III. Mountains beckon

Mountains beckon a person, challenge him. Some of the people accept the challenge. But not all come back. Among the climbers there is also a rating of "killer mountains", which is extremely dangerous to conquer.

Annapurna

Location: Nepal. Himalayas.
Height: 8091 m.
Annapurna was the first to be conquered of all 14 eight-thousanders. This happened, however, by accident. The group of the French climber Maurice Erzog went to conquer another peak - Dhaulagiri, but after the reconnaissance they decided that it was possible to conquer another mountain. It turned out to be Annapurna, the northernmost peak of the Himalayas. The ascent took place on June 3, 1950. The conquered peak "took its own" from the French group. All members of the expedition received frostbite, Maurice Erzog had to amputate his fingers and toes throughout the descent.

The French group was still lucky. To date, one and a half hundred ascents have been made to Annapurna. In the entire history of climbing the peak, the mortality rate of climbers was 41%, which is extremely high. For comparison, for Everest, this coefficient is only 7.4%. It should be borne in mind that only experienced climbers go to Annapurna, while everyone who has enough money in their wallet is trying to conquer Everest.
The American top-class climber Ed Vitus, who has conquered all 14 eight-thousanders, left Annapurna for dessert. His impressions of this mountain are interesting: "Annapurna represents one big danger, it is all covered with ice. One large piece of ice with ice build-ups on it. And the whole question is which way the next build-up will deviate, forward or backward."

Location: Pakistan and China, Karakorum.
Height: 8614 m.
K2, Chogori, or Dopsang is considered the second most difficult peak on Earth, second only to the already mentioned Annapurna. Moreover, Chogori is also the second highest peak (after Everest), but in terms of the difficulty of conquering it is much higher than Chomolungma.

K2 was discovered back in 1856, but it was conquered almost a century later, in 1954, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio. Interestingly, in 1902, the famous occultist and mountaineer Aleister Crowley made an attempt to conquer the mountain, but he was not given the top
As of mid-2008, 284 people have visited the top of this mountain, 66 died while trying to climb. A large number of climbers died on the way back. The mortality rating of this terrible peak is 25%, that is, every fourth of those who tried to conquer K2 died.
The Russians have left a noticeable mark in the history of climbing Chogori. The route that our climbers managed to overcome on August 21, 2007 is considered the most difficult. The Russian group climbed the top, which was considered to be the impassable western wall of the summit. In winter, no one managed to conquer K2.

Nangaparbat

Location: Pakistan, Himalayas.
Height: 8125 m.
Nangaparbat is called "the mountain-killer" and "the swallower of people". It is the westernmost peak of the Himalayas. Nangaparbat began collecting its mournful statistics from the first attempt to conquer it - in 1895, it "swallowed" the best climber of its time, Briton Albert Mummery. Since then, according to statistics for 2011, Nangaparbat has claimed the lives of 64 climbers. In total, 263 people were able to conquer Nangaparbat. The mortality rate of this top is almost 23%. Every fifth climber who dared to challenge grief died.

The reason for such a high mortality rate is attributed by pragmatic people to the extremely unfavorable sum of climatic factors in the region of the mountain - the arid climate at the foot of the mountain causes a huge temperature drop. The weather from this is very unpredictable, deadly avalanches are also frequent.
Recently, the unpleasant fame has been strengthened by the "human factor". Last June, Taliban militants attacked a mountaineering camp at the foot of the mountain. As a result, 10 people died.

Nangaparbat, however, is magnetically attractive - this mountain has the highest absolute height... Coming close to the mountain, you can see a 4.5-kilometer-high wall above you.

Kanchenjunga

Location: India, Himalayas.
Height: 8586 m.
The third highest eight-thousander in the world, the most eastern of them. Aleister Crowley was the first to try to conquer the mountain in 1905. Did not work out. They conquered Kanchenjunga only after 50 years. In the entire history of ascents, only 187 people have safely reached the summit. Of these, only 5 were women.

It is believed that Kanchenjunga is a mountain-woman, which is why she kills the climbers who dared to conquer her.
The mortality rate for this peak is 22%. Contrary to statistics, which in the case of all other killer mountains tends to decrease, with Kanchenjanga it is the opposite. From year to year the mountain takes new lives. By the way, this mountain was wonderfully depicted by Nicholas Roerich in the painting of the same name. Google it.

