Late pigeons - страница 4

What is it – is it love? No, this is not love. At first sight… Why does his deep stare shake her heart? She doesn’t know him at all. Maybe he has a family, kids and a wife?! If so, why the boy tried to say something to her but he couldn’t…

No, this can’t be love… perhaps it is love… Raykhona tried to calm herself with these thoughts. No matter and how hard did she try to erase the incident from her mind, the good-natured figure of the boy kept appearing in front of her eyes…

***

After his neighbor’s wedding Otabek guided Japanese tourists to Samarkand. They checked in the hotel at noon and he went to Siyab Bazaar, to stall of bread. There he couldn’t find the girl among the saleswomen. He returned without a word. The next day he again went there. Raykhona was selling bread.

“Good day to you! How do you do?” – he said to the girl. But he had no more strength to utter a word more – as if someone was taking away the earth from the bottom of his legs. He felt dizzy and couldn’t say a word. If truth be told he was planning to tell everything to her meaning to get acquainted with her, to say that he liked her and others. And as a result, when he saw the girl he forgot not only himself but also all the words he was planning to say. Raykhona also recognized him from the first sight – it was him who bought bread from her. The girls, selling bread, started whispering to each other, gesturing and murmuring. Their eyes met each other, their glances found each other…

“Good day! How are you?” – Raykhona said finally. “You brought tourists to Samarkand again, or will you tell a legend more?”

“Oh, yes, I am guiding guests, they are in the hotel now.” – the boy said, feeling happy that there was a topic for conversation. “I would like to buy some bread, for my tourists to taste from the bread you’ve baked…”

And he bought a basket of her bread.

“How are you going to take all this bread. Let me help you then!” – Raykhona said, feeling lucky to sell all her bread…

“Oh, no, I don’t want to bother you, I will manage myself.” – Otabek said with decency. Raykhona took half of the bread saying nothing. Their eyes met again, their hearts started beating more strongly. As they were passing the ancient Registan Square the sun, shining in the sky, lit sparks of love, more and more, in their hearts, but still Otabek could say nothing, and the girl was aware of that; she couldn’t tell a word, being ashamed, to an unfamiliar, unknown and a stranger that she had never met before, but still they felt that there is an invisible thread of relationship arisen between them…

“I need to say something to you” – Otabek said involuntarily as if he was afraid of reaching their destination at once. “Since the very first moment I met you I got confused in my mind. And I don’t know why. I do not believe in love actually. But for the time being I forgot everything what I was planning to say to you…So…if you agree I will write all my feelings in a letter, I thought. And it is up to you how to conclude…”

Raykhona did say nothing. Not a word. She left the bread in the hotel and ran away from the place. Her cheeks were burning in fire…

At the end of a three-day trip Otabek decided to write a letter to Raykhona finally…

“After my sincere greetings let it be known that this letter is being written by Otabek, from Tashkent. I am astonished at my present condition, at my relationship to you. When I met you I thought I would tell everything I had planned to. No, I couldn’t do so. Why, what was the reason? Is this because of my shyness, or any other feeling, I haven’t realized yet…