\u23f1 ~3 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
There was so much snow in the park that the pine trees stood in white coats. The hill was full of children since morning \u2014 in colorful jackets, with plastic sleds, with cardboard boards. Some in woolen hats with pompoms. Some without hats \u2014 their ears are red, their mother is calling something from afar.<\/p>\n\n
Ivanko came with his dad. In his hands was a blue bagel-sled. His heart was pounding with impatience - he wanted to go straight to the top and then straight down.<\/p>\n\n
But there was already a line on the hill. A tiny, quiet line of six children. And three more at the very bottom were collecting sleds.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Dad, I want it now.<\/p>\n\n
"Everyone wants it, son. Get in line.".<\/p>\n\n
Ivanko stood up. At first, impatiently. He shifted from foot to foot. The snow crunched under his boots. Laughter could be heard from afar\u2014someone had come down and was shouting "hurray.".<\/p>\n\n
A girl in a purple jacket stood in front of him. She was holding a green plastic board. Ivanko couldn't resist:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Have you been here long?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Five minutes.<\/p>\n\n
"Did you see that boy in red fall?"<\/p>\n\n
"I saw it. He wasn't crying, he was just laughing.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Are you leaving soon?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 It depends on how I push.<\/p>\n\n
The queue moved a little. The girl said her name was Olena. She said her older brother had lent her the board because her sled had cracked last week. Ivanko said his bagel was inflatable, that his dad had spent a long time inflating it, and that his dad had fallen on the ice on the way here, but he got up and laughed.<\/p>\n\n
The line moved again. Now Olena was standing first. She looked at Ivanko:<\/p>\n\n
"Would you like to go out with me? On a bagel.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Is it possible?<\/p>\n\n
"If your dad allows it.".<\/p>\n\n
Dad nodded over his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n
They sat on the bagel together \u2014 Olena in front, Ivanko behind, wrapping her arms around her. Someone from behind gave them a little push \u2014 and the bagel rushed down. Snow flew in their faces. Cold, like ice water. Ivanko shouted \u00abhurray\u00bb and Olena shouted \u00abhurray\u00bb and somewhere above, dad laughed, his hands clasped together like a trumpet.<\/p>\n\n
Below they fell into a soft snowdrift. Ivanko was covered in snow\u2014up his sleeves, down his collar, down his boots. But he was laughing.<\/p>\n\n
Elena stood up first. She held out her hand to him.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Shall we go again?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Let's go.<\/p>\n\n
They stood in line again. And stood again. But for some reason \u2014 Ivanko noticed it \u2014 the wait no longer scratched inside. It was its own. Its own place in the white light of the park \u2014 between the slide and the laughter.<\/p>\n\n
On the way home, Dad carried a bagel under his arm.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Did you like it?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I liked it.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 What is the biggest?<\/p>\n\n
Ivanko thought.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 The way Olena and I stood and waited. Because we became friends then.<\/p>\n\n
Dad smiled out of the corners of his eyes.<\/p>\n\n
"You see, son. Sometimes the best things happen while you're waiting.".<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 Waiting your turn is also part of the game.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
Many children gathered on the snow slide. Ivanko wanted to hurry up - and suddenly noticed that waiting was becoming a separate joy.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3312,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"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-2405","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\/2405","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\/3312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}