Funny Children's Stories. Bilingual Edition

Kogan

I have always dreamed about having a bike. But no one was going to buy one for me. And I knew that.

But one day Dad came home from work and told Mom that someone by the name of Kogan, who works with my dad, was selling a bike. And he was not asking much for it.

Mom began to ask Dad who this Kogan was and why he was selling a bike. And Dad said that they had been working at the same place for many years. And that Kogan was a very good person. And that he purchased the bike for his son.

But later Kogan was taken away. (I understood that to mean that Kogan was taken to prison.) And because of that, his son never used the bike. When Kogan returned, his son was already grown and no longer needed a bike.

Mom said that she understood everything then. And I was very surprised that Mom said that she understood everything. Well, to hear that Kogan was imprisoned and was still a good person — that was not surprising to me. It was not the first time I had heard that. And I had long ago gotten used to that.

But why did Kogan’s son not use the bike while his father was in prison? That was not clear. And I highly doubted that. I mean, I doubted that the bike was brand new.

But that was not what surprised me the most. What surprised me the most was that Kogan spent all that time in prison and my dad was never in prison, yet my dad and Kogan had been working at the same place for many years. So how they managed to work together for many years, that I did not yet know.

Well, what was I to do then? Ask my parents all these questions?

On the one hand, they do not like these types of questions, but on the other hand, they do not keep too many secrets from me either. So it seemed easier to just figure things out for myself.

Besides, I did not want my Mom to remind me that it was not necessary for anyone else to know what was being discussed at home and that it would be best if I just kept quiet. So I did not bother asking any questions.

I only said that if this bike was brand new and was being sold at a cheap price, it seemed to me that — only if, of course, neither Mom nor Dad objected, and if I would not ride it on the streets but would only ride in our yard, and I would do well and behave in school and everywhere else — it would probably be worth it to buy this bike as soon as possible or, better yet, immediately.

After that everything seemed like a dream. Mom and Dad agreed to buy the bike. Three days later the bike was already standing in our hallway. And right there, in the hallway, I sat on it. And I did not want to get off.

And as for Kogan, everything turned out to be absolutely true. He and my dad did work at the same place. Kogan was imprisoned right in there. I mean, right where he worked. Or maybe it is better to say that he worked right where he was imprisoned. But while he was imprisoned, Dad did not see him but knew that Kogan was working, imprisoned somewhere not far away.

And his son did not use the bike because neither he nor his mother did anything other than just sit and wait to be sent to prison too. And the bike turned out to be without a single scratch. Absolutely brand new.