Chapter 2. 4. Comfort

  “What kind of treat will be on the table?”

  “A big birthday cake!” Mother said proudly.

  “Chocolate cake?” I asked.

  “How did you guess?”

  “Will there be guests?”

  “There will be guests. And important people,” mother said. “Even from the capital.”

  I distorted my face.

  “Again!”

  “You're not happy?”

  “Why should I be happy?”

  “There will be girls here. I invited them to the party. Refusal is impossible. By the way!” she said, playfully raising her tone, “I'm worried about your relationship with the girls. I rarely see them here anymore.”

  “Mom!” I said.

  “Okay, I won't insist. Are you going anywhere today?”

  “I don't know,” I said. “I don't know yet. I want to wait for Lagoon. He should come by. While I'm in my room. If he comes, call me right away, okay?”

  “Okay,” said Mom.

  She went to give instructions to the servants.

  Exotic came out to meet her.

  “Exotic!” I called. “Lagoon came, didn’t you know?”

  “No!” said Exotic, smiling tenderly at me. “He didn’t, I would have certainly told you. And will you spend this evening with us?”

  “Perhaps,” I said evasively.

  “We would all be very happy about that,” said Exotic, smiling broadly again.

  She had dark skin, thick, kind lips, and beautiful almond-shaped eyes.

  I went to my room.

  I know these evenings in tuxedos. These candlelit dinners.

  These ritual conversations.

  The guests try their best to seem different.

  I knew this well.

  I turned on the music at half volume and lay down on the sofa with magazines.

  First, I thought, they will eat.

  They will eat for a long time, in several sittings, then they will wash it all down, and then all these ambitious conversations will begin, all as if by heart, without hesitation, abstruse and boring, all in fits and starts.

  About what they will do.

  I clearly imagined this routine.

  The large hall will be illuminated by multi-tiered chandeliers suspended from the high ceiling for some unknown reason.

  The elite of the coast will be at the table, and even guests from the capital, my mother will never invite, say, Lagoon's relatives, although, I agree, they are real gifts.

  No, everyone will be important and extremely decent.

  There will be a clatter of forks and knives at the table, the sound of dishes being pushed forward, and waiters will move deftly and silently along the table and catch every gesture.

  And if, for example, I come in, then everyone will stop eating and fix their gazes on me, expressing nothing except a polite question - who are you and what are you doing here?

  But I will not rush to greet this crowd of heroes and will harshly prolong the pause so that they move, not understanding what is going on.

  And Mom will come up with her quick step, put her arm around my shoulders and, smiling her dazzling smile, will say that everyone is very glad to see me, and will look at all the guests sitting at the table.

  And all the guests sitting at the table will smile in unison and out of tune, some barely noticeably, some diligently, some arrogantly and haughtily, showing honor, some from the heart - in agreement with Mom's words, and I, as a well-mannered contestant, will also smile and say hello.

  True, today the established routine may be slightly disrupted - Mom talked about girls, which means there will be young people and dancing, and this promises something entertaining.

  And again there will be guests from the capital and, of course, they will be surprised by some provincial quirks.

  I thought again that I don't remember anything about the metropolis.

  I only remember that my mother and I were hurrying to the port, but during the minutes of the fast-paced journey I didn't manage to see anything except a special, unusual dark blue glow, the glitter of flashes, a multitude of multi-colored shining lights, and all together it was stunning, inspiring and depressing.

  There was nothing for one person to do there, not knowing anything.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Client went to the capital for the holidays.

  He was absolutely delighted, but I am usually indifferent to the most colorful stories.

  It was then that Client developed relationships with companies. Client is stupid, I thought.

  He believed that companies were toys.

  Personally, I don't understand what companies are.

  Former students of Absurd.

  Used material.

  A wild mixture of responsiveness and bad manners.

  These people, thrown to the side of the road, were incomprehensible to me, their behavior was chaotic. Often they are not even guided by the cunning and resourcefulness inherent in vagabonds, not to mention another mind.

  Sometimes, watching them, it occurred to me that they resembled some kind of biological formations with their own life and concepts different from human ones.

  They completely lack the struggle for existence.

  I thought that Client, who considered them a complete flaw, was now sitting at home and was afraid to the point of exaltation.

  This delight will grow. From ignorance.

  I caught myself thinking that I don’t really know what it’s like to be afraid. Was I delighted by the conflict with Farce?

  I thought about it, remembering this meeting. He seemed weak to me.

  In addition, he looked less like a marginal than the others, and therefore I didn’t even expect to knock him down right away.

  Farce stood up, but was stunned, and I probably overdid it, not realizing that he simply had a strong head, and that’s why he was standing. There are such people, with strong heads.

  They tolerate arguments well, and being almost unconscious, they stand and even move.

  At that moment I did not think about his company.

