In each person there are six hypostases:Courage and Cowardice; Anger and Kindness; Cynicism and Greed.All these properties have a different proportion in the emotional composition of each of us.So it is in the hero of this novel. The reader will be interested to observe from the outside, what kind of mixture our hero has.What awaits him in the real world, where there is everything: from wealth to poverty, from love to hate, from pity to cynicism...
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CONTENT
Cover art
Output data
Prologue
Criminal showdown in the Ghost of the Pentagon
In the last way
Brave
We'll be free again
The interrogation continued
There were three of them
The cynic
The creation of Dr. Moreau
I miss him
Evil
Good
How could you do that
Who is an Athlete?
Theory
Nail
Sunny morning
Pity or kindness
Courthouse
Same company again
Ah there you are
A sign to all of us
The future of society
Skinheads
The Crucifixion of Jesus
Let him get lost
I have to go
I bury the Evil One
Yesterday in court
What business to undertake
Son
Daughter
Nadine in court
The day before the trial
Boiling water
Tension builds
Nothing changes here
Damn it take it
I'm leaving
The coward is being led
The voice of Jesus
The main thing is to get up
Behind the red line
I'll go get some bread
Stories of adult men
Own line
Before Friday
Shadow
Take care
Your share
Amulet
Now everyone is on their own
The Pentagon shootout
It won't fire
It didn't get any easier
Outsmart your enemy
Laurel's welcome
Try to play with fate
Epilogue
Continuation
SIX OUT OF ONE EGG
© 2021 SERGEY / copyright holder.
All rights reserved.
Author: Sergey Zhuravlev
ISBN9783985516100
NOVEL
SIX OUT OF ONE EGG
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
WITH AN UNEXPECTED ENDING
SERGIY
ZHURAVLOV
SUNRAY 2021
Prologue
A person who has conquered his fear, becomes Brave.
The cynic knows the price of everything, but he doesn't want to know anything about human values.
Good is the intention or action of a person, carried out by his free will for creation.
Evil is the opposite of good
Criminal showdown in the Ghost of the Pentagon
Today, in April 2021, wherever you look on all channels, on all city video screens, in all social networks, every few minutes any information was blocked, even advertising and information appeared:
At noon, at the intersection of Pacifist and Adventurer streets, in the cafe Ghost of the Pentagon, ten people were killed in a shootout. Among the dead were employees of the security company, construction and trade holding "Titan". Anyone who knows anything about this incident, please call 1551, 5115, or just 112…
... A criminal showdown in the Ghost of the Pentagon.
At 21.00, watch an interview with the deputy chief of the regional police department…
...On suspicion of involvement in the murders in the Pentagon is wanted: A man of thirty-thirty-five years, athletic build, height of one meter eighty-five, one meter ninety. Dark hair. The clothes are dark. Possible gunshot wound;
And also a girl of medium build, dark hair, height of one meter seventy-seventy-five, dressed in light. On the left shoulder is a tattoo in the form of a crane. Anyone who knows anything about these individuals, please call 1551, 5115, or just 112…
In the last way
In the morning the sun shone, the day promised to be bright and warm, but by the afternoon the weather deteriorated, it began to rain. A small procession had just reached the cemetery and was hiding under umbrellas. The four men bringing up the rear of the funeral service raised the collars of their cloaks. They had no umbrellas. The boys ' hair was wet, and water trickled down their tired and thin faces like tears.
These people had something in common, but if you look closely at their figures, their movements and looks, listen to the fragments of their quiet speech, you can be surprised how deceptive the first impression is. They weren't just different from each other, they were clearly opposites of each other. Maybe that's why they themselves, and those around them, have long addressed them not by their names, but by their defining character traits.
The dead man had something in common with them. The priest was late, so the deceased lay for more than an hour in the continuous rain. There was a faint, inexplicable, yet obvious resemblance between this dead man and the four living ones.
Laurel appeared as the memorial service drew to a close. Pushing the bodyguards aside, he stepped into the center of the mourners. The minister of the church frankly bowed to him, smiled, optimistically wished the soul of the deceased to follow the prescribed coordinates, and hurriedly left.
Laurel stood for a moment by the coffin, looking at the young, pale face, kissed the dead man on the forehead, adjusted the slightly turned-back collar on his shirt, then walked to the edge of the grave and looked down.
"Who was digging?" he asked softly.
"Who was digging?" the crowd of mourners whispered.
"Who was digging?" alarmed voices were heard from all sides.
"Who was digging?! several voices shouted impatiently at once.
