Chronicles of the Coast, or Solveigs Song
Realistic Fantasy
Larisa Sugatova
© Larisa Sugatova, 2023
ISBN 978-5-0059-3761-2
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
(Part One)
We are all broken. And it is in the places of fractures
we are often the strongest. E. Hemingway
Prologue
Dark mountain ranges protruded behind me. The sun illuminated them with that soft evening light that was about to leave this world, giving way to twilight. The first stars were already visible in the high sky, I stared into the distance for a long time. From up here, the view was beautiful, touching the innermost strings of my soul. The smooth, sunny road on the dark blue sea shone with its bright brilliance, and I thought about how I was waiting for Danny, like Solveig for her Per Gunt. Only Danny hadnt been driven away; hed been forced into the abode. And I am guilty of that, though unwittingly. Where are you now, Danny? How I long to hold you, to look into your gray-blue eyes and see in them the reflection of my feelings. Are we destined to meet again? Im back, Im here. But youre not here Youve gone far away. Will we ever see each other again? Thats what I thought, standing with my back to the high mountains, when suddenly a quiet voice, like the rustling of the wind, pulled me out of my deep reverie. I shuddered. It wasnt just a word. It was my name: Fox
I turned back around, and my legs stopped responding. I thought I was going to fall off the cliff, but I didnt. Strong arms picked me up, and all I could whisper, barely audible: Danny. Yes, it was him. The one Id dreamed about on long, sleepless nights, the one whose smile with the little scar above his upper lip had so often kept me awake, and whose sly, squinting eyes beckoned me into the unknown. My arms wrapped around his neck. My breath stopped, my heart almost stopped, and everything around me became unimportant. My Lisa! he said in a hoarse, broken voice. Ive been waiting for you! I exhaled. We stood in each others arms for a long time, and the embrace was warm and so long-awaited, it seemed like an eternity now our friend.
Chapter 1 Im Going to the End of the World
Life doesnt stand still, everything flows, everything changes. It would seem so simple, a river of time flowing. But sometimes something unexpected happens that we never thought it would.
People have always strived for the unknown. I, too, wanted to go on a distant journey. When the opportunity arose, I really hoped that it would be exciting and enjoyable.
Construction detachment was to be my summer practice. I transferred to the second year of the paramedic department and in the near future I planned to tie my life to work in the ambulance service. The choice between working for a month in the admissions office of our college or going to the cold Sea of Okhotsk to harvest fish for two months was almost obvious to me.
Some vague doubts tormented me, but I did not listen to them, and I decided to go halfway across the country to the Far East. I should have wondered if it was necessary to leave my family and home and go to the ends of the earth.
I wanted to see the world, I tried to think so, although there was a more compelling reason. I didnt know how things would turn out at the time.
At the end of July I packed my simple luggage a small bag with things and went to the regional center, where I studied at the place of our meeting. There we got on a bus and drove to the next town, where the airport we needed was located.
At first the streets of our city floated by the bus windows, then large wide fields, birch woods, sometimes alternating with small towns and villages. In Novosibirsk, at the airport, we were pleased to see a large plane. It is much more pleasant to fly on such an airplane than on a small one. After a few hours during our connecting flight we were able to relax and have a snack. A couple of hours later the plane was waiting for us again.
A few hours of flight and finally the clouds disappeared, then there were little boxes of what looked like toy houses, the plane shook a lot, and my ears perked up occasionally. The long-awaited landing.
In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk we found an unpleasant grey sky and drizzle. We left the warm, dry plane and immediately felt the full brunt of the wet and dampness all around us.
The air, filled with moisture, seemed to envelop us in watery dust, turning now into a dense fog, now into rain. From the airport in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk we took the bus to a local hotel.
For a few days we had to wait for the boat, as it turned out, it sailed twice a week to the island we needed to get to. The three days passed pretty quickly. Walks around the small town brightened up our wait.
We arrived at the seaport in the morning. The warm rays of sunshine warmed everything around us. They were a surprise after the constant shallow, cold rain. A bright yet translucent light flooded the pier. It was an unimaginably beautiful sight. The turquoise-colored light came from the water and was striking in its splendor, the hint of green in it adding to the mystery. Apparently so much green hovered in the air because of the sun reflecting off the sea water. Fat seagulls were loudly shouting over each other like bazaar vendors. We had to wait half a day to board the ship.