  Only later did Lagoon suggest that Farce would take revenge, but for some reason I doubted it.

  I felt that Farce had thrown this incident out of his head.

  He simply does not remember it.

  There are the most insignificant things, incidents, which subsequently burn ever more strongly, like fire, and any reminder of them suddenly calms, and there are others.

  I did not notice how I fell asleep, and I was awakened by a cautious and insistent knock on the door.

  “Yes!” I said, opening my eyes. The music was still playing, softly, soporifically.

  The door opened slightly, and Mom's head poked into the room.

  “Lagoon came?” I said happily.

  “You hid,” Mom said. “What did you say? No, it wasn't Lagoon.”

  “Who?” I asked disappointedly.

  “They'll be in now.”

  “Let them,” I said, yawning.

  “You come in,” Mom said, and, opening the door wider, let Pass, a well-known dandy in town, Problem, and Dish in.

  “Hello!” they said, sitting down wherever they could. “Are you having fun?”

  “Yes,” I said, yawning again.

  “You're doing the right thing, basically,” Pass said. “I'm having fun, too.”

  “And me too,” Problem squeaked.

  “How?” Dish feigned horror. “Were you bored? What a sensation!”

  And they all laughed merrily, and I thought that the squanderers of life were really actively bored, since they looked very fresh.

  “What's this?” Pass asked. “New magazines?”

  “I've already looked,” said Dish. “The postman brought the magazine this morning. It has what you're interested in.”

  “Really?” said the vain Pass. “I'll look.”

  “You get up!” said Problem. “Stop lying around!”

  “What for?” I said sleepily. “I feel fine.” I really didn't want to get up.

  “I was at school Compliment today,” said Problem in the tone of a socialite intriguer. “This is a nightmare! No homework!” Problem shook her head, as if demonstrating its emptiness. “Simply awful! School is waiting for you, I'm telling you.”

  “In vain you're telling me,” I said.

  The freethinking Pass smiled prejudicedly. He leafed through the magazine.

  “An interesting article,” he said. “Have you read it?”

  “No.”

  “Someone cleverly served the treat. About robots that completely copy humans. In tune with the times. Fairy tales, of course. No one can copy everything mechanically. Something will remain out of rhyme. If you don't mind, I'll take the magazine with me. I'll show the article to my father.”

  “Sure.”

  “We're taking you,” said Pass.

  “Where?”

  “You heard the Plagiarism has become a decent place,” said Pass. “We're going there today.”

  “Girls too?”

  “We're going,” said Problem.

  “Girls too,” said Dish. “I've been there before.”

  Dish was an experienced “girl”. She had been to worse places.

  I had often detected notes of challenge in her hoarse voice, but I tried not to notice them, fearing her temperament.

  The singer was counting on connecting her life with a banker.

  “Go ahead!” said Problem, enthusiastically embracing Pass by the neck. “This is so interesting!”

  There were several barely noticeable spots on Problem's nose. Very cute. She had an upturned nose and a slightly open mouth.

  “You've convinced me,” I said.

  “We're going to Stamp,” Pass concluded.

  “Stamp?” I was amazed. “He can't count. This is Vitamin's place.”

  “Vitamin hasn't received permission. The method has created all the conditions for our buffoon.”

  “I won't be with you for long,” I said.

  “Why?” said Pass.

  “A large company,” I said. Out of boredom, I decided to go with them.

  In the living room stood the main fashionista in the city Nectar in a dark suit and talked to my mother.

  Nectar looked great.

  Like an alien visiting shaggy savages.

  But she simply couldn't do otherwise. Everyone knew it.

  “Why did Stamp settle right next to the slums?” she said with disgust. “Garbage, dirt, horror. Exquisite restaurant delicacies and a fragrant garbage dump - are they compatible? Impromptu! My brother became superfluous. The erudite gave an exhaustive answer to any question. Code, the pride of the school, possessing encyclopedic knowledge, washes dishes. Voluntarily. He sweeps the streets with passion. He collects all sorts of trash. He found his calling as a collector.”

  Nectar worked in the beauty salon of the rude Jubilee, a cynic and a despot.

  Half of his face was motionless, and as a result, the other half, with ideally correct features, also seemed motionless, no matter how he clowned.

  As bright and strong as the flaw is, so empty and straightforward is the perfection.

  “They're coming,” said Mom.

  “I'll give you a lift,” said Nectar, clutching thin gloves in her hand. “I'm in the car.”

  “You're not coming with us?” asked Dish.

  “No.” Nectar glanced at me.

  The glance meant nothing.

  But Nectar always looked at me so strangely...

  “Oasis has already started this farce,” said Mother lovingly. “Just give them a reason. Little fools.”

  Indeed, rhythmic music could be heard in the garden, and the spoiled descendants were awkwardly standing on the terrace at my sister's, getting ready to dance.