The boy who promised to be back (8+)
Once there lived a girl, or rather, she was once a girl, and now she has come of age. She is already 18 years, quite an adult. She graduated from a medical institution cum laude with a degree in pediatric health care provider and she started working as a nurse in a children's hospital. Her name is Daria. She believed that she was born with a gift to share kindness and love with everyone.
There was a lot of work: handing out medicine, administering injections, taking temperature. Some children required special attention, and some simply missed their parents. Someone needed to be hugged, someone needed to be pitied, someone just needed to be patted on the head. Daria was in no hurry to go home after finishing her work shift. She went into the wards where her charges were. The children were impatiently waiting for her, because they had an interesting time together: drawing, molding different figures from plasticine, learning funny songs together and much more.
One day, already heading for the exit, Daria accidentally overheard a conversation: the head doctor Eldar Anvarovich was talking to a married couple.
“Unfortunately, your son has no more than 6 months to live and now, more than ever, he needs love and care of his loved ones,” the doctor said.
“We are going on a business trip and cannot take care of our son, so we brought him to the hospital with the hope that you’d take care of him” the woman answered in a dry and hoarse voice. A man was standing next to her. He was wearing an expensive suit and looked very authoritative.
The man was silent. Only the woman spoke. She said: “We are business people. We do not have time to take care of a sick child, albeit he is our child. You are a doctor and it is your duty, so please fulfill your medical duty.”
The woman turned around abruptly and walked away towards the exit. The man, somewhat guiltily, said: “Goodbye, doctor,” and followed the woman.
Eldar Anvarovich continued to stand, watching the departing couple. After she’d overheard that conversation, Daria found the woman highly impertinent. She approached the doctor with the following words: “Excuse me, but who are these people? What patient were you talking about?”
The doctor sighed and said with sadness and pain in his voice: “We are talking about Seryozha. I’m sorry to say that he is dying. These people are Seryozha's parents.”
“The parents abandoned their son?!” Daria exclaimed in surprise.
“Seryozha is an adopted child,” Eldar Anvarovich sighed heavily. “Now that Seryozha is seriously ill, they decided to abandon him.”
Daria and the doctor stood silently, looking into space, and nurses and care-givers walked past. Everyone was busy, everyone had worried and, at the same time, kind faces, because they worked in the children's department of the hospital.
“Which ward is Seryozha in?” Daria suddenly came out of her stupor.
“In the ninth,” the doctor said in a hoarse voice. They understood each other. Daria went to Seryozha's ward, and the doctor went about his medical business.
“Hello, children!” Daria entered the ward smiling. She was in the ward for the first time. Three pairs of eyes were looking at her. They looked with curiosity and surprise. They were about the same age. Daria was confused. She had only come to Seryozha, but the others were also sick, and she understood that she could not ignore the other boys.
Daria quickly recovered в introduced herself: “My name is Daria. I came to visit you and to chat, if you don’t mind We can do something interesting.”
The boys were silent.
“Do you have any toys?” Daria wanted to start a conversation. One of the boys raised a car to show Daria, another one some elaborate construction made of Lego. Daria felt a little awkward, because those toys were not for any joy or happiness. And the third boy, basically, was just sitting and indifferently watching what was going on.
“Well, the situation leaves much to be desired,” thought Daria. “And I can teach you to draw,” Daria began.
The boys did not react to her words.
“And I can also play riddles,” Daria began again. The boys looked at her with dull, seemingly not at all alive eyes.
“And what do you like to play?” Daria continued her questioning.
The boys’ silence had already dragged on for too long. Daria was at a loss again. She did not know what to do next and decided to leave the ward and seek some advice from the attending doctor.
There were several doctors in the hospital. Each had their own wards and their young patients, whom they treated. The children from ward 9 were treated by Eldar Anvarovich. She learned about it from nurse Elena, whom they had known since her first day of work. Daria reproached herself for not having guessed right away. After all, it was he who sent her to ward 9, to Seryozha. That was all for the better. She liked the doctor. He seemed to her the kindest of all the doctors in the department.
Daria found the doctor in the staff room and asked: “Please tell me, what kind of children are in ward 9? Why do they have such sad, lifeless faces?” Daria asked with excitement.
The doctor grinned: “Let me think of a better way to explain it to you!”.
He did not know how to explain to this girl that the children in that ward were doomed and health care system as it is, in that case, was powerless. However, having gathered his courage, as he had done many times before, he began the conversation.
“These boys are sick, very sick.”
“How sick?” Daria asked.
“They are so sick that they have very little time left to live: two, three, maybe six months, at most. For example, Seryozha: at the moment, his condition is stable, and he seems quite strong, as fit as a fiddle, so to speak. This is a normal phase of the type of cancer he has. When it starts to get worse, his condition will begin to change quite quickly. Now the boy does not yet understand his health condition. But today he is depressed by the fact that he ended up here, that his parents left, leaving him for an unknown amount of time. He still does not understand many things. His condition is further aggravated by the fact that he was abandoned once before and he might be afraid of recurrence of the same situation.”
“Would it be a good idea to talk away his fears, to tell him that his mom and dad are busy for a time being?” Daria was reasoning out loud.
“Of course, this should be done, but what will we tell him in a week, in a month?” asked Eldar Anvarovich sadly.
“I'll take care of Seryozha and the other two boys. Will you allow me to do that?” Daria asked the doctor.
“I'd be only too glad,” the doctor smiled.
Daria immediately went back to room number 9.
“Hey, guys, I know some tricks with a thread!” Daria said cheerfully, entering the boys' room.
The boys looked at her in surprise. Daria didn't give them time to think, but took the thread that she always had in reserve. She put the thread on two fingers first, then wrapped the thread around the other two, then her thumb again, then took the threads off her thumb and brought them back between her index and middle fingers. Then, winking slyly, saying "op - pa!", she pulled the thread and it ended up in Daria's free hand.
The boys looked at Daria admiringly. "Wow! How did she do that?"
It was too early to show the solution to the trick. Daria decided to intrigue the boys and show them a few more tricks with the thread. The boys' eyes lit up.
“Do you want me to teach you?” Daria exclaimed.
“Sure enough!” the boys exclaimed in chorus.
“Okay,” Daria said cheerfully. “Don't you want to know my name!?” Daria, without waiting for an answer, extended her hand to one of the boys:
“Daria.”
“Misha,” the first one answered.
“Ravis,” the second one answered quite cheerfully for a thin, pale boy.
“Seryozha,” the third one said with embarrassment.
