I fell in love with a girl Karina in first grade. Her bows competed in size with a bunch of flowers on the “first time in first grade” line, her last name began with the letter “A” and the magazine of our first “b” opened with her, she was such a smart and beautiful exemplary girl - just a sight. Did not have time to love, we were children.

I fell in love with a girl (no, already a girl) Sveta in the sixth (or seventh?) Class. And I'm not alone. The boys turned into boys, and among the usual girls, miraculously suddenly transformed into girls, Svetlana stood out with subtle features, a sharp figure (the first level in gymnastics) and a lively tongue. And she danced the cobwebs at parties not at a “pioneer” distance, but actually in an embrace. I did not have time to fall in love; acute sexual traction is not enough for this.

Girl Lucy studied in another school, but lived in our neighborhood. She did not go out to play in the yard as a child, did not render and did not accept tokens from the guys, becoming older. Occasionally in the evenings, in fine weather, she went for a walk with her mother, and her head was always wrapped up in a scarf or kerchief. The fathers of the families frowned, tears drew eyes to the mothers, and we, the children, still did not understand what the terrible words “leukemia, chemotherapy, oncology” said in a whisper, and why they so often, at the height of the school year, suddenly break down and go to Moscow, then to other major cities.

But sometimes miracles happen, and love (in this case, parental) is stronger than death. When I returned from the army, Lucy, a high school student, a tall, stately, white-skinned, chubby, large, one might even say full of that pleasant fullness, attracting the eyes of guys, forcing her eyes wide open and eagerly fluttering her nostrils, proudly shook her black hair , marching around the yard to the store and back.

It was in the autumn, a few days later I left, recuperated at the institute and continued my studies. In dreams, dreams of a guy without a girl, there was a place for Lucy.

In the spring, after conducting a real reconnaissance operation to extract information, having bought a chic bouquet of flowers and a luxurious gift album, I arrived home on an inappropriate day. Uninvited guest appeared on her birthday. The blessing was friendly with her brother, and our parents talked not only with shuffling. He was received cordially and hospitably; Lyuska akhala, turning the pages of the album, was embarrassed, listening to my compliments, enthusiastically told where she wanted to go after graduation. And I have a plan, how to make dreams come true ...

Lucy goes to college, begins to live in a hostel. Naturally, I, as a countryman and a good acquaintance, help her with everyday and educational issues. I introduce the nuances of studying at the university, living in a hostel and orientation in a big city. I invite you to the cinema and theater, attend concerts and exhibitions, just wander the streets, hand in hand, enjoying the unity of souls in a crowded crowd. Plucking up courage, kissing her for the first time. On the cheek. She is surprised, but not offended. It seemed to her that I saw in her a friend, not a friend. He strokes my face with a warm palm, presses my nose to my nose. In me everything turns over! She really loved me ?! When did she have time?

Further, everything is like in a fairy tale after the lines "and they began to live and live happily and make good." A cozy home where, after an interesting job, a loving wife and pranksters meet me. Hiking on the nature. Sit down with friends. Music in the evenings. Passionate nights. Long and happy life. And we will die in one day, also in fairy tales, somewhere after the fortieth congress of the CPSU.

Ah, dreams, dreams, where is your sweetness? Lucy did not pass the competition, she entered an extramural correspondence in another city, and she got married there. A few years later I got married. And the fresh wind of the changes that came soon, which became a hurricane of the dashing 90s, swept us across the boundless country.

Last summer, a guest with my parents' children, I happened to meet with Lucy ...or rather, a solid lady Lyudmila Fedorovna, who recently married her son and preoccupied with the search for suitable work for a junior senior student ... no, still a pretty girl Lyuska ... flashed in her eyes the same naughty sparkles that a quarter of a century ago ... and the smile is the same, turning the soul.

Milo chatted for a quarter of an hour, exchanged mobile numbers. I started writing SMS to her from time to time, congratulating her on holidays. And she had a very curious manner: not a text message in response, but a voice message. Before that, I am pleased to listen to Lucy, her clear, sonorous, slightly embarrassing voice, on which the years passed could not be imprinted. I listen to these messages one, second, third time ... and again the soul is in a tangle ... so sweet to dream, how could it be, if everything turned out differently.

I fell in love with the girl Lucy. But he did not have time to love enough to go after her to another city and not give it to anyone.

Or maybe I have not had time to stop loving her?

P. S. Soon the holiday - the day of St. Valentine. What is not a reason for congratulations? I'll write her a text message. I listened to the reply voice message several times. Suddenly I will hear what they have been implicitly dreaming about for many years? ..