Вадим Иванович Кучеренко
Life is Boundless
– Masha, – he said and corrected himself immediately, as if it was necessary – Maria!
– Maria, – his mother repeated, as if she meditated upon the word, – If I recall correctly, the name means beloved, desired. What a wonderful name! Am I right, father of the spaceman?
–Huh? – The old man sounded absently, thinking his own thoughts, – sure thing…
–What’re you thinking about, honey? – She asked with soft insistence. – Don’t hide even the most dire of your thoughts from me!
– I’m thinking about the recent conversation, – he declared, coming back down to earth, and, like a habit, taking her words seriously. – You have said that life has passed, haven’t you? I must say that in this particular situation you’ve got mistaken, honey, – he palmed her slender wrinkled arm, as if he tried to soothe her, with his bony hand, interwined with thick blue veins. – Yeah. Our life is boundless, endless! Life’s eternal spring flows through the bounds of time and space, through our descenders, even the distant ones. And I say we will never die until they are alive.
–So this what are you thinking about in the hour of need! – She exclaimed with a little sneer, and asked: Listen! What do you hear?
– I hear the plaintive cry of seagulls, – he answered, – they fly high above the water. The weather is going to change.
– You? – She addressed to her son.
– I still hear the roaring turbines and the flutter of a taking-off spaceship, – he said, – that’s not going to pass off soon.
–And I hear tremendous applauses and bravo screams almost every single sleepless night, so distinctly, like I do stand on a scene, despite I lie in my bed at the moment. Well, of course, I hear those seagulls, or the turbines, depending on whom of you I am thinking about. But towards morning the sounds are gone, and only the measured beat of the waves remains. Despite the insomnia, I would like to hear it forever. And, above all else, I do believe that it will be so.
– What’re you talking about? – The old man asked quizzically.
– Ah, just about that eternal and immortal things, – she answered with a quite laugh,– keep in mind, that we have a different topic for discussion today, that, I must confess, I’ve diligently evaded for all my life.
And they have been talking about the Cosmos through the whole evening.
