Текст книги "Sensei of Shambala"

44

I woke up because someone was shaking me by my shoulder. “Wake up, sleepyhead, we’re almost there,” Tatyana said. At the next stop, we limbered up our numb legs. The air smelt of sea and freshness. While Andrew, Victor, and Volodya tried to repair the pinging engine of the Zaporozhets, we had a snack in the nearest outdoor cafe.

In half an hour, our motorcade was at the resort area, where people with beautiful chocolate color bodies lounged around in a carefree way in their bathing suits. Sensei's car headed our column. Andrew could not concentrate on the road as he was trying to look around but not break any traffic laws.

Passing by one of boarding houses, Eugene pointed out to us a billboard he saw from the window. There was written in huge, bold type, “A well-known sensitive of international class, chiropractor, fortune teller, magician, and wizard Vitaliy Yakovlevich… carries out medical and recovery sessions. Sessions beginning at 20.00 daily.”

“Who is he?” Tatyana and I asked the guys.

“I don’t know,” Kostya shrugged his shoulders.

“Look, isn't it that "Neanderthal man," the one who hung spoons on himself? Do you remember?!”

“Yeh, that odd fellow?! Maybe. If I'm not mistaken he was also Vitaliy Yakovlevich. What did he call himself… the Pantocrator of Space and the whole Earth…”

The guys began to noisy recall that case, laughing at the tricks of this ‘deity-tramp.’

Meanwhile having crossed the resort area, we drove to a peninsula that measured about 12 kilometers. It was necessary here to have a car in order to get to a secluded place and camp as we wanted. It seemed the local authorities didn’t want any more adventurers in the neighborhood, as a huge pipe was laid across the only road. Right there in the bushes, though, the guys found two extremely wide boards, which were left by caring drivers. After placing the boards on the pipe, our drivers rolled the cars to the closed side of the road like professional stuntmen. Only Nikolai Andreevich's trailer made them sweat.

Having reached one of the most beautiful nooks of nature, we chose a place that was not too spoilt by campers. Having collected all the garbage left by careless tourists, we burnt it and began to set up camp. Sensei again appeared to be a talented and skilled leader. He took into consideration all details of camp arrangement, even a possible storm. All the guys were busy and enthusiastically helped Sensei and each other. All Kostya's things turned out to be really useful, having transformed our camp into a cozy, comfortable mini-town. Kostya did not miss any opportunity to emphasize this fact, reminding us that Andrew was a sadist and tortured him the whole way in the electric chair. Tatyana and I arranged a kitchen. The guys put up a special tent for food and gave us a kerosene camp stove for cooking.

Life in our camp started at full speed. After lunch, we swam in the sea like dolphins and warmed our bones on hot sand with great pleasure. The senior guys floated in the sea in an inflatable rubber dinghy. Nikolai Andreevich read a book and Sensei dozed in the shadow of an umbrella, having covered himself with a towel. We decided to play cards. Kostya tried to count cards, but it was practically impossible as there were too many of us and we played with two stacks of cards. At his next failure, Kostya started to count card combinations in his head according to his special arithmetic system. While doing one of these odd calculations, he raised his eyebrows as if surprised and asked, “Sensei, what is the largest prime number you can think of?”

Sensei answered without opening his eyes, “In short or in full?”

“In short, of course.”

“2 to the 13,466,917th minus 1,” Sensei said simply, as though the question was about a usual multiplication table. “This number can be divided only by 1 or itself. I think that is the largest prime number that I am capable of counting in my head.”

Kostya turned to his side in surprise. Then he started to calculate something energetically again. Sensei, having opened his eyes, added, “If you want to calculate my IQ, you are wasting your time; it is much lower than yours.”

After saying these words, Sensei turned to the other side and plunged into somnolence again. Kostya was slightly shocked, “Say! Sensei is cool! How did he know about IQ? I just thought it.”

“Yeah,” said Andrew, “this question remained a sweet dream in his memory until it turned into a rotten one waiting for the answer.”

The guys laughed, having won again.

In the evening, Sensei failed to meet our expectations that he would tell us something unforgettable, sitting at the fire beneath the stars. Right after dinner, Sensei went to sleep, probably because his accumulated weariness had affected him. And we sat at the fire for a long time, laughing light-heartedly and telling each other different stories from our lives.

45

In the morning, I woke up around seven o'clock because somewhere nearby seagulls shouted disgustingly. I heard the guys’ talks, as they had left their tent upon hearing the noise. Stas said to Eugene in a sleepy voice, “It's so early, but Sensei is already fishing. I wonder what he is going to catch from the seacoast, moreover with a fishing rod. Let’s go and check.”