Half a minute later, a bearded man with obvious signs of an alcoholic was brought to Laurel. The grave digger was frightened, his hands were shaking, his jaw was shaking.
"It's him! He was digging, " someone shouted in the crowd.
Laurel went to the grave digger, straightened a lock of gray, wet hair, and hugged him like a father's son: "You've made a good hole," he said pathetically," in this grave the continental plates come together. Granite and clay? You've worked hard and you're tired."
"Sand, it's a pleasure to dig," coffin digger whispered in Laurel's ear.
"Well, well done anyway. Well done, right?!" Laurel addressed the crowd.
"Yes! Yes, " they agreed immediately.
"Well done," said a heavyset man in the crowd, peering into the pit and kneading the wet handful of dirt he had just picked up.
Laurel was in no hurry to let go of the gravedigger: "The partner came in this morning," he said, looking at the dreadful, wrinkled face of the digger," Then he went to the bank, carried out his intentions, " Laurel looked at everyone and continued. "Then to the mayor, then to the mega construction site. You can see for yourself, brother, I was almost too late. Business, constant negotiations, all this is a stupid fuss. And now, to top it all off, it's raining. You already go, old man, I'm going to say a farewell speech for the dead man. Pushing the grimy gravedigger away from him, Laurel shouted to the crowd. "Everyone, let him go!"
Two women in black headscarves immediately took him by the arms and led him away.
"Let him go completely! Laurel shouted, demanding, threatening. But this cry did not correspond at all to his stoutness and small stature.
The old man hobbled off between the graves. Laurel stood up on the bench and looked around the room. The four drenched men stood with their heads bowed, while the others stared at him with wide, shining eyes, their lips smiling.
"All of us, some earlier, some later, will leave this world," Laurel said solemnly, " someone we will remember as a physical citizen who respects the laws of conscience, for his activity and deliberate truthfulness. Someone will pluck an apple from the tree and give it to the child. We will remember him, too. Yesterday, in the park, I knelt in front of the monument of the warrior with the sword and my tears of pride watered the historical monument!" He looked around at everyone and shouted!" Glory to the heroes!" the crowd clapped their hands. Laurel held up his hand, and everyone fell silent as he continued his speech. "History will not forget an honest official and a noble woodcutter. Someone will be defined as Cowards and traitors for selling out and creating an imbalance towards the enemy. There will also be someone who will be appointed a hypocrite. We knew murderers, libertines, and many other unreliable scum! But there is no more terrible brand in the world than the brand of a debtor! " he said the last phrase, raising his intonation. He paused, looking down searchingly at the two men, their heads bowed. "The debtor thinks that he took not his own, but someone else's! No! He gave his own in return! For every second of his worthless, unprofitable life, the debtor pays with his soul, becoming more and more a body without a conscience.
The debtor came to you and asked: Please give me money, I really need it. And you did. The debtor took the money and spent it. You came and said: Give me the money back. Laurel paused, his face dark and angry. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth for a moment, his eyes moving slowly over the heads of the crowd. "I've actually finished my valedictory speech!" he said loudly, hopping off the bench and adding, " I'm sorry. "Maybe someone else has something to say? After all, the man died. Are there any friends of his here, or those who knew him well? Maybe you?" he turned to one of the four men who were standing off to the side."
"Me?" the stooped, short-haired man asked, looking at his drooping companions in confusion for support.
"And who? You are the most humane citizen here, even though they say you are a coward. But I don't believe it. Because they talk. And who would believe them now? You tell me. Only sincerely, from the heart, tell us about the deceased and his essence."
"From the heart?" the hunched man asked, startled.
"Come on, speak so that every word you say cuts through your mind like a sickle through your veins!"
The confused man was called a Coward. He was about thirty, thirty-five. Maybe it was his thinness, maybe it was the hesitation in his movements and the pitying look in his eyes, but he seemed the youngest of the four, and somehow defenseless. When he found himself in the center of attention, he didn't know where to look, and kept putting his hands in and out of his pockets.
Brave
"Come on," Laurel encouraged him with a faint smile.
"He was the bravest and most reckless man I have ever met in my life," he began, pausing in his words. He stole a glance at his friends and continued, " but more reckless than Bold. Yes. Because then it would have been different. But what happened was what happened. I told him it would end badly. But he never listened to me. And he wasn't listening to anyone. And he died. He also called me a Coward, but I didn't take offense. Rather, I was offended, but I understood that he and I had different scales in the worldview ruler."