During the wait everyone managed to get burnt under the scorching rays of the sun. My clothes were sticking to my chest and back, and my stomach was rumbling. The girls and I were propped up in the corner of the building by the water, which was also green with a faint whiff of mud. I leaned my back against the wall, hoping to get some coolness from the concrete slab, but it didnt help much. My short, dark blue shorts, tight around the hips, and the white T-shirt allowed some of the breeze to blow. These are my favorite shorts. My father brought them back for me from a business trip when he went to Belarus. A white T-shirt in the heat was the best thing I could choose from my poor closet to wear in this heat.
A light breeze occasionally brought a little relief, pleasantly cooling my bare neck, arms, and legs. I gathered my soft blond hair into a ponytail the morning before we took the bus to the port.
Girl! Hey! I turned around and saw a strange-looking guy from our troop smiling at me. Embarrassed, I smiled back, nodded and looked questioningly at my traveling companion Lena. She shrugged her shoulders:
I dont know him. I think hes from Polytechnic.
A few students walked by, chewing pies as they went. The smell of food hit my nose, aggravated my hunger, and my mouth filled with saliva.
I suggest we run out for pies, girls, I looked questioningly at my new friends. We discounted and sent messengers. In ten minutes the delicious pastries were melting in the mouth of each of us. We were very hungry, and the pies were delicious.
Finally the boarding was announced. A buzz of excitement swept through everyone. Half-asleep, soaked from the heat, we stepped onto the ship. I felt that my life was somehow incomprehensibly changing. Something had happened, though nothing had changed around me. The sun was still shining brightly, and the glitter of the water hurt my eyes a little. With relief and joy we went to our cabin. With one of the girls we had stuck together all the way from the point of departure. She was one of the girls I became friends with, Lena from Polytechnic. We were joined by two other girls from another department at my college. We get acquainted, Alla and another Lena. They are midwives. It doesnt take us very long to swim. They say it wont take more than a day, tomorrow well already be there.
The ship departed from the pier, everything was so unusual. I stood on the deck for a long time. There are many of our students here, I did not know all of them, but I recognized their faces. Our construction team is made up of students from different universities of the region. From my group I was the only one, but it did not embarrass me. We got to know the girls from our cabin and a few others, and we kept in touch, because in the days before we had shared a room in the hotel, while waiting for the boat.
The water surface behind the stern was blue-black, with no hint of green. The ship was in the open sea, there was black water all around. How everything changed when the shore disappeared from view. We were standing next to a boy from our troop. He was from Biysk. We admired the view, discussed the water and the sunset. A sunny road now appeared on the black smooth surface.
Beautiful, isnt it? he asked, pointing with a nod at the setting sun reflected in the water.
Yes, it is! I nodded.
Have you ever noticed that names have colors? Every name is different, he asked.
Always. For example, Vladimirs name is light blue, Peters is black, and Marinas is red. We discussed this at length. It was strange that someone shared my thoughts on the matter. I hadnt encountered people like that before.
Touching the locket around my neck with my fingers, I put my palm around it. The silver one, with the blue stone in the middle, was a gift from my father that reminded me of home. My father passed away three years ago because of a heart attack. I took it very hard. Now my mother and little nephew Maksimka were at home, and I missed them desperately.
By the evening of the next day we saw land on the horizon. Hooray! I really do not mind the trip, but poor Alla since sailing yellow-green, not eating anything at all due to nausea. And the girls and I went to a restaurant, where we ordered ourselves a crab salad.
When the ship stopped, everyone was waiting for their turn to leave our temporary shelter. We boarded the barge, sailed up to the pier, and went ashore. Whale Village I read the inscription in big letters above the entrance to the pier. We were swaying mercilessly from side to side on the ground, and we walked and laughed merrily.
Chapter 2: The Island
We are here. It is a sparsely populated island at the edge of the world, cut off from the mainland by the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. The ship comes twice a week. The nature here is harsh, but its July, so its warm and there are a lot of sunny days, but it often gets cloudy or theres a fine, water-dust-like rain.
Near the bluffy shore, not far away is an old wooden two-story building, a dormitory for workers. An elderly female employee of the plant, who met us there, directed us to it. The four of us, two Lena, Alla, and myself, took a room.
On a sunny day we decided to go to the sea in a company of about ten people, walked for a bit more than a minute and came down the path, going steeply down to the stony seashore.
