Lucien the hedgehog in the town of strange people

If Artem's already bad mood had been a stone, it would have punched a hole in the floor because it fell so fast. Now you can only leave Simfulensk to visit some regional institution or with permission, which must wait three weeks. And if they close the exits out of the city, what then? In their small, dreary city, there is nowhere to go for fun. Then Artem won't have the opportunity to ride the Ferris Wheel or take a trip on a subway.

"It can be assumed that the prerequisite to this decision was the escapade of one city dweller. This person, instead of visiting a TV station, indicated as the reason for leaving the city in his permit, went to a psychiatric hospital and helped most of the patients get out of there." The newscaster fell silent for a few seconds. Then he coughed in his palm and continued: "A short historical excursion. The first incident that angered the public occurred fifty years ago. Then the citizens of Simfulensk staged a mass brawl at the resort because of silt mud. After that, according to the government, violations by departing citizens of the city began to be committed in such large numbers that it could be compared with sowing grain on arable land. Thirty years ago, checkpoints were established at the exits from the city. As a result of these events, for half a century, citizens of our country treated Simfulensk reprehensible, punishing everyone for the sins of the minority." The newscaster sighed and announced a commercial pause.

Artem watched without interruption the liberated dancing fox wearing a wig with limes instead of glasses, who with cheerful recitative extolling nectar from the aforementioned fruit and lemon, but none of what was in the advertisement got into the boy's mind. His mind was clouded with thoughts of his friend's vile betrayal. He needed to find something to do to distract himself. Ride a skateboard? He remembered how he did it with Dmitry, and the desire disappeared. The friend liked Artem's skateboard, especially the drawing on this: a palm, and in the center of it a mouth with bloody fangs.

AWhat else can he do besides that? The boy looked indifferently at the table cluttered with textbooks, copybooks, toy robots and plasticine figures. He loved to sculpt from plasticine and draw, but now he wanted to do something active. Go for a swim? This seems like a good idea. But his imagination is at once painted before the mental gaze, as he wanders to a reservoir alone, mired in his misfortune. Such a walk would not help him to unwind but would make him feel even more despondent. He needs to bring Dasha with him. There was nothing more to do. But there is a problem: if the sister agrees, the shortest path to the Lake passes along Humpback Street, and Dmitry lives on it. On reflection, Artem decided to go the other way. No big deal if they walk a little longer. The difference is small: it would have taken ten minutes, but now it will probably take fifteen.

Artem turned off the TV at the beginning of the speech by the candidate of medical sciences Nadezhda Rudimentova with the theme "A doctor does not know what is wrong with you? It means you are fine." Then he changed into a T-shirt with shorts, pulled his favorite socks with triceratops muzzles on his feet. The school shirt with trousers was thrown into his closet. Going out into the hallway, he silently walked to his sister's room and poked his head at the door.

The exemplary order seen finally convinced the boy that the sister was an incorrigible purge. The wallpapers with African Savannah, zebras and giraffes reminded him only of the heat outside the window. Dasha, sitting in front of her textbook, turned around and stared at her brother in surprise. Why did he come? If they had not lived in the same house, he would not have known where my room was.

"I just… Do you want to go to the Lake?" hesitantly suggested Artem.

"With you?" The sister's face became suspicious.

"Well, with whom? Do you see anyone else?"

"Go with Dmitry," Dasha replied and lowered her eyes to the textbook.

Artem, however, was not going to leave. He came in, closed the door behind him.

"He's… he's not at home."

"Where is he?" the sister asked without looking up from her textbook.

"Well, with his father…"

Dasha turned to her brother after a short thought.

"Okay, I agree."

Fox and Matvey slept near the wardrobe in the hallway, curled up in one circle. Dasha locked the front door, put the keys in the cache. It was calm on the street, as if the siesta had begun. Aglaya was no longer drilling into the street and people with her devil's eyes. She probably went back to her house.

