sᴏɴɪᴄ ᴛᴏʏ: 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞

      At this time in Japan, the Draytons woke up early in the morning and watched with their extended family and watched the news on television, where, coincidentally, by accident or on purpose, they were broadcasting about Krasnogurbinsk from Russia. As usual, the news anchor spoke in Japanese, and Karl listened and translated: — Now they are talking about your city, where you came from. — Is it true? This is already interesting. — David thought out loud. — What are they saying now? — Quiet, it’s hard to hear as it is! — Karl asked and turned up the volume on the remote control so he could hear. — O! It's funny. — What? What's there? — asked Lili. — They say that two bandits and one corrupt police officer, who worked with them and hid them from the police for many months, snuck into a house. They also talk about the neighbors across the street, who actually called the police to that house and even showed the video recording from the camera as proof. When the news anchors showed the same videotape of the bandits on the porch talking with that same corrupt officer, the Draytons, looking at the house itself, recognized him. — Hey, this is our house! — Ivan answered, pointing his finger. — Really? — Eugene was surprised. — Do you live there? — Karl told us yesterday where they came from! How were you listening?! — Akira was indignant. — Yes, that's not what I meant. I... — Eugene began, but was interrupted. — Quiet! — asked Karl. — It’s better to find out now if they stole anything and who made this recording. Meanwhile, the TV showed how two bandits decided to go around the house from different sides, and the corrupt policeman was also standing on the porch. He seemed strangely familiar to Lili. — Vanya, don’t you think we’ve already seen this policeman somewhere? — Lili asked, switching to a whisper so as not to irritate Karl. — What are you talking about, dear? Our city is small, well there are many police officers there. There was no way we could cross paths with that officer... — at that moment the Draytons turned their gaze to the TV, where all three bandits were shown. Having looked closely at one of them, he recognized the policeman who stopped them before leaving. — Just a minute! This is the same policeman who stopped Danny's car before we left! — Exactly! We were almost late then. But how did he know where our house is if he didn’t see our documents? — They say that this officer used the police database to collect information about the city’s residents and pass it on to his fellow thieves. — said Karl, resigned to the fact that there was a lot of noise in the kitchen now. — They also say that nothing was stolen from the house. And also... The neighbors opposite the house saw them and filmed them. — then they show the same video that Stephanie filmed that night. They showed the entire recording from beginning to end, although they cut it slightly to make it a short version for news, but everything was clear. Afterwards they show another recording where the police officer salutes and even shakes hands with Andrew and Stephanie themselves for helping the police. All the Draytons were shocked by what they saw. No one could have imagined that their close friends would be able to find out about the robbery and film it on video as evidence. Plus, it was unclear why the thieves didn’t manage to steal anything. Judging by the recording, they ran away as if something scared them, but what? — So... This is already interesting. And why didn't Danny tell us anything? — Vanya asked himself, after which he stood up and headed to the room where there was a tablet, which he specifically took with him to keep in touch in case of unforeseen situations. Taking the tablet in her hands, Vanya clicks on the discord icon, finds Andrew’s account and calls him via video call. First there are beeps and the old man turns on the image. — Olyo! — Must say alo! — Stephanie corrected him off-camera. — A!.. Alo! — he adds and whispers to Stephanie off camera. — Like this? — Yes. — Hello, is it still night there? — Ivan asked. — For now, yes, but we have this... — Intuition. — Stephanie whispered in her grandfather's ear. — Intuition told us at this time that you might call us. So did something happen? — No, no, everything is fine with us, but I’m calling you to ask you if everything was fine with you there? Are you sure you look after our house and garden? — Don't worry about the garden. We keep a close eye on even your favorite tomato. — Andrew explained. — Well there was some horror tonight. — Stephanie continued the conversation. — Some robbers broke into your home. — Yes, I watched the news on TV and they showed our house. I hope they didn't manage to steal anything? — No, don't worry! Everything is in place, even David's favorite toys. — Andrew assured and remembered that he had drawn a smile on the face of the Mephiles toy. — True, one of them without a mouth was kind of creepy, and I drew a smile on him with a permanent marker. I don’t even know how your son will react to this? — Don’t worry, Andrew, I’ll try to somehow prepare David for that moment so that he doesn’t worry too much about this topic. Anyway, thanks for keeping an eye on our house. Otherwise, I thought that we would have to return home from vacation early. Right now or probably tomorrow. — Ivan explained. — No, you’re not in a hurry there! Maybe you have some business there or have made some new friends. — Stephanie made excuses. At that moment, behind the screen, you could hear the door creaking open and Danny himself entering the room. — Dad, Stephanie, why are you talking here in the middle of the night? — he asked them and when Andrew turned the view of the screen to Danny’s face, he saw his friend and began to smile. — Ivan? — Good night, Danny. Sorry for waking you up! — No, no, no, I was just going to the toilet, and on the way to the bedroom I heard that you were talking here and I just became curious. — I decided to find out if everything is okay with you. I saw on the news that our house was almost robbed and I became worried. Thought we'd have to come back earlier. — What?! You almost got robbed?! — Danny asked, which surprised everyone. — Buddy, haven’t you seen the news yet? A couple of burglars broke into our house, but they weren't able to steal anything. It was as if something had frightened them. — Ivan was very surprised that his friend knew nothing about what happened. — Stephanie and Andrew filmed everything and called the police. After these words, Omarov looked at his