– Come on, you wooden one! – shouted the black cat. – Are we going to wait here for you for a year?!
Khatynka rose up on her manipulators, turned there half a turn and just as carefully and slowly sank down. We stood aside and only now did I understand the true size of this building. It was huge, three hangars high and five locomotives wide. While we were standing far away, it seemed to us no more than an ordinary house.
There were no windows on this side, just one door and a large hangar gate. The gates opened and the old woman invited me to enter there
– Here we are at home, – she showed the way. – We have here decoctions, roots, and machine oils infused with fir cones. – And the stove is miraculous.
– Why a stove? – I was surprised. In the middle of the hut, which was the size of a hangar, there was a huge stove, into which the entire locomotive fit and there was still room left. The oven was already heated up and even glowing with heat.
– How could it be otherwise? – the old woman made a surprised face.
– This is to steam your bones. – added the light cat.
– This is to remove the locomotive damage from you. – the dark cat purred.
– So that all the bruises become softer and healing decoctions can straighten them out.
– So that the healing fire will separate the rust from your body, and then we can weld the metal onto you with oil extracts.
And their words sounded so sweet, the stove was so inviting. Well, just like the swamp when I was making my way through the forest. And I was already moving towards the stove, into the warm and pleasant heat, when suddenly the comparison with the obsession in the forest became comparable to what was happening now. This comparison brought me to my senses, something pulled me back and the spell immediately subsided. The warm heat of the stove turned into scorching heat, and I even began to feel how the metal was gradually giving in and was about to begin to melt.
– Hey, hangar, listen to me! – I shouted. – Bake the carcasses quickly. Climb onto the manipulators and get out of here, towards the nearest railway tracks.
And what would you think?! He listened to me. How could it have been otherwise?! One mechanism will understand the other perfectly. He will understand, listen and figure out what is good for the other and what is not.
The hut swayed, the stove doors slammed shut and the ardor and heat began to subside behind them, the old woman and the cats rolled under the wall from the rocking. They rolled around and immediately stopped being kind and polite. They screamed, waved their arms and paws, and the cats squealed. Meanwhile, the hut swayed from side to side as it walked.
The trees clung to her manipulator legs with their paws, stretched their branches-hooks towards the doors, deceived in their expectations, the evil beast and other forest evil spirits jumped below, trying to reach the doors.
And this lasted for half an hour…
– What then? – one of the listeners could not stand it.
– And then the hut on manipulators walked through the entire forest, walked through a couple of swamps, and came out to a branch that led straight here. Here I thanked the Khatyn woman and invited her to leave the forest, but she said that the military had left her here in case of war, disguised her as a dilapidated building, and she must continue to serve faithfully, therefore she could not leave her combat post. I then promised to drop by from time to time – it turns out the military left her a whole warehouse of lubricants – and barely dragging my wheels, I accidentally wandered here – to the depot.
– Wow! – someone was surprised. “Isn’t this where the abandoned railway tracks along the forest arc into the swamps? What happened?”
– I guess that’s it, – Chu-Chukhin nodded. – I’m even sure it’s there. But it’s better not to go there – the places there are really bad. But I saw that old woman quite recently at the market in Poltava.
– And what is she?
– Yes, I sold spoons. Spoons, pots, pans. Everything is metal. Brand new, shiny, very recently made. I later asked people at the market whether she often trades here?! They say – all the time. All these spoons and frying pans are her thing. Counterfeits, of course, look like Chinese ones, but they sell well.
– Was she the one who wanted to melt you down into spoons?! – suddenly someone understood.
– And don’t doubt it. I thought about it a lot later. This happens – she stands by a disastrous swamp, full of magnetic magic, stops the drugged locomotives right at the swamp, takes her to her lair and there she melts and pours spoons in the furnace. So, it turns out, I miraculously dodged,” Chu-Chukhin nodded. – And now I avoid those places. – Well, maybe just drop by from time to time to a disguised hangar under a hut, but that’s all there is to it. I don’t recommend it to you either.
002. How the little locomotive Chu-Chukhin saved Kolobchuk
– Hello, Kolobchuk! – the Chu-Chukhin locomotive trumpeted as Kolobchuk ran past.
Kolobchuk was very busy with something and therefore only nodded to the engine, continuing to explain something to Maslenka the cat as he walked. Maslenka did not agree, constantly purred with displeasure, sometimes even hissed, but some numbers in the papers that Kolobchuk carried in an unfolded form and constantly pointed at them made Maslenka fall silent.
Kolobchuk wore a rumpled white cap with a dark visor, was engaged in office work and accounting at the depot, was constantly frowning and did not let anyone down. At the same time, Kolobchuk remained a classic kolobok – a ball of dough, but very important and solid, which is why he no longer rolled along the road as before, but only bounced up and forward.