"Well, it's not that interesting," Laurel tapped the Coward on the shoulder. "The most important thing, the most important thing - why did this happen? "
" Because the Bold One went beyond the red line. And you can't go beyond the red line, everyone knows that. "But he crossed the line and then" …
"This is understandable. This is all right, you read it out. But I want to hear something else about him from you. Who was he, as a unit, as a contingent?" The Coward was shivering, either from cold or from fear, when Laurel asked him."
"He was a daredevil. He was a handsome man. He was a womanizer! He's had a lot of women, probably all of them here, " the stooped man looked up and looked around. "Did you know him?" he turned to an elderly woman looking at him through a veil."
"No, no, the lady didn't know him," Laurel said for her. - I invited them, I did! You tell me the main thing. The main thing is in fact, you know? Who was he? Who was he? The
speaker shrugged uncertainly and said in a cowardly voice::
"In fact, none of his female fans are here."
"That's right, it's already clear. What are you pulling! Are You A Coward? So, who is he?"
The coward ducked his head and groaned under his breath.: "Debtor!"
Laurel, finally waiting for the answer he needed, let out a sigh of relief, held up his index finger: "Vo-o-ot! That's what I was just talking about. I didn't press him, he restructured this idea himself. You think you just found out what's in my skull? No. These are his thoughts. These are your thoughts. And I am very sorry that the first and only thing that forms the brain, looking at yesterday's body full of life-the debtor. And there's nothing to say. And it's a shame. And ashamed. And one consolation, we are not all like that" - after standing for a while in silence, Laurel demanded to bring four shovels. Handing them to the same four chilled comrades, he ordered them to bury the dead man.
The coffin was covered with earth. Rammed and formed a mound. Laurel couldn't find his glasses for a long time and asked to dig up the grave. The coffin was lifted. The lid was opened. As it turned out, while kissing the deceased, he dropped his glasses at the head of the coffin.
Laurel sent for the priest again, because the ceremony is ruined and we have to start all over again. Again he said something about debt, and the depraved non-obligation of the deceased, and it was only in the afternoon, when the rain had stopped and the sun was shining on the wet grass, that the column of mourners began to move into the city.
People walked along the straight, runway-wide concrete road, skirting puddles and potholes. To their left and right were two red lines. Soon one of the lines went sharply to the left in the direction of the lake, the other right angles outlined the bases of the first houses, went deep into the city, lost in its blocks.
Half an hour later, the Ghost of the Pentagon was hanging on a hanger in the pub, four raincoats soaked through and stained with mud from the bottom. It was warm and cozy. The Bee Gees were playing, the air smelled of wine, and the old-fashioned LED lights were smothered in cigarette smoke.
The white-haired bartender, a tall, wiry Black man, thoughtfully clicked on the keyboard and made short comments, clucking his tongue in displeasure. Across the counter, a couple of guys and girls were sitting at the bar, drinking beer, hugging each other, and distracting the old man with empty conversations.
The owners of the cloaks in question occupied one table, in the far corner from the exit. On the red, calico tablecloth were two bottles of cognac, which had been started. Beside them were two full bottles of red and white wine. Two of the men were talking, the other two were absorbed in themselves and showed little interest in them.
"You personally have the easiest time. You'll be released sooner or later. You know they'll let you go, that's why you're so calm, " the man with the stoop, thin and pale face, who was already familiar to us, complained with a tremor in his voice.
Laurel called the stooped man a coward. His companion, on the other hand, gave the impression of a strong and healthy man. His hair was long, his eyes were large and brown, and his lips were full and pale. He almost always smiled, showing his even, snow-white teeth. He was even handsome, but his big, hooked nose spoiled him.
"You are good, Kind, everyone loves you," the stooped man continued, " everyone knows you have nothing to do with it. And Laurel looks at you in a special way. They don't even want to judge you. You're just with us, for company. You tell him, he'll definitely listen to you. The coward here is also a random person. When Laurel tells you to leave, you can take me with you. You just tell him, "Let this one come with me," and he'll let me go. Where can I turn such a thing! I'm a coward, everyone knows that. I'm afraid of dark rooms. I don't talk to strangers. I'm afraid to go out on a winter evening. Terrible, I'm afraid?! And then wrap up such a scam. Fearfully. The head can go crazy with fear. Where can I cook this up? Could you do that?" No, you also could not physically, mentally maybe you could, but in reality, for real-no. And I can't even think of stealing from a man like that. I would never have dared to do such a thing, neither I nor you, but here he is," The coward glanced at the powerful, rough-featured man sitting across from him. "Now he could. Greedy and angry. Even the sea is knee-deep for such an Evil type. See how he looks at us. He stole money from Laurel, and we're taking the rap for him. The Evil One had the bag, he was carrying it, and he gave it away ... first he hid it under himself, and then he gave it to the robbers. I saw it myself."
