
- How's the bear?! Did he step on you too?
- Yes, yes, child, I, too, was without hearing or any talents. See how similar our destinies are!
- And how did you study? – the girl’s surprise knew no bounds.
- And here! I was lucky with my teacher. In those days, there was a brilliant music teacher, Semyonova. She developed a special method by which she taught people like you and me - “non-hearing people”. And even a deaf person would learn to play a musical instrument from her.
- How can this be? Really deaf?! – Lelka is surprised.
- I'm speaking figuratively. The capabilities of the human body are limitless and not fully understood. But it will require dedication from you. That is, you should love music and activities more than life. Understand?
Lelka nods her head affirmatively:
- And what? You became a famous pianist without hearing or talent?!
- Why? Everything appeared later: my hearing developed, and my talent manifested itself. This is the magic technique my teacher used. I graduated from school with a gold medal, and a music school with honors, and a conservatory...
- Also with red?
- Nooooo, with a simple one. By the way, using this method by Semyonova, special exercises have been developed, thanks to which short fingers begin to grow faster than those of ordinary children.
- How does it grow?! – Lelka doesn’t believe her ears. – How can this be?
- Well, why do you think ballerinas have long necks? Do you think they were born this way? No! This is all thanks to special classes. They pull their shoulders down and their head up by the crown. So gradually the neck begins to lengthen. So we will lengthen your fingers...
- Doesn’t it hurt? - Lelka gets scared.
- No! - the teacher laughs. Her voice rattles like an old bell. - These are just exercises.
- And I will learn from... this... what's it like? Methodology?
- Well, yes! I was taught, now I will teach you, and then you will pass on your experience to others.
- Have you traveled all over the world, Margo Abramovna?
“The whole world, my girl,” the teacher sighs dreamily. – I was in Paris... Oh, Parrij-Parrizh - the city of love! - she says, burring in the French manner. “Oh, I had such a whirlwind romance there...” but, looking at the girl, he comes to his senses. - Well, the old fool has blabbed. What am I bringing to the child? Well, that's it, let's go!
Lelka is the happiest person in the world! There are probably others who are also happy, but it seemed to her that she was the best.
She has the best teacher in the world! They work with her using the best methods! She successfully passed this test... the test... but what about it? Well, these adults came up with a difficult word! In short, the probationary period ended, she passed the entrance exam, and now she is not a “test subject”, but a student.
And the happiest girl in the world comes skipping home from music school, where she successfully passed her first exam. Headmistress Tatyana Semyonovna praised her and even patted her on the head, calling her “clever.” And Margot said: “You are a capable girl! If things continue like this, then you will become an “exceptional” from an “exception to the rule.” Lelka did not understand what this meant, but it was still pleasant.
The girl is so happy that she’s even scared. Margo Abramovna warned: “Be careful, don’t spill your happiness!” And Lelka, from her little bitter experience, already knew that when you reveal a secret to someone, she dies. And she hid her happiness deep, deep in her soul, in its very farthest corner and locked it there. Now this is her sacred secret, which neither Liska the traitor, nor Ruslan - her faithful friend, nor even her mother - no one will know that Lelka is already a real student of the music school.
I could tell dad, but he’s not there, and there’s no news from him. I should tell my mother about this, but Lelka is afraid that she will be scolded. She disobeyed her mother, went against her will, and this... Oh, it’s better not to think about it, otherwise I immediately want to cry.
Having run home, she took off her uniform, quickly changed clothes and sat down to her homework. Mom will return from work soon and will definitely check her notebooks. And Lelka carefully writes out the letters and numbers so that everything is beautiful and neat.
But the tired mother, when she came home, did not praise her. She just cast an absent-minded glance at the copybook and asked:
- Where have you been all day? I had a free hour. I ran home, you weren't there.
“I signed up for a club... at the House of Creativity,” she lied and blushed. She doesn't know how to lie.
- What are you doing over there? - Mom asked, setting the table.
“They’re teaching me to play the piano...” the girl shrank into a ball.
- You go again? I told you: get this nonsense out of your head!
- Why “stupidity”?.. They told me that I... have abilities.
The mother waved her hand:
- Okay, go eat! I've already set the table.
Lyolka's lie turned out to be for the good. Now she could safely run to the music school twice a week and once to her teacher’s home, where they studied additionally. And her mother no longer worried about her: it would be better for the child to go to the House of Creativity than to hang around idle on the street.
