- Start! The judge commanded, and my heart stopped. Time has gone, but in a completely different dimension. For an athlete who stepped on a rock, it flew, for me it stopped, like frozen ice at this time of the New Year.

The final of the climbing tournament, and the last participant began to climb up. Artificial rock, height 22 meters, here, outside the city, personified the apex of mountain ranges. All boys who fall ill with this risky sport dream of climbing such dreams.

One of these guys, very young, now confidently passed the sports track. He seeks to overcome it in minimal time, his desire to win is passed on to me and to those who support him. The crowd next to me, lifting their heads, observes that grace with which he conquers meter by meter, goes over the hooks and rises up - above all. The demonstration of speed and confidence makes an impression on the fans, they scream, throw clues and applaud enthusiastically when another difficult stretch is over.

The climber was at the very top, and suddenly, as if in mockery of this dwarf hill, performs an unprecedented, crazy action. He unhooks the lower insurance, depriving himself of safety, and is left alone with the rock! Climber will pass the track without insurance! The audience gasped, someone applauded, on his own appreciating the trick of the boy, I had a cramped inside. I felt a cold, stabbed like a knife in my back.

22 meters! Nothing, compared with Everest, but enough to fall off the ground, never to rise from it.

I realized that in a split second. Even earlier than others had time to assess the height, the risks, get scared or scream enthusiastically.

I can't admire. Upstairs - Vlad, my son.

His risk and his madness seize me. The palms were sweating, and the gaze was fixed on the fearless figure above. Shivering in the eyes, a lump in the throat and the heartbeat in time with each centimeter of rock that Vlad passed. I want to shout at him, but I’m afraid to divert his utmost attention. I know what I can lose from this height!

Finally, the distance is over, and a wave of applause stunned me. Vlad jumped on the long-awaited land, the judge recorded the result. The best way to pass the track! The crowd of fans roared in greeting, welcoming the champion. I'm burning with anger.

- Bravo, Vlad! - I heard from somewhere behind. The voice is clear, high, filled with admiration and tenderness. Such a voice will always attract the attention of men. Adults and held like me.

He then made me turn in the direction of its owner.

In two meters, she stood behind me. A creature with blue eyes filled with heavenly purity and an enthusiastic brilliance. In a short sports jacket, despite the December cold, the same short skirt, from which slender, amazingly graceful legs grew, this miracle slammed into the small palms of my son's victory. The girl looked happy - of course, she did not have to experience what I did. The winter wind waved her blond bangs, revealing a pretty face with a chiseled nose and a swollen lower sponge. Low and exactly the same age as my son. Something pounded inside me, but in a different way, not like minutes ago. It was as if I was lost while I was considering this girl. The blonde in a white jacket, she looked like a snowflake that flew from the sky. Supporting such a cheerleader was a great bonus to Vlad for his stupid risk. Actually, these antics are designed for such fans.

Everyone, including this girl, rushed to congratulate the winner, I follow them. I plow through the crowd to evaluate the champion's performance. Father's score. I push everyone to the side, finally, I face a smiling guy who has just played to the public with his life.

- Dad, how? - He noticed me, not dropping a smile from his face.I am going to give him my impressions. I smacked to weigh a heavy slap, gathering all the anger and nerves in this swing. The hand is already in flight suddenly stumbles upon something elusive and stops, intercepted by a thin, but confident handle. I turn aside, just now noticing HER near. A miracle with heavenly eyes is trying to keep me from reprisal. My hand immediately weakened, lost strength from her touch.

- Dad, meet you. This Maya - my girlfriend - calmly, with joy in his voice says Vlad. She extends her hand for me to shake. The warmth of the maiden palm pierces me, and I feel how my condition is changing. Snowflakes are warm? I look into her eyes and notice that her enthusiastic eyes have already become completely different. Stubborn, how often my son. But at the same time with a perceptible female devilry.

... We drink tea, warmed by the warmth of the home living room after the winter frost. Immediately after the completion of the solemn part of the tournament, the three of us went to our home to celebrate the victory and the acquaintance of the father with the girl son. A huge apartment in the center of the city, where Vlad and I live together. After my wife died, women were rarely here. And the son of his son here has not yet brought. Maya, who was sipping tea and answering my rare questions, was the first with whom Vlad introduced me. I, taking advantage of the right of the boy's father, carefully considered her. They studied together in the same course. From talking about school, And the prospects smoothly moved to plans for the future. I asked how the young couple is going to celebrate the New Year.

“Dad,” said Vlad, after a brief pause. - I am voicing your request again.

Damn rock climbing. Vlad has been doing it since childhood, and nothing has ever fascinated him more. He was ready to climb the rocks around the clock, giving his body and soul to the tops, participated in gatherings, competitions, traveling to the mountains within the country during the holidays. Making me nervous when he did not call back for a long time, and then tremble when his name is glowing on his mobile. I thought his hobby was dangerous. I was afraid, although I tried never to show my fear. I raised him as a man.

Now his request again. Already half a year I hear her.

- I said "No! - My decision was adamant.

“You know how important this is for me,” Vlad boiled over. When he wants something, he goes to the end. I would have smiled, he reminds me so much of me, but now is an irrelevant case for fatherly admiration.

“It is important for me to be THERE,” the son insisted. “I never asked you that.”

- Are you on an expedition? - Maya asked Vlad. A wave of her eyelashes and an interested look at me in anticipation of a change in her father's decision.

My son asked me to sponsor his team’s trip to the Himalayas, where they were going to make any mountaineer’s dream - the ascent to Everest by the New Year. It remained two weeks before the holiday. Vlad from school years was ill with this purpose. Is there no safer goal?

“On the expedition,” Vlad Maya answered and continued, turning to me. “Do you feel sorry for this money?”

He asked thirty thousand dollars for all the expenses of the team, and he knew that I could afford to make such a gift for the upcoming twenty years of my son. But it will not be!

“You're already an adult,” I said harshly. - It's time to pursue a career, but in your head the devil knows what. What is Everest? - I was harsh. - No, do not argue. And next year, really get ready for departure, just not to the mountains, but to study in Europe. How do you like England?

Vlad snorted in frustration. I looked at the reaction of Maya, or rather, just at Her. What a beautiful girl this was.

- Alexander G., - in a polite tone, but with notes of perseverance she turned to me. - Vlad, as you rightly noted, is already really an adult and can choose his future.

Well, and this princess decided to teach me. Something still made me confused by her remarks. But I quickly got ready.

“His future has already been chosen, girl,” I snapped. - Study in Europe and a serious position in his father's business. I was preparing my son for precisely this, and not for wandering in the mountains.- And added ...