seriously trained we had a total clownery. Therefore just in case I mentally reconciled myself to my future one-day role of Cinderella.
Finally Sensei and Nikolai Andreevich came closer to us. I thought that looking at our attempts Sensei will turn this bet into a next big joke and everything would be over with it. But when he came up and seriously asked, “So, let’s begin?” my heart sank. Being afraid of showing my fear in front of my friends I started to talk to Sensei with lips trembling either from fear or from cold water, “Sensei, I can’t… I’d better go to tidy up at once.”
Sensei calmly replied to me, “Don’t give up. Keep off your fear. Take away all the doubts. Believe since it’s said ‘Lively faith brings everything’.”
I looked confused at him with a silent question, “How can I do it?” But Sensei answered looking at my eyes, “Just relax. Don’t think about your breath. Your task is to achieve a deep state of meditation with a minimum of thoughts. Concentrate on the count from one to ten. You will stand 10 seconds, will you?”
“Well, if it’s just ten seconds, I will stand easily,” I replied with proud for my such a small ‘result’.
“So why do you worry? Count to ten and emerge. And don’t count quickly like 1,2,3… but slowly, with pauses, count three-digit figures like 501, 502, 503 etc. Is it clear?”
“Yes.”
These words not only calmed me down, I got even curious. I have never done before a meditation under the water. Strangely enough but my curiousity turned to firm confidence that everything would be alright. And this feeling grew from some my internal belief and absolute trust to Sensei. It wasn’t trust actually but some hidden knowledge of my soul about his Essence which was expressed only intuitively, on the level of perception.
“So be it, I will dive,” my person thought after a range of sharp breathes in and out. The same was done by my first ‘opponent’ Eugene. Getting ready to start, when it was counted ‘three’ I breathed in with all my chest as much as I could and submerged at the same time with Eugene under the water. Sensei put his hand on my head in the regions of Sahasrara (the seventh chakra) and pushed it a bit, so I thought that he didn’t want to let me emerge before time. Instead of expected panic, I relaxed and began to count slowly to ten according to the advice of Sensei. Freely fulfilling this task I decided to sit a few more seconds under the water in order to add some more time to my ‘score’. But when I started to count again, I felt that some strong hands, obviously of Sensei, draw me out of the water. Frankly speaking, I was even a bit upset as I could stay there a bit longer. Only ten seconds?! Emerging to the surface I immediately began to express my indignation, “Why? I’m ready, let’s continue… I can stay longer…”
But when I glanced at the others, I didn’t understand anything. Everybody stood in some dumb amazement, looking at me like at an alien who came from another Universe. Eugene and Stas were among the guys and also didn’t take their eyes from my indignant person in some strange amazement. I even thought that maybe they didn’t dive at all, maybe something happened? Only Sensei kept Olympian calm.
“That’s enough of you,” he smiled good-natured. “You have already stayed ten minutes under the water.”
“Who?! Me???” my person grinned thinking that it was a joke.
“Well, well, everything can happen in life,” Stas uttered scratching his head. “Just it’s a pity that not everybody can get this ‘everything’.”
“You see how all of them are anxious, especially some boasters,” Sensei waved towards Eugene who opened his mouth and stared wide-eyed, either for fun or really in surprise as if he was stricken by something. “Now someone will have to clean everything and to turn into Cinderella.”
Eugene seemed to ‘come to himself’ after these words, comically chattered with his teeth and put his jaw to its normal state helping himself with a hand. After that he uttered in his usual joking voice, “Cleaning everything is not a problem! But we didn’t make an agreement that I would have to change my male sex.”
Stas began to ‘quiet’ him launching a new wave of laugh.
“’Cinderella’ is just a sort of individual entrepreneurial activity when you have to do a maximum of work in a minimal time and by the way for free...”
“For free, for free,” Eugene bantered him, “Why are you so happy? We dove together, so we will have to clean together, Cinderella number two.”
“Oh, no, we have the only Cinderella on the staff,” Stas objected to him with laughter.
“So you have decided to become a Fairy, a tax inspector of cleaning so to say. You are a monster!”
The guys began to joke and at the same time they seemed to recover from their stupor.
“Sensei, what have you done to her?” Volodya was first who asked about the matter.
“Nothing special, I changed her time perception, her ezoosmos.”
“Ezoosmos? What is that?” Victor inquired.
“I will tell you one day,” Sensei waved his hand. “So what, our bet is over, let’s go to bring our camp to the order...”
“To separate the wheat from the tares, and the cutlets from the flies,” Stas completed the answer of Sensei.
“It’s not possible that she has spent ten minutes under the water!” Eugene was ironically indignant, looked at the shore and probably was scared by the forthcoming work. “Noone can live so long without air!”
Sensei uttered in a fit of temper, “You people, I’m fed up with your lack of faith! You have seen it with your own eyes.”
“Aha, but maybe she had some respiratory tube under the water. It’s cheating! That’s a pure trick!”
Sensei bowed tired his head to the side and grinned, “Certainly, it’s cheating! You were cheated that very day when you came into the world.”
Everybody laughed. Sensei turned back and began to go out of the water together with Nikolai Andreevich.
“Go, go,” Stas hurried Eugene with laughter.
“Yes, my Ober-Sturban-Fuhrer-Frau Fairy,” Eugene reported without spirit and having sighed added with assumed sadness in his voice, “We, Cinderellas, always have such a dog’s life. Every day we get only penalties.”
All the others also moved on to the shore. It came to the whole torrent of words. I asked my friends whether I really had stayed ten minutes under the water. And they, in their turn, ignored my questions and asked me whether I had any additional respiratory tubes. So all together we chattered so noisily like seagulls when their seat is disturbed by an unexpected visitor. Finally nobody understood anything.
We started the general cleaning works in our camp. Though Eugene comically made himself out the main character in this ‘individual entrepreneurial activity’, he cunningly avoided any work only pretending to take part in it. However he made us so laugh by his jokes and tricks that we didn’t even notice when we quickly cleaned all together the whole territory of the camp. And when we started to mock at him that he actually didn’t work he replied with a significant air that any fool can work but in his opinion the most important is to manage professionally the process. All of us expressed ‘thanks’ to him and we have thown him all together to the water.
After such a ‘solemn’ finishing of our ‘work feats’ we began to summarize our losses. As our food supply significantly diminished, we decided to visit a market. Because these ‘flying robbers’ ate a little but celebrating a ‘big party on the island of civilization’ they mixed a lot of food, including cereals, with the sand. They have done it so meticulously as if they had had here a great disco party.
When we prepared a list of food, the senior guys decided to take a car. However, Sensei suggested not to use the cars but to organize a ‘small jogging’ along the coast. Nobody objected to this idea, of course. Those who were very hungry took some crackers. The others decided to wait till the food would arrive, all the more Sensei used to say