“So, this is how you look, Seryozha!” Daria thought. She wanted to hug that boy, to say kind words to him, but she understood that it would look stupid and ridiculous.
Out loud she said: “Well, now we have introduced each other. Now we are friends. Do you agree?” and, without waiting for an answer, she began to explain the essence of the tricks. The boys did not succeed at everything right away. Daria was amazed by how eagerly they wanted to learn.
When Misha managed to do some of the tricks, he said: “Tomorrow my dad will come to me, and I will show him these tricks!”
“And tomorrow my mom will come to visit me. I want to show her those tricks too” Ravis said in a quiet but satisfied voice.
Daria looked at Seryozha. He pretended to be busy with the tricks, but she saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Daria wanted to hug and calm Seryozha down, but she held back for the time being.
“So, boys, today's task is to learn how to do all the tricks well. And tomorrow I'll come and check. If you cope with this task, then tomorrow we'll learn something else. And today I have to go to work.” Daria smiled at the boys, said goodbye and left the ward.
She heard Misha's cheerful shouting from outside the door: “Hurray, I’ve done it!”
Daria smiled again, but for some reason tears started flowing from her eyes. But before leaving, she decided to talk to Eldar Anvarovich again. The doctor was sitting alone in the office, looking at some pictures. Seeing Daria, he put the pictures down and politely invited the girl to come into the office. They had never talked before, and so Daria did not know how to start the conversation.
Eldar Anvarovich himself started the conversation: “So, you’ve come to ask whether it’s possible to save the boys, haven’t you?”
Daria lowered her head in agreement. These were the thoughts and words that were spinning in her head.
“Everyone asks me these questions, but I am not a magician. Medicine is powerless here,” the doctor said without looking at Daria. “Our task is to help make the disease easier to bear. No one is forcing you to entertain the sick. This is not your job. - The doctor lowered his head, then took a piece of paper and began to write something, pretending that he no longer wanted to talk. It was clear how difficult it was for the doctor to talk about that topic.
Suddenly an idea came to her, and she hurried to share it with the doctor: “You said that at the moment Seryozha's condition is stable.”
‘Yes, that's true,” the doctor confirmed, not looking up from his papers, and not suspecting what Daria was getting at.
“Can I at least sometimes take Seryozha to my home? In a home environment, perhaps it will be easier for him to bear separation from his parents,” Daria suggested, not believing in the possibility of implementing her plan.
Eldar Anvarovich raised his head and looked closely at Daria. For a minute, he did not know what to answer her.
“My girl!” the doctor addressed her. “I don't think you should get attached to a specific child. What if you get tired of messing around with him? There will come a time when he becomes really bad and all you can do is sit next to him. By that time, he will become attached to you and, I have no doubt, will love you. And then he will be gone…” doctor interrupted his speech for a few seconds, then, swallowing with difficulty a lump in his throat, quietly said: “It will hurt you a lot. It will hurt you so much, as if part of your soul died.”
“My mother says that a person's soul does not die. A person's soul flies away to parallel worlds and continues to live. There, in another world, there is no pain, no suffering. Seryozha is still a child, so he will be fine there. He will not die! That is, he will die here, on earth. His body will die, but his soul will live, and someday he will choose a new body and return to earth.”
The doctor looked at Daria with amazed eyes. She was frightened by her own words. "What will the doctor think of her? Now he will definitely not allow her to take Seryozha home with her."
Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest. But Eldar Anvarovich smiled most kindly and brightly and said: “You are very kind. I think that you can help Seryozha. Go home and discuss your decision with your family. If your family is not against it, then I think I will allow Seryozha to leave his ward sometimes. Right now, he does not really need us. He just needs to take his medication on time.”
“Thank you, doctor!” Daria almost screamed with joy and ran out of the doctor's office. Daria's heart was beating desperately in her chest. It seemed to her as if right at that moment, the question of Seryozha's life and death was being resolved. She wanted to take part in it, she was almost convinced that she could help Seryozha, that her love would save him. She also had no doubt that her mother would agree with her decision to invite Seryozha to their home, and yet she needed to talk about it with her mother.
Mother listened attentively to her daughter, then hugged her tightly and said:
“I love you so much!”
This meant only one thing: her mom agreed, that mom approved of her beloved daughter’s decision.
The next day, Daria, working at her place, literally counted the minutes until the end of her shift. Seryozha and the other boys from ward 9 were in the neighboring department. She hurried there. She wanted to meet the boys as soon as possible.
Daria literally flew into the doctor's office. And her first words were: “I'm going to get Seryozha.”
“I was waiting for you, I believed that you would come back and tell me this,” the doctor's words sounded like music in Daria's ears.
They went to Seryozha together. Entering the ward, they saw the same three pairs of eyes. Only today they looked differently. It was clear that today not only the doctor was waiting for Daria, but also those cute boys.
Daria understood that she would not be able to just take Seryozha away and ignore the other two, so she prepared something that is always interesting not only to boys, but also to adults.
Daria loudly announced:
“And today we will learn to tie sea knots!”
“Hurray!” the boys shouted loudly, as much as their strength allowed them. Daria did not know how to tie knots. It is not clear why, but she was given a large book about the very knots. It was written by a certain author Zaripov Aidar. The book was lying around, and then it came in handy. Daria brought it with her to the hospital. The boys began to understand the knots from the pictures. They puffed and grunted... Naturally, the doctor himself helped. The racket in the room was unimaginable. The noise brought nurses into the ward, who also liked tying sea knots. Why? It doesn't matter! It was just very interesting.
The boys were tired. Eldar Anvarovich stopped the creative process, ordering everyone to move on to the "relaxation" procedure. Taking advantage of the situation, Daria announced: “Seryozha, I invite you to visit me at home. Do you agree?”
Despite his weariness, Seryozha jumped up and hugged Daria. In the ward silence fell. Misha and Ravis looked at Seryozha with bewilderment. The doctor's eyes shone with joy. Today the children received the most useful and best medicine in the world: affection, kindness, care and joy. They will live with this for the rest of their short lives.
Eldar Anvarovich saw Daria and Seryozha off and calmly returned to his daily routine. He wasn’t worried about Seryozha. He believed that he would be happy at Daria's home.
At home, a fluffy little puppy met both Daria and Seryozha loudly yapping and running around them. Mom and Daria did not bother with coming up with a name for him. What breed, such is the name: Spitz.
Seryozha's mouth opened in delight: “My mom promised to buy me a small fluffy dog. But I got sick. I know that when I get better, my mom will definitely give me one like that,” caressing and looking at his new, fluffy friend, Seryozha said cheerfully.