My curiosity became much stronger than sweet dreaming. I hastened to get out of my tent. Sensei peacefully sat on a folding chair with a fishing rod in his hands. Nearby stood a three-liter jar half filled with water. A few seagulls ran around him shouting indignantly. When we came up, the seagulls flew up and hung in the air near Sensei, examining us from above with curiosity.

“Sensei are you fattening up the seagulls?” Stas grinned, looking at the empty jar.

“Not exactly. They are teaching me how to catch fish,” Sensei answered without any shadow of confusion.

We took it as a joke and laughed.

“Why didn't you wake us earlier? We could have brought a fishing net …”

“Oh, forget about the fishing net. I just wanted some fish soup.”

Just for fun, Eugene demonstratively glanced into the empty jar, turning it around in the light, and said with humor, “Yes, the soup will be rich with such fish.”

At this moment, the seagull that flew above us dropped a small fish, which fell right next to Sensei’s feet. Everybody laughed.

“Look, Sensei! There's a fish for you,” Eugene said with humor, putting it into the jar of water.

Volodya and Victor came up and asked, “What's going on?”

“You see, Sensei with his fishing rod made even the seagulls feel pity,” Eugene said. “They were already tired of watching this empty jar.”

We laughed loudly again. Sensei said smiling, “Alright, those who laugh most at me will scale the fish for the fish soup and for the grill, too.”

We roared with laughter, imaging cutting this tiny fish while a big crowd waited for it. Sensei laughed at us, and then said, “Well, you storytellers, pull this out…”

He pointed to a thick fishing line that was fastened with one end to the leg of a chair, while the other end was deep in the water. The guys started to pull. We were shocked when we found a pair of sturgeons about 4 kilos each and about 8 huge flatfishes. Everyone exchanged glances in bewilderment and asked almost in unison, “All this with just a fishing rod?!”

Sensei smiled. “Of course, there was no fishing rod. I just got up a bit earlier and saw that some fishermen had come from a fish-factory to check their nets. So I thought, by the time I get there, they’ll be coming back. So I went and bought some fish. Sitting with a fishing rod was a complete waste of time,” the Teacher complained with regret.

As we carried the fish to scale them, Eugene told Stas half in jest, “Yeah, sure he went. The only way to the fish factory is seven kilometers on foot.”

“But maybe he went by car,” I suggested my version.

“No, he didn’t. First, it is next to our tent, we would have heard everything. And second, there are no traces on the sand.”

While the other guys woke up, this story acquired many more mysterious details. Sensei’s mood was excellent that day. After a light breakfast, he wanted to jog to the end of the peninsula. We left Kostya and Tatyana as volunteers on duty, and in order not to be without dinner, Nikolai Andreevich was also left in the camp.

On our way, we stopped a couple times to do warm-ups with intensive muscle loading. Training in nature, and with such a beautiful background, couldn't be compared with a stuffy gym. Here, as they say, the soul and the body merged in a single impulse.

Having almost reached the end, we saw a real colony of seagulls. Our company kept to the coast so as not to disturb their calm. Nevertheless, many seagulls persistently shouted and whirled above us trying to frighten unexpected visitors off their nests.

After a while, the most beautiful view, skillfully created by nature, opened up to us. At the end of the peninsula, waves met as correct rhombuses in a single chain off the distant coast. Outlines of their wavy edges were emphasized with white sea foam. All this magnificence was supplemented with an unusual play of various color scales of sea water from light turquoise to dark blue. The amazing blueness of the sky with only one whitish cloudlet created a unique masterpiece of this grandiose view.

Sensei gave us fifteen minutes to rest, but he and Volodya sat down in a lotus pose at the edge of the coastline. Some of us, including me, hastened to follow his example, placing ourselves beside them. An easy breeze blew. Coastal waves created a melodious noise, which was supplemented with the calls of seagulls reaching from a distance. Either because of contemplation of this divine beauty or because of Sensei’s presence, my lotus flower began to increase its activity, distributing pleasant flows all over my body. For a short period of time, such an unusual feeling appeared in me as if I were dissolved in all this surrounding beauty and became an integral part of it. The sensation was almost instantaneous, but it was unforgettably tremendous. Sensei interrupted this state of bliss when he announced, "Let's return."

The sun was already burning. Sensei told us that, to make our way easier, we should run waist-deep in water. It appeared to be incredibly difficult. Volodya and Sensei rushed forward like two torpedoes overtaking each other. Thanks to their competition, our company could cheat a little: someone ran knee-deep and someone ran ankle-deep in water. But when we finally got to camp, only the cheaters, me among them, sprawled out in weakness on the sand. Sensei and Volodya continued to radiate their inflammatory optimism, which seemed to come from nowhere. After this marathon running, they suggested to the crowd that we play water polo. To our great surprise, the senior guys agreed with pleasure. But other ailing bodies dragged themselves along to help with cooking lunch.