"Not only is he a coward, he's also a liar," the Evil One replied with distaste, " Everyone whispers, they have secrets. I know all your secrets. When Laurel orders me to kill you, I won't blink, I'll bury you alive in the ground. Killing two people together would be a pity, " he added with a smile.
The Good Man patted the Coward on the shoulder.
"The evil one only scares you, don't be afraid of him, I won't let you offend. And the Evil One gave the bag to those robbers who were wearing masks, I saw it myself. It's not your fault, it's not mine, it's none of our fault. Even when I was thinking about going to you or not, I weighed all the pros and cons and asked myself, do I trust these people? And I answered myself-I trust you. And then I trusted, and now I still believe. What happened to you? You suspect: this one, that other, so it is impossible. No one is saying that you stole the money."
"I'm telling you, he stole the money!" the Evil One interjected. "The coward is definitely in league with the robbers. Maybe the thieves didn't give him a share, but only promised. Or maybe he got ten grand. Now the bandits call at night and whisper in his ear: Return all the money, or it will be worse! … You guessed it? Tell me I guessed right! As I have accurately noticed! See how it shakes. He knows that his position is exposed. You bastard! I hate it! The angry man gritted his teeth and slammed his fist down hard on the table.
"Stop talking nonsense!" exclaimed the man with the glasses.
This man had been silent all the time until this moment, and had been looking at the people around him. He was a plump man with gold-colored glasses on the bridge of his nose. His face was accentuated by a handsome beard and therefore looked elongated. Her slender fingers ended in well-manicured nails. The white skin smacked of aristocracy. He was a typical intellectual.
"Since when will it be enough?!"The Evil One looked searchingly at the Coward. "Look how the Coward's eyes flickered and his face was red, as if it was burning! I figured you out, so I quickly went and brought
the money!""the intellectual demanded even more insistently.
"Protecting me? So you're in league with him! I saw it coming. You won't miss your trump card. You're a typical Cynic. The first one was buried today. But you don't care if they kill everyone. You won't have any terrible dreams. God, mercy, punishment are all nonsense to you, aren't they?! Money is what's real! It's people like you who strangle grandmothers with sheets at night for the sake of inheritance. Freaks! Empty, soulless cripples all around. You have no faith and no need to educate your conscience. I hate you!
"" The Cynic said tartly.
"I'll tell you more. I'll tell you about everyone. I'm looking right through you! He picked up one of the brandy bottles and waved it over his head, smashing it violently on the floor.
"What's all this about?" the bartender shouted wearily from behind the bar. "Don't you want to be nice and talk like decent people?"
"Everything is under control, old man!" the Cynic hastened to reassure him.
He held the hand of the Evil One and did not let him stand on the chair. When he succeeded, he looked incredulously at the Good One.
"Do you really believe what you're saying? Do you trust everyone?" The cynic asked with a grin. "I don't understand you in any way, are you a fool or very cunning? Maybe you're Kind. They say he's kind, I don't know. But being kind doesn't mean being an idiot."
"And I'm talking about the same thing. He's not an idiot, he pretends to be one in public! It is the Good One who is behind all this robbery, " the Evil One spoke, calming down a little. "He organized everything and took the money. I knew it at once, and now I was convinced: a hypocrite, a sycophant, and a worthless animal! I hate it from my hair to my toenails. How I would love to crush him like a fly on the table."
"I am extremely sincere," the Good one replied to the intellectual. "It is not easy to inflate the Laurel, it will not let anyone lower it. I don't think any of us are stupid enough to doubt that. Laurel will get her money back for sure. After all, this is his city, he is the law and power here!" then he aimed his gaze at the sobbing Coward. "When Laurel finds those thieves, he'll let us all go."
"Let him go?" Coward asked.
We'll be free again
"He will definitely let us all go. We'll be free again. We'll step over the red line, and we'll walk all day. Past fields of yellow flowers and blue butterflies. All the bad things will be left behind and immediately fade under the sun's rays. The bad will become pale and inconspicuous. We will clear our memory in the mountain streams. Our memory will once again be like snow on the mountain tops. And there will be no trace of the bad. And we'll move on" …
The cynic, covering his mouth with his hand and showing laughter, began to chuckle softly.
The good man ignored him and continued:
... "We will wade through clear mountain rivers, scaring away flocks of silver fish with red fins. And no one will call out to us, or hit us from behind with a stick, or drag us down the dusty road back to the red line."
