Kitabı oku: «I’ve brought you God!», sayfa 2
Chapter 3
Suddenly the whispering stopped. The old man looked up sharply and saw that the front door was ajar. The wrinkles on his face betrayed an extreme degree of despair and hopelessness.
His finger hovered over the detonator button and twitched. His lips trembled, whispering incessantly. He looked around at those present. They had not yet come to their senses, even after the whispering had subsided. Many of them howled, others huddled together in fear. He glanced at the cameras mounted on tripods. They were still recording what was happening.
The chaos and panic had gradually subsided. The rest of the fanatics also turned their attention to the door, behind which there was only darkness. The door was ajar just enough for one person to squeeze through.
Shepherd, like the others, tried to peer into the darkness beyond the door and listen, but there was only a puff of cold air. The draft grew stronger and began to extinguish the electric lights on the ceiling and walls as if it were blowing out candles.
– Witchcraft,» the novices whispered, turning on their phone screens.
Max didn’t touch the cameras, but he dispersed a chilling stream of air from the people who stood in front of the lenses and blocked the angle of view.
– We will stand to the death,» the old man shouted. – To the death! God is with us, not with them! – he tried to put more confidence in his voice. – Shoot any evil that comes through here. They will be many, they will frighten you, but «…fear nothing that you must endure. The devil will cast you from the midst into prison to tempt you, and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to me unto death, and I will give you the crown of Life…,» the old man quoted the Revelation once more. – And when they come in here, I will fulfill the prophecy,» he held up the detonator, showing his finger on the button. – We will fulfill the prophecy! – the old man emphasized the «we» and shook his hand.
But this time people reacted weakly. Their faces expressed fear and incomprehension, and their bodies shook with cold.
– Jesus! – suddenly shouted the old man. – Jesus! – He pointed his finger at the door, from behind which appeared the luminous figure of a man in a white shroud. Long dark hair, untrimmed beard, a humble yet serene smile. And the eyes of the Son of God radiated the light of heaven. The pastor’s hand slipped off the detonator button.
Two women appeared behind him. The dim light of the phones made it impossible to see them. But it was evident that they had come to defend Christ, and Christ was being shot at. The first, a flexible, swift and incredibly strong woman with two bare short swords, instantly rushed forward, shielding the Savior with her body. She screamed with every swing of her sword, and like a tenacious spider she jumped on the crowd of men with weapons, moving around their necks, knocking their heads off, piercing their throats. In doing so, the spider woman tried to stay between the armed men and the Living God. When she was shot at, she did not try to dodge and went under the bullets herself. The killing force immediately threw her several meters away. She cried out in pain, and fiercely roared and attacked again.
Christ was coming to the shepherd. The Savior looked only at the old man, and did not care at all about what was happening. As if a ghost walking through the crowd, he slowly and confidently stepped barefoot on the cold concrete floor, smiling blissfully.
Another woman walked beside him, firing her pistol continuously, hitting the heads of all those who were aiming at Jesus, and shouting something from time to time. Those who were aiming at this woman were ignited and burned alive before they could fire. And in a few moments the room became as bright as day from such fires. Their screams filled the entire space and echoed monstrously off the walls. The smell of smoke from burning flesh hit the nose of everyone present.
Suddenly, God was hit. A bullet entered his right shoulder, sprinkling the shroud with blood. Christ cried out in pain through clenched teeth, stopped, grasped his shoulder with his other hand, and stopped glowing. The old man was frightened. «You can’t kill God, can you?» he whispered, and looked around. His men were dying all around him, and the witches were carrying out the Coven’s judgment. His hand reached for the detonator again.
But a miracle happened. Christ began to speak first. You could see it in the Messiah’s moving lips. And then he began to radiate divine light again. He straightened up and spread His arms in a cross. Holes were clearly visible on his palms, another stigmata appeared on his shoulder at the place of the shot. The shroud was white again, cleansed of blood. Once again God smiled on the preacher. And once again it was good.
When Christ approached the shepherd, the woman protector stood with her back to the Savior’s back and continued shooting. The shooting was subsiding. The soldiers of Jesus were victorious, finishing off wounded enemies on the floor.
The Messiah waited until the shots had ceased completely and held out his hand to the preacher. With a feeling of great bliss expressed on his face, the old man took Christ’s hand and obediently walked with him toward the door. He smiled and shone with God. The kingdom of heaven awaited them ahead.
