As for Aunt, she was silently chewing her cheese and recollecting her childhood, summer, splashes of water in the bright sun, the smell of a Christmas tree and tangerines, crunchy sparkling snow under the sledge, waiting for presents on your birthday. “There is a lot to think about,” sighed Aunt, “Everything was so magic and mysterious in our childhood, but where did it go to when we grew up? It didn’t go anywhere,” she told to herself, “we are only too busy with different urgent things and can’t think about something that is really important. There is no way we can live like that any longer,” she decided. “I’ve even lost contact with my favourite nephew, he’s been waiting for us to come so long and now he’s gone. Is our work really more important? Oh, how I’d love to return the magic of my childhood!” But for some reason she didn’t say that out loud either.
As for Pavlik, he was sitting beside her and didn’t think about anything that much important. He only wanted Vovka to come back sooner. Tonight they wouldn’t test anything, it was getting dark, but tomorrow they could do it for sure. And then they would paint the aircraft and Pavlik would win the competition. Mother would be proud of him, and he would be happy; and Vovka would, too. Pavlik was chewing his cheese sandwich and dreaming.
Aunt Lena, Pavlik’s mother, didn’t like cheese sandwiches and didn’t think about the competition. She liked making pyramids – to spread jam on a biscuit and put a slice of cheese on top of it, and then to have some tea. She thought every day about the same thing – if there was a remedy she hadn’t tried yet that could help to cure Pavlik’s legs. Aunt Lena wanted her son to be healthy, so that he could walk, run, jump, play ice-hockey, fly kites and dance; that was her most treasured dream. Aunt Lena wasn’t scared at all that Vovka had disappeared. She was sure that nothing bad had happened to him; he just stayed somewhere too long and forgot to tell about that. “If Pavlusha could walk and went somewhere without leaving a note, I would worry and wait for him. How great it would be when he returned home and told me about his day that he had spent somewhere away from me. And we would have dinner and tea, and be so happy!” was thinking Aunt Lena.
There was no way Vovka’s Mama could be happy when her child was gone and nobody knew where he was. At first she thought (like all mothers in the world waiting for their children probably would), “He’s going to get it when he comes home,” then, “My dearest child, may you be only well,” and after that she didn’t even know what to think. “If only Vovka had father,” she sighed, “everything would be different.” She would know that Vovka was all right, because his father would always help him, give a piece of advice and protect, and also he would teach him different things that only a man could teach. Vovka’s Mama was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even know what she was eating or drinking. She thought that it would be wonderful if Vovka had father and they would have a happy and joyful family where there were no missing children.
