FOLLOW YOUR
INNER VOICE
Smoke of a steam-train was joining the clouds on the horizon, creating strange figures. New moon was hanging like a souvenir in the sky.
I was sitting astonished in the lab and was staring at the dropped envelope. I knew sooner or later I would intercept the recipe, because, the fact is, the prohibitions did not work in heaven either.
However, having a magical alcoholic recipe and not using it, - this is even more imprudent than the Dry Law.
In short, I carefully opened the letter hidden for centuries, which should have contained information about the miraculous alcoholic recipe: "If you are not listening to your inner voice, you are an ordinary donkey", - the yellow paper read.
Disappointed, I rumbled the paper in my hand, swallowing it before the vodka.
The first sip went through me as an ice-breaker.
I continued drinking and started filling in my Drinkcard:
"Small euphoria, unexplained joy, distinct sensations though".
I drained the flask and cried out instinctively.
A chicken jumped out of the straw hat thrown at the chair and flew away.
What animals have I not used to taste vodka in my lab: owl, dragon, squirrel, dog, even chameleon, but never a chicken.
It all started looking like a joke made by a cruel illusionist.
Suddenly my head lit like a floor lamp and saw Sador:
with the left hand lifted to the sky, he shouted with a mad face:
"Benjamin, remember, you can either rebound the sorrow, or not. Nothing else matters."
This delusion was not like the others.
It was obvious that the experiment went right!
There was no time to lose - I should find the sorrow rebounder.
I went out in the yard. Rociphalus could not be seen anywhere. Silver foal was tied near the apple tree. As if instructed, it started braying terribly, when it noticed me.
I approached the foal slowly, with my lips close to its cocked ears and whispered:
"Don't you act like a donkey, please".
A steam-train met me at the railway station instead of an express one.
I did not know exactly which epoch I was in, so I muted my smartphone and hid it in the breast pocket.
Smoke of a steam-train was joining the clouds on the horizon, creating strange figures. New moon was hanging like a souvenir in the sky.
Thinking about the upcoming adventures, I could not remove a smile from my face. The carriage was swaying on a rail-track.
ROUGHNESS IS BLUNT, TENDERNESS - SHARP
I looked up at the sky. The planets were seen at a one-hand distance. Everything was so far and therefore so close.
The flask and the stars blazing in the window were swinging synchronized. I was playing with a bead in my hand when my right eye suddenly darkened.
- Well, guess who I am? - I heard from the back and felt a gentle peach scent near my face.
- Ciara, you have not changed at all! - I removed her hands from my eyes and hugged her.
- Are you alone? - she asked and vailed her eyes shyly.
- I am never alone. Would you like to try? - I winked and signaled at the flask.
- No, I have a lot of work tomorrow - she said swelling her lower lip, - but, damn it, pour, - she added.
Ciara and I grew up together. Although she had a fluctuating character, her name was really Ciara (Yes-No in Georgian). I loved her like my own sister, and she fits this role quite well - constantly scolding me for my numerous love affairs.
Similar to every emotional human, the drink soon took her off and she offered me fortune-telling with playing cards. She had a strange deck of cards. She first circled and then charged them and started talking like a blogger at the beginning of her career.
-According to the Aztec calendar, your guardian sign is a chameleon, Benjamin. It is a wily and comfort-loving animal, adapting easily to every situation. To be short, it is a classic Don Juan too.
- I am not a Don Juan, although my name also contains J, my name is Benjamin and I love every single woman!
- Benjamin, you are drunk!
- I'm not drunk, I'm tipsy - I said and hit a fist on my heart for more credibility! At this very moment, people on the playing cards started to get alive slowly, moving and talking. I tilted my head, took a close look, and noticed that I knew them all too well.
My breast, warm with vodka, got even hotter.
I unsnapped a top button and pulled out the heart drawer.
Stacked like stationery, unanswered letters were resting there quietly, waiting for their turn to become a story. I promised I would by all means tell their stories.
The train suddenly turned, and the neighboring carriages got closer. At this moment, a pigeon flew out from the next carriage, carrying an envelope in its clutches, crooning “Angie” by The Rolling Stones. I thought it was calling me. I emptied the flask, kissed Ciara on the forehead, and climbed up on top of the carriage. The pigeon threw the envelope to me and as if applauding - flew away boisterously.
"Roughness is blunt, tenderness - sharp."- read the card.
I looked up at the sky. The planets were seen at a one-hand distance.
Everything was so far and therefore so close.
HAVE FUN WHILE
YOU ARE YOUNG
I felt enormous influx of energy and it seemed like time had stopped. My whole life from birth flashed before my eyes
It's a complete truth when they say the upper, the colder.
As soon as I passed 100 meters, my beard froze.
I took a flask out of my pocket and sipped. I got warmer and noticed I was wearing a zipper jacket now and an aviator's old-fashioned glasses and was soaring in the clouds. Feijoa fruit-shaped dirigibles were hanging in the sky like location pins.
