Yusuf stood with his mouth open, listening to Alish's story. His gaze was serious at first, after a moment he began to smile, and then he laughed at all:
— I almost believed you! Well, you're screwed, Alish.
But when he saw his friend's stern look, he stopped and asked again:
— You're not lying, are you? Are you sure you're not lying?
— Yusuf, I told you the truth. ----- Alish spat aside and added:
— Okay, if you don't want to, don't believe it. I went home. I still feel sick.
Alish turned around and trudged down the street towards the house. Yusuf stood for a while and ran after his friend. When they caught up with him, the two of them started walking, arguing furiously about something. At night, lying in bed, Alish tossed and turned for a long time and could not sleep. He couldn't fall asleep in any way, the picture he saw sitting on the swing was in front of his eyes. These fancy clouds, sky, castles, palaces with spires and a dragon. A dragon with golden scales. It zigzagged across the sky and shimmered in the sunlight. A real dragon. Or maybe it was a dream. No, it's not a dream, Yusuf, Aunt Fazilat and Uncle Anwar were all there and saw him, and he saw them. A hallucination! That's right, it's a hallucination. How come he didn't realize it right away. But if this is not a hallucination, then the disappearance of a friend and his grandfather could well be related to this phenomenon. Alish began to remember everything he knew about this phenomenon and after a while fell asleep. In his dream, he dreamed of a golden dragon swinging famously on a swing.
The next day was a busy one. It was the last day of summer. The heat did not subside. Alish and Yusuf had been preparing for school since early morning. After meeting at the gate of Mahmoud's grandfather's house, the friends went to the school library to get new textbooks. On the way, yesterday's argument and reflections continued:
— There is a passage among the branches. It's probably because of the plane trees. — Alish was saying.
— Maybe the branches and plane trees have nothing to do with it? I think it's about the place itself and a certain height. Even if there were a plane tree or some kind of tower. You reach that point of height and slap! You're already in another world. Do you think Cher is there? Anyway, tell me again about what you saw. Usually, when you retell, you remember new details. Conan Doyle wrote about this. It is better to retell how to recall the details of the event once again ----- Yusuf blurted out with an intelligent look.
— "Okay, Sherlock, listen up. Before his disappearance, Sher said that when Grandfather Nazir disappeared, the gate in the house was locked from the inside. In Shar's case, Uncle Anwar told me that the gate was always locked from the inside. I think Sher can't fly to fly over the fence. I spent a long time yesterday thinking about the moment when everything froze and I found myself there. I still think I dreamed it myself. There was another world there, and I realized right away that it was different. The sky there was completely different from ours. It was blue and bright at the same time, but the light did not stop the stars from shining brightly. There were a lot of stars there, I hadn't seen such a starry sky even in the mountains when my dad and I went to visit my aunt in the village. But in the mountains, you know what a starry sky.
— And my mom says that we would have seen the stars here, but the whole town is polluted. — Yusuf added his own, as always.
— It's called smog. Oh, you're Sherlock. You're not the only one watching the Discovery channel. — Alish grinned out of habit. He knew his friend well. Yusuf was well-read and too abstruse. In a word, a nerd. But sometimes he could say something necessary and important when no one could say anything. Alish was not angry with Yusuf. She and Shar used to protect him at school. Yusuf grew up without a father and was homely and harmless in his own right. When Yusuf joined their class as a rookie, he did not immediately join their company. Always clean in pressed trousers and with a clean handkerchief, he annoyed almost all the guys, but delighted the girls in the class. But Yusuf's character turned out to be good. You could always find something to eat at his place. The sandwiches are neatly wrapped in a napkin, the cookies with sweets in a bag. And Yusuf was not greedy, he shared with everyone. And one day, after leaving school, Alish and Shar saw an unpleasant picture. Two boys from high school bullied Yusuf in the courtyard of the school, demanding change for pocket money. Classmates came up and stood up for Yusuf, and a fight immediately began. And only the head teacher Kudrat Nishanovich, who ran out of the school and noticed the scuffle through the window of his office, managed to separate the brawlers and dragged everyone to himself. Soon, the children's parents, who were called to school, were surprised that the torn buttons and bruises under their eyes were the result of a game of unknown significance. Everyone stubbornly stood their ground. No one wanted to be a tattletale. And the principal of the school, Nargiza Bakhtiyarovna, decided to have a one-on-one conversation with Yusuf. But the boy firmly stated, despite the torn collar and an abrasion on his cheek, that they would solve their problems by themselves, which surprised even his mother. After listening to a lecture on behavior and friendship, which was read to the students by the principal of the school, the children were allowed to go home. After this incident, even the bullies from high school recognized Yusuf as their friend in the blackboard, saying that he was a real man and offered further protection, to which they were ridiculed by Alish and Share. Since then, the three of them have been inseparable.
