However, the Sun disappeared into the clouds. Some evil stars contributed to the launch of a mass lethal virus epidemic, and the air traffic between countries was suspended.
The world stepped into the Kingdom of Death through the wide-open Gates.
My airline tickets were eaten by the fireplace. Italy was in a fever. The «ghost» of my Pluto wrote to me several times something like «it’ll be over soon, be patient… wait a little more… just about», and then he disappeared…
As the pandemic was over, I left for Greece and lived on a tiny island opposite to Mount Athos, not far from the women’s monastery of the Archangel Michael, not missing a single liturgy, at which I asked prayers for the souls of Pluto and Michael every time, until that Sunday when I woke up… being foggy myself… and the first step I did was a trip to Venice!
God, I wandered all the bridges, in vain! – Pluto was nowhere to be found!
When I returned to Greece and settled in the monastery of the Archangel Michael, which had become dear to my soul, I was painfully looking for the best way to find the beloved ghost. However, I still had no access to the Universal Data Bank, and no stairs to Heaven were observed anywhere around. I could do nothing but praying.
On the ninth day, right during the liturgy, out of the altar gate, so suddenly and quietly that at first I didn’t even believe in his reality, appeared… Michael!
He came up to me, smiling, leaned over and kissed my foggy hand.
«Where can I find him?» I asked hopefully.
«You don’t have to look for him, Barbara. Besides, he’s… alive…»
«Alive?!» I exclaimed loudly to the whole monastery, thank God, nuns usually didn’t hear otherworldly voices. «What a twist! I prayed for both of you as for dead!»
«God has all alive, don’t worry! Your Pluto was seriously ill then, yes, but survived thanks to your prayers… However, since then, all these years, by the will of Heaven, he’s been in a state to be able only to pray silently by his soul.»
…Another blow!
«Are you saying that if I hadn’t prayed for him, he would have died a long time ago? So, it was me who condemned him to suffer, wasn’t it?!»
«You gave him a chance,» Michael smiled, «to get something better in the Other World than what he deserved. One day, when they consider him fit, he will be taken away. You can help the unfortunate Pluto shorten the time of his painful stay on Earth by continuing to pray for him here. However, you have the right to leave for Heaven with me right now.»
«So, where can I find him?!»
«If you don’t have access to the Information Tablets, then that’s necessary for something and exclusively for the good. Well, you have to make your decision here and now, Barbara. Oh, sorry, I almost forgot! Probably, you won’t be able to be together even after…»
…I staggered… The thought of the impossibility to find happiness with a beloved one, even posthumously, in the Kingdom of the Dead, never crossed my mind, neither during life on Earth, nor after it.
«My God, how unacceptably easy we used to scatter our beloved ones, to exchange the warmth of the soul for material goods! How stupidly we don’t appreciate the opportunity to love and be loved here and now! Has my Pluto, stuck on Earth at the entrance to the Kingdom of the Dead, rethought his life? And, if so, how many years would it take me to pray his soul out?»
«I will stay here…» I decided, as I couldn’t do otherwise. «Just… promise me, Michael, that one day I will meet him again… on the bridge in Venice, right?»
«You have no chance not to meet him, if you want to meet him,» Michael laughed and added, already dissolving in the sunlight that suddenly streamed through the monastery’s windows, «although, maybe, not on the bridge… and not in Venice…»
8. Кайлас
Мы ехали в Шереметьево на такси. Водитель оказался весёлым и разговорчивым… экскурсоводом, – он знал несколько иностранных языков, работал с туристическими группами в Москве и мечтал о собственной фирме.
– Я обязательно её открою! Овен я, а Овны всегда добиваются своей цели! – оптимистично заявил водитель, прощаясь с нами в аэропорту.
Катя – тоже Овен.
Войдя в здание аэропорта, мы натолкнулись на книжный киоск. Мгновенно просканировав содержимое полок, Катя впилась глазами в какую-то книгу и дернула меня за рукав:
– Смотри! Кайлас!!! Купим?
Речь шла о многотомнике про тибетский «город Богов». Всё, что касалось философии, Тибета и Неизведанного, было связано с самым важным для Кати – поиском ключей от великих тайн Мироздания. С детства её преследовали необычные сны, загадочные голоса и призрачные видения. Над потусторонними штучками, конечно, можно и посмеяться, но Катины сны сбывались. И даже я, отъявленный скептик, стал верить знакам.
– Таскать с собой эти тома? А смысл? – возразил я. – Вернёмся и купим.
В отпуске я решил почитать в электронном виде труд самой Кати – её дипломную работу по философии «Проблема смысла жизни и смерти», но лишнее кило печатных книг в рюкзаке не вызывало у меня ничего, кроме отторжения.
В самолёте Катя периодически вспоминала и взахлёб делилась со мной интересными фактами про загадочную гору Кайлас, расположенную в далёких Гималаях, о которой я тогда толком ничего и не знал.
– А я бы многое отдала, чтобы попасть на эту Гору! Возможно, даже целую жизнь! Говорят,