–
You are not going to offer me your friendship again, aren’t you? – he asked with apprehension.
– No, – she promised.
So, he allowed her to stay till dawn…
Sometimes, at night the ocean starts glistening from inside, as if the sun hasn’t hidden over the horizon, but has sunk at the ocean bottom. It was this way that night. The glistening glow has surrounded the island pushing darkness away. The moonlight was coming into the hut through the holes at the roof made of palm leaves. The girl was lying on a mat which was her bed. The boy was sitting by the window, staring at the bright big stars, as if enchanted. Suddenly, his eyes got wet. He felt alien at this hut, on this island, on the whole planet. This feeling was painful like a sudden cramp. A short moaning sob has burst out from his chest. But the next moment he got ashamed of his weakness, knowing that he was not alone in the hut. He took a look at the girl and saw her crying silently. The boy guessed that she was crying from compassion for him, she was feeling his pain as her own, but tied with her promise, didn’t dare to say a word. Their eyes met. And suddenly they became spiritually close to each other not knowing how it happened.
–
Have you been living alone so far? He asked her quietly.
She nodded affirmatively.
– Alone in the whole world, – he went on, – alone in time and distance. Alone in your dreams and wishes. And there is no one who could misunderstand you, offend you with indifference… You must be happy.
– No, – she broke silence, – I was lonely.
– Yeah, long time ago I used to think like you, – he smiled sadly, – and at one of the sleepless night I found her – a tiny star in the sky. She was the brightest of all the stars and the furthest. She was shining tenderly at me. We were looking at each other dreaming. You might ask me: about what? It doesn’t matter. The whole world was sleeping except two of us. When all stars died away at dawn, she was still staying in the sky for a long time. Parting was painful for her as for me.
The boy’s voice shook and he got silent for a while.
–
But after each parting there was a new meeting, wasn’t there? The girl asked overcoming her shyness. She wanted to hear his whole story.
– When you love someone, each parting, even the shortest, seems to be the whole eternity, he continued. – So, I decided to go through the Universe to meet her and never depart. She couldn’t come out of her orbit, meanwhile nothing was holding me on this planet. I constructed a flying balloon in order to take a space voyage. I have said goodbye to those very few things, which were dear to me at the Earth… But suddenly, my star started flickering, as if she was saying goodbye to me. Then she flared up, making a fire arch in the dark night sky and disappeared in the depth of space. What happened to her? Where did she disappear and why? I don’t know it. But since that day, I know that one should never think of idle dreams, since they make only harm.