Down there, the train was wriggling like an earthworm, comparing with my prolonged shadow because of the setting sun.
My heart was beating precipitately. I felt an enormous influx of energy and it seemed like time had stopped. My whole life from birth flashed before my eyes - at first, I got frightened, as they say, this is what people see before dying, but soon I realized that the same happens when you are reborn. My brain turned into one big Giffer and was displaying different fragments of my life chaotically, without any logic. Here is my dog, Batura, which I called Natura (a light bulb in Georgian) because of his bright and kind eyes, just to spite the adults. Here is Sador too, my crazy tutor, crouched, holding a phonendoscope to listen to the rustling of plants. I felt an urge to hear his voice, and although it was less likely that he would answer my call, I still examined the smartphone hidden in my breast pocket.
My heart was first bewildered by the astonishment and then deflated like a parachute, -instead of the smartphone, I was carrying a phone handset! An old-fashioned, landline phone handset! A man who can fly in the clouds after drinking vodka should not be surprised by such things, but when the phone started ringing with a troubling, murmuring sound, - I got really tense. I brought the handset to my ear carefully and before I managed to think of anything to say, I heard a familiar voice from the other end of the wire:
- have fun while you are still young.
​
OWNING YOURSELF
IS TRUE JOY
I could hear and see everything. I was observing myself as an open book. I was as self-sufficient, as never.
I was losing altitude slowly, so I opened my imaginary parachute and landed softly as a superhero. I had run out of one ingredient for a new experiment, so I would have to improvise.
I made several notes in the Drinkcard and scouted around the environment courteously. It was a strange place. So peaceful that you could almost see the serenity.
100 meters West from me, a waterfall streamed, imperceptibly puncturing my face with petty drops, foggy glacier was plum-colored on the horizon.
The experience has shown, that the key to success is to maintain internal balance and the mindset, that later is revealed in flavors. That’s why this process is like walking on a razor's edge.
I took a deep breath and concentrated on the recipe as strongly as I could.
I stayed like this for a couple of minutes, then shook the flask and propped vodka so deliciously as if I was starring for a mineral water commercial.
Birds' twittering, locusts' chirping, owl' shoot, the rustling of leaves, and the sound of the waterfall created an unworldly symphony. It's a pity that people perceive the sounds of nature as exotics, - something beautiful and non-cognizable at the same time. I slowly started to catch regularity in this "noise". After playing, each sound was brought to life in my imagination and transferred into a music notebook. I was all ears, controlling everything like an orchestra conductor. The sounds went in and out of me as if I was just an ordinary medium, without the boundaries vanished between me and the outer world.
I could hear and see everything. I was observing myself as an open book. I was as self-sufficient as never.
One of the voices gradually became more noticeable, slowly approaching, shaking modestly like a neon light in my brain:
"True joy only comes from owning yourself," the voice kept repeating.
​
SWEETNESS MELTS
ALL BITTERNESS
Everything around seemed minor and insignificant. I had a feeling as if all the disastrous elements of the world had gathered inside of me, trying to explode.
Today is a big day: I am going to test a new Chacha (homemade vodka) recipe!
First, I measured the liquid density in the test tube, then checked the steam cooling system and noticed that the glass in my hand instantly filled automatically after emptying.
The first distilled drops fell drumming in the flask like grape pips, cracking the vessel. I carefully propped hot vodka and waited for the reaction.
In seconds, I saw my reflection in a waterfall, covering the rock like a curtain: spraying the sparks of fire from my mouth, with a crown on my head, I was feeling the devastating force. Everything around seemed minor and insignificant. I had a feeling as if all the disastrous elements of the world had gathered inside of me, trying to explode.
Dragon's tale knotted in numerous black bows was joining the rail-track and finishing somewhere near my neck. I started walking towards it slowly. It started repeating my movements, as it is typical for reflecting objects, that's why we've been approaching each other at a double speed, as two parts of one whole.
The sky was flashed with lightning here and there and the metallic smell filled the air.
The nature fell silent as well and paused in the expectation of our meeting.
I strained my mind as much as possible.
The brain working at the edge of a burnout.
I am not this dragon! I am not this dragon! - I kept repeating, trying to recall the warmest moments of my life, reached my heart with a hand and felt how the butterflies flew out of my heart and mobbed my body. I bounced the rugged tail of a dragon back with a flask, approached it quickly, patted its chin with my hand and said: "Keep calm Dynosus. You are already home."
As if high voltage stroke though me, - I was shaken and the vision immediately disappeared, one would think it was a hologram and the device was disconnected from a power source.
I was standing in front of a huge tree in the vineyard.
Branches were full of chocolates and truffles with different shapes and colors. I pinched close to my ear, but nothing changed. Then I pinched my arm as well - still nothing. I fetched the branch closer, picked the chocolate, unpacked it and looked at the wrapping paper: “all bitterness will be carried down by the sweetness” - it read.