Being busy with cooking, I observed Sensei. He laughed, was naughty, and rushed with a ball like all other guys. He was absolutely the same as others, a young, strong, funny, and healthy guy. On the one hand he was an ordinary person… But everybody who was present saw in him something special, some charm, found some features that attracted them by simplicity and at the same time by their refinement. His soul was like a many-sided diamond that each of us admired at his own angle of sight, at his own angle of refraction of internal light. But in fact, nobody could penetrate him up to the end, nobody could understand who he actually was.

When the guys, at last, calmed down at the hottest part of the day, our camp fell into a profound sleep. I woke up at about four o'clock, and I awakened Tatyana to help me cook something tasty for our big group. When we got out of the tent, I saw Sensei sitting on the sand with Nikolai Andreevich, talking about something. Sensei was explaining something, making three little hills from sand. After their conversation, Nikolai Andreevich and Sensei stood up and slowly walked in our direction. The first hill suddenly began to move and a pigeon, having appeared from nowhere, flew out of it. I gave a start from the unexpectedness of the action. I couldn't believe my eyes. Tatyana dropped a potato and opened her mouth with surprise. Then the second hill began to move, and a pigeon again flew out of it. Sensei and Nikolai Andreevich only turned back carelessly, continuing the conversation, not even confused. The third hill began to move, and a sparrow jumped out of it. Everything grew cold with fear inside of me. The sparrow did not fly away as the pigeons did, it jumped following Sensei. Having run forward towards him, it rumpled its feathers, spread its wings wide apart, and began to twitter loudly as if being indignant over something. Sensei stopped, observing the desperate twittering of this ruffled sparrow, and then spoke to it with a smile, “Well, let it be according to your wish.”

After saying these words, he bent down and put some sand on the sparrow, making a hill a bit higher than the first one. I stood up with curiosity. But the next moment finally nailed me down to a chair. As soon as Sensei turned away, the hill began to move and a black kite of an impressive size flew out of it. It immediately flew away to the peninsula.

“Where are my thanks?” Sensei asked in surprise and made a helpless gesture, following the kite with his eyes. “Oh, as usual…”

Sensei hopelessly waved his hand and went to his tent for cigarettes. Tatyana and I sat numb with fear. When Nikolai Andreevich and Sensei were moving away to the beach, I heard the following words, “So was it an illusion of my thoughts?” Nikolai Andreevich asked calmly, as if the question was about ordinary things.

“No. This time it was materialization of my thoughts.”

“Why did my attempts end only with hallucinations?”

“Because you had doubts. For materialization, purity of belief is necessary. It is very hard to achieve, for the slightest doubt will destroy everything…”

A gust of wind carried away Sensei’s words so far that I couldn't hear them. I wanted so much to go after him and to listen to such an interesting conversation. But at that moment Tatyana came out of her state of shock, broke out in endless impressions, and poured them onto my poor puzzled head.

46

As the day drew on, one of the senior guys suggested that we organize an evening of entertainment and comedy. It was suggested we go and take a look at a medical and curing session of the great magician and wizard who was giving his first session that day. To get there, though, it was necessary to walk eight kilometers on foot. Only a half of our group, including Sensei and Nikolai Andreevich, decided to go. I didn't want to miss anything interesting for myself or for my diary, which was already full of unusual records, even though it was only the second day at the seaside. By eight o'clock in the evening, we occupied seats in a summer cinema where about seventy people had already gathered. A young woman with a three-year-old boy sat near Nikolai Andreevich.

Other children rushed around the rows and noisily chased each other. But this child quietly sat in his mother’s lap. I gave him a piece of candy, but it turned out that the child did not see it. His mother said that her son had congenital blindness. Nikolai Andreevich started talking to her, finding out some professional information. Soon the woman had confessed the whole story of her life. It appeared that this boy also would not talk after a trauma he experienced at the age of two. Other than him, the woman had an older son and a daughter who were quite normal children. Nikolai Andreevich sympathized with her and began to write down the addresses and surnames of the best experts in this area of medicine. The woman was glad and joked that in any case she had not come to the session in vain.

At this time Vitaliy Yakovlevich went out to the stage. We could hardly keep ourselves from laughter, as it really was that magician and wizard with spoons on his belly, with whom we had the ‘great honor’ to get acquainted in autumn. Now he looked much more decent. His face was smoothly shaved, and his hair was accurately cut. He wore a clean summer suit. Despite this significant transformation in his appearance, his haughty look and manners remained the same.

