The ghosts of mandrake. Fantasy

Grandmother and neighbor Natasha saw this work and were simply surprised by Philip’s high artistic skill and talent.

The painting depicted a very beautiful girl in a long, antique dress, and in her hand she held a candelabra with burning candles that illuminated her way through the thickening darkness to a huge, gloomy castle.

The girl was very graceful and had beautiful Slavic facial features. Philip has been working on her image for a long time, he lived in his heart. And after finishing work on the painting, Philip looked at the girl for a long time, without taking his sad, loving eyes away.

– Well, hello, my dear,» said Philip.

In response, the girl stared at the painting with her piercing gaze, continuing to hold a candelabra with burning candles in her hands.

– And what did you want, ugly Quasimodo, so that she would come to life now and rush to hug you? the young man said softly aloud and even laughed at this strange thought.

Now, day after day, when Philip came home from school, he sat down next to the painting like a motionless and silent shadow and looked at it for a long time. He felt comfortable and good next to her.

But one day, when he came home from school, he saw that a lot of people had gathered in his grandmother’s room, there were doctors and a neighbor Natasha. They were all fussing around Grandma, and two young guys were standing next to the bed holding a stretcher ready.

– Wait, – the boy shouted in fright, – Wait. Where are you going to take my grandmother? Don’t you have the right? I’m her grandson!

– Philip, my knight Ivanhoe, Nina Alekseevna has become ill. She called me through the wall, and I decided not to pull, and called an ambulance.

– No, I won’t give my grandmother away. I’ll take care of her myself.

The grandmother looked at her grandson and said softly.

– I’ll stay at home. I’m not going anywhere.

The doctors looked at each other in confusion, and the most important of them said.

– Well, if it gets worse, call us right away. And now here’s a list of medications and rest. Well, you young man keep your word!

Philip cried out joyfully and ran around the room.

– Grandma. I’ll be a better doctor for you than all of them!

When the ambulance crew left the apartment, Natasha sat down next to Nina Alekseevna and almost whispered:

– Philip and I will put you on your feet. You’ll see, but you’re still sleeping.

Then she went up to the boy and took his hand.

– Come on, I’m going to write you the phone number of a famous sorcerer in the city, I’m sure he will bring your beloved grandmother to her senses.

– Come on,» Philip whispered.

He went into the next apartment, and there a twelve-year-old girl greeted him with a kind smile.

– Mommy, where have you been? – she asked Natasha.

– She helped our neighbor. Wait, Philip, I’ll get you the phone now.

The girl at first stood aside, looking carefully, but then she came closer and stretched out her childish, elegant hand, chirped.

– I don’t see you on the street, Philip. Don’t you go for a walk?

«I don’t have time, – Philip replied.

– And let’s be friends with you? You don’t mind?

– I don’t mind. Only I don’t have time to be friends either,» he said even more gloomily.

– Well, we’ll somehow find time for friendship with you. My name is Alla. Well, even if you’re older than me, but I’m also an adult and very smart.

«All right, I’ll try to find time for a walk with you a little later,» Philip replied.

Then Natasha came up and handed me a piece of paper.

– Take this, and be sure to call tomorrow, but do not delay.

Philip thanked Natasha, then put the piece of paper with the phone away in his pocket and went home.

The grandmother, without waiting for her grandson, quietly fell asleep in her bed.

MEETING WITH A SORCERER

The next day, Philip came home from school sullen and tortured. Today the math teacher called him to the blackboard. Since Philip was well versed in this science, he knew how to solve all these examples that the teacher wrote with chalk on the blackboard.

But he was unlucky, the teacher was called by the head teacher and he immediately disappeared, leaving the guy standing alone in the middle of the class.

Egor, the main enemy of Philip, saw a good situation and did not waste time to show his superiority again and was the first to start a war. He took a dirty rag from the board and threw it at Philip, who managed to dodge, but got a dirty rag again. When the teacher came in, the whole class was already laughing at the chalk-white boy.

The teacher was a young guy after the institute, he thought that Philip really had dirty himself and wanted to dirty all his classmates and decided not to sort it out, put two for his behavior.

– Quasimodo, and you know, the white uniform suits you, you don’t erase it, – Egor mocked.

Philip went into the room trying to forget about all the bad things, because now he had to turn all his attention to his sick grandmother.

– Filippok, my boy, how are you doing at school? «What is it?» she asked gently and quietly.

«I’m fine, Grandma,» he said, turning away to wipe away a few tears.

Grandma croaked something else and closed her eyes.

– I feel bad for my granddaughters. I probably won’t keep my promise to live long Filippok. I’m sorry, bunny.

– Grandma hold on, I’ll put you on your feet, you’ll see, – the boy said firmly and left the room.

Philip took out of his briefcase a piece of paper with a phone number that Natasha had written to him yesterday.

«It’s time to call everything,» he thought decisively and took the home phone in the hallway, then went to his room and closed the door so that grandma wouldn’t hear anything.