Quest. The Drummer's Soul. All the parts. Complete collection. Nikolay Lakutin

from his jacket.

      "Where did you come from, scoundrel?" In the box that if blown from the branches of what?

      Vahe slapped his jacket several times, but it didn't hit, and the spider ran nimbly along the sleeve and jumped out of the window.

      "That's nice," Vahe said, closing the window and pressing the accelerator pedal to the floor.

      Gideon picked up the springing spider from the pavement and placed it on his palm.

      "Well, my friend, did it work out?" he turned to the arthropod, and after reading something in the spider's facial expressions, he smiled contentedly, then released the bug, carefully lowering it to a branch of a Bush from which he had removed it a minute ago and inserted an earpiece into his ear.

      The spider successfully attached the " bug " to Vaga's jacket. This was his favorite jacket, and he wore it " without taking it off." It was not so easy to get into the head of Vaga or Bartholomew, they were some kind of unsurpassed masters of mind tricks, but trivial maneuvers here gave a slack. Who would risk playing with the occult community? After all, finding a wiretap, these guys will easily calculate the mastermind of the operation and will be punished to the fullest extent. This is what the spider lover made a bet on and did not lose.

      – Hey, do you like music? a voice came from behind. Gideon turned to see Victoria.

      "So we met again," she said, smiling, " and I knew, I believed, that it would happen.

      – Vetch…"suddenly," Gideon said, removing the earpiece from his ear.

      – Not believe. For you, in my opinion, everything is clear and consciously predetermined!

      "Are you in a hurry?"

      "Not now, I think I've already made it, and more than that, I've arrived just in time."

      The girl's eyes shone.

      "Well… Gideon looked around. His eyes caught on the ice cream sign.

      "Let's have a Popsicle?" "what?" he suggested.

      "With pleasure."

      When the boys had settled themselves comfortably on a bench on the Boulevard that led off into the quiet street, Gideon asked, biting off the chocolate frosting:

      "How did you get there?"

      – Company…,– the girl gave out extremely emotionally, the driver did not take his eyes off me while driving, I was afraid that he would hit someone. Such a sociable got caught. Told about their successes in business and about the boat, which rides every weekend, by the way, was invited along. And he, of course, was not married and everything is just like in a fairy tale.

      "That's right, it's like a fairy tale. In fairy tales, everything always ends well, so let your fairy tale also develop, corresponding to the genre.

      "You know, I feel like I've been sleeping in a crystal coffin for a long time, like that sleeping Princess of the seven heroes. I finally woke up.

      "And the king's son Elisha has already kissed you?"

      "Not yet, but I really hope he does," she said, a little embarrassed. – At least, from "deep sleep" he woke me up and for this I am very grateful to him.

      – Ice cream melts, eat, – Gideon smiled looking at the enthusiastic passion, which completely forgot about the melting ice cream in his hand.

      Victoria unpacked the Popsicle without much interest, took a few bites, then suddenly asked:

      "The last time we walked down the road and I silently quoted poetry, you had no trouble reading my thoughts…

      The girl paused, not finishing the thought.

      "You want me to tell you about happiness?"

      Victoria smiled:

      "Why do you ask, you already know the answer?"..

      – There is a lot of talk around happiness, but in General, happiness is a term that explains itself. Perhaps this is a local folk etymology, but happiness-originates in the word-now. Happiness is when you are completely in the now, and not somewhere else. Physical pain aside, all our suffering is fabricated by the mind from thoughts of the past and the future. And there will always be enough material to make us unhappy, because in the future there will be death, and in the past there will be everything that made it inevitable.

      Unhappiness – not now – is a state of mind stating that life failed yesterday and is unlikely to succeed tomorrow. If you forget about it, to be where you are-this is happiness, which is almost always available. I will give you an example that has already taken place many times in your life, it is and will always be.

      "Curious!

      – Your last significant purchase that brought you a piece of happiness and satisfaction.

      – Yes, not so long ago I bought a new smartphone.

      "Remember that feeling?" How you dreamed about it, how you wanted to buy it for yourself and now you hold it in your hands, and the seller prepares the documents of your perfect purchase.

      "I wasn't over the moon. It's stupid, isn't it?

      "It's not a question of whether it's stupid or reasonable. When a person's wish is fulfilled, they feel happy for a very short period of time. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a fraction of a second. But this is not important, it is important that if you look closely at this state, catch yourself in this state and analyze its nature, it is easy to understand that happiness does not deliver the object itself. At this moment, there is no desire, no anxiety, and most importantly, there are no thoughts. The goal is achieved, and until the mind is reordered to another goal, for a moment there is a void in the mind. Everything superfluous is cut off, only "you" remains, The one who You really are. It is this state of emptiness that gives a person happiness.

      – Um… Victoria chuckled, taking another bite of the ice cream.

      "Let's take our meeting today," Gideon continued, and immediately felt the girl's gaze on him. – You wanted to meet me, and this meeting happened. It happened spontaneously, you did not have time to prepare for the fact that this will happen, the moment of achieving the goal I saw very well in your eyes twenty minutes ago. You were absolutely happy at that moment, am I right?

      "I'm happy now, too.

      – Now you are happy, but languishing waiting for the next goal set by the mind. You feel good, but not 100%, happy state every minute more and more suppresses the craving…