– Holy shit! – Tamura shouted as they stepped out of the bunker. Fuck! The most retarded plan in all the universes! Ruta, bitch, not only do you look eighteen, but you have the brains of a chicken. Bitch, that hurts so bad! – she fell to the granite floor, stripped off her weapon, her tight exoskeleton suit, and crawled out of her web. – I’m all blue! – Her face twisted in pain. The witch examined herself. – Three of my ribs are in shreds, one rib pierced me from the inside.
A nurse walked over to her and opened the first aid kit. Tamura took a pack of painkillers from her and injected three semi-automatic syringes into her stomach at once.
– I’ll give you a medal. Uh-huh?! – Eira walked up to Tamura and held out her cloak. – For bravery. Don’t yell like a gypsy at the train station. It worked. I really didn’t know what the hell happened.
– Fuck you! – The narcotic component of the anesthetic began to take effect, and the witch injected herself with another dose, rolling her eyes in anticipation of another wave of euphoria. – I’m going to kill you both someday. Somebody give me a cigarette!
The SWAT team made a final sweep of the armed fanatics and led the others out of the hall. Weeping and moaning filled the school building. Not only had the mission failed, but no one realized what had happened.
– You did good, Tamurach,» said Ruta, who had just arrived. – I trusted you with my life, and you did a good job. I did get shot. In the shoulder. And I have a date with a boy tomorrow.
– That’s okay,» Tamura smiled and injected herself with another dose. Eira immediately took the packet of painkillers away from her. – You can put gum on the hole and it’ll be fine,» Tamura laughed through her coughing. – Just don’t pick at it with your finger. You’ll get sand in it. Does he know your age?
– Shepherd was taken in,» the albino reported to Eira, «I gave him a horse dose of sleeping pills, put him on a bus and sent him to Coven with a platoon of fighters,» she finished her report and showed her tongue to Tamura, who was quite intoxicated.
– Good. I’ve called the buses, they’re on their way. Let’s get the kids out and get Boudicca in,» Eira commanded into the radio and turned to Ruta. – Can you tell me what happened in there?
– We got fucked in all our asses, so what’s there to tell? – Tamura stood up, wrapped herself in her cloak, and lit a cigarette.
– I didn’t ask you,» the commander cut her off and turned to the young witch again. – What did the old man see when he shouted «Jesus»?
– Did he see Christ? – Ruta smirked. – The others saw the three witches, whom the old man followed willingly, smiling. I almost lost control when my shoulder got punctured. But that’s okay! Stagnum, skill, skill and willpower allowed to finish the operation. Listen, Kombat, can I not get a medal, but a bonus? I want a red car.
– We’ll decide tomorrow. I’m on television in the morning – she looked at the surprised faces of colleagues, – aha, invited to the shooting. And some professor. Don’t touch the shepherd without me. Though I’ll probably stop by Coven in the morning.
– Why should I touch him? – Ruth smiled. – You should let him go. Let him go. The whole religious and sympathetic world has already seen its version of the apostate shepherd. In three weeks, when things have calmed down, we’ll quietly kick him out so he won’t try to be a missionary again.
– All right. But don’t let him out without me. Maybe she’ll tell me something interesting. – Eira turned to the woman in the light-colored suit who had been standing at the school entrance all this time. – Claire, take the kids out. Out the back, so the reporters don’t suspect us of being humane. And where’s Boudicca?
An armored SUV pulled right up to the entrance. Two women in camouflage suits got out of the car and opened the back door. A bare foot stepped onto the concrete steps of the school’s porch. The women immediately parted. From the SUV emerged a skinny, tall female figure in a dirty, tattered dress stained with dried blood all over the surface. A small cloth purse hung from her waistband. With slightly graying long hair, a glassy look in her tarnished eyes, and slightly shaking hands, Boudicca looked around for someone. Eira walked over to her and quietly guided her towards the entrance.
– Everyone’s in there,» the High Witch whispered in her ear.
– My girls,» Boudicca moaned.
– Everyone is in there,» the commander repeated. – Go. It’s all there.
Boudicca opened her purse and took out a gypsy needle with a long thread. She entered the building.
Several news crews had already pulled up to the school and cordoned off the building on all sides. Reporters were snooping around, trying to get someone to interview them, but all the Coven fighters refused to comment. Only Eira was giving out clichés to several television stations at once. The most curious journalist with a young cameraman ran up to Tamura.
– What’s going on there now? – She asked, holding out the microphone to the dark witch. – Why did only one witch go in there? Why does she needle and thread? What is she capable of?