Dreaming of such a beautiful scenario, the Coward spoke: "Kind, even if he doesn't find those people, you tell him that I had nothing to do with it. Say, okay, yes! I'm a Coward, everyone knows. I can't do that with my vices. And in my mind there was no such insidious plan. I would never have been able to. But you're Kind, maybe you could. No, you wouldn't. But this time he did not say who would have committed the robbery, because when he met the eyes of the Evil One, he sniffed, lowered his head and fell silent."
Laurel came to the bar in the late afternoon. He greeted the bartender politely and asked if he could sit at the table with the four men at the back of the room. Receiving a nod in return, he hung up his gray demi-season coat and wide-brimmed hat. The three bodyguards followed suit, hanging up their coats and heading for the bar. Laurel went to the guys at the far table. All four fell silent at once.
Borrowing a chair from the neighbors, he sat down without ceremony with the four of them. Paying no attention to anyone, the first thing he did was pour a large glass of white wine and drink it in one gulp. Savoring the drink, he gave everyone a friendly look, poured a glass of red wine into the same glass, and the red wine immediately suffered the fate of " sinking into his stomach.
Laurel, examining the tablecloth in front of him, spoke: "Such things are happening all around. I know that you, the four of you, don't have any trucks, and it doesn't matter, but I still hate it …
I saw a truck driver today. The truck has broken off and is standing on the side of the road. The elderly driver is almost lying down, a huge wheel has pinned his hands to the asphalt. Apparently the driver put a spare wheel ... No one stops, but the driver is lying, his hands are clenched, it's unbearably painful, and he is covering everything with obscenities. It's a good thing it's not winter ... for about ten seconds there was silence. Laurel finally raised his head and looked around the room. He shoved the Coward in the shoulder. "Well, so what? "
" What? " asked the Coward and smiled flatteringly.
"Tell me the circumstances. Tell me how it all happened."
"Who should I tell you about? About
the driver?" : "Tell me about the day, about Friday. How you all came to the construction office. How money counted. Where did you go then, through what unknown streets, what alleys? To what persons my money was shown, to what blondes bills were waved!"
"We did not give them to anyone" ... the Coward tried to justify himself, but he was interrupted by the interlocutor.
"I don't know, I don't know! You tired me with waiting and frankly shocked me by not understanding whether you were given cash at the cash register or not?
"
"The fact that you received the money is determined, right?
"
Now the main thing! The main thing, " he repeated, holding up a finger. "Have you checked the banknotes? There were no fake ones? Right, right? Great! That is, everything is clear?! I ask clearly? "
" Clearly! The Coward nodded his head.
"Clearly. It's good. You, when you give the bag back, you will return the same banknotes to me, well, so that the accountant does not bother with the identification of the banknotes later, all right. You didn't bring any money with you just now, did you? Yes? No? "
" No."
"Yeah… So where did you say you hid them then? Where's your share, under the bed, at home, I suppose?"
Laurel turned to the bar and called out to one of the bodyguards," Shadow, " he called out to the head guard. "Bring me some food. Let the bartender fry five eggs and a sausage with onions and put some mustard on it, " then he turned his head to the four and turned back to the Coward. "Well, well. So, Friday, nine in the morning. Sunny day. And here?.. "he motioned for the Coward to continue."
"We came at the beginning of the tenth. Cynic, I am, and Evil, " the Coward began in a low voice. "Dobry was waiting for us in the car. Then, when we got out, he wasn't in the car, he was calling someone from a pay phone there on the street corner. There's also a pay phone, a blue one, with a receiver on the wire. There was no cellular connection. There was no mobile connection anywhere that day."
"Uh-huh," Laurel nodded.
"Those two stayed in the office. The other two weren't with us. There were three of us, no four. Dobry was waiting in the car. Or rather, he was using a street phone. He wasn't in the car when we got out. And those two were in the office. They and the builders determined the amounts. Well, how much we owe them. We settled with them at the end of the month. We're always like this with them, at the end of the month. It's more convenient this way. And it was just the end of the month. And we usually call them at the end of the month to check the work schedule with the foremen, well, they already know."
"Schedules, foremen, yes, yes, yes. So, you came to the accounting department, received the cash, counted it, checked it. Everything is clear! There are no fake ones. The agreement is satisfied.
"No, of course, there are no complaints about you. Unless someone decides to make a claim against you. I would never allow myself to do that. Dobry can also confirm it. You will ask him."
The interrogation continued
"Don't slow down in one place!" Laurel cut him off.