Location: Switzerland, Alps.
Height: 3970 m.
The only western peak in our ranking. Despite its seemingly insignificant height, the Eigar is considered one of the deadliest peaks in the world. For the first time Eigar submitted to man on August 11, 1858. Several routes lead to the top of the mountain. The most difficult route is considered to be on the northern face of the Eigar. It was passed for the first time only on July 24, 1938. The difficulty of the route is in the incredibly large difference in altitude and in very unstable weather on the northern slope. Over the years of ascents, the summit claimed the lives of 64 people.

- so say everyone who has visited this country. But really, what else can so stir up the whole gamut of sensations, no matter how mesmerizing landscapes of mountains, the purest air and an endless road among the trees and mountain peaks... So I, in order to imbue the soul of Abkhazia, chose highest point to visit - Lake Mzy. The way there is not easy, but it fully satisfies the need for natural beauty.

Path through the mountain forest

The trail is clearly visible and only one, therefore it is difficult to get lost. In addition, in some places on the trees there are red arrows indicating direction to lake Mzy... Although our dear Joe persistently urged to take a guide for 1000-2000r, because you can easily get lost, and horses for 1000r from the tail, because the path is difficult. Fortunately for us, we did not find guides and set off along the route ourselves. I will note that excursions are led here by organized groups.

Another view of the glacier

Halt of travelers

It gets hot while you walk. Sometimes it rains, sometimes the sun comes out. We overcome the fir and boxwood forests. The air is incredibly delicious!

By the way, we completely forgot about our dear friend. He finally found himself in an incredibly wild nature for him. And now his eyes were burning with surges of adrenaline, and his legs could not keep up with the forward body. And like a real mountain goat, he jumped from stone to stone, admiring the views around and cursing at the endlessness of the path. And the path really seemed endless.

It would seem that beyond the next pass it is already, the long-awaited Mountain Lake Mzy, but climbing the hillock, you see the continuation of the path winding into the distance and meadows, meadows ...

Tourist gentlemen))

Alpine meadows delighted the eye with a scattering of flowers

And rest again

Emerald green mountain peaks

A herd of buffaloes sunbathed peacefully under the clouds

We have been walking for more than 3 hours... The strength is running out. Glaciers are coming very close. Ahead is a wall of mountains, somewhere here it is. There is definitely no further road. And here is one more hillock…. And, oh, a miracle! There is a lake behind it!

A little more and the lake will appear before us)

There must be a lake in that bowl

On the way to the coveted reservoir))

Just a couple more steps!

Lake Mzy

Surrounded by a crown of mountains, high up 2000m above sea level lies the mirror of Lake Mzy. Snow descends directly to its surface from the opposite side from us. A single cow is walking in the meadow, ringing a bell. The lake itself is small, about 100 m long and 45 m wide, the water temperature is +4. But the depth is decent - 40 meters.

The wild nature of the Caucasus radiates something magical. You seem to find yourself in another space, untouched by man, cold, calm, emerald green, majestic. This is not a human world, it is the world of the Power of origins... There are no words to describe the whole range of feelings that you experience when looking around. And even looking at the photographs, I understand that we were somewhere not on earth. This is the space of the Earth.

We arrived first, meeting no one along the way, except for local hunters. And now they could fully enjoy the peace and harmony of the world.

And here is the long-awaited lake Mzy

The cow, initially shyly running away, sensing something tasty, showed frank arrogance, striving to lick everything that was lying badly with its tongue. She liked the lavash very much. The cow had fluffy ears and a big wet nose.

Ladybug :)

Pipus the hare was also photographed in this amazing place

Meet the cow :)

Pipus is very interested in the horned muzzle :)

Having cooled down after the ascent, we felt that it was not even very hot here. And I would have sat and contemplated, but the cold forced me to go on my way back as soon as possible. They didn't even approach the glacier, they froze.

III. Mountains beckon

After graduating from the seven-year school, Tours entered the eighth grade in the fall of 1928. For him, as for most of us, the transition to the second stage was difficult. New teachers in their introductory conversations, in fact, read the waste of childhood. The childhood years are over, from now on we must learn to think, speak and behave like adults. We were advised to read newspapers and good books, and in the newspapers the most boring - the most important. Reading will help us become self-minded individuals and "useful members of society." And we wanted to be a little more children, we dreamed about sports, about adventures. I remember that I was not at all happy with the thought of becoming an adult.

