“He understands that at the day when he stole the recipe he became my enemy. Here it wounded me and I have to be protected. It is other case, sonny, not as yours. Responsible for that event were people with whom you had nothing in common. You wanted to accuse the person who could transfer fault to you. Then you found the best way out. I forced it to pay in a threefold size for the committed sin. As I can demand from Milorad to return me three recipes when he never in life was engaged in herbs and didn’t make any recipe. Sonny, I will think up something similar to that as you made. I will force him to admit on conscience everything”.
And he made. Saint Nikola. The church is full of people. Everyone brought bread which the priest had to cut and to light grain. Everybody waited for the turn to tell the names of living that the priest remembered them in a prayer, and God kept and blessed. And Milorad stood in a queue when grandfather entered. We saw him at once, and he didn’t see us as we were behind him. It came his turn in the line to the priest when grandfather imperceptibly from others, but not from me, directed hands to his party. I noticed that he was shaking as though cold mountain air blew on his backbone.
“Father, I’m guilty” – he suddenly began to speak, and all standing in a queue after him grew dumb. And the priest stood with cutting of bread.
“Yes, yes, father. I am very guilty. I disappointed the person who was my true friend. Deception I took away from him something from what I have material benefit now”.
In spite of the fact that he hadn’t seen us till this moment, he turned and pointed to my grandfather.
“Everybody knows this person standing here with us”.
All turned and looked at our party and grandfather with slow steps went forward. He put bread on a table, kissed the priest’s hand, and then, with the tears which were streaming down the face addressed Milorad, embracing him:
“Milorad, my dear Milorad. Friendship is given throughout all life and can be unintentionally lost for several seconds. No, my friend, you didn’t sin with me. You made a good thing for all mankind and taught me much. This time I would like to thank you for a good lesson, and let God will forgive the fact that you take for a sin”.
He departed from him, took a bag in which there was bread and again got up about me so we together waited for the turn.
“My God, save and pardon your slave” – after silence, the words pronounced by the priest like an echo swept under the arches of church.
Priest cut bread to us and we left the building. Before church many greeted us, with curiosity finding out what occurred. Grandfather explained nothing to anybody, only calmed:
“Nothing, believe nothing important”.
When we moved away from people a little, walking home, I asked him:
“Grandfather, I thought that you are going to punish him and was surprised that you thanked him?”
“I can, sonny, to undertake Divine Providence and by own hands punish those who have sinned? If they kill all those who sin, then in the world there were no people left. In the God’s prayer there are words: Remit to us our debts, as well as we forgive to our debtors – but how can I pray to God and ask him help, or forgive a conscious or unconscious sin if I haven’t forgiven to my friend a sin which he has made concerning me? Forgive and it will return to you and be forgiven. Help me, God will help you. And the fact, that I have thanked him so, I had full authority to it. What he has made, is a trifle in comparison with what someone could make to me. He has rewritten one recipe, taken out the patent. Imagine if there was someone another, and I was in a toilet, and you know when I there, then all forces which I possess vanish. I would feel nothing, and this person, having glanced in a notebook, would see unusual recipes there and instead of rewriting one, would steal all notebook and work of all my life would be gone – have fallen in an abyss. It’s not about recipes, but how much evil could a dashing man do having in his hands secret knowledge associated with the development of the brain’s capabilities. You see how much effort we have invested during these seven years to achieve the goal and now we can not allow anyone to take it all to naught! Therefore, I will make three notebooks in which I will write down all secrets in the form of a code and any attempts to decipher them to the casual person won’t bring result. When they open notebooks and try to read something, they won’t manage it, it will be uninteresting and they will leave this invention. Not always the same figures will designate the same plant and everything will look as a chain of DNA and, thus, the confusion which, at the same time, is very easy for untangling will be created. If someone has only one notebook, then he can use nothing from it and from two others as I have already told, everything will be connected as DNA chain. Therefore, sonny, I will work and write down everything that I know and what we with you have reached in formulas, and what I won’t manage to finish, you will make. This will give you all these secrets of grandfather in your charge and when time comes, you will give them further”.
There was a talk on grandfather’s act made in church much that day. All spoke about that as he has forgiven the harm done by his friend and didn’t want to tell about it to anybody. The old proverb speaks: “what will pass through twenty – four teeth is known by twenty – four friends”. And if twenty – four friends know, then by word of mouth history will change and from a straw to turn into a log. Therefore, the best about what is forgiven not to mention any more. Speak: any news to term three days and this incident has been very quickly forgotten. Besides, life followed the course and has begun to flow with some take – off and sometimes with small falling. Now my occupations weren’t so tiresome, but I have been obliged to practice all the life. Imperceptibly ran days, weeks and months. Winter vacation has begun.
15
There was an evening time. Cattle are fed and watered, so it’s high time to sit peacefully, relax and talk with neighbors. Juro and his grandson Simo payed the visit to the grandfather. Juro is the father of Perot, and Simo is his son. Juro or Perot were in habit of visiting us every two months. They always used to bring something for his help when Pero was seriously ill. At that night, these two stayed overnight by us. Besides other stories they had gone over an event that happened when they were photographed in Andrijevica[21]. Juro asked his grandfather whether he still had got this photo, because Simo, his grandson, being a little boy has torn the same photo to shreds. Grandfather gave me a key and said to look in a wooden chest, in which he kept a lot of records, notebooks, photographs, old clothes, old money as well as kubura[22] from the time of the Ottoman Empire and many other values. All things were folded very attractive. I pulled things out one by one and woke up memories to my grandfather and he reminisces with pleasure and now he began to share them with Juro. The turn came to the photos of my grandfather. There were about fifty pieces. At that time there were no devices, cameras, computers or mobile phones. It was not possible to shoot as much as you want like now. Mostly it was done by photographers. These images were saved as favorite memories. We all were looking at photos and my grandpa told about each of them. At a certain point a photo appeared where the grandfather was photographed with President Tito. When Juro saw, he became baptized.
“Heh, Gatso, I do not believe my eyes, Zoran told me about it!” Look, brother, this is Marshal Tito. Eh, Gatso, my brother, I know that you are proud of this photo, but I remember the most difficult moments of my life. Do you remember, at that time my Pero was struggling with death? Only if there was no you, only God knows if he could be able to survive.”
“Okay, Juro, leave it, it is not the time now to be a basket case. You came to spend the night with us, you will be fine and we all together will revive memories and remember everything, so this night will pass in joy.”
“That’s right, Gatso. People remember everything, but they remember the hard moments first. As I said, if you did not come to Perot at that time, maybe you did not have this photo from Tito now.”
“Probably I would not have it, Juro,” – answered my grandfather.
“Gatso, how did you manage to meet Tito?”
At