Life is Boundless

– But I indeed never said it! – She protested, looking guilty.

The boy gave her a sign of silence, doing so he looked so much the same way his father was, so the woman couldn’t help but opened her mouth in silent astonishment, like a huge drop-out fish.

–I hope to make a scientific discovery, that surely will bring our family name into repute, my dear parents. For you must know, the comet that had been discovered by Isaak Newton using a telescope, was named after him – Newton’s comet. By the way, it was among the brightest comets of the 17th century. It was also known as Great comet of 1680. Isaak Newton studied its orbit after making a discovery. He was up to confirm Kepler’s laws of planetary motion…

Alas, one must draw the line somewhere, and his mother, who listened to such scientific speech, enriched with terminology and facts, being quiet and admired to that moment, came to her senses and resented.

–Please, have some mercy on your poor mother! – She said almost in imploration, – my head is spinning! Although I appreciate your motion to glorify our family, but you don’t have to spend nights by the telescope.

– You don’t have to, indeed, – father picked up, – the brightest comet may be seen even in daytime. That’s truly a miracle!

– I didn’t mean it, – the woman protested, – think about devoting yourself to the service of art. To perform on a stage is…

But she was interrupted by her son, to whom she submitted with greater desire than to her husband.

–Mom, one talented actress is already enough for our family. And so is for one talented engineer. I’m talking about you and father. Just for the sake of variety, I can become an astronomer or an astronaut…

–Dmitry! – She exclaimed lamentably, without pretense.

– What happened, my dear? – Her husband got truly worried and rushed to her. – You have become pale! Are you okay?

– It has passed off now, – she replied, drawing her husband aside while he tried to give her tea in a tiny china cup. She could not afford herself to lose temper just because she overreacted. Many years of acting experience made it possible to her to get a grip on herself and to talk calmly:

–My dear men, I suggest us to come back down to earth and discuss the topic we started our talk with – our plans for summer. For example, I’m going to go on tour to Tashkent with my theatre in August, and I can take you two with me. Tashkent is a wonderful city! There is a fragrant air there! As if you smell a freshly baked bread…

–I’m afraid I can’t, – her husband protested categorically. When it came to his scientific researches shifting the calculus in their favor, he was unyielding. – My job… You know it! There’s a high probability for us to finally make a breakthrough and create an engine, which… but let’s not run before the hounds. Touch wood!

–I see… – She nodded not even trying to argue, as she was experienced enough in a happy family life in addition to her acting experience. – What about you, Gleb?

–Mom, I’ve just told that I’m preparing for the astronomy competition, – the boy mimicked his father’s tone,– and I hope to be the winner. The winner gets a ticket to the Space session at National Children Centre “Ocean”. I’ll spend three weeks with guys that are keen on astronomy just like me, from all across the country. What could be better and fascinating more that this?

– A lot of things, I guess… – The woman sighed with amazement at her son taking after his father. The older he gets, the more this resemblance becomes obvious. – But, of course, I’m not going to impose you my opinion.

– Thanks, mother! I really appreciate this! – Laughed the boy. He came to his mother and kissed her, softening her resistance up to an end. – Then it’s settled! You’re leaving for your Tashkent tour, father is leaving for his laboratory, and I’m leaving for “Ocean”! Good stuff!

– Dmitry!

– What is it, honey?

– Speak up like a man! – Said the woman with a sad reproach. That was the only thing she had vigour to do.

– Help me!

– Um-m… Son!

– Yes, dad?

The man cleared his throat and made himself severe-looking, as if he was up to giving a speech at a scientific council, but it was only a single phrase he managed to say.

– Yet I know from my own experience… By the way, do you know that I met your mother there, when we were teenagers?

– I’ve heard this story for about a million times, –the boy nodded with sigh, – but if you insist, I can listen to it once again.

– Oh, there’s no need in it… Until next time… So, a shift in “Ocean” is three weeks long, while summer is three months long.

– Yes, I thought about it, dad, hoping that you will help me.

– How come? – Father asked interestedly, having had completely forgot about what he was about to say.

– I want to spend these two remaining months as a trainee at your laboratory. I’m really keen on the stuff you’re doing there. Those engines, able to coil the bounds of space and time, are the future of great promise in cosmonautics. If successful… You wouldn’t believe, mother, what it will become to the humanity! Mankind will be able to reach even the distant stars!

