failed to pass on his gift to any of the pupils.
″Terra! What can be done in this case? ″ I asked the planet in my mind.
″I was looking through your ancient myths. There was such a country as India. So, there, to open up a telepathic gift, a man was drilled a small hole on his forehead and washed the inner space. In doing so the gift of telepathy usually opened. Then the hole was covered with a wooden plug. This gift is connected with the presence of space under the cranial bone on the forehead. It works like a resonator and an antenna. If this space is filled with slime, a person cannot accept thoughts.″
″Terra, do I have to drill heads of all my friends? ″
″It is not necessary to drill. You can try to dry this place with your hands. Let’s try at least on your friend. Maybe, it will work out?″
″But how?″
″Put your hands on Zina’s forehead, and I will help with the energy flows.″
″Zina! Let me try to transfer to you my gift of telepathy!″
″Will you be able to do it?″
″I don’t know, but maybe I will.″
I put my hands on my friend’s forehead and felt the heat flow through my hands.
″Oh! You’ll fry my brain!″ Zina squealed, reeling back to the side.
″Hang on a little longer! Something seems to be working out!″
Mentally I suddenly saw the one cavity in Zina’s forehead. The fluid in this cavity under the influence of the warmth was thickening and settling by layer on the walls. Now the cavity is free.
″Zina, can you hear me? ″ I asked a friend in my mind.
″I hear you! ″She answered with surprise.
″Congratulations on a successful experiment, ″ the planet’s hollow voice sounded in my head.
″Thanks for the advice, ″ I told Terra, ″ and doesn’t Zina hear our talking? ″
″No, because you and I are not talking telepathically, it’s as if I live in you and think by you… And you’ve been able to protect your thoughts from outside interference since childhood. Your beloved Granny has put protection for you.″
″Oh, we played too long, ″ I remembered, ″it’s already noon, it’s time to milk the cows. Fedka will come with cans right now.″
Fortunately, today there were a lot of mushrooms, and the cows did not want to go far. When the cows were round up, Fedka appeared on the cart with buckets and cans. While he was idling, Zina and I were milking cows and pouring milk through butter cloth into cans. We also poured a liter mug for our lunch. Fedka took the milk away, and we again stretched out on the hay, lazily sipping the fresh milk and then having a bite of bread. The milk was thick and smelled of mushrooms. Nice!
″Nice!″ Zinka answered in her mind. ″Do you like Fedka?″
″I don’t know, I didn’t think about this, ″ I said to her mentally too.
″I would marry him, not now, of course, but in a couple of years, when we will be sixteen…″
″I can’t do it yet! ″ I responded″. ″Granny before her death had bequeathed to me taking care of all people around me so that everyone would be happy…″
″It’s good to be happy! But is it possible to make everyone happy?″ Zina was surprised.
″I also think it’s impossible, but I can try it! After all, I promised.″
″Then I will help you!″
″Thank you, Zina! I think I cannot cope with such a difficult task alone.″
″Of course! You and I will make everyone happy!″ Zinka jumped up and deftly flipped the whip. The nearest cow, having pulled up the tail, went away into the woods with fright.
″Let’s go swimming!″ I shouted to Zinka and ran down to the lake.
All the cows were already here, standing knell-deep in the water and drinking. We ran around the lake, take our clothes off, and got into the lake from the other side, where bushes were growing on a cliff. Then we were drying, and I was showing Zina mentally how to protect her skin from mosquitoes. It was so good to lie naked on the grass on a hot day, not afraid of mosquitos and ticks!
In the evening we brought the herd home and gave it to the people on duty for milking. Being tired, I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, and kept thinking how it all worked out so well? Because, we were not allowed to have a school in the village, but for some reason, we obtained the permission. Even the teacher of music and singing came to us. How many folk songs we have learned with her! And nobody tells us what lessons children need. Tomorrow, for example, Zina and I will have a weaving lesson, the day after tomorrow we will take care of kids in a kindergarten. And the next day Pavel Andreevich will show us interesting experiments and teach us physics and mathematics…
″Terra! Why is everything really enjoyable for us? Do you remember how that angry fat man wanted to take all of us away on his spaceship? He’s probably some kind of boss, isn’t he? ″
″Yes, Milochka! This is Anatoliy Semenovich, the head of children’s education in the region. He permitted to open a school in your village.″
″It is surprising because it seemed to me that he didn’t want it. Did he turn out to be so good, and I was wrong, considering him bad? ″
″No, Milochka, you weren’t wrong! He was really against opening a school here, but he had to do it because he didn’t want to tell anyone that he hadn’t been able to bring the children in a spaceship to the city. He didn’t want to be laughed at, so he pretended to approve your idea.″
Oh, how hard it is to predict the actions of adults? It seems to be the enemy in front of you, but he may easily be on your side if he is configured properly.
″Terra! Tell me a little bit about my Granny. When and where was she born, what did she do? ″
″Well, listen! Your Granny was born 989 years ago in a dense forest. Her father and mother were taken away by placers and the grandmother brought her up. And also she had a wonderful friend in childhood who grew up with her.″
″Just like my Zina? ″
″Not exactly! Granny’s friend just looked like a human, but she was the last triad, the one that survived on our planet. Her name was Bess.″
″So, the dryads exist? ″ I was surprised. ″And I thought they can be encountered only in fairy tales.″
″Dryads still live in the woods. If you want, you can meet them. But you won’t meet Bess. She lives on the planet Masha today, far away from us.″
″And what was Granny’s work? ″
″Granny was a housewife all her life, she had five children and a good loving husband, and she was elected the ruler of the whole planet, and she had to take care of everyone.″
″But if she handed over all her work to me, then should I be the ruler of the planet, too? ″
″That’s right, Mila! You should try to become the ruler of this planet, but you are not ready yet. I’m not talking about the knowledge of the customs of all the people who live on this planet, but you also have to take the exam.″
″Which one, Terra?″
″You have to complete the mission that Granny gave you before her death. Understand why the hopeless sadness walks around the earth and how to get rid of it.
″But here, in our village, I do not see any sadness. In my opinion, everyone is happy.″
″Yes,