Chapter 12.
The first quarter slipped by unnoticed, and the second is already ending. New Years is soon! Both at home and at school there was a smell of pine needles and tangerines. There are bags rustling in the teachers' room, gifts from Santa Claus are being prepared, and at home mom is decorating the Christmas tree with some mysterious air.
Lelka loved this holiday very much and had no idea that the Snow Maiden had already given her her snow-white skates. Previously, it was interesting to find out what would be hidden under the tree, but now there is no time for that. At the music school, preparations for the festive concert were in full swing. She and Margot prepared a sketch...
Finally, the day has come when Lelka will perform in front of the public as a pianist. Of course, she is not yet a real pianist, but the stage, the audience and the piano are not all make-believe. This means that she is no longer just a student, but an artist!
And she, running from school, puts on her most beautiful white dress with a lace fluffy skirt. In this dress she looks like a little ballerina. Mom sewed it for the New Year - a ticket to the House of Culture for “Yolka” had already been bought. This dress came in handy now. Lelka carefully braids her hair, throws on a fur coat with a hood, fastens her boots and, taking silver shoes with her, hurries to the concert. Well, mom doesn’t see that she’s not wearing a hat, and that she’s wearing only white nylon tights on her feet. What a hit!
There is a tall Christmas tree in the decorated foyer, music is playing and there is a festive mood in the air. The school assembly hall is gradually filled with invited guests. Among them are mainly parents of students.
The curtain opens and a high school student walks onto the stage. He congratulates everyone on the upcoming New Year and announces the start of the concert. Late spectators rush to take their seats, and soon silence falls in the hall.
The first student speaks... applause is heard, then the second... third... fourth, and finally they announce:
- Olga Turgor - 1st grade student! Sketch of Gnessina.
Lelya comes on stage all dressed in white lace, glances at her beloved teacher sitting in the front row, and approaches the piano...
Oh yes! She forgot to bow! He turns to the audience, bows and... suddenly he notices his mother among the audience. No! This can't be true! How did mom find out about the concert? Lelka froze in place.
Claps were heard from the hall, and someone shouted:
- Come on, Snowflake, be brave!
But she just can’t muster up the courage. On weak legs he approaches the piano, sits down on the tip of the chair and cannot remember a single note. All the notes disappeared somewhere.
All! This is a failure! She will be expelled from school, and her mother will say that her whole idea with music was stupid and a whim. Tears flowed from her eyes, and the frightened girl had no idea what her mother was experiencing at that moment.
And Margarita Abramovna came to her mother’s work two hours before the concert and told her what a talented daughter she had, and that the presence of parents at such an important event was extremely necessary for the child to feel supported and believed in him. The stunned mother, having asked to leave work, rushed to get a bouquet of flowers and is now sitting in the 3rd row, wiping her palms, sweaty from excitement, with a handkerchief. And now her daughter, standing in front of the piano, sheds tears. How can she help her? What can you do here? Bitter thoughts flash through my head one after another: “It’s because of me that my child can’t play! It was I who, through my reluctance to believe in her dream, forced her to lie and hide about her studies at a music school. Lord, what horror! She was about to get up and leave the hall when she suddenly heard a loud voice:
- Dad!!!
Lelka, jumping up, looks with eyes wide open in surprise to where the entrance to the auditorium is located. Dad stands near the door and, smiling, waves his hand at her:
- Baby, play!
Lyolya immediately sits down, wipes her eyes with her palms and begins to play with her soul, with her mood, as she was taught. She's trying really hard! After all, you need to play in such a way that even the simplest etude sends shivers down the audience’s spine...
When the music died down, the hall burst into thunderous applause. The joyful mother presented her with a bouquet of flowers, and dad ran up, grabbed the little pianist and threw her high up! Hooray!!!
This is how an ordinary girl, whose ear was stepped on by a nasty bear, turned from an “exception to the rule” into an “exceptional one.”
Lelka walks home from music school, holding her mom and dad’s hands tightly. With happy eyes, she watches how light snowflakes dance in the air to the magical waltz of Tchaikovsky, quietly sounding in her soul.
This world is beautiful
This world is cruel
Broke through the asphalt
Small sprout.
“Hands” stretch to the sky,
Rising to the heights
Tearing the stem
Choking the shell.
That's how fate turned out
To go against.
He was born in the city
And not in the spacious steppe.