"Ah! Yes. I understand you. they started down the stairs. Then the Evil One asked me to give him the bag, and I gave it to him. I also thought it was a good thing I gave him the bag, because he is a strong man, even if he is angry, and you can't take the bag out of his hands without an effort. And the Cynic took the lead, and I went third. I asked them not to run, because I thought someone was coming from behind. And I kept looking around for someone to attack. I told them I could hear footsteps, then the Evil One called me a slug, and ordered me to move my ass faster, then added that when we arrived, he would format my ass. It made me very angry."
"What?" asked Laurel.
"Well, I didn't like it."
"You really didn't like it!?" Laurel said mockingly.
"What didn't I like?" The coward spoke as if he had come from another world.
"The Evil One will definitely reformat you," Laurel said, smiling. "Let's not get distracted. You run last and" ...
" Yes, I run last. The cynic went outside and told us to wait. He looked around and then told us to follow him. And we went."
Laurel clapped his hands and rubbed them together. I can smell it, something interesting is about to happen! This is when I was a student, I remember… My roommate won a night of love playing cards when he was playing with a cute girl. And she was so unsophisticated for everyone and for her parents... The father of a fellow student found out, she shared the news with her mother. So, at night, my father knocks on my door ..." He suddenly stopped, lost in memories, and after a few seconds, as if nothing had happened, he looked at the Coward again and tapped his fingers on the table. "Well, well?"
Swallowing, the Coward continued: "When we went to the car, we saw that there was no one in it, and the Cynic blurted out: - Strange, there is no one in the car. And I didn't take the spare keys today, they're in the office. "He said so."
"Uh-huh," Laurel said, glancing at the Cynic who was biting his lower lip.
"And we waited. And the Evil One began to shout at the Cynic and promised to dismember him, because you can't just stand on the street with such money. With that kind of money, people go somewhere, or run away, but no one stands there in the middle of the street with that kind of money, "he said," We have to go! But the Cynic said that the Good One had left for a second and would be back in a moment. Surely Dobry went to the pay phone to call our people and tell them that we were late. After all, our people asked us to call if we were delayed, he said. And nothing terrible will happen if we stand on the street for a minute with such money, he said. And we waited. Then the Evil One sat down on the bag and covered it with his raincoat and looked around so that it seemed to me that everyone was now looking at him. Then, suddenly, the alarm went off and masked people jumped out of the pawnshop, they also looked at the Evil One."
"Ha! And you just put the car near this pawnshop," pointing with his hands on the table, as the car was standing and where the pawnshop was, said Laurel, " I understand. Why leave it at the entrance when you can walk around? The air is clean, girls with bare knees. All this sexual physiology is very tempting. The ladies are all so emancipated now… "There's a
sign there that says 'Stop prohibited', " the Coward tried to justify himself in a barely audible voice.
Laurel gave a muffled laugh into his fist, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, saying several times, " Businessmen, businessmen. Ha-ha-ha. Tell me, tell me, heh-heh."
There were three of them
The coward chuckled obsequiously, and continued, " There were three of them. The first one pushed me, I fell, and he ran on. And the second ran up to the Evil One and asked: Why are you sitting on the road? Then the Evil One kicked him, and he fell down beside me. And the third one in the hare mask jumped up and kicked the Evil One, and tried to grab the bag, but it didn't work. Then he shot the Evil One in the leg. The evil one fell and let go of the bag. Or he didn't let go, but maybe he did. I was bleeding from my forehead, I didn't see the Evil one. Then we chased them. And I was chasing too, but I was staggering, I fell behind and ran behind everyone. The Good one saw us running after the robbers and knocked down the first of them. Then the second bandit knocked down the Good One, and the third attacker kicked the lying Good One. We were all immobilized, and the robbers ran to their car, jumped into the cab and drove away.
"The robbers left in a car," Laurel repeated.
"Yes," the Coward said, then gathered his strength and continued. "Also, if you, Laurel, suspect any of us of being insincere, I don't think the Evil One can claim any exceptional position," the Coward said with difficulty. "only because he was physically hurt. His leg wound could have been part of an insidious plan with accomplices."
"You can be sure," Laurel said, " that's a very encouraging thought."
"I would also like to add that I would never plan anything against you, Laurel. I have always looked for your, if not friendship, then at least your favor," The coward wiped a tear from the corner of his right eye, smiled and continued," in your person I have always seen a wise teacher and any of your approval, even just the mention of my name, has always been a holiday for me. And I would never have dared, even if you ask a good Man, he will confirm it. And my sincere respect, " he could no longer continue the correct monologue. The Coward began to cry from his overwhelming feelings and mumbled," Sincere reverence, sincere reverence,"sniffling through his nose.