Past Surprise Street, the children turned into Cheesebutter Street. A little before reaching the house of the lanky old woman named Sveta, they crossed to the other side of the street. This ninety-year-old woman, "Everything is mine," as the locals call her, thinks she owns not only a plot of ground with her house, but also part of the street behind her gate. She is rather agile for her age, alert all the time. And when she finally gets tired, she sits down on the birch stump near her rotten fence that has fallen over on its side and continues to carry out her mission while sitting.

One day the mother of Artem and Dasha was in a hurry to work. She went straight, there was no time to bypass countless road pits. But Sveta saw her, jumped up from the stump, and, waving her cane, yelled in a disgusted tone: "Where are you going? Don't go there with your hooves! You'll make even more pits!" Also, one day last year three of Dasha's classmates were unlucky. After classes they wanted to walk to the city park to ride on a swing. They decided to take a shortcut down Cheesebutter Street. The students heard about this old woman but did not take her seriously. The result was that Sveta jumped out of the dense shrubs of thorns, like from an ambush, and attacked them. She hit one of them on his forehead with her cane, and another on his back. The third managed to escape without being beaten. These schoolchildren did not appear near her house anymore.

That is why Artem and Dasha always rush past the old woman's house on the other side of the street. But they didn't have to run this time because she was not on her "post."

In addition to guarding the street, she took on the guarding of garbage containers. She forbade people to throw garbage in them and regularly patrolled the site for garbage containers. Some of the locals purposely throw garbage at night, only anyway often see her there. But her activities were not limited to this either. She also fights with neighbors on both sides almost every day. The fences put up by them have long been decayed, it is her turn to put up her fences. But Sveta did not think so. She demanded that the neighbors do this again and called all their arguments lies and nonsense. She begged for money for fences not only from the owners of the neighboring plots, but also from their children and all those who came to visit, for which the people living nearby called her a disgraced beggar.

When they moved away from Everything is mine's house, Artem with an important appearance said that they would go to Lake in another way, which is shorter. If he had told the truth, his sister would not have agreed.

"The short way" began with dense and prickly thickets of thorn. Then the children turned onto a path slippery of mud under two old spreading poplars, where they had to run away from the toad with bottomless eyes. And it ended with a row of high earthen embankments. They resembled a miniature mountain system, and the last hill was lower than the rest and had a flat stone layer at the top, like a gray pancake.

The children arrived at the destination in thirty minutes.

Chapter 2. The talking hedgehog

The children stopped in front of the small clay quarry filled with muddy water, known here as "Lake." This one reservoir in the whole area got that name because nobody wanted to "swim in a swamp" or "dive in some pond". It is shallow; the water in the deepest place reaches only to shoulders, and near the coast it barely covers feet. It is surrounded by thickets of cattails and reeds on all sides, except for entering the water.

Dasha, unlike her brother, had not yet had time to swim this year. She scratched her head with wonder because she'd never seen the Lake so deserted before. Usually in such warm weather, there were so many people in this water that it was hard to turn around. Never-ending screams, fun, splashes… Dasha touched with her foot the green young growth that had sprouted on the bank, which had been trampled by hundreds of feet in the past.

"I thought there'd be a bunch of people here…" she said thoughtfully.

"No, now almost no one comes here," Artem replied, looking around the quarry like a landowner on his property.

"Why?"

Artem took off his T-shirt and threw it behind him. He was clearly pleased: finally, there was something that he knew and that his sister does not know!

"They found a dead man here last month! Over there," he showed with his hand on the reeds on the opposite side. "A man… Well, you saw him. Platonych. He used to be a janitor at the school. Remember, he was thrown with apples by seventh graders? Then, when he was fired, he guarded trampolines at night. And who found him dead here, do you know?"

Dasha got embarrassed. Since when did he tell her news, and not vice versa?

"Who?"

Artem's black shorts flew after his T-shirt like a bird. "The mom of that girl, I forgot her name… Nastya, your classmate! Probably she got tired of walking around other people's yards and sniffing everything out and she found a new place." Dasha felt fooled. She couldn't imagine that her best friend would keep such important things from her. She likes to tell her gossip about locals and ask about Dasha's parents. And when her mother finds a dead person, it turns out to be a secret!

"For some reason, our mom didn't tell me anything about it," she said with doubt.

