Homer’s Golden Chain. Dreams of an alchemist

– They walked through my plot, but didn’t say where they went,

Dan answered.

– My chickens have started disappearing,” the neighbor continued thoughtfully.

– You should report it to the police,’ the guy advised, ‘and by what right do you start raising pigs here? These are plots for individual housing construction, you can’t keep livestock here.’ ‘I want to and I keep them on my own, – the farmer frowned.

– The plot doesn’t seem to be yours…”

– I’m the boss here, I can do what I want!” the farmer shouted, and tried to slam the gate, but Dan held it tightly.

– Go home,” Kudrevatov advised with a wry smile.

The neighbor hobbled back to his place, and Dan closed the gate and began digging around the bushes, working faster. Toward evening, after dinner, mother and son decided to go for a walk. Dan took bags of trash and a big stick to chase away the dogs. It was already getting dark, a little colder. They walked along the road, to the bus stop. The young man threw the trash into the container, the mother, Anna Ivanovna, got into conversation with the neighbors, elderly women of about sixty. Then their bus pulled up, number 31. Almost the last one out the door, or rather, crawled out, was a girl with two huge bags. It was obvious she was walking with difficulty. It turned out that they didn’t meet her at the bus stop. Dan sighed and came over.

– Let me help.

– Yes, I’ll carry it, – the stranger protested.

– It’s okay, the bags aren’t heavy, – Denis said, grabbing both.

– You go ahead, I’ll talk to the neighbors,” Anna Ivanovna remarked, feigning interest as she talked to her acquaintances.

– It’s not far from here, – the girl kept saying restlessly, as if convincing herself.

– Everything is fine, we’ll get there soon, – Kudrevatov reassured her, – it’s really hard for you, why strain yourself?

He walked calmly, along the asphalt road, but at the turn the surface was already compacted gravel.

– Here is our house, – the girl pointed to the gate and opened the lock. Denis carried the bags onto the veranda, where a couple of old and cozy armchairs stood by the entrance.

– I’m going. Come in the summer, we have lots of apples, – the guy was looking for a topic of conversation, – well, I have to go.

– My name is Elizaveta, – the girl gave her name.

– Denis, – he gave his name too, – I’m here with my mother. Her name is Anna Ivanovna.

– Come by yourself when you’re not busy.

– Write down your phone number, mine is lying at home, – Denis tried to wriggle out of it, standing in front of the girl, not knowing what to do with his hands.

– Right now, – Lisa took a pencil, wrote her number on a piece of paper, and handed it to her new acquaintance.

Kudrevatov deftly folded the paper, stuffed it into his jeans pocket, and looked the girl over again. She was sweet, very sweet, and perhaps even had a good personality. But he quickly went outside, almost ran away, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. The young man knew he was ruining things himself, with his own expectations of the worst, that no one loved him and everyone hated him; he always expected only the worst from life. And then…

***

With plenty to do, Denis began working on a new device, consulting his diary. He hoped, really hoped, that it would help. Kudrevatov decided to continue experiments with ether as a means of wireless energy transmission. But the thirst for knowledge did not subside, and the book about Tesla no longer allowed him to sleep. Denis downloaded and printed out the first periodic table, still containing newtonium, the element of ether. Kudrevatov stole a frequency-setting table and microwave indicators, and managed to rebuild a microwave wavelength-setting device, a fairly accurate one at that. Purely theoretically, and precisely theoretically, he was able to create a device for ether ionization. Denis, in incredible excitement, paced his small bedroom, jotting down data in a notebook, as well as the setup tables for the microwave ionizer. The arduous work continued for almost two years; he abandoned his experiments with antimony and salt, and the new topic consumed all his time. But he managed to pass his exams on time, so he didn’t fail his studies. But again, it all came down to energy, or more precisely, the power supply connection. According to the inventor’s plan, by ionizing the ether, he could transmit electrical energy through it. Without even considering the danger, the careless inventor had once again found the right place. The dead of night once again hid his plan from prying eyes. The device turned on easily… It hummed, and Denis adjusted the settings, checking everything with the indicator.