Island Has Ghosts

Chapter 4

Only one part of the building - the most damaged part, with a broken roof and collapsed wall of the upper floor - stood on the submerged piles. The same part was burned out. In the opening one could see the scorched gut, the skeleton of blackened floors and the ruined staircase. The only bright stroke on the mournful background was the green crown of a young tree that had grown cheekily through the window.

The pond could be bypassed either through a sprawling thorny shrubbery or through a meadow and a small forest of young trees.

"Caution. Don't run into a swamp," Vsevolod warned everyone and was the first to move forward. Violet followed him, Elvira stayed a little longer, looking at the building.

"The proximity of the water didn't seem to help them, either," she said, referring to the firemen.

"Maybe it did," he said. "Otherwise it would have all burned down."

"I've always been frightened by such... objects," Elvira whispered. "Are we really going to go inside?"

"We might find something useful there," Violet said, following Vsevolod's lead. The redhead walked slowly, tasting the ground before he put his foot down. He didn't trust it... And he was right, because once the seemingly hard ground smacked greedily under his sneaker. Vsevolod immediately shifted his body weight to the other foot and turned aside.

"This place is unhealthy," Elvira grumbled. She was clearly uncomfortable - she kept her shoulders up and looked around nervously. "Who would want to build a building on a swamp?"

Her question remained unanswered. Vsevolod suddenly turned left, toward the notorious wall peeking through the thicket.

"Oh God, it's again," groaned Elvira, "we are here as in the pen!"

But it turned out that it was not the wall that attracted the redhead's attention, but low trees, one of which showed fruit.

"Wait a minute! These are... apples?" Elvira exclaimed and, ahead of everyone, rushed to the knotty and crooked apple tree. When she reached the tree, she let out a jubilant shriek and jumped on the spot. Her joy was so contagious that Violet could not resist, ran up to Elvira, holding in the palm of her hand a plucked green-yellow apple, and threw up her hands in a victory gesture.

"Hey! Do not forget about the threat of dysentery!" Vsevolod shouted to them. "A kilogram of green apples can spill out into... Literally spill out!"

"What else good can I hear from you?" Elvira laughed, wiped the apple on her sundress and took a bite.

"M-m-m, this is the most delicious thing I've eaten in my life!"

"What, even frogs and snails didn't taste so good?" Vsevolod squinted one eye and suddenly smiled. His smile was kind and soft. It lit up his face with sunshine, chased away the shadows and reflected warmly in his honey-colored eyes. Violet, who had gotten used to seeing only a sarcastic grin on the redhead's lips, involuntarily froze with her hand outstretched to the branch. Vsevolod himself plucked the apple she was aiming at, but did not hand it to her, but took a bite with an appetizing crunch.

"Sour! But there was no choice," The redhead began to pluck the fruit from the branches that only he could reach, and put the spoils on the ground. "We won't starve to death."

"We could bake the apples over a fire," Violet suggested.

"Have you tried it?" Vsevolod asked, without looking back at her.

"No. But if you string them on branches... Or bury them in ashes."

"Sun-dried apples. Apples crushed with a stone and mashed. Apples soaked in river water. Who has any other recipes to suggest? After the thirtieth way of cooking apples, we'll be happy to go snail and frog fishing," Vsevolod grumbled, admiring the fruit they had collected. "Let's leave it here for now. Go and see what other surprises are in store for us. I feel that the presents for today are not over!"