– Oh, and Maslyonka will get it today! – someone said.
– What happened then? – asked Chu-Chukhin.
– Yes, Yesterday Maslenka inserted some spare part into our faucet incorrectly. It was twisted and the tap broke.
– Happenes. Business?! – one of the newcomers was surprised that he had not yet fully understood the rules at the depot.
This is the case here, – they explained to him. – This breakdown is unplanned and therefore the expenses are also above the plan, and Kolobchuk really doesn’t like these above-plan expenses! Everything must work for him as written in the plan and break down strictly according to the technical conditions and scheduled repair schedules. That’s why he’s now going to give the bungler Maslenka a problem. Oh he’ll ask!! – the old locomotive Literny shook his head sadly, having worked all his life in government transportation and now, in his old age, he decided to live for his own pleasure in this depot.
– And where did he come from here? – the Newbie did not let up. – Is it really impossible to do without him?
– Well, we somehow managed before, – Chu-Chukhin entered the conversation again. – Only with the advent of Kolobchuk did we have more order. Again, it works better with the telegraph than the Oil Can. And he distributes outfits in a timely manner. So now we have a better situation with spare parts, and with everything else. And I’ll tell you how he came here. I brought him to us! – Chu-Chukhin smiled, remembering how it happened.
– I remember something like that, – old Literny frowned. “Back then you arrived covered in dust and soot, and half of the front end was dented!” – he finally remembered.
– So it was. – Chu-Chukhin agreed.
– But I don’t even remember what else was there. Remind me. – suggested old man Literny.
– Yes, tell me, tell me. – the locomotives moved closer. Riding behind the hangar during the morning or evening rest was a favorite pastime of the depot residents.
– There’s nothing to tell here,” Chu-Chukhin began. – In general, everything was like that.
I was traveling loaded then. If my memory serves me right, I was carrying either pipes or fittings. In a word, something metal for the neighboring metal warehouse. The load was heavy and uncomfortable. I constantly fidgeted in the carriages and every time I had to make extra efforts at turns so as not to tip over.
And the day turned out to be the most beautiful. There is not a single cloud in the sky, the sun is cheerful, warming your sides, the breeze is light and favorable. The railway tracks are clear, not a single oncoming traffic and not a single delay at the stops. Only the load is heavy, but otherwise it’s a pleasure to ride.
I had already left the main road and turned onto our western branch, and there, after three kilometers, I had to turn west again, unload at the base, and return to our branch again.
And somewhere, in this gap, I noticed Kolobchuk. More precisely, not quite his. First the stationmaster’s house appeared. The same houses that used to be numerous on the roads and where the railway workers lived, who watched the switches, monitored the track and other railway communications. For example, behind telegraph poles.
Now there are very few of these houses left, they have been replaced with something else, but we were lucky, we still have a few of them left. And in one of them live an old man and an old woman. They have a granddaughter who comes to them for the summer, a cat Vredina and a dog Bobanka.
I met Kolobchuk at the very height of the story, so I will retell the first part of it from his words.
And so, as described in the cookbook on cooking Kolobchuk, one day the grandfather and grandmother decided to eat. But, as usual, they immediately had nothing. The grandfather recommended that the grandmother place the floor, shake the bags, scrape the bottom of the barrel, and look into the cellar. Yes, he recommended doing all this so threateningly that they immediately found flour, salt, sugar, and something else that is put into the dough in such cases.
They kneaded the dough and made a bun. They preheated the oven and placed it there to bake. Yes, they covered it with a flap. And themselves, and the grandfather, and the grandmother, and the granddaughter, and the cat and dog, sat down on the bench and began to wait. Some time passed, the grandmother even began to doze, when from the other side, from the side of the stove, there was a knock on the damper. They knocked so loudly that after the third time the door jumped to the side, and out of the heat a baked, smiling Kolobchuk jumped out into the light.
– Yeah! – he shouted. – I know what you want to do with me! You want to eat me! Only I’m against it. – he blurted out, and while everyone was confused and didn’t understand what to do, he jumped onto the floor, rolled to a chair, jumped onto the chair, from there onto the table, then onto the windows, and then jumped out through the window and out into the street.
So Kolobchuk jumped out into the street and rolled. But it was not there. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Hare, Wolf, Bear and Fox immediately ran out to meet him. As soon as they saw smoke coming from the chimney and smelled the smell of fresh bread, they immediately realized that koloboks were being cooked and, judging by the cookbook about koloboks, they would definitely keep them away from the old people. That’s why they didn’t wait for him on the path until he ran around them all, deceiving them and laughing, but decided to come to the house themselves and play ahead, so to speak.
