Prologue

Yurka never thought that he would get involved in such a strong virtual friendship.

Not a day, not even two hours could have passed, so that they and Crocodile Gena would not exchange a pair of stebeches. Old Kroko was an ironic, Yuri, all the more, and the topics for communication were themselves. Actually, it was one and the same theme - the mocking shoveling of the universe upside down - which was raised every time in a new light and new circumstances.

They met by chance. Soon the day already seemed to be lost, if in the morning a portion of fresh poison was not found in the mail agent. Yurka could be with Old Kroko himself, not faking others, not being afraid to look this way or that, so Kroko was as important to him as air. He considered him a model of a clear male mind, imitated his speech, his style of thought, and saw that Kroko was imitating him. His branded frazochki - "I got out of my mother and realized that life was too long", or "yes, senile mutter" - entered the language of Jyrki, as "hello" or "bye".

They knew a lot about each other, except for one thing: who they are and what their names are. Yuri registered on My World especially for Kroko, calling himself Cheburashka; Kroko remade him in Che Burashka, in Commander Che, and in these images they knew each other. The masks made their communication gambling like an ingenious game. Yurka tried many times unsuccessfully to expose Kroko, and that one was his; once they confessed this to each other, and then for the first time Yuri spoke half seriously about the meeting of two brothers in mind.

Of course, he had some guesses. Kroko was devilishly intelligent, witty, educated - Yuri had to read Wikipedia and a lot of other things in order to stay in the subject - and to himself he decided that Croco was older, but still young, that he was about thirty years old, that he was a university technician, that he is not married and wears glasses in a small thin frame. This portrait was painted in Yurkina's head so vividly that Yurka saw bespectacled Kroko as alive.

Their friendship grew stronger, the need for each other grew stronger - and finally they decided to meet. Kroko lived far away in St. Petersburg, but Yurk was not embarrassed, and he firmly decided to go - all the more so because his own aunt lived in St. Petersburg, which had long since been time to visit. He last saw her four years ago; then she stayed with them with a schoolgirl’s daughter, Yurkina’s cousin, whom he remembered as a desperate creature with disheveled curls, an angel’s face, and an unimaginable wind in his head. Dashkin smokes did not give in to any description, and looking at her, everyone thought the same thing: what a beauty she grows, and what a complicated thing - a transitional age. Yurka kept with her sternly, overcoming the affection that her little face and her curls caused in him, and they never found a common language. But he loved Aunt Katya - and he was going to Peter with ease in his soul, anticipating at once two pleasant meetings: with her and with Kroko.

Act 1

The meeting of the brothers in mind was scheduled for 11.00, in the cafe "Meeting" at the Vitebsk station.

It was not an ordinary meeting, banal, like a chupa chups - “Oh, are you Kroko? Hello, how are you?"; it was a meeting of the real Kthukhodavs, as Old Fangard Kroko said. The persuasion was as follows: they had to get to know each other themselves, and they had half an hour for this - from 11. 00 to 11. 30. If not, the next two would be double; then, if necessary, double three. The fourth, as you know, poboku, and if not - then no luck. So it was decided, and it was a complete bailout - quite in the spirit of Kroko, Gen Genich, Old Hari Tooth, for a lot of fun.

Yurka put on a red T-shirt with Che Guevara, and on his head - a cap with chebrashim ears, bought on the Arbat. He had been sitting in a cafe for five minutes and was looking around, looking around for something crocodile, but had not yet seen anything.At some point, his gaze unconsciously focused on the boyish physiognomy — not because she could be related to Kroko, but because she was pretty, like a young god. “Ugh, it's a girl,” Yurika suddenly realized, “sheared for a boy”; and the next moment he froze, because his face seemed very familiar to him.

He stared at it for a minute, then got up, walked over ... "It cannot be ..."

- Dasha?

The physiognomy turned to him - and stretched out, throwing brown sparks to Yurk.

- Yu-yu? Oh, yes, you are here today! ... Well, well! That's the meeting!
- Do you mind, miss? - Dasha was sitting alone, and Yuri sat down at her table, smacking her cheek. Dasha smelled of spring and hyacinths.
- I do not mind, Mrs! Make yourself comfortable! True, I am waiting for someone, but ... nothing will be done to this by someone. Sit in peace, brother!
- Thank you! ... Dashka, but answer, like a brother: what have you done with yourself?
- What? - Dasha innocently rounded brown eyes. - Since when have you signed up for your relatives, if you are a cousin?
- You do not leave the answer. Where are your curls?
- Why? I do not go, you want to say?

Yurka wanted to say something impish, but he could not, because Dasha really looked stunning. He even trembled inside, so she was beautiful. “My God, because she already has ... how much? Eighteen? ”He didn’t like it when girls cut their hair short, and he used to count Dashkin’s curls perhaps the most valuable thing in her; but the big-eyed boy with a fresh peach-like face was so obviously good that ...

- No I do not want to. I give up, Dasha: you look one hundred and ten. But I would kill you if you cut off the curls in front of me.
- So what's the deal? Kill me. I've been waiting for someone to kill me for a long time. From the very moment I got out of my mother, I realized that life had dragged on ...
- What? What did you say?
- Yes, yes, senile murmur ... Why?

But Yuri got up, feeling cold, and stared at Dashkin with a blue carriage and Crocodile Gena playing the harmonica.

- What are you doing? Have a conscience: so shamelessly examine the bust of a sister ... that is, a cousin ... Oh!

For a few seconds they looked at each other at T-shirts, - and then their hands simultaneously lifted into the air, simultaneously poked each other with their index fingers, and their mouths simultaneously spoke:

- Croco?
- Cheburashka?

Act 2

That was incredible. It was impossible to believe. Dasha and Yuri were sitting in a cafe, then they went where they were looking, trying to align themselves with Kroko and Che; the images of the agitated Dashka and the wise Kroko, the jovial Che and the boring brother were so divorced in their minds that they didn’t want to be brought together.

At first, it was a long time to find out “how it really is”: overcoming the constraint, Yuri and Dasha asked each other about life “in real life”, plunging into it greedily, like Uncle Scrooge in gold. They talked, listened, interrogated, called out, interrupted without dismantling the roads, and came to their senses only when they moved away from the train station to six metro stations, and the clock was half past.

- ... Ely-burns! I promised aunt Kate that I would be with you at three.
- Wow! Do not worry: to arrive on time - bad form ... Hello, mom? You do not worry, I met Yurik here, we walked a little ... What? No, not a fight. And why should we fight? Well, we are cultured people, moms ... we are at war with cultural methods: a pinch of strychninich in a cup there, or a capella curare ...

Two hours later, Yurka, who ate as much as he wouldn’t have eaten in three lives, fought back from tea with cakes. Dasha helped him - grabbing her hand, dragged her into her room, telling her mom "I don't need scraps of a bursting brother ..."; having closed the door, she climbed onto her bed, curled up like a cat, stretched out her bare bare legs, and looked sweetly at Iurcu:

- Well, alive? Or ...