Having come out to the stage, Vitaliy Yakovlevich gazed at the crowd with his ‘magic sight’ and began his lecture. For a good forty minutes, he told almost the same story as the first time in the sports hall, with the only difference that now he did not stick spoons to himself and his speech was full of different obscure esoteric and medical terms. Confirmatively waving his hands, he went about the stage and threw out his chest proudly. At last, having finished talking, he invited to the stage those people who suffered diseases on his list.

It seemed to me that he had listed almost all diseases from the medical encyclopedia we had at home, and even in the same alphabetical order.

About fifteen people came up to the stage. Someone said that he had heart disease, someone said that his stomach hurt, another one complained about high blood pressure, and some old woman said that trophic ulcers on her legs suppurated. Our woman with the child also went up. Nikolai Andreevich commented that people in sorrow are ready to believe any nonsense hoping for something.

When all interested people had gathered on the stage, Vitaliy Yakovlevich began to wave his hands strenuously from above and to talk of some ‘space-fluid’ character. To my great surprise, again I felt my lotus flower begin to strongly vibrate. I looked at the stage and could not believe that all this delirium of Vitaliy Yakovlevich could really cause in me this tidal wave. Having concentrated, I felt that all this vibration proceeded not from the stage but from somewhere behind and to the right. It was even more strange, as Sensei sat behind and to the left of me. I looked back, but Sensei wasn't at his seat. Then I looked back to the other side, where the source was according to my sensations. Far away in the corner, at the very end of the empty rows, I saw Sensei. He was sitting and peering with concentration at people who were near the stage. Every second I felt the stream grow in its force. Waves of pleasant sensations were already spilling about my body. But the stream still grew.

In the verbal outpouring of Vitaliy Yakovlevich came a certain pause. At this moment, the blind kid said “Mum!” – not loudly, but distinctly. The woman broke into tears, tightly embracing her son. She drew general attention. And then complete pandemonium began. A woman said that her headache eased, a man said that his stomach stopped aching. But the old woman with the squeaky voice shouted the most that her trophic ulcers began to dry up before her eyes. Not trusting herself, she tried to show them to anyone who would look. Many people in the hall also got up from their places and ran to the stage. Even Vitaliy Yakovlevich himself was taken aback from gratitude, from requests for help for people and their relatives from all directions. Meanwhile, Sensei came back to his place in the hall.

The young mother pressed the child to her breast and sobbed violently but could not get out of the crowd, as the usual crush began and nobody paid attention to her. Nikolai Andreevich hurried to help her. We got the woman out of the cinema and into the fresh air, sitting her down on a bench. Nikolai Andreevich began to calm her down. The kid sat next to her and, hearing the crying of his mother, began to pull his face with his own impressions. Sensei sat down, squatting opposite him, and tenderly stroked his head, saying something silently to himself. The child calmed down and began listening. Then he began to blink quickly with his long eyelashes. The kid then looked purposefully at the watch that gleamed on Sensei’s arm as he stroked him. The boy, having caught Sensei’s hand, seized the watch, trying to pull it off. He looked into Sensei’s eyes and gave a short but meaningful enough command, “Give!”

The kid's mother fainted from everything she had seen. While Nikolai Andreevich and the guys tried to bring her to normal, Sensei took off his watch and gave it to the kid, saying with a smile, “Here, kid, keep it to remember.”

The kid, smiling happily, began to play with it, examining and shaking it. When the woman came to herself, she still could not believe that her son had recovered his sight. She gave him everything that was in her handbag, and the kid examined everything with real pleasure, turning the objects into improvised toys. When she was convinced in his newfound sight, the woman grabbed her son in joy, thanked Nikolai Andreevich and all of us for the help, and ran to her building to tell her husband about this piece of news.

On our way back to camp, Nikolai Andreevich was still surprised.

“How could this Vitaliy Yakovlevich, with his chattering, wake in people so much belief that he could achieve such therapeutic effects?! In fact, I saw with my own eyes that the boy was blind. The others could be fake. But it's hard to grasp this case!”

I looked at Sensei. I was curious what he would say. But Sensei only said, half in jest, “You probably listened inattentively to his lecture. Next time, you should take a notebook with you.”

On our way, we gathered dry wood for our evening fire. The senior guys picked up some half rotten wooden column that had once served as a pylon for electric lines. In general, judging by Sensei’s excellent mood and the gathered stock of firewood, the night promised to be long and unforgettable.