And Tour was the least in a hurry to say goodbye to childhood. Younger in age, he did not keep up with the rest in development. It was immediately felt that he was uncomfortable. At this very time, our friendship developed. We were introduced to a toy boat made of pine logs, but the common dreams and views and similar impressions really brought us closer together. At Tours, this is his Lord's pond. I have only a barrel of water. But what an incomparable barrel! My father was a gardener. In one of his greenhouses there was a huge barrel where he filled a watering can with water. Sometimes there were rose bushes or other plants prepared for planting in the barrel, but more often only twigs and duckweed floated in the dark water, and a mysterious forest of some nameless sprouts stuck out at the bottom. As a kid, I, reaching up to the edge of the barrel with my nose, often looked at the unknown world in the water column, reviving in a new way every time the slanting rays of the sun pierced the glass of the greenhouse. Forming bizarre combinations, colors shimmered, at the bottom - like dark red velvet, along the edges - a poisonous green edge. Between the stalks, panicles and mud scurried all sorts of small things; at times, shiny bubbles rose upward, as if someone was muttering there, in the depths. And the sun goes down, and I see myself in the barrel - brown hair and a nose with freckles, which I kept trying to pick off with my fingernail.

As a high school student, I also found my way to forest ponds and was mesmerized by their inhabitants. Newts are like miniature lizards ... Once their ancient relatives roamed the earth, leaving a trail wider than a car track. They lived, fought for existence, but mighty natural disasters ruined them. Tour and I saw it in the action movie " lost World". And we talked about dinosaurs, brontosaurs, plesiosaurs and other antediluvian giants. There was no shortage of topics for conversation, only we avoided talking about ourselves, fearing to reveal some of our weakness. Then youth problems were not discussed on the pages of newspapers and magazines, everyone kept their worries to themselves and tried to cope with them himself.

At school, Tour was still a middle peasant. Mathematics was given better than other subjects. He liked the pure logic of equations, and the geometric constructions were somewhat reminiscent of a game. Gradually, he got along with grammar.

But the passion for natural science has cooled down. When he encountered plants in his second grade textbooks, he became disillusioned. In them, the flowers were not a miracle of creation, but dull exhibits, grouped according to the shape of the petals and the number of stamens. The plants were cut up, analyzed and discarded. The aroma and beauty did not play a role. Almost the same thing happened with zoology, although we still learned something about the life of animals. Here Tour could still shut up everyone in the belt, amazing the class with his knowledge. But there was no former hobby. Why? After all, animals were his hobbyhorse. And there was no shortage of encouragement, he quickly became the favorite of the teacher of natural history. He was put to us as an example, and Tour preferred not to stand out. Often they gave him indulgences that he did not want. And the class looked at Tour in surprise when he began to come to science lessons unprepared. But when he began to refuse to answer even simple questions, we finally realized what was the matter. Only the teacher did not understand anything. However, he forgave Tura everything and continued to consider him his most capable student in all the years.

But the real stumbling block was the law of God. The subject was taught by a priest who knew the Bible perfectly, but did not know how to touch the soul of the student. Know and memorize the long psalms with all sorts of difficult words and the small catechesis of Luther. For Tour, this was infinitely far from what his father had told him. And extremely intricate next to the mother's views on life and evolution.

In general, during these years, the school seemed to Tour completely cut off from life. It was difficult to force myself to concentrate on the lessons; thoughts almost carried away far, far away. The pencil tirelessly drew palm trees, thatched huts, amazing animals on the covers of textbooks.

Perhaps, physical education brought Turu the most upset. Here he was hopelessly behind the others. He had no talent for football, and he did not like it either. And when the guys were divided into teams, they remembered about him at the end.

When we went to the sea to swim, Tour sat on the shore and looked. True, few could compare with him in cross-country, but this sport was not honored.

It can be seen that Tour decided to take on himself at that time, because in secret a thorough preparation began. At home in the corner of the courtyard, my father dug in two tall posts with a crossbar at the top. I hung up a rope for climbing, strengthened the horizontal bar, rings. And soon the Tour was doing such tricks that we could not do. Pulls up on one hand and hangs. What is there on one hand - he could pull himself up on one finger! At the same time, he developed self-control in himself. Hit the edge of the table with his knuckles - and at least not even wrinkle. We were not very tempted to repeat this test after him, and when we had to, we did it much more carefully.

At this time, two brothers, obsessed with sports, settled in one of the neighboring houses. In the summer they went in for athletics, in the winter - skiing. Both guys were sociable, and Tour found support from them. They invited him to cross-country and ski trips, even persuaded him to participate in competitions with other guys. But the victory did not bother Tour, it was important for him to exercise in order to become strong and enduring. If he got tired during the cross, then he sat down to rest on a stone or stump, then ran on. And in the footsteps of the beast, he could completely leave the distance. A protocol with the results of two crosses has been preserved. In one of them, Tour came last. In another, he was fourth of five participants. And that was due to the fact that one of the runners got lost on the track.