– A very good and valid question! – Tamura replied, exhaling a puff of smoke. – To be honest, I’m not fully aware of it myself. So, I suggest you see for yourself. It’s not dangerous there now, we’ve killed everyone with weapons. Go, go! Exclusive, after all!
– Vitalik, follow me! – shouted the journalist and disappeared behind the school doors. Vitalik obediently followed her.
– Where? – shouted Eira, taking a break from the interview. – Where did you send them? Are you stupid?
– What’s that got to do with me? – The dark witch waved her hands. – I was trying to keep them away. They wanted an exclusive! And I’m wounded, after all. I’m not going to run after them.
And at that moment, wild screams came from the school again.
– You’re hurt in the head, you idiot! – Eira spat.
– Take my boy to me! – Tamura shouted and added quietly: – Please.
Chapter 4
Tamura opened her eyes and saw a white ceiling, with various utilities running across its surface in a complex, intricate pattern. She wiggled her eyes from side to side for half a minute and licked her dry lips.
– It doesn’t seem to hurt,» she whispered. Then she lifted the edge of the sheet and looked at her body. Carefully she pulled off her hospital panties and tossed them on the windowsill. On the rack by the door hung a white medical gown, which the black witch immediately threw on.
– Mitsu,» she called to the spider, which appeared out of her ear a moment later, «give me a quick kiss. – The spider touched Tamura’s cheek with its jaws. – Make mommy a nice full-body stocking,» she said, and the spider disappeared behind the collar of her robe. And the black witch put on her hospital slippers and left the room.
She took the elevator down to the second floor and went from the hospital to Coven through a transitional glass corridor. Here she waited for the elevator, which was already carrying four Special Forces fighters. The young men stretched out along the mirrored walls of the elevator.
– At ease,» the dark witch wheezed and coughed. – Does anyone have a cigarette? – She raised her head hopefully to look into the faces of the guys two heads taller than her. – I see. Nobody smokes. Weren’t you guys at the assault yesterday? – She looked at the lowest of them, so as not to raise her head too much. He nodded. – Where did they put the old priest? – She asked.
– He’s in the interrogation room now. He’s waiting for the investigator,» came a nasally voice from behind her.
– Seven hundred and fourteen?
– Seven hundred and nineteen! They’ve started renovations in the seven hundred and fourteenth.
– Grand merci,» Tamura gave a shallow curtsy and looked at the floor indicator. It was moving to the number seven. – Please press seven,» she added. The elevator stopped. The witch got out and headed down the corridor.
– Hello, Grandpa! – Tamura opened the glass door of the cell, entered to the detained priest. – How are you? Alive?
The old man sat at the table and mumbled something inaudible under his nose. When he saw her, he jerked toward her, but his hands, chained to the table legs, only rattled his handcuffs, restricting his movement.
– You hells, you can’t change anything,» the old man said. He sat down again, resting his temple on the fist of his elbowed hand.
– Change what? – Tamura asked, taking a seat across from him. – I realize you’ll answer «nothing,» and I’ll be unsatisfied with that play on words and ask you, «what do you mean?» And you’ll turn on the religious sacred fool again and repeat the «nothing» answer. But all this verbiage is clearly not going to satisfy me or you. So let’s skip the guesswork and get straight to the clear readings. So, something is clearly threatening something. Right? Now let’s replace pronouns with nouns together, shall we? – she looked to the side and whispered,» Is that how I still remember that?
The old man looked in horror at Tamura’s knee, which was rather quickly being covered by a black stocking.
– To a witch, a witch’s witch! – shouted the old man.
– How hard is it with you? Well, what kind of witch am I, eh? Do I have snakes for hair? Well, look, just an ordinary nurse. There’s your robe. Where do you see a witch? I don’t burn people alive, I don’t pretend to be young. I certainly don’t have spiders coming out of my mouth! Oh, you mean this? – she caught his eye on her ankles. – It’s self-woven liquid tights. Haven’t you seen the commercials on TV? Well, look, grandpa, I’m totally open with you. You should share it with me. I’m not your enemy. I might be your sister. Open up, huh? – she took his hand and pressed it against her chest. – Let me start, okay? «Something» is the first pronoun we’ll replace with a noun. This is the messiah you mentioned in the basement, right?
– You’ve got a tick crawling all over you. – The old man pointed his finger at the girl’s ankle.
– This place is long overdue for disinfestation. – Tamura looked around the room defiantly. – But extermination costs money, and Coven spends all its money on witches. Seven Hundred and Fourteen’s gone to shit – they’re already renovating it. Don’t get distracted. What about the messiah?
