Funny Children's Stories. Bilingual Edition

Когда он мне так сказал, то я понял сразу же, что это не так-то просто. Не так-то это просто крикнуть ни с того ни с сего «побежали!». Надо было, оказывается, как-то собраться, а потом уже крикнуть «побежали!».

И когда я собрался и крикнул «побежали!», то никто даже и не подумал бежать. Я стал спрашивать всех, почему никто не бежит. А Антон меня спросил, а почему, мол, ты сам-то не бежишь.

Тут только я сообразил, что всё делаю неправильно. Антон, когда кричал своё «побежали!», сам бросался бежать. А я, когда крикнул, остался стоять на месте. А раз я остался стоять на месте, так поэтому никто никуда и не побежал.

Тогда я крикнул ещё раз «побежали!» и сам бросился бежать. Но опять никто не захотел за мной бежать. И мне стало ужасно неловко. И мне показалось, что и Антону стало неловко за меня. И всем было неловко.

Я не знал, что можно было поделать. Наконец я сказал Антону, чтобы он сам командовал. И Антон, мне кажется, был доволен, что я так сказал, и он тут же предложил поиграть в футбол.

Все, конечно, согласились с ним. Но Антон почему-то у меня лично спросил, согласен ли я. И я ответил, что согласен. Тогда Антон крикнул «побежали!», и все бросились за ним. И первым за ним бежал я. И у меня в голове больше не крутилось никаких вопросов.

Anton

In our yard, there is a boy. His name is Anton. He is one year older than I am. On the one hand, there is nothing special about him. But on the other hand, all the boys treat him differently from everyone else.

For example, if he is not outside, then everyone asks about him and wonders where Anton is and why he has not shown up. When he shows up, all the boys immediately gather around him. Once, when I decided not to do that, I found myself alone. So in the end I had no choice but to join everybody.

For whatever reason, it is up to Anton to decide what we do and what games we play. If he says “Let's go!” then everyone follows him. Not everyone knows where he is running to. Nevertheless, if he says “Let's go!” then everyone, immediately, and without thinking, starts to run after him.

This does not mean that no one else has good ideas. But if someone does have an idea, this “someone” will most likely ask Anton what he thinks about it. And Anton decides whether this idea is good or not. And the same question keeps spinning around in my head all the time, “Why is Anton always the one in charge? Why is it always him and only him?”

Once I told Anton that it would be a good idea to play soccer. And I have to say that Anton often agrees with me when I suggest something. And I think I know why.

Anton has a sister, Lisa. She and I are in the same class. And once Anton told me that Lisa mentioned something about me. He did not tell me exactly what she said. But I think that Lisa told him something good about me. Because after that, Anton started to be much nicer to me. Well, he began to take notice of me. Before, he just never noticed I was there.

So, when I suggested playing soccer, Anton seemed to agree with me. But before he had the opportunity to yell out his usual “Let's go!” I asked him why he was always the one to take charge. Maybe I should be the one to yell out “Let’s go!”, especially since it was my idea to play soccer in the first place.

And I thought Anton would never agree to that. Because so far, no one other than Anton had ever yelled “Let’s go!” And I was ready to argue with him and tell him that it was unfair that he and only he was always in charge. But to my surprise, Anton was very indifferent to my suggestion. He did not bother to argue with me but simply told me to go ahead and take charge.

Immediately after he told me this, I realized that it was not so easy. It was not easy to suddenly yell out “Let’s go!” Apparently, you sort of had to prepare yourself and only then yell “Let’s go!”

So, I readied myself and shouted, “Let’s go!” and no one even thought to run. I started to ask everyone why they did not run. But Anton asked me why I, myself, did not run.

And it was only then that I realized that I was doing everything wrong. Anton, when he yelled out his “Let’s go!” ran himself. But when I yelled, I had remained still in the same spot. And since I remained standing in the same spot, no one ran either.

Then I again yelled, “Let’s go!” and started to run. But again, no one followed me. And I felt very embarrassed, and it seemed to me that even Anton felt embarrassed for me. And everyone felt embarrassed.

I did not know what I could do. Finally, I told Anton that he should be the one in charge. And I think Anton was glad to hear me say that, and he right away suggested that we would play soccer.