The parents also noticed that something was happening to the guy. And the mother understood: it was time to give him more freedom, otherwise he would have a hard time in the world of adults. She agreed with her father that exercise is beneficial.

Heyerdahl Sr. bought and inherited several estates and orphanages. Most of all he loved the house in Ustauset, where many had built their own dachas and it was always possible to meet acquaintances and have fun. Mrs. Alison preferred another house, on the shores of Lake Hurnsjø, in the mountains beyond Lillehammer. Nature here met her taste: a lot of air, a huge sky, long ridges with heather and a dwarf birch going into the distance, shimmering lakes and wide plateaus, in the blue distance - the wild massifs of Yutunheimen and Rondane with caps of eternal snow and ice.

Tur was only five years old when he first came to Hurnsjö. This corner in the wilderness of the mountains played a big role for him. From year to year he came there for the summer. Once he was allowed to spend the night with a friend in a tent near the house. It was a real event for the boys. They could not sleep with excitement. The voices of nocturnal birds and beasts came from the distant forest below. The wind shook the tent, and it seemed that someone was wandering nearby.

The first night, which the guys spent under a fir tree without a tent, was unforgettable. How good it is in the forest! People have clearly lost something important: they live in boxes, breathe smoke and dust instead of forest and mountain air ...

Once in the summer a man came to the mountains with a knapsack on his shoulders, and more than that, he had nothing. His name was Ula Bjørneby. This tanned, hardened mountain dweller was surprisingly resilient, despite the adversity he had endured. Until recently, he lived in the house of a wealthy timber merchant in one of the cities of Estland. It turned out that the family went bankrupt. Taking the essentials, Ula went into the mountains to go hunting. In the valley east of Khurnsjö, he settled in an old sheepfold with an earthen floor. Along the wall between the lower log and the floor was a sheep hole. An iron cauldron stood on the stones in the corner of the sheepfold. Here Ula cooked. A homemade table and two stools - that's all the furnishings. Slept Ula all year round on a high shelf, covered with sheepskins and blankets.

Tour and his mother came here during one of their long walks. Both were immediately fascinated by this unusual person. For Tour, he was Tarzan; for Mistress Alison, a fun adventurer with an inexhaustible supply of animal stories. Ula talked about his hunting life, showed how he carved beautiful bowls and cups from bizarrely curved branches.

And something completely unexpected happened: the fourteen-year-old Tur was allowed to spend the summer with Ula and help him. Tour saw with his own eyes how a city man from a cultured family managed to get along with nature so much that the forest and mountains became for him the same home as for a hare and an elk.

For the first time in his life, Tour really worked. He walked a lot, carried a load, but did not show that it was hard for him, even when his legs gave way from fatigue. If they caught fish during the night, then during the day they slept right there on a flat stone.

Ula Bjørneby taught him to read footprints in the grass, explained what a piece of wool adhering to the bark meant, how to hide from the weather. Later, Tours said more than once that the science he passed through Bjørneby was perhaps the most important for his upbringing.

The mountains have become a symbol of freedom for the Tour. Here he spent summer holidays, the best time of the year. The Highlands were a huge playground, wherever you turn, adventure awaits. Mountain plateaus with their scanty soil, where groves of white-trunk birches give way to junipers and a dwarf birch hugging the slope, modest flowers and stones with wigs of gray, green, yellow lichen - this was genuine Norway, its Norway. Sharp peaks in the hazy distance, forest valleys and a sparkling strip of river far below, as if in the underworld ... And here above, goats jump on stones, cows ring bells, birdies chirp and the wind bursts into the fragrance of flowers warmed by the sun. Here was his kingdom - secluded mountain farms with gray walls and turf roofs.

From the mountain kingdom, he returned every year to his city on the banks of the Oslofjord. Larvik personified autumn and winter, gray days and a school strap. How could he compare with the highlands - the world of light, freedom, adventure. I had never climbed so high into the mountains, and my city seemed to me differently: sunny streets run up, winding, on the slopes; beech, spruce and pine approach the houses; sun-baked football White beach... And the port is the gateway to a large, unknown world. The tour agreed: the latter is indeed a big plus. And he will use it someday - when he starts his travels, he will go to foreign unknown lands. But everything is already open, I objected. Africa has ceased to be the Black Continent. Australia has long been mapped. Only in the Amazon basin there are still little-explored places, but this area cannot be called completely unknown.