– Messiah…,» the old man gave up after some hesitation. – I just wanted him to know about our sacrifice for the slaughter.
– I understood that. We’d sit on the water for ten days, like the scripture says, praying, draw public attention, and then we’d pass away, right?
– He would know about us. And that would have strengthened his faith in us. Don’t you understand that?
– He, who’s he? – There was a familiar voice from behind the commander. – Who are you talking about? Where can I find him?
– You’re on television, aren’t you? – Tamura was surprised.
– I thought I’d look here first. I had a bad feeling. I thought I wouldn’t find him here alive.
The old man lifted his head and smiled, then began to chuckle, and after a moment he laughed genuinely. Eira pulled her pistol from its holster and pointed it at the old man.
– There’s a through-and-through burst in the striker. You’re going to tell me everything now, or I’ll use your brains to write «Hallowed be thy name» on that wall!
– Why would you do that? – Tamura took Eira’s hand away from her gun. – I’m just getting into religion. Already starting to feel a spark of faith. The leaven was stirring and the grains were separating from the chaff. Opening my heart to Jesus. Hear and obey Father…» She squinted her eyes, as if remembering something, and snapped her fingers toward the priest, then turned to Eira and whispered. – Don’t. Let me talk to him some more. I’ll shoot him myself later, I promise,» she smiled sarcastically. – Don’t take it out on me.
– Righteousness is my name! – shouted the old man. – And I’m the first! There are more coming after me.
At that moment, a young girl in a white robe with a blue folder in her hand knocked on the glass door and gestured for the high witch to leave the room. Eira returned her pistol to its holster and stepped out of the cell.
– Tell me, Father, where do you get all this stuff from? – Tamura asked, peering through the glass at the girl reporting to the High Witch. At that moment, Ruta joined the women, taking the blue folder from the girl, opening it and beginning to study it.
– He’s talking to me! – The old man replied pathosily. – He sent me into the world, marking me with the sign of righteousness.
– Messiah?
– God! God speaks to me!
– Uh, uh… Speaks how?
– In dreams, of course! When we fall asleep, God comes to us in our dreams. That’s how he communicates with us.
– And I had my hopes up.
The cell door opened again, and Eira and Ruta entered. The High Witch approached the old man and stared defiantly into his eyes.
– They’re empty,» she said. – There’s nothing in them. Nothing at all! Not a mind, not what you call a soul. Explain to me how a paranoid schizophrenic could convince sixty mentally healthy people to commit mass suicide? – she turned to Tamura. – Yes, yes! He’s a moron! The test results are back.
– I’ve already figured it out,» Tamura replied. He communicates with the Almighty in his dreams.
– Give him to me,» Ruta squeaked.
– What do you need him for? No! We’ll cure him and let him out. And prove once again that religion is just mass bipolar.
– Give it back, please,» the light witch folded her palms, brought them to her lips and jumped on the spot. – I’ll practice whispering witches on him.
– Why him? We have other detainees.
– He has something no one else has – an alien, powerful stagnum. I’ll break him.
– No, Ruta. The decision has been made. It will be transferred today – What stagnum?
There was a gunshot, and the women turned around. The old man fell back a little from the shot, but the handcuffs kept the chair from falling over.
– I promised,» Tamura shrugged and smiled. The barrel of a Beretta was smoking in her hand.
– You idiot! – Eira gritted her teeth, groping for the empty holster on her belt.
– What’s he got there? – Ruta walked over to the dead old man and undid the top button of his shirt. – It’s a stain,» she undid the rest of the buttons.
The witches saw a white stain on the corpse’s bare chest, about twenty centimeters wide and the same height. It looked like a rider on horseback with a thin spear in his right hand.
– A knight of some sort,» said Tamura.
– Don’t touch it,» said Eira. – It looks like some kind of infection. Bring the spectrometer to cell six,» she added into the radio.
– He did say before he died that he was god-marked, by the way. About a sign of some kind.
– Quarantine the detained children. Sanitize the room,» Eira continued.
A gloved nurse entered the cell. The High Witch nodded toward the stain, and the nurse held the spectrometer to it. It emitted a confirmation beep.
– It’s been sent to the lab,» the nurse said. – They’ll have an answer in a couple minutes.
For two minutes the women stood in silence waiting for the answer. Because of this awkwardness, the witches were a little nervous and tried not to meet their eyes. Only Tamura smiled broadly, admiring the sight.