– Yes, I heard this before, – she said with a hopeless look on her face, – and I was hoping that I will never hear it again. But, I guess, around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns… There’s only one thing that soothes me.

– What is it? – asked the man with innocent look, giving his son a quiet wink.

– That our son is only fourteen years old. And he is still too young to work, even as a trainee, at your laboratory. Growing up, he might drop the idea of cosmos…

But she hadn’t given any hope on the healing power of time.

– You’re mistaking, mom, – Gleb claimed stubbornly,– firstly, I’m not only, but already fourteen, and I’ve got a passport, if you remember. That means that I am able to work, even at dad’s laboratory as a trainee. But I suppose only in case if he puts in a word for me. Actually I’m against such patronage things, but we’re talking about science, not about some white-collar stuff, am I right, dad?

The man grunted with satisfaction.

–You know, honey…

– What? – Obediently sighed the woman. She looked like a lamb at the slaughter, but hadn’t decided how to play a flourish yet.

– Our son has an old head on young shoulders. Like, really, he is grown-up enough for…

– For what? – She asked with sincere perplexity.

– For making his own decisions, – he said unflinchingly, – so we have to accept his plans. But with a certain correction, if you don’t mind, son.

– What is it going to be?

– I’ll help you to become a trainee at my lab. We do need hands and wise heads. Upon the sole condition…

– I agree with this condition in advance, dad.

– Don’t hurry, my boy, – father stopped him with a resolute gesture. It was unusual for him to be like this at home, but in cases like that everyone obeyed without notice. – So, you will spend three weeks at “Ocean”, one month – at my laboratory, and one month – on tour with your mom. Before making a final choice, you are to experience all these activities. This is going to be fair, don’t you think so?

– But I don’t want to be an actor, dad! – The boy exclaimed almost in imploration – I don’t want to be anyone exсept…

– You’re not the one who makes the decision.

Both of them turned their faces to the woman and looked at her with identical eyes. Those loving eyes forced her to surrender.

–Biting the bullet, I must say – yes, it will be an honest deal.

– All right, dad, – the boy decided not to argue anymore, – I agree with your condition. And now I must go and prepare for the astronomy competition, if you don’t mind. Time is getting on.

Whistling happily, Gleb left with a highly contented look, as if he gained a victory that turned out to be unexpectedly flawless.

For some time everyone remained silent. Then the woman humbly said:

–Will you forgive me?

– For what exactly, honey? – Asked the man with sincere amazement. He thought to hear different words from his wife, who was, without any doubt, disappointed in her dreams.

Words that were said after hit him like a ton of bricks:

–For turning you away from space.

He kept quiet for a while, thinking over that sudden confession

–That’s weird! – He said finally, – I’ve been thinking that you were the one who gave me the wings, and, thus I managed to fly.

– But here, on Earth.

– One can see starry skies even from Earth. That will do for me.

She came to him and took a sit on his knees:

–You’re a very, very, very good person, do you know it?

It was not if he didn’t agree with the statement, but his scientific objectivity made him doubt that.

–I just love you very much, my dear wife. I love you more than stars. That’s it. So you don’t have to ask for my forgiveness. I made my choice once. I have no regrets.

–Really?

–I swear by the Great Cosmos! – he asseverated – by every single star that existed, exists and will exist. Forever and ever.

And to make it more persuasive, he sealed his avowal up with a long kiss…

Many years have passed. The sea had calmed towards evening, and the dwellers of a small sea-shell shaped house came out to feast their eyes upon the setting sun the edge of which had already touched the horizon. The aged nestled down on comfy basket chairs by the house and muffled their legs up in blankets. Thus, they were sitting in dreaminess, having had short talks here and there, gripping the elusive meaning of the words unspoken, like a poet who creates an image or a scenery.

–He is to be back today. Our son, – the man said, when the ordinary topics for conversation had come to an end, and it became impossible to hide the anxiety, that had been unsettling them since morning.

–I wonder what he has become, – the woman responded, unfolding her hidden thoughts, – the space flight took several years.

