Star Angels. The New World. Viktor Khorunzhy

older Tartles were saying that professor had been stargazing, but nevertheless they always treated him with the highest level of respect. What couldn’t be said about his other neighbour, Mrs. Agatha Thompson; she was often having fights with him over his untrimmed lawn.

      And there was Mrs. Thompson herself – a passionate cat-lover and main news and gossip agency in the town. If you wanted to learn about Adamson spouses’ vacation plans or gender of Mrs. Birch’s baby that was to be born the following month; if you wanted to find out the colour of the Doyles’ new carpet or the Barkers’ yesterday dinner menu – then you’d just have to ask Mrs. Thompson. She would always give you chapter and verse.

      No one had the slightest idea of where that beady-eyed woman got all the information. She was sitting her days through in her big old chair with knitting-pins in her hands and a fat spotty cat Smoky lying at her feet.

      Probably she had been getting her knowledge from Flitton homeless cats she fed up daily on her lawn. Or, perhaps, she collected it from the neighbours coming up for tea to find out something new… For what it was worth, the turnover of Flitton gossip started and ended at Mrs. Thompson’s.

      This time she had already beset her watch-post, having settled herself in the chair, looking as though she had no business at all in anything going on in the street.

      Usually Katy was delighted to stop and chat with Mrs. Thompson, and to ruffle the fur of her pet, resembling an air-cushion. But today she had been feeling annoyed and weirdly anxious since the very morning. So, having given her a polite greeting, Katy got a move on.

      Crisp autumn morning breathed some chill at her face and relished a cheerful chirrup somewhere over her head. Katy turned to the river-walk. She didn’t notice her mood going better and her face brightening with a smile again.

      … No, Alice’s slackitude had nothing to do with her inner strain – her junior had always been like that. But what had that been all about, Katy had no idea. Some imponderable disquieting apprehension stuck in her heart like an invisible nagger.

      The way to the university led along the Flit’s river-walk, so Katy was delighted to watch ducks, amusingly diving into the water for some fish.

* * *

      The ancient university building – profusely decorated with molding – looked more like some royal residence than like the sanctuary of sciences. Students had already been creating much crowd and noise at the entrance. With great animation they were chattering, joking and debating on something.

      Katy couldn’t help noticing some students darting apprising glances at her. It confused her as usually. Being fit, green-eyed, with wavy chocolate-chestnut hair now scraped back into a sleek ponytail – she did often attract guys’ interested glances. But it had never gone any further: seriousness and modesty were definitely not the right features for gaining popularity. Especially, if a girl was shy.

      Even her stylish, delicately-rimmed glasses seemed to be sort of a barrier between her and the rest of the world. Put her diligent studying on top of it and you would get Keener Katy – which, in fact, she was to the opinion of her more thoughtless age mates.

      What a difference Alice was! Being amicable and cheerful, she always hit the highlights. Many young hearts had fallen victims to her blue eyes.

      The sisters even dressed differently: Alice liked colorful outfits showing off her delicate stature; Katy preferred classical-styled dresses, loose trousers and plain blouses.

* * *

      Katy was still going up the stairs to the entrance door when she heard a familiar voice jingling behind: her sister had already been greeting her friends. How in the world could she get here that soon?

      Alice caught up with Katy. Folds of her mini-skirt flying sideways, her blond hair showering her shoulders and her eyes sparkling with cheerful twinkles as they always had: she was an amazing mix-up of an angel with a devilkin. She wasn’t anything someone would call a keener!

      Alice was good at studying, although her teachers always told her she could do better.

      “Here I am!”

      “How did you manage to get here so soon?” Katy wondered in astonishment.

      “Didn’t you know I can fly?” Alice made her pretty face look surprised for a moment, and then burst into laughing.

      The sisters entered their well-lit and noisy classroom together and seated themselves next to each other as always. So different – both in temper and appearance – they were almost inseparable. Their classmates knew: it was enough to find one of them and you would find both. The other one would surely be somewhere around.

      Another day begun, as ordinary as the whole caravan of student daily routine. Mr. Blake, a history teacher, entered the classroom, and all the noise went down instantly. Katy opened her work-books with some kind of relief, to plunge into her studying and stop listening to that odd feeling within. She succeeded: the something’s-wrong-feeling, have been harassing her since the very morning, drowned in the swirl of new experiences.

      It all went on further, following the regular round: study – friends – library… Afterwards Katy attended her dance studio and her sister went to her karate class. She had joined trainings only recently, but she worked out with great joy and gained a good ground in it. Her dexterity and swift reaction were the subjects of envy even among guys, and sensei himself called her Fearless Alice.

      However Katy only waved off all of her sister’s it-is-so-cool-in-there attempts to lure her in! What a pleasure could it possibly be in jumping and flapping your arms and legs? And to keep fit, it was way more enjoyable to perform dancing pas then scamper across the gym shouting “Hiii-yaah!”

      But if one of them had finished her classes earlier, she was waiting for the other sister at the river-walk to go home together.

      A walk home was a part of their usual course of the day as well. Though today they weren’t chattering about anything and everything as they did every day; they were just walking side by side in complete silence, each deep into her thoughts. Now nothing could distract Katy from that odd feeling of some inexplicable longing and unshaped anxiety that had been back. As if there was a hole somewhere within; she had nothing for it to be filled.

      Alice suddenly stopped and stared at the sky.

      “What are you looking at?” Katy asked in a surprised voice, having lifted up her head.

      “The birds… Look, how many there are of them! They are likely to fly home,” Alice said, glaring to the heights. Somewhere in the clouds, a bird skein was swooping overhead.

      “I wonder how do they know it is already time to leave?” Katy uttered quietly, whether addressing her sister or herself.

      “I suppose, at a sudden moment they just feel… they have to be somewhere else. And everything becomes alien and delusive. They are drawn somewhere far away. Perhaps, to their true home… They give up everything and just fly away,” Alice answered in the same soft voice.

      Katy glared at her sister wide-eyed.

      “I feel the same, however odd it may seem,” Katy wanted to come clean but then she didn’t say anything out loud. She had just thought it would sound nutty as a fruitcake out of her lips.

      They didn’t talk until they reached home. And both of them would be very surprised to find out they had been thinking the same thoughts…

* * *

      When girls came back home, their windows had been already lit. It meant their father had already been home from work.

      Michael was a policeman; he had definitely been involved with the job, having earned a perfect service record. However he had also earned a reputation of a pilot light among his colleagues. It was no surprise: being constantly on the move, he never had time to make any friends. He spent his leisure at home, with his daughters, cooking some wickedly good meals and reading his favourite detective stories.

      For Katy and Alice he wasn’t just a father, but a best friend. Michael did his best for fear of his girls feeling lonely without their mother. That’s why he pampered them in all possible ways he could. He was the one to discuss book