“Why buy another dog? Let our Spitz be both ours and yours,” Daria wanted to distract Sergey from the thoughts about his parents.
“I agree. I think they won't find a dog more beautiful than this Spitz,” Sergey agreed.
“That's what we agreed on. Now we'll have something to eat and go for a walk with our Spitz,” she turned to the boy.
The day went wonderfully. In the following days, while Daria was at work, Sergey was in the hospital. The rest of the time they spent their time interestingly and cheerfully: walking, chatting, playing. Their irreplaceable friend, Spitz, was always with them.
There was no news from their parents for a whole month. One day, Seryozha asked Daria: “And you won't leave me?”
Daria hugged Seryozha. He, in turn, gently pressed himself to Daria's chest. It seemed that they had become one. Daria gently, in the boy's very ear, so that he would not miss a single word, whispered: “You are my little brother. I love you. How can I leave you?”
And he, as if not believing her words, kept repeating his question: “You definitely won't leave me?”
“I promise, I promise” Daria repeated again and again.
Once, while walking in the park, Seryozha saw a daisy. Tearing off petal after petal from the flower, he quietly whispered: "Will she leave me or not, will she leave me or not." Daria could not interfere with the process, because the number of petals cannot be changed, which meant that the result of the fortune-telling was predetermined. She hoped that the flower would give the expected answer. And yet, Daria hastened to distract him: “Look, the plane is flying. Can you imagine, there are about three hundred people flying in it.” The trick worked. Seryozha raised his head to the sky.
“What's surprising is not that the plane is flying. Everyone is already used to it, but the very fact that right now in the sky, high above the ground, so many people are flying above us!” She admired, hoping to infect Seryozha with delight.
“Where are they flying to, I wonder?” Seryozha said thoughtfully.
“To warmer countries,” Daria answered.
“Or to distant lands.” Seryozha said dreamily.
Daria looked at Seryozha and realized that she had blurted out the word about warmer climates in vain. But words are not birds - out you let them, and back you never get them!.
And once, when they were returning home from the hospital, Daria noticed that Seryozha was behaving somehow unusually. He answered questions abruptly: - no..., yes..., yes..., no.
“Strange,” Daria thought. “Seryozha looks fine. What’s going on with him?” She decided to ask him about something, but nothing came to mind. And then she remembered her dream:
“You know, I really want to go to the Black Sea” Daria said mysteriously.
“It would be nice,” Seryozha said almost in a whisper.
“Let’s go to the Black Sea next summer. I think Eldar Anvarovich won’t be against it. I think you’ll agree, too,” Daria said cheerfully.
“I would agree, but I won’t live to see next summer.” Seryozha said sadly.
Daria shuddered. The last thing she expected to hear was this from Seryozha. She thought the boy didn’t know.
“Why are you saying that?” asked Daria in a trembling voice.
“I overheard the nurses' conversation. They thought that Misha and Ravis and I were asleep, but I wasn't. I know that you love me, and Eldar Anvarovich loves me too. You're afraid to tell me the truth, so as not to upset me. But now I know that I don't have much time left to live.” Seryozha said sadly.
“Oh,” Daria sighed, momentarily confused. This is what her little friend learned today; this is what excited him today. She did not know what to tell him. Something inside her broke. She was ready to tear apart those nurses who were so careless in their words. She began desperately searching for words that would comfort Seryozha, that would return him hope for recovery, but she couldn’t find them. Her head was foggy, a mess of thoughts, feelings and emotions. She was afraid to burst into tears and thereby further aggravate such a fragile situation. And yet, in a trembling voice, she said: “Listen, Seryozhenka, I love you very much and if you love me, then do not give up and believe in your own recobvery. You can still get better! Everything can change, believe me, please. You have to believe in miracles! They happen.”
“I love you too, but my illness is incurable. I don't believe in miracles. I loved my birth mother, but she abandoned me. I believed in miracles when I had a new mom and dad. I loved them very much, but they abandoned me too. Now I want to die because I'm afraid that you will abandon me too.” Sergey firmly stated.
“Seryozha! How can you say such a thing!? Believe me! Believe me one more time!” Daria screamed loudly.
“But I'm still going to die. No one can help me.” Sergey stubbornly insisted.
“I remembered one film about how one doctor made a mistake. He told one woman that, according to her test results, she had only a few months to live.”
The woman was very upset. She called all her friends to say goodbye in advance, asked them for forgiveness in case she had offended anyone. She had saved money all her life and now she decided that the time had come to spend it all. She bought an expensive trip to the sea. At the sea, she swam so far that the lifeguards could not stand it and were beside themselves in indignation. She ran on hot embers, sang, danced, even jumped with a parachute. She got rid of fear. While everyone screamed in fear, landing on the ground, she screamed, laughing, " See what a success I am!" and swung her legs in the air. "Ah... I'm going to die anyway!" the woman thought. "This way I'll live my last days happily and pleasantly."
“I'm also living my last days happily.” Seryozha said not quite happily.
“Listen to what I’m going to say: when the time of her vacation came to an end, the woman decided to call her doctor and tell him that her health was still fine. What advice would he give her at the end?”
The doctor told her: "Please forgive us. We mixed up your test results with the test results of another patient. You are healthy and will live another 100 years." That's the story.
Daria looked at Seryozha, hoping that her story would somehow touch and revive him. But there was not even a glimmer of hope on his face. Apparently, he had already forgotten how to trust adults.
Soon Seryozha showed signs of deteriorating health, and it became more and more difficult to maintain a sense of joy in him with each passing day. He really missed his parents, with whom he had lived for 2 years. He also remembered his own mother. They were somewhere, but they forgot that there was such a good, such a kind boy in the world who knew how to love.
Now Daria and Shpitz loved him. And he loved them, but there was still a lot of room for love in his heart. He wanted to love the whole world, but the world did not want to accept his love. And he felt it. He became friends with Misha and Ravis, but suddenly they were gone too.
He was afraid of losing Daria and Shpiz. The only ones who truly loved him, but more and more often he had to stay in the hospital. Shpiz was not allowed into his ward. The world was narrowing. Daria tried to be around all her free time from work. She was always cheerful and friendly, but he felt that something changed in her.
And it was becoming more and more difficult for Daria to hide her emotional pain every day. And one day she started talking about something she had never thought of sharing: “You know, every person has a soul. It lives here.” Daria pointed to the place where the heart was.
“Next to the heart?” Seryozha asked.