We settled about ten meters away from the water, sitting huddled on small pebbles. The boys took out their tattered cards and suggested we play a game. Oh, no, I knew how to play, but I didnt like it. I learned how to play in summer sports camp, the girls and I used to play volleyball seriously in high school, and we had fun during quiet time sometimes. We got to talking about books:
Have you read The Master and Margarita? One guy asked.
Yes. And have you read Remarque? I answered.
We were discussing who liked what.
Someone ventured into the water, alerting everyone with a wild shout, how icy the water was. It was the Sea of Okhotsk, cold and harsh.
We had a good time, I even got a tan for the day, although Id never been much attracted to tanning before, but that was in the middle of the continent, and this was by the sea. I liked swimming. We had a nice rest.
We were hungry, like hungry wolves. We came back and went straight to the canteen for dinner. Noodles disappeared from our plates in an instant, despite the fact that there were also noodles for lunch. Thats the kind of food we had, because it was the ninety-second year, we even brought noodles with us.
I liked it very much on the shore. In the evenings, after work at the factory, I often went there to watch the sunset. The sun was reflecting off the water in such a beautiful way, the silence all around was soothing and made me think about my life and about many things in general. The words of a song came to mind: The sunny road sounds in Norwegian Solveig.
On one of such evenings I felt sorry for myself, I wanted to go home soon. I looked for a long time at the sea surface, with the dark waves crashing into each other, and the white foam on the small stones that remained after the water running back, which reminded me of my lace collar on the school uniform, which my mother knitted.
Not far from the place where we were sunbathing recently I found a big stone and was sitting on it for a long time. It was pleasant to feel the warmth of the last rays of sunlight in the afternoon, if the day was clear. In front of me stretched the dark smooth surface of the sea, with the waves slightly murmuring.
The poems, of course, were not like those of a real poet, but they conveyed my mood at that moment.
A week after we arrived, we decided to have a disco. In the building where we lived, there was a room at the end, something like a club. In the evening everyone put on their best clothes, Alla put on a bright red blouse and a dark skirt, her friend Lena a striped blouse in the bat style, and my new friend and I, without making a consensus, chose jeans and T-shirts for ourselves. We packed with joy.
We usually wore work clothes rubber boots, black smocks, red scarves, and orange rubber aprons. We laughed at our appearance, and our clothes smelled of fish. The smell accompanied us everywhere, so I tried very hard to ignore it.
In fact, our life was not so monotonous, consisting of one job. Lena and I went to a local town Kurilsk, which surprised us with its very modest size, old wooden architecture and the same sidewalk, on the weekend with the girls visited the hot springs, where we loved it, in a nearby building was found a library, there I borrowed a thick book. But there was no such event that we all participated in it together.
One evening, as the sun was setting behind the sea, I sat on my favorite rock and pondered. I didnt want to see another life at all, I was just trying to get away from myself. My thoughts took me back to those not-so-distant days that I had somehow experienced, but my world of the girl I was would never be the same again.
Then for two days I sat in my room, images of my childhood replacing one another. Here was my father, young and handsome, with dark curls and strong arms, tossing me up and catching me, and I wasnt afraid to fall. And this is a sunny August morning, Mother sees us off, standing in front of the house, Father, Mukhtar and I leave by car for the forest. Father wants to pick mushrooms, I want to pick berries. We drive along a smooth paved road, both sides of a field of still green rye swaying quietly in the light breeze. We turn onto a narrow dirt road, drive for a while, and then stop. I cannot believe my eyes, there is such a beautiful ellipse-shaped glade in front of us, tall trees with green foliage murmuring in the height, encircling it tightly from all sides. It is large, with tall grass, above our waist. We go out and slowly walk around the clearing, my father is collecting mushrooms and I am looking for brambleberries, not many, but they are found, no mushrooms especially. Dad says he will wait by the car. I found a berry spot, I promise to pick berries quickly and go back to where we stopped. He and Mukhtar leave, crossing the clearing, Dad walks, spreading the grass with his hands, and Mukhtar, a German shepherd dog of a year and a half, jumps happily in the grass, now hiding from sight, now appearing in a jump. I watch, and my heart sinks, knowing clearly that this day will never happen again, and that I will never find myself in the forest, in the sunlit glade next to my father and Mukhtar. That day would be one of my best memories in life, and I would remember it forever.