It doesn't scare him
He boldly moves forward
Where there is a piece of heaven
Among the cast-iron heights.
And the city retreats
He didn't have to argue.
Mighty strong tree
Born in that city.
The sprout of chastity is thin
Words strengthen nipples
A strange chill runs through my body
And the woman is torn into pieces.
Revealing bodily sprats
Knives stained with tomato
Not many people can be trusted
Only to those who flow with love.
Patting the ass heartily
Dreaming of big feelings
Surrendering to each other forever
Let out a frantic cry.
There is the eternal torment of intercourse
There is a female, everyday cry.
Primary matter hunger
Strained zeal, dead end.
Secondary soul of obsession
Saturation with a solid body...
Through lethargic sleep
Summer began to follow
With a pack of empty cigarettes
I imagined until dawn.
Memory will create mirages
As if in mockery, in the desert
Instead of cold water
They offered me a glass of alcohol.
By the way, the sketch came to mind
Is it worth quitting or not?
Smoke poured out of my ears
I'll make some tea, tea will help.
Enough apathy, skiff!
Bitterness in the head, like in a jug
It's spacious and fresh for her
It is still difficult to obtain.
The mind is tired of tasks
The shine of the pyramids, the pharaohs
Has the power to lie divinely
So that...
Through time and distance,
The planet's ball flies into the darkness.
He drinks the warmth of the star of radiance,
That she could become the sun for him.
Becoming home to the human tribe,
He gave them a place to live.
But it’s cramped to live on it’s huge,
They, a small body, are a great evil.
And the Cosmos looks indifferently,
The globe of the earth is small and insignificant in it.
And Eternity will take our souls,
When we leave the body.
And futile vanity,
There will be life in the bodies of those born.
And the rank of mortal in this world,
Don't be proud of how tall you are.
Through times...
Just as a flower breaks through the asphalt, so their friendship and their love were able to break through and grow in the terrible embrace of war. This is a brief retelling of stories from the series "In the Embrace of War".
The annotations mention a war between wizards and vampires. But to be honest
Vampires and wizards are there for the background, well, in some places, fantasy flavor, for the sake of the popularity of these concepts,
- in fact, all these stories are this cycle-parable about the relationships of people from different nations, about their friendship, love, misunderstandings, leading to discussions, disputes, squabbles, fights, or, worst of all, to a war between two peoples. Everyone suffers from war and fights in one way or another, but in the case of friendship they are able to learn something valuable from others. Because every nation has its own unique beauty and wisdom. True, few were able to make friends or love there. But, in general, due to the rarity and difficulty of such relationships, they are both brighter and more valuable. The books are about them, although, alas, they are also about war.
"Vladik looked around, puzzled, at the children of another people... other peoples... these strange creatures who still lived by some medieval concepts such as honor and the value of large offspring. He looked at them with mixed feelings... his thoughts were also confused... He could not understand whether he was laughing at their stupidity, which they somehow appreciated, or whether he was jealous of them, since there were many serious things in their lives, which never happened in his life... This strange effect, when a child of one nation suddenly communicates seriously with the children of other nations... when you understand that someone else sees life from some other sides, appreciates some other facets... when suddenly you understand that besides your truth there is another truth, besides your treasures there are other treasures... and while you looked at life and believed that blue is blue, someone lived in some other place, in another world, and firmly believed that your blue is white...
This is a strange effect when children of different nations are immersed in communication with others, exposing their essence, their hearts and their thoughts... when, willingly or unwillingly, the collapse of your familiar world and a reassessment of values suddenly begins... this is a miracle of the meeting of children of different nations, different pictures of the world, different creations, each sculpted separately according to individual ideals about truth and beauty, different souls... this is a miracle of meeting, which may or may not happen... these are cracks and knocked out pieces of your world, or even its complete collapse... the deeper you are wounded and broken your world, the more painful it can be... and sometimes the fear of this prevents you from opening up to another, alien, unknown... but it’s a miracle when different worlds can meet, can touch, merge partly or completely... it’s a miracle when from two different ones, sometimes , completely opposite worlds, some new world is born... the wisdom and values of both worlds merge in it... whoever ends up in it will be enriched spiritually... this is the wisdom of a meeting when you begin to think about what you believed in out of habit, according to accepted in your world as usual... when you understand that there is another truth, that the truth is multifaceted, multifaceted... when from the alloy of the fire of shock and the ore of someone’s wisdom and depth, a new world is born, a new view of the world and previously familiar things... when you are already yourself , consciously, you begin to choose what you will now believe in, what you will now value... when you yourself consciously choose your truth, which you will continue to follow...