– Let’s hope that he hasn’t changed at all, and he still resembles me, – the old man couldn’t help but demonstrated a slight reflection of vanity in his words.– Of course, I’m talking about the younger version of myself!

–Indeed, you were handsome and manful, – the woman commented indulgently, and then added with a wistful smile,– you loved giving gifts as well. You have gifted me a stellar necklace once.

–Oh, but you rejected it, a fey girl who danced flamenco and dreamed about the stage! – The man also smiled at his memories. – Then I gifted myself to you, and couldn’t gift you the stars anymore.

They were sitting in silence for a while, thinking their own thoughts. Then she pronounced quietly, as if she tried to excuse herself:

–But, we had, and, I hope, we still have loved each other.

–That’s why I have never regretted those stars forever lost, – he said.

She looked at him with doubts, and he repelled her look with a soothing eye. Her eyes became dimmed with unwilling tears. She wiped them, grumbling about a fresh rough breeze from the sea.

– How could it be that life has passed? – The phrase slipped out of her mouth, when the tears were running dry – In a blink of an eye!

– Do you hear it? – The old man asked, lending an ear to something, – somebody’s coming!

–Glebushka! – She burst out even before she saw her son.

Indeed, it was him. A tall man with hair streaked with gleaming grey, who was laughing with the pleasure of the anticipated meeting. He gave a long hugs to his parents, hiding the tears of happiness which he was shy of.

When everyone set their heart at rest and recovered their temper, regaining the possibility to speak coherently, Gleb asseverated in great excitement:

–Father! The engine has coiled the bounds of space and time. Instead of several thousand years that were required earlier, our ship has made it to Proxima Centaura in some years. And get back. Just as you dreamed.

Gleb turned to his mother and said in a different tone:

–Look, mom, what I’ve brought to you from that space trip, – he fished out a necklace, that flashed like a star in the rays of the setting sun, from his pocket. – These gems are from the planet that orbits Proxima Centaura, and that is similar to our Earth. I’ve gathered them and made a necklace. Let me clothe you with it!

He clothed his mother’s slim neck with the necklace, and she didn’t feel its heaviness. The bulky gems seemed to be almost ethereal, like if they lost their weight on their way to Earth in zero gravity.

–This necklace is beautiful! And it is smelled with the space… – she whispered.

– That’s only a part of the story, – Gleb said, looking with tenderness at his parents. They had grown really old during the time he participated in the space expedition, while he remained almost the same. Time flew different in the space environment. – The distant star, the different planet – that’s not everything I’ve encountered since my departure… During the flight, I met a girl. She was a member of the expedition like me. We talked to each other a lot, about things… We fell in love with each other.

He made pauses during his speech, as if he picked his words with care. He spoke to the closest ones about the most essential thing of his life, and he was afraid of misunderstanding.

But to no avail.

–That’s, like, really good! – His father nodded with a soft smile, and commented with invitation: – So?

–So, I would like to introduce her to you and mom, – he got things out in the open and turned red, like if he was still a little boy, – you.. – he glanced at his mother, – do you mind if I do so?

– That’s fine by me, – his father laughed, – and what about you, mother of the spaceman?

–I would be happy if you do so, sonnie! – His mother assured him. Of course, being a woman, she had read him like a book to that moment. – I’m sure she is remarkable, I have already loved her! What’s her name?

– Masha, – he said and corrected himself immediately, as if it was necessary – Maria!

– Maria, – his mother repeated, as if she meditated upon the word, – If I recall correctly, the name means beloved, desired. What a wonderful name! Am I right, father of the spaceman?

–Huh? – The old man sounded absently, thinking his own thoughts, – sure thing…

–What’re you thinking about, honey? – She asked with soft insistence. – Don’t hide even the most dire of your thoughts from me!

– I’m thinking about the recent conversation, – he declared, coming back down to earth, and, like a habit, taking her words seriously. – You have said that life has passed, haven’t you? I must say that in this particular situation you’ve got mistaken, honey, – he palmed her slender wrinkled arm, as if he tried to soothe her, with his bony hand, interwined with thick blue veins. – Yeah. Our life is boundless, endless! Life’s eternal spring flows through the bounds of time and space, through our descenders, even the distant ones. And I say we will never die until they are alive.