“Quite likely. Nobody knows for sure. But many people know that every person has a soul. My grandmother and mother told me about it. The soul cannot be seen by any device. It is like air. There is air, right?” Daria reasoned. “Well then. There is air, but we cannot see it. The same thing happens to the soul. Can we live without air?” Daria asked.
“No, we cannot,” Seryozha agreed.
“ The same way a person cannot live without a soul. And the soul, like air, can live without a human body. And it lives forever. It lives somewhere in other worlds. Then it decides to return to earth again, but it cannot live on earth without a body. Then the soul chooses a new dad, mom and is born again. It keeps on growing, lives for some time and returns to other worlds again.”
Daria looked at Seryozha and wanted to understand what was happening in his soul. And Seryozha looked at Daria and listened. Her words, like life-giving water, entered his soul and body. The eyes came alive, hope appeared in them.
“And today I saw an Angel in my dream. He said that I would return soon,” Seryozha said quietly. “Tell me, why do souls return to earth?”
“Here on earth, in one life the soul can learn and study a lot. Sometimes this knowledge is as much as it would take him millions of years to spend in another world.” Daria repeated her mother's words.
“Daria, can I come back to you?” Seryozha said hesitantly. “You will be my mother. I will love you, and when you become old, I will take care of you.”
Seryozha hugged her. So, they sat, hugging, until the nurse came and told Seryozha to go to bed. Another injection had to be given. Seryozha was in pain and discomfort, but he had already gotten used to it and silently endured the procedure.
Daria had to leave already. She hugged and kissed Seryozha goodbye. She felt that Seryozha's embrace was becoming weaker and weaker every day. Only today his eyes looked at Daria more calmly. He was no longer afraid of parting.
For a few more days they talked about the soul, about souls that are already in heaven, about dreams, about life, about those who love and are loved. During those days, Seryozha seemed to have grown up somehow. He did not want to play. He wanted to learn more about the world, about people and life on Earth.
One evening, when Daria was already going to bed, Eldar Anvarovich called her. He said that Seryozha’s condition had become worse and asked her to come to the hospital immediately.
Daria immediately jumped out of bed and called a taxi. Spitz was whining restlessly.
“Well, okay. Let's go. We'll come up of something there, in the hospital” Daria said hastily and grabbed the dog in her arms. Before entering the hospital, she ordered Spitz to sit and wait for her. He obediently obeyed. Daria ran up the stairs, then down the long corridor to the ward. She ran as if she was afraid of being late. To be late and not see the eyes of her beloved Seryozha, not hear his voice. Running up to the ward, she saw the nurses standing by the door and quietly talking about something. Seeing Daria, they all silently parted.
Seryozha was lying on his back, but his head was turned towards the door. He was waiting! He was waiting for her, Daria. Seeing her, he smiled weakly.
“What's the matter, my dear, my beloved brother!” Daria knelt down so that her eyes were level with his eyes.
“I'm going to die soon,” Seryozha whispered.
“What are you talking about, Seryozha?! You know that you will never die! Never!” repeated Daria.
“I know that.” Seryozha whispered quietly. “I haven't told you yet that when the Angel came to me in my dream and said that I would die, he said that I would see my grandparents THERE. They are already waiting for me. The Angel also said that I won't be there for long and soon after I die I will return here.”
Daria took his weak hands in hers and, fighting back tears, also quietly said: “Just promise me, please, that you will come back to me, as a daughter or a son. You know how I will love them.” Daria lowered her head into Seryozha's arms to hide the tears that were treacherously flowing down her cheeks.
Suddenly Spitz, who had somehow sneaked into the ward unnoticed, jumped onto the bed and licked the boy's face.
“Spitz! You came to me! My favored friend!” Seryozha whispered. A barely noticeable smile lit up the boy's pale face.
Seryozha hugged Spitz firmly with his weak little hands and closed his eyes, happy as only a boy can be in the last minute of his life.
The nurse looked at the patient and screamed piercingly. Blood was flowing from Seryozha's mouth, and the nurse thought that a dog had bitten him. She rushed forward to grab the animal, but immediately realized her mistake. Seryozha was spitting out his own blood. She shouted for the doctor to come in, but it was too late. The boy was dead.
Daria looked at Seryozha for the last time.
“See you soon, my dear boy! I will wait for you, I will wait for you as long as it takes” she whispered, taking Spitz in her arms. She left the room and slowly walked down the corridor to the exit.
It was almost night. Bright stars were sparkling in the sky. “Another soul has left the earth,” Daria suddenly thought. She walked on and on, not understanding where she was going or why. Sometimes next to her, sometimes running ahead, sometimes lagging behind, Spitz was running. Today he was not on a leash. Daria did not remember how long she walked, but after some time she realized that she was standing near the door of her apartment. The door was open. The light was on in the hall. Mom was sitting in a chair knitting mittens. She raised her head and looked questioningly at her daughter.
“Mom, Seryozha has died,” Daria said quietly.
Mom, getting up from the chair, said:
“I'll make some tea now,” she went into the kitchen.
Sitting at the table, Daria suddenly burst into tears:
“I understand that Seryozha's soul continues to live and now nothing hurts him, and he does not suffer. I only regret that there will no longer be a boy named Seryozha. I won't see him come of age, happy and healthy. I'm sure he would have grown up to be a wonderful person.”
“I know it's hard to lose someone you love. I remember when your dad "left", I couldn't come to my senses for months. But then I remembered that death is just an illusion. We are actually souls, not bodies. And the soul is immortal. The body is like our clothes. Do we get sad when our clothes wear out?” Mom thought out loud.
“Of course not. But Seryozha was still little. I will miss him, his charm, his faith in me,” Daria wept quietly.
“I have already told you more than once that we come to earth more than once. We come many, many times. And mostly to the same families, to the same friends,” Daria’s mom continued talking.
“I remember, mommy, you told me that we always return to those whom we love. Who do you think Seryozha will want to return to? After all, he loved his parents too,” Daria looked at her mother with the hope of hearing the answer she was thinking about.
“But is it so important? For example, I would like you to have a boy or a girl, with your dad's soul. You haven’t forgotten, I hope, how we loved him and how he loved us,” Mom looked at Daria as if it depended on her whose soul would return to earth: Seryozha's or her dad's. Daria and her mother never went to bed that night. They were talking about Seryozha, then dad, then grandma and grandpa. They loved them all and really wanted them all to be on earth again. Let them be boys and girls in other families. Daria will continue to give everyone her love and kindness. This is the greatest wealth that one wants to share.
