“I don’t know, maybe it was a dream. Did you wish to see how the cheese was being made? Well, you saw it. I wanted to win the competition in aircraft modeling and I did it. Mama wanted me to walk. If only she had wished that I could play in the national soccer team!” Pavlik smiled dreamily. “You know, maybe I’ll be able to do it, after all! Hey, who do you belong to, the shaggy one? Isn’t it great, Vovka?”
“It really is. He is so fluffy and yellow, a real watchdog. You can see that at once, though it’s only a puppy. I wonder, what will Mama say if I take it home?”
“I think, she won’t mind. It’s a pity I am only learning to walk, otherwise I would take it. But it will be comfortable living with you. Your father will teach us how to train it and we’ll make a police dog out of it.”
“No, we’d better train it to be a sledge-dog. Since my Aunt and Uncle had twins, they needed a sledge-dog to pull the babies’ sledge.”
“What sledge are you talking about? They are too small yet and can’t even sit!”
“The puppy is too small as well. It will mature, and they will grow up, too. And also we need a dog that can be a baby-sitter. Pashka, do you mind if I take it? Oh, it smells of milk! Let’s go home, Cheesie!”
And that was the end of the story. Captain Cheesekin became a major. In the evenings he often plays soccer with Vovka, and Pavlik plays with them on his crutches. Aunt Lena watches them out of the window and cries happily. Vovka’s Mama watches them, oo and thinks that it’s high time to put a pie into the oven. She also thinks that it would be great if Vovka had a little brother or a sister. This thought came to her when she was playing with Aunt and Uncle’s twins. Aunt is fond of her daughter and dresses her up as a princess. Uncle reads sports news to his son and, though the babies are only twelve weeks old, Aunt is sure that her daughter is a woman of fashion, and Uncle thinks that his son will be an athlete. But we will live and see what they are going to be. Grandpa and Grandma are completely happy. They say that they are enjoying the best years of their life. And I really believe them.
The shop assistants in the store only make hopeless gestures, when they are asked about the ‘Magic cheese’. They say that they have never had it. Sometimes even Vovka has doubts whether he’s had all these adventures. Then he asks Pavlik, “Pasha, do you think it was only a dream?”