– A witch has been born,» she commented.
– Praise Odin,» Ruta said casually.
– There’s a result! – The nurse responded to the spectrometer’s signal.
– Praise Odin! – Ruta repeated with a relieved exhale.
– It’s a mutated strain of bubonic skin plague,» said the lab technician.
The witches looked at each other dumbfounded and rushed for the exit.
– Wait,» the nurse shouted. – The strain is not contagious.
– I’ll be praising Odin until tonight,» Ruta said, stopping. – Are you sure it’s not contagious?
– Give me that! – Eira snatched the spectrometer out of the lab technician’s hands and looked at the monitor. – «The strain is not contagious because it’s completely dead. No colony-forming organisms of the plague bacillus were found.
– So you’re saying the plague was waiting somewhere for a sick in the head old man to jump on him, draw a knight on his chest, and die? – Tamura asked.
– Girls, it’s a message! – Ruta said. – It’s obvious! A drawing like that couldn’t have formed on its own.
– A message to whom? – The black witch persisted. – He was supposed to sit in the bunker for ten days and then blow it up. And who would read the message? Or would he put this sign on the school ceiling with his own ashes?
– Get on it, huh? – said Eira. – Tamurych, you’re the most logical, the most adequate, and the most expensive for the Coven. Run the connections, who you met, what kind of knight, in general, everything as you like.
– You couldn’t tell me before? Before I shot him,» she paused and added. – Today, does everyone remember?
– They do,» Eira replied. – I did another mailing. I might be a little late myself. I’m on the air. I want both of you in my office now. Call Cataleya, too
***
The phone on the High Witch’s desk was crawling with vibrations and bursting with the sounds of an incoming call.
– Aren’t you going to answer it? – Tamura asked. – A call from Pride. Could it be the Alpha himself calling?
– I don’t have anything to answer them yet,» Eira said and turned off the ringing tone. She lit a match, lit a cigarette, and exhaled a heavy puff of pink smoke. – Any idea what that was about?
– I’ll go first, may I? – Ruta asked, glancing questioningly at the dark witch.
– Of course! – she said. – The young are the way to go! You said something about an alien stagnum.
– I am the oldest of the witches,“ she began, „and I learned to see stagnum with my eyes a long time ago. Remember when I told you that every stagnum has a color? Not just one color, but a small palette. And the colors in this palette vibrate, passing from one shade to another, with some impermanent frequency. The desires and intentions of man and society are impermanent, and so the vibration appears. The vector of influence on reality also jumps around a bit, like the arrow of a compass. And all this is within the yellow and orange color. Because everyone has the same desires and fears. Everyone wants power, luxury, love, health and not to die of radiation sickness. Even radical religious fanatics don’t have much difference in the color of their stagnum structure. Because we’re all human. We share the same physiology of quantum thinking. As a species. Pure anatomy. Turns out that’s not true.
– What are you saying? The old man’s stagnum isn’t orange? He’s crazy! What kind of stagnum would a crazy person have?
– It’s very strong. And it’s black. Yes, yes! It’s black like a space howler. And the best part is, it’s not his stagnum. It’s like someone temporarily gave the old man a new, hitherto unknown, black stagnum.
– Is that possible? – The High Witch asked. – So he came into contact with a person whose stagnum enriched his own? The messiah?
– I don’t know. But it would seem so.
– The origin of the plague knight on the chest of the deceased is an artifact of exposure to an alien stagnum,» the dark witch commented. – Hmmm… that explains it quite well. Shall we turn to the blind witches?
– You will,» the commander confirmed. – I need this messiah. Alive, if possible. And he’s your passenger now. I understand that the temptation to kill him on the spot you have above the regulations of operative-search activity. But I think the word «national security» still means something to you. – She turned to Ruta. – Want to guess?
– No!
– Wow! Why so strict? – Tamura asked.
– I don’t cast futhark anymore.
– Why not?
– Because the last few times I’ve thrown it, it’s been falling like a copycat – the same every time. And every time, it shows the exodus.
– The Jews out of Egypt? – Tamura asked.
– My exodus. I don’t know how to interpret it. All I know is that it is not death. The runes refused to tell me anything else. Exodus, every time.
– Maybe you broke them.
– Would you stop sneering? – Eira interrupted the dark witch. – What do you think?
– Can I keep Thomas? – Tamura asked cautiously.
– What?
– We have Thomas running on the Coven servers. Nobody uses it anyway. Can I keep him?