Once there lived a girl, or rather, she was once a girl, and now she has come of age. She is already 18 years, quite an adult. She graduated from a medical institution cum laude with a degree in pediatric health care provider and she started working as a nurse in a children's hospital. Her name is Daria. She believed that she was born with a gift to share kindness and love with everyone.
There was a lot of work: handing out medicine, administering injections, taking temperature. Some children required special attention, and some simply missed their parents. Someone needed to be hugged, someone needed to be pitied, someone just needed to be patted on the head. Daria was in no hurry to go home after finishing her work shift. She went into the wards where her charges were. The children were impatiently waiting for her, because they had an interesting time together: drawing, molding different figures from plasticine, learning funny songs together and much more.
One day, already heading for the exit, Daria accidentally overheard a conversation: the head doctor Eldar Anvarovich was talking to a married couple.
“Unfortunately, your son has no more than 6 months to live and now, more than ever, he needs love and care of his loved ones,” the doctor said.
“We are going on a business trip and cannot take care of our son, so we brought him to the hospital with the hope that you’d take care of him” the woman answered in a dry and hoarse voice. A man was standing next to her. He was wearing an expensive suit and looked very authoritative.
The man was silent. Only the woman spoke. She said: “We are business people. We do not have time to take care of a sick child, albeit he is our child. You are a doctor and it is your duty, so please fulfill your medical duty.”
The woman turned around abruptly and walked away towards the exit. The man, somewhat guiltily, said: “Goodbye, doctor,” and followed the woman.
Eldar Anvarovich continued to stand, watching the departing couple. After she’d overheard that conversation, Daria found the woman highly impertinent. She approached the doctor with the following words: “Excuse me, but who are these people? What patient were you talking about?”
The doctor sighed and said with sadness and pain in his voice: “We are talking about Seryozha. I’m sorry to say that he is dying. These people are Seryozha's parents.”
“The parents abandoned their son?!” Daria exclaimed in surprise.
“Seryozha is an adopted child,” Eldar Anvarovich sighed heavily. “Now that Seryozha is seriously ill, they decided to abandon him.”
Daria and the doctor stood silently, looking into space, and nurses and care-givers walked past. Everyone was busy, everyone had worried and, at the same time, kind faces, because they worked in the children's department of the hospital.
“Which ward is Seryozha in?” Daria suddenly came out of her stupor.
“In the ninth,” the doctor said in a hoarse voice. They understood each other. Daria went to Seryozha's ward, and the doctor went about his medical business.
“Hello, children!” Daria entered the ward smiling. She was in the ward for the first time. Three pairs of eyes were looking at her. They looked with curiosity and surprise. They were about the same age. Daria was confused. She had only come to Seryozha, but the others were also sick, and she understood that she could not ignore the other boys.
Daria quickly recovered в introduced herself: “My name is Daria. I came to visit you and to chat, if you don’t mind We can do something interesting.”
The boys were silent.
“Do you have any toys?” Daria wanted to start a conversation. One of the boys raised a car to show Daria, another one some elaborate construction made of Lego. Daria felt a little awkward, because those toys were not for any joy or happiness. And the third boy, basically, was just sitting and indifferently watching what was going on.
“Well, the situation leaves much to be desired,” thought Daria. “And I can teach you to draw,” Daria began.
The boys did not react to her words.
“And I can also play riddles,” Daria began again. The boys looked at her with dull, seemingly not at all alive eyes.
“And what do you like to play?” Daria continued her questioning.
The boys’ silence had already dragged on for too long. Daria was at a loss again. She did not know what to do next and decided to leave the ward and seek some advice from the attending doctor.
There were several doctors in the hospital. Each had their own wards and their young patients, whom they treated. The children from ward 9 were treated by Eldar Anvarovich. She learned about it from nurse Elena, whom they had known since her first day of work. Daria reproached herself for not having guessed right away. After all, it was he who sent her to ward 9, to Seryozha. That was all for the better. She liked the doctor. He seemed to her the kindest of all the doctors in the department.
Daria found the doctor in the staff room and asked: “Please tell me, what kind of children are in ward 9? Why do they have such sad, lifeless faces?” Daria asked with excitement.
The doctor grinned: “Let me think of a better way to explain it to you!”.
He did not know how to explain to this girl that the children in that ward were doomed and health care system as it is, in that case, was powerless. However, having gathered his courage, as he had done many times before, he began the conversation.
“These boys are sick, very sick.”
“How sick?” Daria asked.
“They are so sick that they have very little time left to live: two, three, maybe six months, at most. For example, Seryozha: at the moment, his condition is stable, and he seems quite strong, as fit as a fiddle, so to speak. This is a normal phase of the type of cancer he has. When it starts to get worse, his condition will begin to change quite quickly. Now the boy does not yet understand his health condition. But today he is depressed by the fact that he ended up here, that his parents left, leaving him for an unknown amount of time. He still does not understand many things. His condition is further aggravated by the fact that he was abandoned once before and he might be afraid of recurrence of the same situation.”
“Would it be a good idea to talk away his fears, to tell him that his mom and dad are busy for a time being?” Daria was reasoning out loud.
“Of course, this should be done, but what will we tell him in a week, in a month?” asked Eldar Anvarovich sadly.
“I'll take care of Seryozha and the other two boys. Will you allow me to do that?” Daria asked the doctor.
“I'd be only too glad,” the doctor smiled.
Daria immediately went back to room number 9.
“Hey, guys, I know some tricks with a thread!” Daria said cheerfully, entering the boys' room.
The boys looked at her in surprise. Daria didn't give them time to think, but took the thread that she always had in reserve. She put the thread on two fingers first, then wrapped the thread around the other two, then her thumb again, then took the threads off her thumb and brought them back between her index and middle fingers. Then, winking slyly, saying "op - pa!", she pulled the thread and it ended up in Daria's free hand.
The boys looked at Daria admiringly. "Wow! How did she do that?"
It was too early to show the solution to the trick. Daria decided to intrigue the boys and show them a few more tricks with the thread. The boys' eyes lit up.
“Do you want me to teach you?” Daria exclaimed.
“Sure enough!” the boys exclaimed in chorus.
“Okay,” Daria said cheerfully. “Don't you want to know my name!?” Daria, without waiting for an answer, extended her hand to one of the boys:
“Daria.”
“Misha,” the first one answered.
“Ravis,” the second one answered quite cheerfully for a thin, pale boy.
“Seryozha,” the third one said with embarrassment.
