Fairy Tale Fuss. Sergey Pyatenok

      All of a sudden, a huge cobblestone happened to be round a sharp corner of the dry road. The stone appeared so suddenly that Alexandr Nikolaevich was caught unaware. But he instantly put on the brakes and with quick movements of his hands started to get the car out of the seemingly inevitable collision with the stone giant.

      And he almost succeeded. The old Zhiguli squealed and slipped between the stone and an old pine by the side of the road. But the next second a short whump sounded like the one, which is heard when a tire explodes. Apparently, it was cut by a sharp stone, which was one of the many on that road.

      The car instantly went into a skid and began to twirl right on the road in an unreal somersault. Only after it rolled over several times, it stopped and died out.

      When the grind of metal against rocks stopped, clear children's screams could be heard all around for some time. Those were Ivan and Masha, who could not stop.

      Surely, it can seem strange that a fifth-grade boy can scream like a little girl, but if ten small and very sharp nails of a girl dug into your legs, would you be able to manage it?!

      In a few minutes the screams stopped, but there was a reason for that silence.

      Somewhere very close a loud and a horrid animal roar sounded. Apparently, somebody or something was very angry that the quietness of the taiga forest was disturbed.

      Ivan hardly separated himself of his sister, somehow unfastened the seat belt and plonk! – he fell down on the ceiling of the car, which was then the bottom. The boy did not get bruises only because he fell on his back protected with the backpack he took with him.

      Having found that his parents were unconscious and in no way could be awaken, Vanya wanted to release his sister, who was still secured by the seat belt, and even crawled to Masha.

      That moment he heard another new more horrible roar. Green bushes by the roadside began to shake. Cracking roots were heard. Vanya looked in the direction of the noise and his mouth formed an 0. A huge bear was coming out of the midwood breaking small trees.

      "What have you seen there? What's there?" Masha shouted almost sobbing and trying to get free of the seat belt, but all she managed to do was to sway from side to side and helplessly bump against the car.

      "Be quiet, you tale lover!" Ivan almost roared at her looking at the bear's large eyes. It is not that they were really strange, but they were not like the eyes the boy had many times seen on TV or in a zoo. Those were not eyes of a beast, fierce and bloodthirsty, but small like buttons, red as blood and sly. As for the rest, the bear everything aroused fear and timidity.

      "Help me right now or I will scream again!" his sister told having bump against the car for another time.

      "Wait!" Ivashka ticked off, having stopped the sister's mouth as a precaution. "If you scream, we're all dead."

      He released his sister from the car and seated her next to him.

      "Look there!" Vanya told and dabbed at the bear with his finger.

      Now, they were both looking at that giant with a thick skin. Meanwhile, the bear was already standing by the road and tried to find the disturber by smell.

      Having smelled the air and, probably, not really sensed anything, he gave another roar showing his angry mood, then slowly got up on his a hind feet.

      Now, this taliped was like the stuffed four-meter bear Ivan had recently seen in the city museum. But that was a completely harmless dummy – just skin stuffed with all sorts of things and bones, and now they saw a real wild bear, from which you could expect anything.

      Suddenly, having dropped on his fore feet, the bear headed right towards the car. You could see how the ground subsided under its paws leaving huge traces. The boy had to stop Masha's mouth even harder, otherwise she could start screaming inadvertently.

      In fact, in such a situation even Vanya would start screaming. But the boy was too busy with his sister and he did not have any time or opportunity for such liberties.

      "Be quiet, quiet, little fool!" Vanya whispered either under his breath, or to Masha.

      Masha bit her brother's hand and he had to take it off the sister's mouth. She did not scream, though for some time she looked like a dummy: she did not speak and did not respond to anything, but then she suddenly ticked off:

      "We must run! Into the wood!"

      "Why?" Vanya wondered. "Do you know that this giant," – he pointed to the bear, which was smelling the mom's magazine lying near the car, – "runs as our car or even faster, and climbs trees like a monkey. We cannot run away from him! I heard on TV that it is hard to kill it, as the skin is tick. I'm telling you, if we run, they'll find only our bare bones."

      The bear slowly walked around the warped car, looking in one window than in another. Vanya and the bear even met eyes a couple of times.

      Vanya immediately notices what horrible nasty smell came out of the evil chaps of the taliped. Besides, the bear was not clean, that is why a significant share of the nasty smell came from his rough skin.

      The bear often stooped its head, and its nostrils blew dust with a strong air blast. Then, unexpectedly for the children, it rushed to the front wheel, got claws into the worn tire and bit it. The exploded tire tube made a whistling sound of the escaping air. The bear just shrank back from the dirty tire and made an angry roar.

      "I don't care!" Masha ticked off picking her doll up from the floor. "If this bear tries to get into the cabin, I'll run away!"

      "No, you will not!" her brother opposed. "What will I say then to our mom?"

      "You'll say that…"

      The girl did not even finish her phrase, when the bear, just as if he had heard the children's conversation, brassily started getting into the rear window. It poked its head and was going to roar again, now at the children, but it did not get a chance. Vanya absolutely reflexively took a poke at the bear's brazen face with his leg and hit it right into the noise. The bear instantly squealed and began to back away. But it was much more difficult to pull the head out than to push it in. The bear started helpless banging against the edges of the window, which did not let him to release his head. Meanwhile, Vanya was continuously hitting the bear right into its nose until the bear finally got out of the car.

      When the bear finally broke loose, it fell behind on its back and started to rub its injured nose with the forefeet wheezing.

      "Did you see how I hit it!" Vanya proudly asked turning to his sister.

      But Masha had already left the car; she was hastily running into the forest holding her favorite doll by the hair. Without thinking of anything, the boy rushed after his sister.

      When he entered the somber forest, Vanya at once found a path going into the heart of the forest. So, he followed the path. Soon the boy saw Masha running as fast as she could.

      When a few meters were left to his sister, Vanya tripped over the roots of old trees coming out at the path. He tumbled on the ground and got his knees scraped, but instantly stood up and kept running.

      It was strange, but Masha, who ran nearby only seconds ago, disappeared. Vanya ran listening carefully to hear his sister, even ran faster and called her several times. All in vain. Masha did not respond.

      When a fallen tree appeared on the path, the boy hopped over it without any thoughts and… found himself beside his sister. He fell down in a deep earth pit, probably dug out a long time ago and nobody knows for what. Having tumbled down on his backpack again, he found himself face to face with Masha.

      "I was shouting to you, bonehead, beware of the pit!" the girl was boiling with anger. "And get off my leg!"

      Vanya stood up slowly