Zoya and Shura were becoming quite grown-up now. And yet there were times when they seemed quite little to me.
I fell asleep quickly one evening and woke up soon afterwards with a start. I could hear what sounded like handfuls of pebbles being thrown at the windowpane. It was the rain slashing down on the window and beating at the glass. I sat up in bed, and saw Shura sitting up too. "Where's Zoya?" we asked in one voice.
Zoya's bed was empty. But all at once, as if in answer to our question, muffled voices and laughter came from the staircase, and the door of our room opened quietly. On the doorstep stood Zoya and Ira, a girl of Zoya's age who lived in the small house next door.
"Where have you been? Where have you come from?"
Zoya took off her coat in silence, hung it up and began to pull off her rain-soaked shoes.
'Yes, where have you been?" exploded Shura.
And then Ira, who was so excited that even when she laughed tears flowed down her cheeks, began to relate what had happened.
At about ten o'clock in the evening Zoya had knocked on Ira's window. And when Ira came out Zoya told her about an argument she had had with the girls. They had said that Zoya would be afraid to walk through Timiryazev Park on such a dark evening, but Zoya kept saying, "I am not afraid." And they had made a bet: the girls would go by tram to the stop called Timiryazev Academy, but Zoya was to go there on loot. "I will make marks on the trees," said Zoya. "We'll believe you without that," the girls assured her. But at the last moment they themselves got frightened and began to persuade Zoya to cancel the bet. It was very cold and dark outside, and it had already begun to rain.
"But she only got all the bolder," Ira related laughing and crying. "And off she went. And we went by tram. Then we wait and wait and she does not come. And then we look and there she is…laughing away …"
I looked at Zoya in surprise. She was hanging out her wet stockings to dry over the stove.
"Well, you know, I did not expect that from you," I said. "Such a big girl and so. .
"Silly?" ended Zoya smiling.
"Yes, I hope you don't mind my saying so, but it was not a smart thing to do."
"It'd be natural if it had been me," burst out Shura.
"And she wanted to walk back, too," complained Ira.
'We had to persuade her like anything to make her come back on the tram with us."
"Take your things off, Ira!" I cried, noticing how wet she was. "Warm yourself!"
"No, I have to go home. My mama will be angry too…" Ira confessed.
Left alone we were silent for some time. Zoya was smiling cheerfully but did not start the conversation. She sat quietly drying and warming herself by the stove.
"All right, you won the bet," said Shura at last. "What was the stake?"
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," responded Zoya with genuine regret. "We just had a bet but did not say for what…
"Well, you are a one!" exclaimed Shura. "You might have thought of me: if I win, give Shura a new football or something like that. Couldn't even think of your own brother!" He shook his head in mock reproach. Then he added seriously, "But all the same, I did not expect a thing like that from you. What gave you the idea of proving your spunk in that way? Even I understand that's not right!"
"And do you think I don't?" retorted Zoya. "But I so much wanted to give the girls a scare. I went through the wood, but it was they who were afraid!"
She laughed, and Shura and I could not help joining in.
Next: Tanya Solomakha