“So, this is how you look, Seryozha!” Daria thought. She wanted to hug that boy, to say kind words to him, but she understood that it would look stupid and ridiculous.
Out loud she said: “Well, now we have introduced each other. Now we are friends. Do you agree?” and, without waiting for an answer, she began to explain the essence of the tricks. The boys did not succeed at everything right away. Daria was amazed by how eagerly they wanted to learn.
When Misha managed to do some of the tricks, he said: “Tomorrow my dad will come to me, and I will show him these tricks!”
“And tomorrow my mom will come to visit me. I want to show her those tricks too” Ravis said in a quiet but satisfied voice.
Daria looked at Seryozha. He pretended to be busy with the tricks, but she saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Daria wanted to hug and calm Seryozha down, but she held back for the time being.
“So, boys, today's task is to learn how to do all the tricks well. And tomorrow I'll come and check. If you cope with this task, then tomorrow we'll learn something else. And today I have to go to work.” Daria smiled at the boys, said goodbye and left the ward.
She heard Misha's cheerful shouting from outside the door: “Hurray, I’ve done it!”
Daria smiled again, but for some reason tears started flowing from her eyes. But before leaving, she decided to talk to Eldar Anvarovich again. The doctor was sitting alone in the office, looking at some pictures. Seeing Daria, he put the pictures down and politely invited the girl to come into the office. They had never talked before, and so Daria did not know how to start the conversation.
Eldar Anvarovich himself started the conversation: “So, you’ve come to ask whether it’s possible to save the boys, haven’t you?”
Daria lowered her head in agreement. These were the thoughts and words that were spinning in her head.
“Everyone asks me these questions, but I am not a magician. Medicine is powerless here,” the doctor said without looking at Daria. “Our task is to help make the disease easier to bear. No one is forcing you to entertain the sick. This is not your job. - The doctor lowered his head, then took a piece of paper and began to write something, pretending that he no longer wanted to talk. It was clear how difficult it was for the doctor to talk about that topic.
Suddenly an idea came to her, and she hurried to share it with the doctor: “You said that at the moment Seryozha's condition is stable.”
‘Yes, that's true,” the doctor confirmed, not looking up from his papers, and not suspecting what Daria was getting at.
“Can I at least sometimes take Seryozha to my home? In a home environment, perhaps it will be easier for him to bear separation from his parents,” Daria suggested, not believing in the possibility of implementing her plan.
Eldar Anvarovich raised his head and looked closely at Daria. For a minute, he did not know what to answer her.
“My girl!” the doctor addressed her. “I don't think you should get attached to a specific child. What if you get tired of messing around with him? There will come a time when he becomes really bad and all you can do is sit next to him. By that time, he will become attached to you and, I have no doubt, will love you. And then he will be gone…” doctor interrupted his speech for a few seconds, then, swallowing with difficulty a lump in his throat, quietly said: “It will hurt you a lot. It will hurt you so much, as if part of your soul died.”
“My mother says that a person's soul does not die. A person's soul flies away to parallel worlds and continues to live. There, in another world, there is no pain, no suffering. Seryozha is still a child, so he will be fine there. He will not die! That is, he will die here, on earth. His body will die, but his soul will live, and someday he will choose a new body and return to earth.”
The doctor looked at Daria with amazed eyes. She was frightened by her own words. "What will the doctor think of her? Now he will definitely not allow her to take Seryozha home with her."
Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest. But Eldar Anvarovich smiled most kindly and brightly and said: “You are very kind. I think that you can help Seryozha. Go home and discuss your decision with your family. If your family is not against it, then I think I will allow Seryozha to leave his ward sometimes. Right now, he does not really need us. He just needs to take his medication on time.”
“Thank you, doctor!” Daria almost screamed with joy and ran out of the doctor's office. Daria's heart was beating desperately in her chest. It seemed to her as if right at that moment, the question of Seryozha's life and death was being resolved. She wanted to take part in it, she was almost convinced that she could help Seryozha, that her love would save him. She also had no doubt that her mother would agree with her decision to invite Seryozha to their home, and yet she needed to talk about it with her mother.
Mother listened attentively to her daughter, then hugged her tightly and said:
“I love you so much!”
This meant only one thing: her mom agreed, that mom approved of her beloved daughter’s decision.
The next day, Daria, working at her place, literally counted the minutes until the end of her shift. Seryozha and the other boys from ward 9 were in the neighboring department. She hurried there. She wanted to meet the boys as soon as possible.
Daria literally flew into the doctor's office. And her first words were: “I'm going to get Seryozha.”
“I was waiting for you, I believed that you would come back and tell me this,” the doctor's words sounded like music in Daria's ears.
They went to Seryozha together. Entering the ward, they saw the same three pairs of eyes. Only today they looked differently. It was clear that today not only the doctor was waiting for Daria, but also those cute boys.
Daria understood that she would not be able to just take Seryozha away and ignore the other two, so she prepared something that is always interesting not only to boys, but also to adults.
Daria loudly announced:
“And today we will learn to tie sea knots!”
“Hurray!” the boys shouted loudly, as much as their strength allowed them. Daria did not know how to tie knots. It is not clear why, but she was given a large book about the very knots. It was written by a certain author Zaripov Aidar. The book was lying around, and then it came in handy. Daria brought it with her to the hospital. The boys began to understand the knots from the pictures. They puffed and grunted... Naturally, the doctor himself helped. The racket in the room was unimaginable. The noise brought nurses into the ward, who also liked tying sea knots. Why? It doesn't matter! It was just very interesting.
The boys were tired. Eldar Anvarovich stopped the creative process, ordering everyone to move on to the "relaxation" procedure. Taking advantage of the situation, Daria announced: “Seryozha, I invite you to visit me at home. Do you agree?”
Despite his weariness, Seryozha jumped up and hugged Daria. In the ward silence fell. Misha and Ravis looked at Seryozha with bewilderment. The doctor's eyes shone with joy. Today the children received the most useful and best medicine in the world: affection, kindness, care and joy. They will live with this for the rest of their short lives.
Eldar Anvarovich saw Daria and Seryozha off and calmly returned to his daily routine. He wasn’t worried about Seryozha. He believed that he would be happy at Daria's home.
At home, a fluffy little puppy met both Daria and Seryozha loudly yapping and running around them. Mom and Daria did not bother with coming up with a name for him. What breed, such is the name: Spitz.
Seryozha's mouth opened in delight: “My mom promised to buy me a small fluffy dog. But I got sick. I know that when I get better, my mom will definitely give me one like that,” caressing and looking at his new, fluffy friend, Seryozha said cheerfully.