Shadow brought the lunch he'd ordered for Laurel. There were fried eggs and fried sausages in a small frying pan. Laurel cut all the sausages and eggs with a table knife, then picked up a fork and began to string them, first the golden circles of sausages, then the white squares of egg mixed with the yolk. The resulting sandwich, he dipped into the sauce, put it in his mouth and savored, closing his eyes with pleasure.
"Can we get something to eat today?" the Cynic asked, looking away so that he wouldn't have to see the contents of the pan.
"We've already discussed this, I hope you remember," Laurel reminded him, wiping his mouth with a napkin. No other food."
"What's the point of starving us?" The Cynic countered, " Getting the right amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates would make our brain cells much more active. Energy is needed to stimulate chemical processes, including mental processes. And if it is possible, theoretically, with proper nutrition, we could find a way out of this unfavorable situation in a shorter time.
"In theory, I'm not interested," Laurel replied.
"This is, after all, stupid. I don't see any sense in this violent hunger strike."
"And I see a direct meaning in this."
"I haven't eaten in five days," the Coward moaned plaintively.
Laurel popped another delicious sandwich into his mouth and pointed his fork at the Cynic: "You're so reasonable, you look even very smart. And yet, when they say let's go, it's dangerous here, you stand for half an hour in the middle of a street full of thieves, robbers and murderers, aggressively waving a bag full of money. You could still shout, go, see what I have! Didn't yell no? I wonder what stopped you?! And then you tell me about common sense?
"There were no robbers at that time," the Cynic calmly explained.
- My actions were optimally adequate. The probability that a pawnshop will be robbed on this day is one millionth of the length of a mouse horseradish. We just parked the car next to it. This is impossible, it could not be that we were robbed!" Raising his voice, the Cynic finished.
"So maybe there was nothing?"
"There was everything, and the chase and shooting, everything was!" angry with himself, the Cynic snapped.
"If there was nothing in reality, but it was staged - just say so. And I'll understand that, and I won't judge you. I was young myself, and I did a lot of stupid things. Ah! I see the case as it is now... Heh-heh," Laurel wanted to say something, but after looking at the Good One, for some reason he changed his mind. "Everyone wants a new outfit, rings on each hand and a new car to squeeze out two hundred and fifty kilometers, right? And in the evening, go to a restaurant with a blonde, and then do acrobatics with her on the bed until the morning! I understand and each of you also understands everything, that for nothing, because nothing, no one does! No one is given anything for nothing! Without payment, and the girls are bored, and the man himself feels that there is no tension in the instrument ... Hehe. So you thought and decided: What would a fat, stupid hog not pluck, yes? "
"No!" squeaked the Coward.
"Yeah. Yes, that's right. After all, a fat hog is very fat. Why does he need so much money? Right? Laurel tapped the skillet with his fork. "Only you got a very stubborn hog. You're out of luck with him. Hurtful. I know how frustrating it is when it doesn't work out. What can I do, I'll have to return everything. The plan was good, but reality balked. A lot of inconsistencies and fantasies during the completion of your plan turned out to be critical. It is necessary to delve into the psyche of the human individual. You can't attack the strong, the answer can be sad. We need to look for the stunted ones. It's easy and simple to rob a weak customer."
At the end of the meal, Laurel cleaned the remaining yolk from his plate with a piece of bread, squinting and smiling at everyone around him, and ate it as well.
The cynic
"Here you are, the most practical of all your company," he said to the Cynic.
"Yes," he said readily.
"Let's say. Let's say I believe in these freaks in masks. I really believe, why not. I can imagine them. And I did, and you know, I'm not interested. I'm not interested in them at all. And no one is interested in them. Their mothers have long forgotten about them and do not want to remember them. Because they're not interested in them either. I'm interested in the one," and Laurel pointed a shaking finger at everyone who sat at the same table with him, " the one who led them. I know he's here now. And he's scared. His will and time are limited, and joy no longer visits his personality, " Laurel pointed at the table and pressed down on the piece of wood, as if he was afraid that the table would shake and run away. "And you don't have to believe me. I don't care, you may not believe it, but! But! I know who the rat is. Let this rat suffer! Let her be surrounded by fear! Fear of the future! It comforts my self-esteem, at least to some extent. Let the rat wake up and think, what's next? Let this nonentity go to the mirror, look into the frightened eyes, and think, what next? Let him drink and urinate in the toilet with one single question. Let the creature live and die with this thought!" the fist fell with a crash on the table, and then Laurel continued the monologue in a surprisingly calm tone. "And most of all! This pawnshop amuses me the most. How clever he is. How he had outwitted everyone, how cleverly he had thought of everything. He walked around the room, he opened the window in the stuffy room, he smoked at night, he invented. No, he thought: You can't just let them run up and take the money from the collector. No! You can't do that. Only fools think that way, and I'm so smart. I'll outsmart everyone: First my people will rob a pawnshop, and then the collectors of Laurel come out… Eureka! How clever of you. And there is no other way. Otherwise, they will immediately understand, immediately smell the rat. But, he didn't call himself a rat. He called himself something else, Robin Hood, or the brave. Or maybe he came up with the original name of the Elusive Avenger, or the Mysterious Prince."
