\u23f1 ~3 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
It had been raining for the third day in a row. The puddles near the entrance were large, with a thin film of water rippling from the wind. Nazarko put on his favorite green boots and immediately felt something wet.<\/p>\n\n
He took off his boot in the hallway. The sock was dark.<\/p>\n\n
"Dad! My boots are leaking!"<\/p>\n\n
Dad came from the kitchen, holding a towel over his shoulder. He picked up the boot, turned it over. There was a small hole in the toe, as if it had been pierced by a pin.<\/p>\n\n
"I see. I touched it somewhere.".<\/p>\n\n
\u201cShall we buy new ones?\u201d Nazarko could already see in his mind the blue ones, with stars, like Tymoshka\u2019s from kindergarten.<\/p>\n\n
Dad didn't answer right away. He turned the boot over in his hands, ran his finger through the hole.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Let's try to fix it.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Is that possible?<\/p>\n\n
"You can. I have a patch. Special glue. Ten minutes and the boot will be as good as new.".<\/p>\n\n
They sat down on the rug in the hallway. Dad took a small box out of the locker. Inside were colorful rubber patches, a tube of glue, and a small metal roller.<\/p>\n\n
"Here we have," Dad pointed, "a rubber patch. It's put on a hole. Like a band-aid.".<\/p>\n\n
Nazarko looked closely. The patch was green \u2014 almost like a boot. Only a little darker.<\/p>\n\n
"It won't come off later?"<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 If you do it carefully, no. Look.<\/p>\n\n
Dad smeared glue on the edge of the patch. Then the toe of the boot. He waited a minute \u2014 the glue had to dry. Then he glued the patch on top and pressed it with a metal roller. Once, once again. Here, here.<\/p>\n\n
It smelled of rubber and something sharp\u2014glue. Nazarko sneezed.<\/p>\n\n
"Dad. Why don't we buy new ones? These are the same old ones.".<\/p>\n\n
Dad lowered the roller. He looked at his son seriously.<\/p>\n\n
"You know, son. Boots used to be expensive. One pair lasted a whole year. As long as you wore them out, they were worn out. People knew how to mend them.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 And now?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 It's cheap now. You can buy new ones. But\u2026 \u2014 Dad twirled the repaired boot in his hands. \u2014 See this rubber patch? It's good for ten more walks. Maybe a hundred. And if we throw it away, it's garbage. On the land where we live.<\/p>\n\n
Nazarko thought. He looked at his boots\u2014green, with a worn stripe near the toe. He had been wearing them since last fall. They remembered him jumping in puddles, trampling leaves.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Will the patch last?<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Let's try. If not, we'll buy new ones. But first, let's try.<\/p>\n\n
Dad let the boot stand. He went to the kitchen and put water on for tea. He came back. He turned the boot over, poured water inside, and held it over the sink.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Look.<\/p>\n\n
Nazarko watched. Not a single drop got through. The patch stood firm as a wall.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Wow!<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 You'll try it in a puddle tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n
The next day, Nazarko jumped in the biggest puddle near the entrance. His sock remained dry. He looked at his boot - a green patch was barely visible on the toe. It looked like a small medal.<\/p>\n\n
When he got home, he washed his boots himself. He put them in the hallway, lined up, toe to toe. Just like his dad used to do.<\/p>\n\n
The boots were old, but Nazarko already knew: they would still be used in many places.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 Repair is about respect.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
Nazarek's favorite rubber boots got worn out. He wanted new ones, and his dad showed him how an old thing can live on.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3385,"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-2487","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\/2487","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\/3385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}