"Well, she may not know," Artem answered quickly.

"Why do you think so?"

"Well, so, mayor, he was here too, he forbade talking about it. But everyone is talking about it secretly, I'm sure. In short, when Nastya's mother found Platonych, she almost started howling in terror because he had no eyes at all. But that's not what killed him," Artem looked at Dasha mysteriously.

"What killed him?"

"He had no brain. Inside his head was empty; there it was even possible to see the skull from the inside through the holes of the eyes."

"How do you know all this?"

"Er… I saw."

Dasha looked at her brother in disbelief. He shrugged his shoulders with contentment in his eyes, as if saying, "By chance, of course!"

"It's nonsense. No brain. Not eyes. It's all a lie," she said after thinking for a while.

"If you don't want to believe, don't believe…" Artem answered indifferently, put his socks in his cap and threw it up. "Look!"

The cap spinning in the air flew over Dasha and fell behind her. However, none of the socks were destined to last until landing because they left their vehicle at a first turn. They slowly descended like tiny parachutes and landed a few steps from the children. Artem turned and headed for the water, leaving his clothes lying around anywhere.

Dasha only now noticed that her brother was already in swimming trunks, and she did not even take off her sandals. However, she no longer had a desire to swim. Dasha sat on the grass.

"Hey, come here!" Artem called out to her, standing knee-deep in the water.

"I don't want to! I'll wait for you here!"

"Did you change your mind because of the janitor? Yes? I told you, they found him in those bushes over there, not in the water! Come here, I'm bored alone!" the brother tried to persuade her.

"And why then does no one else swims here?"

Artem had nothing to answer; he did not know why.

"They're afraid, that's all. I don't care. It's better for me. Nobody pushes, doesn't yell… Well, if Dasha doesn't want to swim either, let her do what she wants."

Artem entered the water up to his waist and swam, squeezing his lips tightly so that the muddy water did not get into his mouth. Having reached the middle of the quarry, he turned over on his back and closed his eyes against the blinding sun. And he felt great.

"If Dmitry doesn't want to be friends with me, I don't care. He's not the only person on the planet."

Dasha was lying on her side. The news about Platonich that stunned her did not leave her head. What really happened to the janitor? Who did this to him? If they forbade mentioning his strange death and now no one comes here to swim, it means that many people know about it, as her brother said. But why didn't Nastya tell her anything? A real friend wouldn't do that! Dasha took her phone out of the pocket of her breeches, deciding to surf the internet while she waited for her brother. Covering the screen with her palm from the sun, she tried to make out at least something in it, but to no avail. She put the phone away and looked at the desolate mansion in the distance; it was something like an unofficial forbidden zone. There were often warning videos about the danger of walking near it on the local TV channel. In them, it was reported that the owner of the mansion before his death stuffed his land with mines. But people also had another reason to be wary of approaching the mansion: legends about a ghost of the former owner living in it were made around the city, and some people swore that they saw a lit light in the windows of the mansion and heard some unintelligible noises and voices.

After a couple of minutes, her phone rang for a second and went silent. Dasha took it out and saw a missed call from Nastya. "The friend" probably wants Dasha to call her back. She always says that she can't make a phone call because she doesn't have the money for it, but that doesn't stop her from calling other people. For example, calling her mother to tell new interesting gossip, or Tanya from another class to ask about her new computer, or making a date with a seventh grader… And for the best friend, a dropped call is enough. It seems Nastya is already used to the fact that Dasha always calls back and can lie to her that she just wants to make fun of the boy and, of course, will not go on any date with him.

No matter what Nastya asks, I will not say anything else! Dasha decided, put the phone in her pocket, and mentally switched to her favorite topic: sloppiness and disorganization of her brother. How insufferable he is; even here he scattered his clothes. No one will immediately find where it lies. Is it nice for him to look for his clothes and things everywhere? Dasha looked around, looking for his clothes with her eyes. His T-shirt and shorts were lying in the grass in front of her, his cap lay behind her, and his socks… Where are they?