Discoveries can be more than just geographic, Tur replied. - There are many more mysteries in the world, for example, the riddle of Easter Island.

Honestly! He said so, I still hear these words.

Of course, we talked about girls as well. Movies and picture magazines had not yet begun to squeeze profit out of youth problems and gender issues. The girls attracted us, but we were terribly embarrassed, especially Tour, he was wildly afraid that someone would notice his interest in them.

Undoubtedly, his mother played a role here, although she probably did not suspect about it.

What are you, Tour is indifferent to girls, - she said. - He is only interested in zoology.

Hearing this over and over again, Thor himself eventually decided that it was inconvenient to admit how much more he was interested in girls than zoology. They were ethereal creatures from another world. This is his then ideal: a girl should be beautiful, warm-hearted and fair. Moreover, natural and simple: she should not paint her lips, do a manicure. It is absurd to try to embellish what is given to you by nature itself.

In matters of faith, he was strongly influenced by his mother's views. He admitted that there are things that are incomprehensible to reason, but priests, rituals, psalms and church services - all this is far-fetched, artificial. Only in the sacrament there was something primordial, though with a touch of sacrifice and cannibalism, which seemed disgusting to him. He stubbornly, stubbornly spoke about it.

There was only one step from religion to a question that from a young age occupied Tour's thoughts and prompted him to make a very important decision. The charm of a mountainous freedom, a half-religious admiration for nature and the animal world, minor griefs that none of us can escape, a feeling of loneliness, difficult domestic circumstances - all this made him doubt that civilization is a blessing for mankind. What is valuable in it? Over time, this problem became one of the main ones for him.

During these years, the Tour was often left to its own devices. Mother went about her business, father was constantly driving around, schoolmates were carried away by things that did not interest him. It was at this time that he opened his soul to me. We made sure that we look at many things the same way, while remaining dissimilar enough to give us something to argue about. I was fond of music. Tour loved her too, but did not want to study her. Feelings evoked by music were important to him, not technique and theory. He was even more indifferent to literature. Poems did not reach him, he considered novels a surrogate for life. When his mother advised him to read Hamsun or Undset, he objected with the aplomb of youth that he did not want to be influenced by someone else's fiction. It is better to get to know life yourself, and to find out by closely communicating with nature.

In ninth grade, Tour's thoughts on the contrast between nature and civilization began to take shape in a worldview. He constantly talked about "returning to nature." Brain modern people is stuffed to capacity not so much with his own observations as with what books, newspapers, magazines, radio and cinema present. And as a result - brain overload and limited ability to perceive. A person of the uncivilized world loads the brain with only everyday observations, learns only what he draws from own experience and oral traditions. Therefore, the mind of such a person is always sharp and open to the new, his instincts are not muted, all the feelings in him are alive.

Of course, this problem is complex and multifaceted. To understand the shortcomings and vices of civilization, you need to see them from the outside. The members of our society cannot judge for themselves whether what they have created is good or bad; for this one must have something to compare with. Civilization is like a full house of people who never walked out the door. None of them even know what the house in which they live looks like. Someone has to make up their minds and leave the house to tell others what he is. Someone has to be the first.

I first noticed hesitation on Tours when he talked about his plans for the future. Perhaps he will not stop at natural science. Maybe he is destined to walk out the door and see something that no one else has seen.

The older Tur got, the clearer it was to him that something was wrong between his parents. Father appeared at home less and less and finally left Larvik altogether. It was said that he was going to rest in Ustausset, but in reality it turned out differently. While Mrs. Alison lived in the old house, he never returned there. Unbeknownst to Tour, the parents agreed to disperse. Both tried to keep it secret, and it did not come to a legal divorce, they spared their son. Of course, Tour was upset, but everything developed so slowly, so gradually, that this outcome did not turn out to be a blow to him. And he was used to his father driving around all the time. Realizing that his father would not return, Tour tried to use every opportunity to see him.