— Maybe we'll visit Aunt Fazilat and Uncle Anwar in the afternoon? And we'll check the Width. — Yusuf looked hopefully at Alisha and said. But my friend didn't say anything. Alish did not want to admit to Yusuf that he was afraid of these swings after what he had seen yesterday. But Yusuf was relentless, he wanted at least one glimpse of the fairy-tale world.:
— "But do you want to figure this out or not?" Ah – I get it, you're scared.
After these words of Yusuf, Alish stopped, stood rooted to the spot and looked at his friend with hatred. But Yusuf was not afraid and held Alish's gaze. Alish knew perfectly well that his friend was right and he had to deal with all this.
There were a lot of kids, classmates, and high school kids in the school library. Everyone was packing textbooks for the upcoming school year. Alish and Yusuf picked up books and were about to go home when Alish saw a battered book with an author he knew on the shelf. It was a collection of short stories by H. G. Wells, and the boy suddenly remembered some of his works. Grabbing a book and going to the counter, where librarian Madina Kurbanovna was running around, loaded with a stream of students and this Avral. She knew her frequent visitor and book lover well, so she just said:
— Alish, I don't have time, you see? Find your account card and write it down yourself.
Alish did just that, adding Wells' book to his new textbooks. With a nod to Yusuf, he quickly headed for the exit, pushing aside a new group of students who had come to get their textbooks. On the street, walking home with quick steps, Alish said:
— Okay, Yusuf, I agree. Let's go home now and meet at Share's in a couple of hours.
— "Why did you change your mind?" Because of Wells? — "What is it?" asked the portly Yusuf, out of breath from his rapid stride. Alisha's answer was unexpected:
— "There is a limit beyond which every person is inevitably overcome by fear." And I want to overcome this limit.
— "The Door In The Wall." Mr. H. G. Wells. — Yusuf looked at his friend and nodded his head understandingly and added:
— In two hours. I'm glad you've changed your mind, and I think we need to test your theory. Or maybe there will be a Share.
Yusuf turned towards his gate, and Alish still had to walk a little way to his house. At home, he put his books on the shelf and decided to prepare a bag for school. Accidentally hitting a bag of books, he dropped an old H. G. Wells book that he had taken from the library. Opening the pages, and coming across familiar and reread stories many times, he found what he was looking for. "The door in the wall", he loved this story and involuntarily plunged into the book, plunging into the story. He did not notice how time flew by and woke up to the ringing of his mobile phone. It was Yusuf. He hung up the phone and looked out the window. Yusuf was standing at the gate, and he was not alone. Glancing at his watch, Alish quickly ran out the gate.
— Alish, what are you doing? We've been waiting for you for half an hour. We're standing at Shara's gate, but you're still not there. I immediately realized that you had fallen asleep and stomped towards you. — Yusuf took a reproachful bite of his candy. And next to him stood Suraye with pigtails - mouse tails. That was a surprise. This madame was the object of two bosom friends' admiration and the culprit of the duel between them. But she wasn't welcome right now. Alish looked reproachfully at Yusuf, but he just shrugged his shoulders and made it clear with his eyes that there was nothing he could do.
— "Are you being secretive again, Alish?" — the girl asked with a challenge and condemnation.
Suraye was combative and demanding by nature, no wonder she was the head of her class. Alish and Shar were secretly in love with her. Although Suraye studied in a parallel class, they all lived on the same street and grew up, and sometimes went to school together.
— What are you talking about? — Alish asked with annoyance, looking at Yusuf, did a friend blab.
— You and Yusufchik are helping Shara's parents. Is that true? I want to help too. Or are you the only two allowed? — putting one hand on her side and shaking her head, she pricked Suraye with her words.