From which of their relatives did Artem inherit this demeanor? The sister began to remember all their relatives and compare their habits with her brother's manners. Having reached the custom of the second cousin's grandmother to sweep the freshly washed floor with a broom, Dasha noticed some movement on the left out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, slowly, she turned her head to Artem's shorts and T-shirt. There was a complete order with them.

Probably, a beetle crawled next to them; that's why it seemed… Dasha calmed down and yawed.

The shorts jerked.

Dasha's look, becoming tense, rested on his brother's clothes. One bee flew near her face, and she even did not notice it.

The brother walloped the water with her hands in the middle of the Lake, making thousands of splashes.

A minute of staring passed. Artem was still splashing in the middle of the Lake. His shorts didn't move anymore. Dasha almost convinced herself that she was imagining things because she was overheating in the sun.

AND… the shorts slowly but surely started to crawl away and even pulled the T-shirt behind it.

The shock shackled the girl for a second. Then she stood up abruptly and started jumping and running along the shore, desperately calling on her brother:

"Artem! Come here! Hurry up! Here! Artem! Come!"

The boy turned around; his sister's jumps seemed funny to him.

"You like a horse! Neigh! Neigh! Okay, stop messing around, go swim!"

"Here, look!" Stopping, Dasha pointed to his clothes.

But the shorts froze, as if it understood human speech. When Artem looked at it, he did not see anything unusual. However, the boy headed for the shore, making waves with his hands.

"Well, what?" he asked his sister when he came out of the water.

"See for yourself!"

The boy turned around and almost jumped on the spot; his clothes were moving in small jerks and had already crawled sixteen feet away. Having come to his senses, Artem realized: under the shorts a lizard, or a toad. And without Dasha's participation this would not have happened. She put an amphibian under his things. This guess made his mood bad. It's no fun when girls make fun of older brothers.

"Did you set this up?" he growled at his sister.

"Me?" the undeserved accusation disheartened Dasha.

"Bring my things quickly!"

"Why me? Do it yourself!" the sister sat down on the coastal clay with her back to her brother with a resentful look.

"It's not funny!" shouted Artem, nervously rubbing his fingers on his hand.

Dasha froze and put her arms around her knees.

"Who did you put under my shorts? A lizard? Or a frog? I thought you were afraid of them!"

"I didn't do anything… Next time, I won't say anything to you at all. You'll go home in your underwear."

Artem rubbed his chin.

"Okay. I'll tell our mom what happened here with the janitor and that you were here today! She'll be surprised when she finds out you're not as good as she thought!"

"But you… This was your idea!" Dasha stood up quickly and turned to face her brother. "And I'll tell her all about you!"

The brother, who did not expect such a reaction, crossed his arms on his chest.

"As you wish, but what? You have nothing to say."

"I know a lot about you! And mom will know everything too!" Dasha said angrily, turned her back to her brother, took a few steps, and sat down on the shore.

The shorts and a T-shirt had already crawled away by thirty feet. They began to move faster. Apparently, they no longer doubted that they would be able to hide. From this distance, jerks when moving did not seem sharp.

"You can't scare me with that! You can say whatever you want! After Mom finds out you are here, she'll stop believing you! After Lake, no one will believe you!" Artem tried not to give in so that the sister did not prevail. The boy no longer believed that his sister had set it up; she denied it too convincingly. But he was afraid to go alone to get his things. He trampled on the spot, approached Dasha and timidly suggested, "Let's go together."

The sister turned around and stared at him. Did she really hear that? Seeing that yes, she agreed. Walking as quietly as possible, the children went in search of escaped clothes. They found the boy's things hidden behind daisies. It's a good thing Artem wore a red T-shirt and black shorts today. It would be more difficult to find beige or green things. The brother and sister squatted in front of things, which were covered with leaves and grass stems.

"I'll grab the shorts; you'll grab the T-shirt," Artem said, looking up at his sister.

Taking up the edges of the clothes, the children heard a sound like exhalation from under it. They sharply pulled things at the same time, and untold relief appeared on their faces: in front of them on the tummy lay a small hedgehog with milk-colored needles.

