n the morning, I woke around seven o'clock because somewhere nearby seagulls shouted disgustingly. I heard the guys’
conversation, as they had left their tent upon hearing the noise.Stas said to Eugene in a sleepy voice, “It's so early, but Sensei is already fishing. I wonder what he is going to catch from the seacoast, moreover with a fishing rod. Let’s go and check.”
My curiosity became much stronger than sweet dreaming. I hastened to get out of my tent. Sensei peacefully sat on a folding chair with a fishing rod in his hands. Nearby stood a three-liter jar half filled with water. A few seagulls ran around him shouting indignantly. When we came up, the seagulls flew up and hung in the air near Sensei, examining us from above with curiosity.
“Sensei are you fattening up the seagulls?” Stas grinned, looking at the empty jar.
“Not exactly. They are teaching me how to catch fish,” Sensei answered without any shadow of confusion.
We took it as a joke and laughed.
“Why didn't you wake us earlier? We could have brought a fishing net …”
“Oh, forget about the fishing net. I just wanted some fish soup.”
Just for fun, Eugene demonstratively glanced into the empty jar, turning it around in the light, and said with humor, “Yes, the soup will be rich with such fish.”
At this moment, the seagull that flew above us dropped a small fish, which fell right next to Sensei’s feet. Everybody laughed.
“Look, Sensei! There's a fish for you,” Eugene said with humor, putting it into the jar of water.
Volodya and Victor came up and asked, “What's going on?”
“You see, Sensei with his fishing rod made even the seagulls feel pity,” Eugene said. “They were already tired of watching this empty jar.”
We laughed loudly again. Sensei said smiling, “Alright, those who laugh most at me will scale the fish for the fish soup and for the grill, too.”
We roared with laughter, imaging cutting this tiny fish while a big crowd waited for it. Sensei laughed at us, and then said, “Well, you storytellers, pull this out…”
He pointed to a thick fishing line that was fastened with one end to the leg of a chair, while the other end was deep in the water. The guys started to pull. We were shocked when we found a pair of sturgeons about 4 kilos each and about 8 huge flatfishes. Everyone exchanged glances in bewilderment and asked almost in unison, “All this with just a fishing rod?!”
Sensei smiled. “Of course, there was no fishing rod. I just got up a bit earlier and saw that some fishermen had come in from a fish-factory to check their nets. So I thought, by the time I get there, they’ll be coming back. So I went and bought some fish. Sitting with a fishing rod was a complete waste of time,” the Teacher complained with regret.
As we carried the fish to scale them, Eugene told Stas half in jest, “Yeah, sure he went. The only way to the fish factory is seven kilometers on foot.”
“But maybe he went by car,” I suggested my version.
“No, he didn’t. First, it is next to our tent, we would have heard everything. And second, there are no traces on the sand.”
While the other guys woke up, this story acquired many more mysterious details. Sensei’s mood was excellent that day. After a light breakfast, he wanted to jog to the end of the peninsula. We left Kostya and Tatyana as volunteers on duty, and in order not to be without dinner, Nikolai Andreevich was also left in the camp.
On our way, we stopped a couple times to do warmups with intensive muscle loading. Training in nature, and with such a beautiful background, couldn't be compared with a stuffy gym. Here, as they say, the soul and the body merged in a single impulse.
Having almost reached the end, we saw a real colony of seagulls. Our company kept to the coast so as not to disturb their calm. Nevertheless, many seagulls persistently shouted and whirled above us trying to frighten unexpected visitors off their nests.
After a while, the most beautiful view, skillfully created by nature, opened up to us. At the end of the peninsula, waves met as correct rhombuses in a single chain off the distant coast. Outlines of their wavy edges were emphasized with white sea foam. All this magnificence was supplemented with an unusual play of various color scales of sea water from light turquoise to dark blue. The amazing blueness of the sky with only one whitish cloudlet created a unique masterpiece of this grandiose view.