“Why buy another dog? Let our Spitz be both ours and yours,” Daria wanted to distract Sergey from the thoughts about his parents.
“I agree. I think they won't find a dog more beautiful than this Spitz,” Sergey agreed.
“That's what we agreed on. Now we'll have something to eat and go for a walk with our Spitz,” she turned to the boy.
The day went wonderfully. In the following days, while Daria was at work, Sergey was in the hospital. The rest of the time they spent their time interestingly and cheerfully: walking, chatting, playing. Their irreplaceable friend, Spitz, was always with them.
There was no news from their parents for a whole month. One day, Seryozha asked Daria: “And you won't leave me?”
Daria hugged Seryozha. He, in turn, gently pressed himself to Daria's chest. It seemed that they had become one. Daria gently, in the boy's very ear, so that he would not miss a single word, whispered: “You are my little brother. I love you. How can I leave you?”
And he, as if not believing her words, kept repeating his question: “You definitely won't leave me?”
“I promise, I promise” Daria repeated again and again.
Once, while walking in the park, Seryozha saw a daisy. Tearing off petal after petal from the flower, he quietly whispered: "Will she leave me or not, will she leave me or not." Daria could not interfere with the process, because the number of petals cannot be changed, which meant that the result of the fortune-telling was predetermined. She hoped that the flower would give the expected answer. And yet, Daria hastened to distract him: “Look, the plane is flying. Can you imagine, there are about three hundred people flying in it.” The trick worked. Seryozha raised his head to the sky.
“What's surprising is not that the plane is flying. Everyone is already used to it, but the very fact that right now in the sky, high above the ground, so many people are flying above us!” She admired, hoping to infect Seryozha with delight.
“Where are they flying to, I wonder?” Seryozha said thoughtfully.
“To warmer countries,” Daria answered.
“Or to distant lands.” Seryozha said dreamily.
Daria looked at Seryozha and realized that she had blurted out the word about warmer climates in vain. But words are not birds - out you let them, and back you never get them!.
And once, when they were returning home from the hospital, Daria noticed that Seryozha was behaving somehow unusually. He answered questions abruptly: - no..., yes..., yes..., no.
“Strange,” Daria thought. “Seryozha looks fine. What’s going on with him?” She decided to ask him about something, but nothing came to mind. And then she remembered her dream:
“You know, I really want to go to the Black Sea” Daria said mysteriously.
“It would be nice,” Seryozha said almost in a whisper.
“Let’s go to the Black Sea next summer. I think Eldar Anvarovich won’t be against it. I think you’ll agree, too,” Daria said cheerfully.
“I would agree, but I won’t live to see next summer.” Seryozha said sadly.
Daria shuddered. The last thing she expected to hear was this from Seryozha. She thought the boy didn’t know.
“Why are you saying that?” asked Daria in a trembling voice.
“I overheard the nurses' conversation. They thought that Misha and Ravis and I were asleep, but I wasn't. I know that you love me, and Eldar Anvarovich loves me too. You're afraid to tell me the truth, so as not to upset me. But now I know that I don't have much time left to live.” Seryozha said sadly.
“Oh,” Daria sighed, momentarily confused. This is what her little friend learned today; this is what excited him today. She did not know what to tell him. Something inside her broke. She was ready to tear apart those nurses who were so careless in their words. She began desperately searching for words that would comfort Seryozha, that would return him hope for recovery, but she couldn’t find them. Her head was foggy, a mess of thoughts, feelings and emotions. She was afraid to burst into tears and thereby further aggravate such a fragile situation. And yet, in a trembling voice, she said: “Listen, Seryozhenka, I love you very much and if you love me, then do not give up and believe in your own recobvery. You can still get better! Everything can change, believe me, please. You have to believe in miracles! They happen.”
“I love you too, but my illness is incurable. I don't believe in miracles. I loved my birth mother, but she abandoned me. I believed in miracles when I had a new mom and dad. I loved them very much, but they abandoned me too. Now I want to die because I'm afraid that you will abandon me too.” Sergey firmly stated.
“Seryozha! How can you say such a thing!? Believe me! Believe me one more time!” Daria screamed loudly.
“But I'm still going to die. No one can help me.” Sergey stubbornly insisted.
“I remembered one film about how one doctor made a mistake. He told one woman that, according to her test results, she had only a few months to live.”
The woman was very upset. She called all her friends to say goodbye in advance, asked them for forgiveness in case she had offended anyone. She had saved money all her life and now she decided that the time had come to spend it all. She bought an expensive trip to the sea. At the sea, she swam so far that the lifeguards could not stand it and were beside themselves in indignation. She ran on hot embers, sang, danced, even jumped with a parachute. She got rid of fear. While everyone screamed in fear, landing on the ground, she screamed, laughing, " See what a success I am!" and swung her legs in the air. "Ah... I'm going to die anyway!" the woman thought. "This way I'll live my last days happily and pleasantly."
“I'm also living my last days happily.” Seryozha said not quite happily.
“Listen to what I’m going to say: when the time of her vacation came to an end, the woman decided to call her doctor and tell him that her health was still fine. What advice would he give her at the end?”
The doctor told her: "Please forgive us. We mixed up your test results with the test results of another patient. You are healthy and will live another 100 years." That's the story.
Daria looked at Seryozha, hoping that her story would somehow touch and revive him. But there was not even a glimmer of hope on his face. Apparently, he had already forgotten how to trust adults.
Soon Seryozha showed signs of deteriorating health, and it became more and more difficult to maintain a sense of joy in him with each passing day. He really missed his parents, with whom he had lived for 2 years. He also remembered his own mother. They were somewhere, but they forgot that there was such a good, such a kind boy in the world who knew how to love.
Now Daria and Shpitz loved him. And he loved them, but there was still a lot of room for love in his heart. He wanted to love the whole world, but the world did not want to accept his love. And he felt it. He became friends with Misha and Ravis, but suddenly they were gone too.
He was afraid of losing Daria and Shpiz. The only ones who truly loved him, but more and more often he had to stay in the hospital. Shpiz was not allowed into his ward. The world was narrowing. Daria tried to be around all her free time from work. She was always cheerful and friendly, but he felt that something changed in her.
And it was becoming more and more difficult for Daria to hide her emotional pain every day. And one day she started talking about something she had never thought of sharing: “You know, every person has a soul. It lives here.” Daria pointed to the place where the heart was.
“Next to the heart?” Seryozha asked.