It obviously got there from somewhere far away because in their area there are only hedgehogs with dark needles. The wool on the paws and muzzle is beige; the tip of the spout, ears and sharp claws are brownish. The pure-white long antennae twitch with breath-exhalation, and the hind paws are stretched above the ground and tremble with tension. And its eyes are covered with front paws, so humanly…

This pose of the hedgehog seemed very funny to the brother and sister.

"Hha-ha!" Artem chuckled. "Look at its paws! Like those goats! Do you remember those goats? We watched a video about them… Well, those whose legs were petrified from fear, what caused them to fall."

"Yeah, I remember. How interesting it is! I've never seen such before," the sister replied.

"Me too."

Dasha wanted to touch the hedgehog. She brought her hand to it, but got her hand, and didn’t dare touch it. The hind paws of the animal dropped. Artem leaned towards the animal and moved its paw from its eye.

"Hey, stop hiding…" he said.

The animal's eye was closed.

The hedgehog didn’t like this contact, and it started breathing quickly and noisily. Artem stopped holding its paw with his hand, and it sprang back to its original place, and covered its eye again. The hedgehog began to breathe even harder.

A scheming glint appeared in Artem's eyes.

"Let's make the hedgehog swim in the Lake! This will teach him not to steal!" he offered his sister.

"Do hedgehogs know how to swim?" Dasha asked.

"Now we'll see!" Artem took the animal and rushed to the Lake, holding it in outstretched hands as if afraid to burn. "Grab my clothes!"

Dasha took his things, brushed them off a bit.

Finding himself in the hands of the boy, the animal seemed to be furious, starting to wriggle and jerk his paws.

"Wow, you got scared! And stealing other people's things was not scary?" Artem smirked but accelerated because the hedgehog was twitching more and more harder. The Lake was very close, but the boy realized that he was unlikely to be able to take it there because the animal was about to fall out of his hands and he called his sister: "Dasha, come to me faster!"

She immediately ran up.

"Take…" Artem stuck the animal in the girl's hands.

Dasha with a deft movement wrapped the hedgehog in her brother's T-shirt and held it close, trying not to pay attention to the twitching of the paws and the prickly needles passing through the thin fabric. She did not notice that two longitudinal scratches appeared on her hand just above her wrist.

"Oh…" Artem said unhappily.

"What?" the sister did not understand.

"He scratched you, that's what!"

The hedgehog instantly calmed down. He leaned out of the T-shirt, looked at the scratches, then looked up his regrettable gaze at the girl's chin.

"It's OK." Dasha said as she looked at the scratches.

"How is that? What if you get some kind of rash? Or worms?"

The hedgehog looked at the boy with eyes full of silent reproach.

"Oh, come on!" The sister did not understand why Artem had suddenly become so caring, but she was pleased. "Hedgehogs don't have worms!"

"Everyone can have them!"

"But you cannot get worms through scratch!" The corners of the girl's mouth rose. "You're just like Mom!"

"I don't know what makes you think that. Mom, Mom… If you get infected with something, then you can infect me too!"

The sister's face instantly became serious. Artem took her hand and swiped his finger over the skin near the scratches.

"We need to put some ointment on it. The hedgehog is not from here; how do we know what it might be sick with? Now it doubly deserves to swim!"

Artem took the hedgehog from his sister and ran into the water waist deep. Cloudy water touched the paws of the animal. The hedgehog's body went limp; it seemed that it had come to terms with it and couldn't pretend anymore.

"Please let me go," it asked plaintively.

A wave of coarse shivers ran through Artem's body. Having dropped the hedgehog, he rushed out of the reservoir and stopped beside his sister, who looked stunned and stared at the floundering animal in the water.

"HELP!" The hedgehog disappeared into the muddy water. After a couple of seconds, he emerged with scraps of seaweed on his face. "AAH! I CAN'T SWIM!" the animal screamed, floundering and weeping away. "HELP! AAH!"

Artem hesitated. It seemed like he should help, but how scary it was! However, he forced himself to return to the water. He caught the hedgehog with his trembling hands, carried it ashore and handed it to his sister. Dasha, having got over the shock, sat down on the grass and held the animal close. The hedgehog coughed.