Games of imagination. Susanna Arutyunyan
went to the playroom together.
– What shall we play? – wondered Granny.
– This time you think up, – Solnishko got excited.
– I offer to act the story of the Trojan War, – Granny thought up.
– Let’s do it, – answered the girl with happy voice.
– Let’s divide the roles. You’ll act the Beautiful Helen, I guess so, – continued Granny.
– Of course. Larisa will act Paris, and you, Granny, will be Menelaus, Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector and all the others, – Solnishko decided seriously.
– We should think about decorations, – Larisa continued.
They began working actively. The ironing board covered by a rug was immediately turned into a horse, and the room – to the battlefield. Shields, swords appeared, as well as all the other war attributes of that time. The gym mat became the ship, in which the warlike Greek Achaean tribes led by Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, passed across the Aegean Sea and reached Troy. The Greeks had arrived for the Beautiful Helen and the treasures stolen by Paris, the youngest son of Priam, the king of Troy. The two sides began to war. The walls of Troy were impregnable and the city itself was an impregnable fortress. In the result of military action many brave warriors were killed on the battlefield. After some years the Greek managed to posses the city by cunning and destroyed it.
The roles were learnt well but sometimes Solnishko used to change the events and she thought out or changed the plot herself, depending on her mood. At that time, during the game process, the scenario was rewritten and Solnishko redistributed the roles herself and directed the events.
It turned out to be a real performance, which captured all the participants so much that they lost the sense of time and in fact got into the characters of their heroes. It was very interesting and exciting. Everybody enjoyed it very much.
Suddenly Solnishko asked.
– Granny, did the people die so during the terrorist attack?
At first moment both Granny and Larisa were shocked, the result of which was the oppressive silence. First was Granny who came to herself:
– No, darling. There is a big difference between the war and the terrorist attack.
– What kind of? – the girl continued.
– Solnishko, thousands of years have passed since the times of the Trojan War. Regardless the fact on which side the readers’ sympathy is, we remember the participants as well as we respect their courage and bravery. Legends were composed about them. Their memory lives through the ages. While the terrorists don’t have a name. They are peoples without identity and belonging. Everybody curses them, because their actions are directed against the defenseless and peaceful people, – Granny tried to explain.
– Are they cursed? But how? May I whisper in your ear? Do they say: “Hell with you”? Do you know, Granny, I still also can’t forget those words. I want, but I can’t.
You should say: “God be with you”. And it’ll be forgotten, my dear, – said Granny by hugging and caressing the child. – Now let’s better have a supper. – I’ll warm up the food while you and Larisa gather the decorations and remove the traces of war. Soon parents will return home from work but we have a real disaster.
Solnishko couldn’t forget the game for a long time and used to tell about the Beautiful Helen before going to bed. Solnishko admired Paris, the Beautiful Helen in spite of the ambiguity of their characters. And in a dream there was a smile on her face.
Since then the girl didn’t remember about the terrorists any more.
CHAPTER 3. PROBLEM OF CHOICE
Since the early childhood Mom was the most important person in Solnishko’s life. In the presence of Mom other people were unimportant. Every time, when Mom had to go for her business, bilateral talks used to begin concerning cancellation of her jobs and reduction of terms of her absence. All the arguments were used: requests, persuasions, tears.
– Please, don’t leave, Mom! I feel so bad without you, – begged the girl, following around Mom, who was going to work.
– Solnishko, I have a lot of work to do. I’ll return to you when I finish, – Mom answered in a gentle voice by patting her on the head and kissing. – For now until then you should stay with Granny.
– Let Granny work and you stay with me, – Solnishko objected.
– Granny is busy too. But she came, in order to be with you. I’ll soon return and we’ll play together, – Mom continued patiently.
– No, I don’t want to stay with Granny, don’t leave, please, Mom, – the girl begged all in tears.
But when Mom closed the door behind her, everything began to be fine. The child instantly switched to the one of the relatives who had stayed with her and even called them Mom, till she came back from work. At the beginning it surprised everyone but gradually they got used to it and perceived it to be a game, with the help of which the child didn’t want to accept the absence of her Mom.
Solnishko communicated differently with each of the members of the large close-knit family, which was united by Solnishko in the main. She thought up different games and thus the child lived many lives during the day.
When Granny put Solnishko to bed, the girl asked to tell her the story about Lindagul, the youngest and the most favorite daughter of Nadir, the Persian shah. Though Solnishko knew that story by heart, nevertheless, every time she asked Granny to read and then also to tell it. And when Granny, being already half asleep and tired, tried somehow to shorten the story, no matter how much tired and sleepy, the girl immediately was cheered up and began to correct Granny by reproaching her for being forgetful:
– No, it isn’t so, Granny. You confused everything again. You’re such a mixer.
What is interesting, that she didn’t ask anyone else to read that story. The girl had her favorite fairy tales with Mom as well as the other Granny however nobody was allowed to read or tell them. Common was only that during all phases of the girl’s life there was always some fairy tale character, which was her friend and to which she trusted all her secrets. Solnishko shared a meal with her friend, walked with her friend, went to kindergarten, played music, went to the gym, to the ice rink, skied, listened to fairy tales, played, even performed concerts and slept. At the beginning they were a dog, a hare, a wolf, a fox, the most favorite characters from cartoons and some entertaining stories. Moreover, if the corresponding teddy toys were turned into the analogues of the animals, the close friends, then Samodelkin was the invisible friend of the girl for a long time. The child was so absorbed by the character that she talked with him, introduced him to her guests, as well as asked for advice. Samodelkin began to be the most important one at home. He participated in all games. Books were read about adventures of Samodelkin and his friends, the same audio recordings were listened to, even the improvisations were exclusively on the theme “Samodelkin and his company”.
When the family had a dinner, cutlery was put also for Samodelkin. Before going to bed, the girl invited Samodelkin to the bathroom to wash up and to brush teeth. When she listened to the audio recordings she asked not to disturb her and Samodelkin.
More and more the living space was given to Samodelkin. That was, to put it mildly, a difficult period in the life of the family, the members of which had to learn to live in conditions of the constant invisible presence of Samodelkin.
But thank God everything in life passes and one day Samodelkin, Karandash2, Nastenka, Kletochka, Tigrasha, pirats Bulbul and Dirka and the other characters appeared in the past.
The very clever rat Remy became Solnishko’s new favorite hero. Solnishko
Karandash – pencil.