"Valentin Katayev. The Cottage in the Steppe (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

mapped out the itinerary many years before, when Mother had still been
alive. The two-of them had spent many an evening leafing through travel
guides and writing down the travel expenses. They had noted the price of the
tickets, hotel and boarding-house rates, and even admission prices to
museums and tips were included in their careful calculations.
Despite all this Vasily Petrovich feared to overtax the budget, and so
he studied the rail and steamer ticket prices once more.
There were many arguments about what to take and how to pack. Auntie
suggested that they should buy two very ordinary suitcases and put very
ordinary clothes in them. However, it turned out that Vasily Petrovich was
of another mind completely. He thought they should have a special satchel
and Alpine rucksacks with special straps that would not interfere with
climbing.
Auntie shrugged and laughed, but Petya and Pavlik insisted that only
the special Alpine rucksacks be ordered, and so she gave in. Vasily
Petrovich went to the shop with his own draft of the special travelling-bag
and the special rucksacks. A few days later the Bachei household was richer
by two rucksacks and a rather strange-looking creation of the
luggage-and-harness industry. It was of tartan and bore a vague resemblance
to a huge accordion, covered all over with a multitude of patch-pockets.
These new and still empty travelling-bags and the exciting smell of
leather and dyed material brought visions of far distances into the
household. Then they discovered that the boys could not go abroad in their
school uniforms, they would have to wear "civvies."
That was no problem as far as Pavlik was concerned. He still had last
year's "pre-school" clothes: a pair of short trousers and a middy-blouse.
Petya's outfit presented a problem. It would have been ridiculous to deck a
fourteen-year-old boy out in a grown man's suit with a coat, waistcoat and a
tie. But a little boy's outfit with short trousers was no good either. They
had to find a happy medium. Petya was already in a frenzy of impatience and
the outfit he wanted was undoubtedly influenced by the illustrations in the
works of Jules Verne and Mayne Reid. In his opinion it had to be something
like 'a naval cadet's uniform, consisting of his long school trousers and a
navy-blue blouse, not the kind that little boys wear, but the real thing,
made of heavy flannel.
It was no easy matter to have such a blouse made. No children's
outfitter and no tailor seemed to understand what was expected of them.
Petya, who had already pictured himself as a naval cadet, was desperate.
Gavrik came to his rescue. He suggested a naval outfitter's shop where he
knew someone. He seemed to have friends everywhere!
The shop was located in the so-called Sabansky Barracks, an ancient
white-columned structure.
The enclosed yard, vast and spacious, and the ominous appearance of the
disused fortress, the pyramids of old cannon-balls, anchors, parallel bars,
and the mast with its multi-coloured signal flags, thrilled Petya. An
orderly in a sailor's cap sat on a bench beneath a bell.
"Don't worry," Gavrik said, seeing that Petya had stopped in confusion.
"The fellows here are good chaps." They climbed up the worn steps of an
ancient stairway and found themselves in a dark corridor. It was as cold as
a crypt, and the change was especially noticeable later the noonday heat of