Sensei gave us fifteen minutes to rest, but he and Volodya sat down in a lotus pose at the edge of the coastline. Some of us, including me, hastened to follow his example, placing ourselves beside them. An easy breeze blew. Coastal waves created a melodious noise, which was supplemented with the calls of seagulls reaching from a distance. Either because of contemplation of this divine beauty or because of Sensei’s presence, my lotus flower began to increase its activity, distributing pleasant flows all over my body. For a short period of time, such an unusual feeling appeared in me as if I were dissolved in all this surrounding beauty and became an integral part of it. The sensation was almost instantaneous, but it was unforgettably tremendous. Sensei interrupted this state of bliss when he announced, "Let's return."
The sun was already burning. Sensei told us that, to make our way easier, we should run waist-deep in water. It appeared to be incredibly difficult. Volodya and Sensei rushed forward like two torpedoes overtaking each other. Thanks to their competition, our company could cheat a little: someone ran knee-deep and someone ran ankle-deep in water. But when we finally got to camp, only the cheaters, me among them, sprawled out in weakness on the sand. Sensei and Volodya continued to radiate their inflammatory optimism, which seemed to come from nowhere. After this marathon running, they suggested to the crowd that we play water polo. To our great surprise, the senior guys agreed with pleasure. But other ailing bodies dragged themselves along to help with cooking lunch.
Being busy with cooking, I observed Sensei. He laughed, was naughty, and rushed with a ball like all other guys. He was absolutely the same as others, a young, strong, funny, and healthy guy. On the one hand he was an ordinary person... But everybody who was present saw in him something special, some charm, found some features that attracted them by simplicity and at the same time by their refinement. His soul was like a many-sided diamond that each of us admired at his own angle of sight, at his own angle of refraction of internal light. But in fact, nobody could penetrate him up to the end, nobody could understand who he actually was.
When the guys, at last, calmed down at the hottest part of the day, our camp fell into a profound sleep. I woke up at about four o'clock, and I awakened Tatyana to help me cook something tasty for our big group. When we got out of the tent, I saw Sensei sitting on the sand with Nikolai Andreevich, talking about something. Sensei was explaining something, making three little hills from sand. After their conversation, Nikolai Andreevich and Sensei stood up and slowly walked in our direction. The first hill suddenly began to move and a pigeon, having appeared from nowhere, flew out of it. I gave a start from the unexpectedness of the action. I couldn't believe my eyes. Tatyana dropped a potato and opened her mouth with surprise. Then the second hill began to move, and a pigeon again flew out of it. Sensei and Nikolai Andreevich only turned back carelessly, continuing the conversation, not even confused. The third hill began to move, and a sparrow jumped out of it. Everything grew cold with fear inside of me. The sparrow did not fly away as the pigeons did, it jumped following Sensei. Having run forward towards him, it rumpled its feathers, spread its wings wide apart, and began to twitter loudly as if being indignant over something. Sensei stopped, observing the desperate twittering of this ruffled sparrow, and then spoke to it with a smile, “Well, let it be according to your wish.”
After saying these words, he bent down and put some sand on the sparrow, making a hill a bit higher than the first one. I stood up with curiosity. But the following moment finally nailed me down to a chair. As soon as Sensei turned away, the hill began to move and a black kite of an impressive size flew out of it. It immediately flew away to the peninsula.
“Where are my thanks?” Sensei asked in surprise and made a helpless gesture, following the kite with his eyes. “Oh, as usual…”
Sensei hopelessly waved his hand and went to his tent for cigarettes. Tatyana and I sat numb with fear. When Nikolai Andreevich and Sensei were moving away to the beach, I heard the following words, “So was it an illusion of my thoughts?” Nikolai Andreevich asked calmly, as if the question was about ordinary things.
“No. This time it was materialization of my thoughts.”
“Why did my attempts end only with hallucinations?”
“Because you had doubts. For materialization, purity of belief is necessary. It is very hard to achieve, for the slightest doubt will destroy everything…”
A gust of wind carried away Sensei’s words so far that I couldn't hear them. I wanted so much to go after him and to listen to such an interesting conversation. But at that moment Tatyana came out of her state of shock, broke out in endless impressions, and poured them onto my poor puzzled head.
