\u23f1 ~3 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
Nikita woke up earlier than his mother. He had been waiting for Saturday for a long time.<\/p>\n\n
Yesterday at school, he and Sasha agreed: at ten in the morning, near the old chestnut tree in the yard. Sasha promised to bring a new deck of cards with football players, and Nikita promised to bring his old binoculars, through which he could even see pigeons on the roof of the neighboring house.<\/p>\n\n
At half past nine, Nikita was already standing by the chestnut tree. The air smelled of wet bark and fresh bread from the bakery across the street. A cat was meowing somewhere. Nikita sat down on a bench and put his binoculars on his knees.<\/p>\n\n
Tenth.<\/p>\n\n
A quarter to eleven.<\/p>\n\n
Half past eleven.<\/p>\n\n
Sasha was not there.<\/p>\n\n
Nikita twisted the binoculars in his hands, looking now at the clock, now at Sasha's entrance. At first he was simply bored. Then his cheeks became hot. And then - bitter.<\/p>\n\n
\u00ab"He forgot. He just forgot. So I'm not important to him.".<\/p>\n\n
Nikita went home. The binoculars went with him, heavy as a stone.<\/p>\n\n
At home, my mother asked:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 How was your meeting?<\/p>\n\n
"No way," grumbled Nikita. "I'm not friends with him anymore.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Did something bad happen?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 He didn't come.<\/p>\n\n
Mom didn't say anything. She just patted her son on the head and placed a plate of hot cheesecakes in front of him.<\/p>\n\n
In the evening the phone rang. Nikita recognized the number \u2014 Sasha. He didn't want to pick up. But he pressed it anyway.<\/p>\n\n
"Nikita, please forgive me," Sasha's voice was quiet, as if he was a little hoarse. "I couldn't come. Grandma had a heart attack this morning, we called an ambulance. Mom took my phone because it wasn't time for that. I just got it now.".<\/p>\n\n
Nikita was silent.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cHow is Grandma?\u201d he finally asked.<\/p>\n\n
"It's better now. He's lying down, resting.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 And you?<\/p>\n\n
"Me too. I just... I was worried you'd think the wrong thing.".<\/p>\n\n
Nikita looked at his binoculars. They suddenly seemed light\u2014as if they weren't a stone at all, but just a soft toy.<\/p>\n\n
"I thought," Nikita said honestly. "I thought you forgot. That you didn't really need me.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 That's not true.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I already know.<\/p>\n\n
They were silent together\u2014two boys, each in their own room, but very close.<\/p>\n\n
"Come tomorrow," said Nikita. "With the cards. And I'll bring the binoculars. We'll count the pigeons.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I'll come.<\/p>\n\n
When Nikita hung up the phone, his mother looked at him through the open door.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Have you made up?<\/p>\n\n
"We didn't quarrel," Nikita replied, surprised by these words himself. "He just made a mistake. It happens to everyone.".<\/p>\n\n
Mom smiled and didn't add anything.<\/p>\n\n
And the next day, Nikita was standing by the chestnut tree at half past nine. Sasha came running five minutes to ten, out of breath, with a pack of cards in his hand. They sat down on a bench, opened the deck, and Nikita suddenly thought: it's a good thing he picked up the phone. It's a good thing he let his friend explain. Because otherwise this morning might not have happened.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 Forgiveness is also strength.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
Nikita waited for his friend by the chestnut tree, but he didn't come. The next day, Sasha explained everything - and Nikita realized that a friend is more important than anger.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3256,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"class_list":["post-2299","istoriya","type-istoriya","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya\/2299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istoriya"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}