Haven't you seen a miracle yet?
Never seen a miracle?
That's the problem - I didn't see the miracle!
So go and have a look.
You will see just a miracle
Amazing miracle:
Where the Posuda store is,
Near house number three,
Through the asphalt at the intersection
A birch tree is breaking through.
(Roman Sef)
You've probably seen when a timid sprout of grass appears in the middle of the asphalt, a young shoot of a tree, or a flower blooms. Stop for a moment and think about the force that causes a weak plant to crawl through solid soil and break stone.
Or maybe the sprout didn’t break through the asphalt at all, but successfully took advantage of an existing crack to climb up? What if the wind carried a seed into an asphalt crack, and, stuck there, it found enough soil and moisture to germinate? Or did “little Hercules” lift the boulder himself?
To understand this, note that seeds could germinate if they landed on a paved section of the road in various ways:
1. With the help of the wind. This is how dandelion, poplar, maple, and plantain reproduce. There is always enough dust on the roadsides - enough for a bush of some small plant to settle there.
2. Caught on animal fur, bird feathers or people’s clothing, along with dirt on car tires, etc. (for example, prickly burdock inflorescences).
3. Traveling in the digestive systems of animals and birds (viburnum, rose hips, oak).
Seeds can"to break through» asphalt and below, if:
1. The plant reproduces using rhizomes (wheatgrass, spurge, plantain).
2. Seeds fell under the asphalt covering during road repairs, especially if they have the ability to “preserve” and sprout several years after they were covered by the asphalt and cracks appeared in it.
Interesting! From one blue cornflower flower, up to 1,500 seeds ripen. When dry, they remain viable for three to ten years. The seeds of ginseng, orchis, and lily of the valley have the same properties. Being in the soil, they create a natural seed bank and wait for favorable conditions (defects in the asphalt - why not) for germination.
However, 10 years is far from the limit. In Manchuria, there is a known case of germination of lotus seeds that had lain for several hundred years in deep silty layers of soil.
You're probably already impatient to find out what magical power pushes the tiny sprout to perform great feats? I answer - fluid pressure inside cells.
When placed in warm, moist soil saturated with oxygen, the seeds actively absorb water and swell. Water is sucked in with tremendous force. For example, cocklebur absorbs water with a pressure of 1000 atmospheres.
The drawing of water from a moist environment (soil) into a dry seed or sprout cells is called by osmosis.
Due to the increase in the amount of water, hydrostatic pressure arises in the plant cells, which makes it elastic and durable. Nerds call this pressure turgor(translated from Latin - “filling”).
It is turgor that supports the leaves and stem of the plant, giving it hardness and strength. This is why the sprout becomes so bold that it can even break through the asphalt, and its roots easily break through hard soil and stones. When the turgor level decreases, the plant withers.
Thanks to the enormous internal pressure - turgor - ordinary champignons become so elastic that they can destroy not only asphalt, but also, for example, the cement floor of warehouses. The hyphae of some fungi easily destroy thin marble and gold plates.
Seeds are often tricked using various methods to germinate faster and grip the ground more firmly. When other seeds obediently wait until the rain covers them with silt or someone accidentally tramples them into the soil, wild oat and feather grass seeds, like a drill, burrow into the ground on their own and send out roots.
The corn sprout easily cuts through the ground with tightly curled leaves. Meanwhile, the root rushes deeper. Legumes germinate, bent in half, as if they want to double the strength of the stem. And the castor bean sprout even forms a loop to lift a lump of earth “over your head.”
Sprouted seeds behave like wedges: they find weak spots in the soil, put pressure on them and push the soil particles apart. The thicker the stem becomes, the wider the crack.
It is curious that humanity has been using the wedge since ancient times. Bronze wedges were used by the ancient Egyptians to chip away blocks of stone to build the pyramids.
The use of wooden wedges is also known. One of these was hammered into a stone and watered until it swelled. The wet tree pressed with such force that it simply tore the rock. Does this remind you of anything? That's right, it also breaks stones and a sprout that strives to escape from the ground.
So we learned how a fragile sprout breaks through the firmament. In the end, I would just like to add that during the preparation of the material, not a single asphalt surface was damaged. =)
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