– Thomas? You mean Coven’s voice assistant? It’s available online to any witch at any time. What’s wrong with it? And why are you going off topic?
– I’d tweak it a bit, customize it, add a backup structure, hot backup on cloud clusters.
– Aren’t you living a little too frugally, Major Hogan? Do you remember how much that animated face tattoo cost Coven?
– I did it with Katelea. I never would have gotten it myself.
– Don’t blame it all on me,» said the extremely beautiful woman sitting in the corner, waving her comb. – My animation is kopechechnaya and changes only the makeup. And yours – with a full-fledged animation on the whole face. And it costs like a cast-iron bridge.
– Come on, animation! – Eira continued. – And the smart metal exoskeleton? And portable batteries with a thousand and a half amperes? When you charge them, there’s a power outage within a ten-kilometer radius. Now you want a personal server with an institutional neural network, and tomorrow what? A space spy satellite with remote DNA sensors?
– Why, do we already have one of those?
– No way! If you don’t like the voice assistant, bring it to the committee. This meeting’s over. I still have to prepare a report for Pride and go on the air.
At that moment the front door opened and a tall, thin old woman in a black cloak and a purple hood on her head appeared in the doorway.
– Dropped from the accounts,“ she sang in a tinkling yet velvety voice. Then, leaning on a gnarled staff, she slowly waddled to an empty chair and pulled it out with a club, „No longer needed, huh? – she asked, sitting down.
– Calm down, Snot! – Eira replied. – You are the wisest of witches. You are the wisest of witches. We only call you for important matters. We pity you. You’re in poor health. You’re not a girl anymore.
– Aha! Old, huh? – She slowly turned to the light witch and extended her hand. A shaking charred finger appeared from under her sleeve. – I’m no older than that bitch.
– Get your damn finger away from me, you old bitch! – Ruta screamed and jumped on the table. She grabbed her chair by the back and threw it at the old woman. – Why aren’t you dead?!
Rune tried to dodge, but failed. She was caught by the chair leg and fell to the floor with it. The light witch took short strides across the table and jumped on the old woman, clamping her throat with her knee and stepping on her toe with the heel of her other foot.
– Give me the knife! – She shouted and reached back toward Tamura. – I’m going to cut off that damn toe and send her into retirement!
– It’s so funny to watch what you do,“ the dark witch replied with a wide grin. – „You’re like Joseph Barbera and William Hanna. I’d give a knife, honestly. But I’m only wearing a robe.
Ruta snorted and lifted herself off Snooty’s head. At that moment, Cataleya stopped brushing her thick red hair, walked over to the old woman and helped her up. The old woman groaned defiantly.
– Just don’t overplay it,“ the red-haired witch whispered in Snyti’s ear. – Otherwise, my patience is not infinite. – Then she turned to the others: „We’ve got to find out how the crazy old man got so many weapons and explosives, I think.
– Thanks, Cap. We can’t close business without you,» Tamura said. – I’m going to breakfast! Who’s with me?
– I’ll keep you company,» Ruta snorted.
***
The girls were sitting across from each other at Coven’s cafeteria table, eating sandwiches and drinking hot coffee.
– Come on, tell me, who’s the new guy? – Tamura asked.
– Why a man? – Ruta furrowed her eyebrows. – A guy, twenty-eight years old, an artist with a fine mental organization, a creative person – is he a man?
– I’m sorry, I’m sorry. In the concept of «man» I put a set of positive male qualities, not synonyms «rude dork» and «uncouth stump».
– Come on, Tamurach, don’t worry, I’m just kidding. His name is Vincent. And he’s really nice. And we’re in love!
– Does that mean you won’t kill him?
– I won’t even hurt him. I’ll let him go in peace. Maybe I’ll marry him.
– Are you out of your mind, you old witch? What’s the age difference between you and him? Seventy years? Does he even know how old you are?
– Oh, don’t be jealous! I told him I’m twenty-four. He doesn’t really believe it and thinks I’m flirting, but he loves me with all his heart. – She took her cell phone out of her belt pouch and showed a picture of a young man.
– He’s cute,» Tamura agreed. – Have you forgotten how to love?
– I haven’t had such a poetic high in ages! My hormone glands are just gushing. I’m peeing a cocktail of oxytocin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. I get heart palpitations just thinking about him. And I’ve never written so much poetry about anyone before. I’ll definitely publish a collection of poems dedicated to Vincent. The rhymes just fall into place. It’s the best thing that’s happened to me lately.