Laurel looked around at all the people sitting there, and suddenly he turned to the Coward.
"A good name?"
The coward shrugged, but said, " Yes, yes, it's a good name."
“I'll imagine an open window and him, the 'rat', shaking off the ashes with his trembling hands,” Laurel continued, gesturing, and building his pensive face, as the facial expressions convey the work of a brilliant thought, " And this process is so hot inside, it seems that if he puts his head in a bucket of water, all the liquid in it will evaporate. Because he believes. In fact, seriously, sincerely believes that I am an idiot, and he, the creature, " The Mysterious Prince!"
Laurel paused again, looking carefully at the audience, then fixed his gaze on the Cynic: "And what conclusions will we draw, my pragmatic friend? Who messed up? Is it an evil fate, a cruel, unpredictable accident, or is it someone's completely predictable greed?"
"Of course, the episode under discussion is unlikely," the Cynic replied, frowning thoughtfully, " But if we take the whole theory of probability as a basis, then the very appearance of life on earth, the appearance of a man, a man angry, eating eggs at the table, is unlikely.
From a layman's point of view, it is difficult to imagine that such a situation, I'm talking about the robbery of a pawnshop and us, is the norm, especially since it will repeat itself, well, say, in a minute or two. But if we take as a basis the cosmos with all its infinite manifestations, then we can say that planets, people, and situations like ours have arisen and will arise an infinite number of times, and from the point of view of the universe, this episode can be considered banal."
"And that's why I have to let you go?" Laurel frowned at the four of them.
"Why not? I'm just trying to think logically. Our very birth, the key fateful moments-it is always a case. By denying chance, we deny the structure of the universe. The pattern is based on randomness. It is the foundation of the building system. The beginning of the beginning, the starting point of everything – is an accident."
"Shadow!" Without taking his eyes off the Cynic, Laurel shouted menacingly, beckoning to the bodyguard with a raised hand. A few seconds later, Shadow, a silent, short man with an expressionless, good-natured face, stood beside him.
"Punish him," Laurel said angrily, pointing at the Cynic.
"Don't," the Cynic said softly, " I understand. I haven't eaten in a long time, I can't think straight.
"Strictly?" the Shadow asked the chief.
"Don't, Laurel, please! I realized my mistake! I was stupid. I'm wrong.
"We are not evil people," Laurel replied to the bodyguard, "but remember, if he does not understand after your 'caresses', another time I will punish you."
Shadow had a lot of people under his command, but usually only two people followed him and the chief into the room: a two-meter-tall, blue-eyed, blond guy named Punch, and a dark, heavily furred thug named Valui. He had a monkey face to match his build, wore gold crowns, and never took the brass knuckles off his hand.
The chief moved his brush slightly. A moment later, the observant Valui stood beside him, gazing hungrily into his master's colorless, empty eyes.
"Please don't do this," Laurel begged the Good One.
But Shadow had already whispered something in the big man's ear. A moment later, Valui lifted the Cynic out of the chair by the hair, punched him in the stomach, and, catching the twisted body with his right hand, threw it on the next table. The table immediately overturned, covering the man with itself. Pulling the Cynic out of the rubble, the bully began to deliver short kicks to the torso.
"Don't!" shouted Dobry, protesting. He started to get up, but the blond Punch pinned him down by the shoulders from behind.
The coward did not interfere, he shrank back into the chair, he almost disappeared, becoming small and inconspicuous. The evil one was amused by the massacre of his comrade. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, the Evil One chuckled softly, and shook his head approvingly in time with each blow of the Valuya.
"Laurel, please stop! This is unnecessary, senseless cruelty! We understand everything! Words are clearer, more understandable than any violence. Please don't hit me! " the Good One continued to demand.