In the year Tur graduated from school, the rooms of the house were quiet, sad and dreary. But just this year was rich in bright and interesting events that helped Tour to cope with loneliness and sadness. All of us, regardless of our academic performance, looked forward to the holiday of graduation, this time of short but violent flowering, when we turn into red flowers in a rather colorless city. We had a lot to do. It was necessary to prepare a graduation newspaper, put on a school revue. As always in such cases, the main burden fell on the shoulders of a few enthusiasts. Among them were Tur and I, and, of course, this was reflected in our certificate. Throughout the school year, in our dreams and in reality, at the table and in the classroom, we thought and talked only about the revue. Almost every day we gathered for important meetings and I spent almost all the evenings in the Tour's room, a cozy "den" with light furniture, next to which stood out the bright red upholstery of the couch. In this room, I - the longest in the class -, under the influence of a temporary insanity, succumbed to persuasion to perform "The Dying Swan." And here Tour one evening overcame his shyness and offered to play the main role- the role of the famous professor Picard, ascending to heaven in a beer barrel, in a play that he wrote himself. Tour on the stage! Tour in front of a thousand eyes! It's incredible.

The reviews for the revue were brilliant. City newspapers have never used such epithets. For us graduates, it was a sensation that Tour performed and showed undoubted abilities in the role of a comedian. We knew what it cost him. But for Tour himself, this victory was much more important than we then suspected. For him it was a test, after which he became a different person. Shyness did not leave him, but from now on he was not so shy of people and firmly entered our company.

That spring, we all went to the neighboring cities for graduation holidays. And we noticed that Tour feels much freer than before. He walked the longest at night, sometimes until dawn. The girls began to glance at him. At the evenings, it happened more than once that some girl chose Tour as her cavalier and made him understand that if he was a man, then he should take her home after the dances. Of course, Tour was a man, but he always found a way to call me for help, as he was afraid to turn into a pillar of salt, left alone with the girl. I would like to know how many respectable ladies, now at a dangerous age, remember my tactlessness with an unkind word. I honestly fulfilled my duty of friendship, did not lag one step behind the Tour and pretended to be a fool when we passed my house and the girl asked:

Wait Arnold, don't you live here?

Having safely delivered the young and disappointed lady to our native harbor, we became ourselves. They wandered the streets in waves of a lilac spirit and spoke with fervor about the wonders of nature and the absurdities of civilization. The tour talked about how good it was for people before the birth of any culture, when they lived in complete harmony with nature. He sorted out our varnished society by cogs and asked: what genuine, natural joys can modern life offer us? We are building a new Tower of Babel, which only complicates things. And even if we create something good, it is only patches on the vices of civilization.

He pointed to the factory chimneys in the eastern part of the city. After a few hours, they will again begin to spew poisonous smoke and steam. In the early morning the workers will enter the workshops lit by electric light and will go out into the wild, gloomy, only in the evening, when the city lights are on. And so for almost a whole year. He compared these people with the mountain dweller Ula Björneby - he is always lively and cheerful, full of strength and health. Yes, when he, Tur, is finally convinced of the correctness of his view, then he will act accordingly, he himself will carry out a "return to nature." He will find a girl who is willing to spend such an experience with him. A girl must be strong and firmly believing in his plan, otherwise she will not dare to break with civilization. He asked my opinion: is it possible to find such a girl? Perhaps, I thought, but how and where is he going to find her?

The tour did what he did more than once later. I went straight and found her. The girl's name was Liv, she was light and slender, like a birch tree. At a graduation party in one of the neighboring cities, I suddenly lost the Tour. Only late in the evening did I manage to find him in a secluded corner. He sat there with his precious find. I approached, coughing cautiously, but he could not see or hear anything. Then Tour excitedly told me that a miracle had happened. He met the chosen one, the only one who was up to his plans. They were introduced by mutual friends. Tour did not dance, but somehow it was necessary to restrain her, and he persuaded the girl to take a walk along the seashore. Here they got to talking. She immediately conquered him, and before he had time to recover, he escaped:

What do you think about returning to nature?

The next second, he was ready to bite off his tongue and spit it out into the waves. Messed up everything! She will mistake him for a madman ...

The girl was silent, then turned to him and sternly said:

But it must be a full, real refund.

Did he hear right? ..

The tour would change himself if now he simply parted with her, as with a pipe dream. They agreed to meet at the next graduation party. But she didn’t come. He grieved terribly. I had to come up with something, somehow help him. One of Tour's comrades borrowed my father's car, and we drove to the city where Liv lived. There, for several hours, like detectives, we sat in the car in front of her house. No one could muster the courage to walk up and hit the doorbell, let alone Tour, who had lost faith in himself again. So we left with nothing. For many days he walked as if in a fever and kept trying to figure out why she no longer showed up. The only thing he achieved was that he met one guy, who, without hiding gloating, said that Liv had another. Tour couldn’t, didn’t want to believe it, but Liv didn’t appear at the graduation parties anymore. And then the streak of holidays ended. And with her school years ended.