“Quite likely. Nobody knows for sure. But many people know that every person has a soul. My grandmother and mother told me about it. The soul cannot be seen by any device. It is like air. There is air, right?” Daria reasoned. “Well then. There is air, but we cannot see it. The same thing happens to the soul. Can we live without air?” Daria asked.
“No, we cannot,” Seryozha agreed.
“ The same way a person cannot live without a soul. And the soul, like air, can live without a human body. And it lives forever. It lives somewhere in other worlds. Then it decides to return to earth again, but it cannot live on earth without a body. Then the soul chooses a new dad, mom and is born again. It keeps on growing, lives for some time and returns to other worlds again.”
Daria looked at Seryozha and wanted to understand what was happening in his soul. And Seryozha looked at Daria and listened. Her words, like life-giving water, entered his soul and body. The eyes came alive, hope appeared in them.
“And today I saw an Angel in my dream. He said that I would return soon,” Seryozha said quietly. “Tell me, why do souls return to earth?”
“Here on earth, in one life the soul can learn and study a lot. Sometimes this knowledge is as much as it would take him millions of years to spend in another world.” Daria repeated her mother's words.
“Daria, can I come back to you?” Seryozha said hesitantly. “You will be my mother. I will love you, and when you become old, I will take care of you.”
Seryozha hugged her. So, they sat, hugging, until the nurse came and told Seryozha to go to bed. Another injection had to be given. Seryozha was in pain and discomfort, but he had already gotten used to it and silently endured the procedure.
Daria had to leave already. She hugged and kissed Seryozha goodbye. She felt that Seryozha's embrace was becoming weaker and weaker every day. Only today his eyes looked at Daria more calmly. He was no longer afraid of parting.
For a few more days they talked about the soul, about souls that are already in heaven, about dreams, about life, about those who love and are loved. During those days, Seryozha seemed to have grown up somehow. He did not want to play. He wanted to learn more about the world, about people and life on Earth.
One evening, when Daria was already going to bed, Eldar Anvarovich called her. He said that Seryozha’s condition had become worse and asked her to come to the hospital immediately.
Daria immediately jumped out of bed and called a taxi. Spitz was whining restlessly.
“Well, okay. Let's go. We'll come up of something there, in the hospital” Daria said hastily and grabbed the dog in her arms. Before entering the hospital, she ordered Spitz to sit and wait for her. He obediently obeyed. Daria ran up the stairs, then down the long corridor to the ward. She ran as if she was afraid of being late. To be late and not see the eyes of her beloved Seryozha, not hear his voice. Running up to the ward, she saw the nurses standing by the door and quietly talking about something. Seeing Daria, they all silently parted.
Seryozha was lying on his back, but his head was turned towards the door. He was waiting! He was waiting for her, Daria. Seeing her, he smiled weakly.
“What's the matter, my dear, my beloved brother!” Daria knelt down so that her eyes were level with his eyes.
“I'm going to die soon,” Seryozha whispered.
“What are you talking about, Seryozha?! You know that you will never die! Never!” repeated Daria.
“I know that.” Seryozha whispered quietly. “I haven't told you yet that when the Angel came to me in my dream and said that I would die, he said that I would see my grandparents THERE. They are already waiting for me. The Angel also said that I won't be there for long and soon after I die I will return here.”
Daria took his weak hands in hers and, fighting back tears, also quietly said: “Just promise me, please, that you will come back to me, as a daughter or a son. You know how I will love them.” Daria lowered her head into Seryozha's arms to hide the tears that were treacherously flowing down her cheeks.
Suddenly Spitz, who had somehow sneaked into the ward unnoticed, jumped onto the bed and licked the boy's face.
“Spitz! You came to me! My favored friend!” Seryozha whispered. A barely noticeable smile lit up the boy's pale face.
Seryozha hugged Spitz firmly with his weak little hands and closed his eyes, happy as only a boy can be in the last minute of his life.
The nurse looked at the patient and screamed piercingly. Blood was flowing from Seryozha's mouth, and the nurse thought that a dog had bitten him. She rushed forward to grab the animal, but immediately realized her mistake. Seryozha was spitting out his own blood. She shouted for the doctor to come in, but it was too late. The boy was dead.
Daria looked at Seryozha for the last time.
“See you soon, my dear boy! I will wait for you, I will wait for you as long as it takes” she whispered, taking Spitz in her arms. She left the room and slowly walked down the corridor to the exit.
It was almost night. Bright stars were sparkling in the sky. “Another soul has left the earth,” Daria suddenly thought. She walked on and on, not understanding where she was going or why. Sometimes next to her, sometimes running ahead, sometimes lagging behind, Spitz was running. Today he was not on a leash. Daria did not remember how long she walked, but after some time she realized that she was standing near the door of her apartment. The door was open. The light was on in the hall. Mom was sitting in a chair knitting mittens. She raised her head and looked questioningly at her daughter.
“Mom, Seryozha has died,” Daria said quietly.
Mom, getting up from the chair, said:
“I'll make some tea now,” she went into the kitchen.
Sitting at the table, Daria suddenly burst into tears:
“I understand that Seryozha's soul continues to live and now nothing hurts him, and he does not suffer. I only regret that there will no longer be a boy named Seryozha. I won't see him come of age, happy and healthy. I'm sure he would have grown up to be a wonderful person.”
“I know it's hard to lose someone you love. I remember when your dad "left", I couldn't come to my senses for months. But then I remembered that death is just an illusion. We are actually souls, not bodies. And the soul is immortal. The body is like our clothes. Do we get sad when our clothes wear out?” Mom thought out loud.
“Of course not. But Seryozha was still little. I will miss him, his charm, his faith in me,” Daria wept quietly.
“I have already told you more than once that we come to earth more than once. We come many, many times. And mostly to the same families, to the same friends,” Daria’s mom continued talking.
“I remember, mommy, you told me that we always return to those whom we love. Who do you think Seryozha will want to return to? After all, he loved his parents too,” Daria looked at her mother with the hope of hearing the answer she was thinking about.
“But is it so important? For example, I would like you to have a boy or a girl, with your dad's soul. You haven’t forgotten, I hope, how we loved him and how he loved us,” Mom looked at Daria as if it depended on her whose soul would return to earth: Seryozha's or her dad's. Daria and her mother never went to bed that night. They were talking about Seryozha, then dad, then grandma and grandpa. They loved them all and really wanted them all to be on earth again. Let them be boys and girls in other families. Daria will continue to give everyone her love and kindness. This is the greatest wealth that one wants to share.