Eastern sages say that people in a relaxed state are able to withstand any kind of overload. Europeans doubt this; probably they have not yet been able to appreciate this human gift in practice. Modern representatives of society are sure that only small children, who are not afraid of anything and perform heroic deeds, if they can be called that, possess this property.
I was five years old when I first went on a train trip with my mother. A second-class carriage. The top shelf. Of course, I fell off it. There was such a rumble that even those who had poured three liters of moonshine into themselves at the previous station woke up. The women clutched their hearts, the conductor ran to the doctor, but my mother seemed to have lost her voice – she was silent. I was lying with my bottom up and didn’t give any sign of life.
My mother was kicking herself for letting me get out on the top shelf and sleep there alone. She rushed to me and began to feel every bone.
– Mom, what are you doing? Are you cheeky? It’s one o’clock in the morning, let me sleep! – I got indignant.
After these words I got up and went to my place. Drich until morning, as it should be, pandemonium around my humble person did not even notice. My mother kept watch over me all night and held me with her hands.
In the morning she began to examine me – not a single abrasion, not a single bruise. The whole carriage welcomed me on my first fall, treated me to candy and introduced me to the “hero” of the night. It seemed to me at the time that they were making it all up, because I didn’t remember anything.