Before Alish could say anything, he heard from the courtyard:
— Alish! Alish! Are you leaving? Buy some milk on the way back and if you're going to Fazilat's, grab it. — Mom came up from the yard and, reaching the gate, shoved a bundle and money for milk into Alisha's hands.
— Assalom alaikum, Aunt Zamira! — Suraye and Yusuf greeted each other almost in unison.
— Suraye, Yusuf, voilaikum assalom. How are you guys? How is Grandfather Mahmoud, Suraye? How is his health?
— Thank you, Grandpa is fine. — Suraye said, as she was the granddaughter of Mahmoud's grandfather and lived with her parents at the beginning of the mahalla.
— Yusufchik, how are you? How's Hadicha? Does she also work at the institute? I haven't seen her for a long time. — Zamira asked.
Yusuf's mother, Khadicha Jabbarovna, was a physicist and taught this subject at the institute, being a leading scientist and candidate of technical sciences. Khadicha Jabbarovna was respected in the mahalla. She was an enlightened woman, and after the death of Yusuf's father, she never married, raising her son alone, replacing his father and mother in one person.
— Thank you, Aunt Zamira. Mom is fine. — Yusuf answered shortly, embarrassed.
— Okay, Mom, we'll go. — Alish said, nodding to the guys. The three of them headed towards Sher's house.
------ You did the right thing, Alish, that you decided to help Aunt Fazilat. I wish I'd thought of it myself. And you're both good, you couldn't have invited me either. — Suraye was still talking. She decided to extend her authority as a prefect here, too.
Alish snorted and said:
— Now let's go and you can help for all three of us.
Suraye snorted in response. Yusuf was silent. He didn't want to get involved in the controversy between them. So, in diplomatic silence, the three of them reached the gate of the Shara. This time I decided to knock on Suraya, even though the gate was open. With a gesture and furrowed brows, she let Alish know, who had already rushed into the house to stop and wait for the permission of the owners. She considered herself a well-mannered person, and she imposed her upbringing on everyone and everywhere. Alish suppressed his irritation, forgetting even about his feelings for the headman. He was interested in something else entirely now. He stubbornly tried to suppress his fear of swings. His thoughts were interrupted by Aunt Fazilat, who came up, and when she saw the guys, she smiled:
— Oh, there are so many of you today. And you came to Suraya. How glad Sher would be if he were here right now.
A tear rolled down Fazilat's cheek. Everyone understood how much Shara's parents were suffering now, who tried not to show and restrain their distress. Suraye went up to Fazilat and hugged her:
— Don't cry, Aunt Fazilat. Everything will be fine and Sher and Grandfather Nazir will definitely return.
— Oh, what's wrong with me? You're right, my daughter, they'll be back. — Fazilat said, wiping her tears and continued:
— Why are we standing here? Come on in, I was just making pancakes. Come and sit down.
Alish handed a package to Aunt Fazilat, which contained medicinal mountain tea with mint. The guys entered the courtyard and saw a small Girl running towards them. She hung on Suraye's neck. Everyone settled down for a tea party. After talking about the school and learning about the latest news related to the search for their friend and his grandfather, Suraye volunteered to help Fazilat in cleaning the yard. Yusuf, who had been pushing Alisha with his imperceptible pokes all the time, making it clear that it was time to go to the swing, calmed down after being captured by Shirina when she climbed onto his lap. Alish busied himself with a hose, watering the flower garden and raking a small dam with ketten in order to let water flow from the ditch towards the dervy. An hour later, Yusuf, who had been released from captivity, approached Shirin and asked Alisha with a nod of his head. He nodded in response and moved towards the old plane tree. Everything was just like yesterday. Time has stopped here. The hustle and bustle of the city did not make its way here. There was silence and peace under this tree. Standing under the tree, looking at the upper branches, it was impossible to see the very top. Alish and Yusuf sat on the edge of the table and decided to think about a plan of action. After some thought, the guys decided to get on the swing together:
— If the board can hold us together, then we can get to that branch. — pointing with his finger at an unusually lush branch at the top, said Alish.
— If it turns out as you say, then maybe we'll see Shara or Grandfather Nazir there. Are you sure you didn't see any of them there yesterday? Exactly? Maybe you just didn't pay attention? The most important thing lies in the little things. — Yusuf began to get smart. And suddenly the headman's voice was heard from behind:
— Come on, prick up, what are you talking about here about Shar..