daughter and father in surprise. The toymaker was a little embarrassed, and the girl looked down guiltily, although there was nothing wrong in her action. She helped law enforcement officers catch criminals and saved friends from robbery. — Sorry, Daddy... — Stephanie said, preparing to be punished for deceiving her father and not going to bed on time. However, the father, oddly enough, was not angry at all. He approaches his daughter and hugs her. — Well done, Stephanie! Well, you too, dad! — Thank you. — Uncle, why are you taking so long? — at that moment Karl entered the room. — Who is this? — Andrew asked, noticing the Japanese. — This is Karl Daun. My nephew. — Drayton replied. — Nephew?! — The Omarovs were very surprised by this news. They didn't remember their friends having relatives in other countries, and the guy was more Asian. — Yes, nephew. It's a long story, when we get home I'll tell you. — Ivan promised and called Daeun. — Karl, come here. Daun obediently came closer to the lens of the tablet screen and waved his hand in a friendly manner, saying a little shyly: — Oni-shua. — What did he say? — Andrew didn’t understand. — This is hello in Japanese. — Stephanie explained. — Don't swear, Stephanie! — Grandfather became a little stricter. — No, no, no. She said in Ja-pa-nese. — Danny corrected his father, and then explained two separate words, pointing his hands first to the left and then to the right. — Language. Japan. — A! — Andrew finally understood. — Sorry, Stephanie! — Nonsense, grandfather! — M.. Mr. Daun, since you are a relative of our friends Drayton, why do you look like an Asian? — Are you racists? — Karl asked, mistakenly deciding that he had insulted him. — No, no, no, he's not insulting you. He is just wondering why you are so different from us, despite the fact that we are relatives. It’s just the same as if a black man lived in Russia, but at the same time, despite his racial background, he would be considered Russian, and everyone would think why is he Russian if he is a black man, since most people like Logically, they live either in Africa or North America. — Drayton explained. — A! Well, you see, it went something like this. — Duen concentrated on the conversation. — The fact is that my grandfather used to live in Russia, but in his youth he moved to Japan to study. He had relatives in your country and Michael Drayton was one of them. Michael Drayton and my grandfather James Daun are second cousins, but due to moving they lost contact with each other and only started talking again not too long ago. I met my uncle and his family the day they first arrived in Tokyo... Andrew, Danny and Stephanie did not interrupt, but only occasionally asked questions. — Hm-m, I didn’t expect everything to turn out this way. If we had found out about you earlier, I would have given you some toys so that you could have something from Russia. — said Andrew, who was already calm about the foreigner. — Excuse me, Mr. Omarov, but we have quite a lot of things from Russia. Grandfather often traveled to his homeland and brought back something as a keepsake. — Karl explained as politely as possible. — No, you misunderstood a little. Andrew is a toy maker and makes his own toys from wood. What he meant was that he would give you and Xuen the toys he made. — Ivan explained. — You can make a toy yourself, Mr. Andrew? — Daeun asked, surprised that someone could make a toy out of wood, since such things are almost impossible to find these days. — Of course! My family has been making children's toys for a very long time. But we always made them with our own hands, and not in factories, as is customary now. Toys created by machines in factories are made without a soul, and if you do something yourself, a piece of the soul remains in the creation. And such toys are usually much stronger and of better quality. — the old man explained, glad that his work was of interest. — Karl, if you decide to come visit, I can show you how everything happens. — Okay, Mister Andrew, I'll think about it. — Well, I think it's time to switch off. Otherwise they had already lost us there. — Ivan said and was about to end the call. — Vania, wait! Last question and that's it. — Dennis asked and turned to the Japanese. — Karl, I’m wondering, of your relatives, only your grandfather is Russian? — Of course not. My grandmother, Sarah Daun, is also of Russian descent. She studied at the same institute as my grandfather, but she was there as an exchange student. My mother has lived in Tokyo all her life, but as a child she often traveled with her parents to Russia. Therefore, she speaks Russian quite well. — Karl explained. At this moment, Suen and Grandpa James entered the room. — Karl, Ivan, where have you gone? — asked James. — We've already lost you. — We're on our way, grandpa. — Karl answered and turned to the tablet. — Excuse me, but I have to go now. It was nice meeting you. — We were also pleased to meet you. — Andrew answered. — Yes, and you should already run, Vania, otherwise Lili is probably going crazy there. — Okay, you go to bed and sleep as much as you can. Some people had already dozed off. — Drayton advised, noticing that Stephanie was already dozing, resting her head on her father's lap. — Bye. — Andrew said goodbye for his son and granddaughter, after which, trying to swipe his finger a couple of times, he turned off the video connection on the tablet first. Afterwards, Vanya puts the tablet aside and, together with Karl, returns to the room with the TV. At that time, one of the anime series was shown on TV, based on a book by an American writer about an American homeless boy who lived on the street and slept in a salt barrel. A screensaver passes and there is an episode where a boy on a floating raft with a tent in which the black man Jim was hiding, tries to protect him from two bandits, passing him off as his father with an incurable disease. — O! I saw this series on the Internet. — said David. — On Wikipedia it was said that it has twenty-six episodes, but in our Russian dubbing there are only the first twelve episodes. — They were all translated into Russian dubbing, as far as I remember. — Lili explained, since she watched it as a child. — They were even shown on our TV. True, only the first twelve episodes have survived to this day and the Internet, and the rest, unfortunately, are lost forever. — We sympathize. — Eugene felt sorry for her. — Where have you been? — David asked his father and cousin Karl. — Sorry, I had to go out for a couple of minutes and call the Omarovs to find out if everything was okay there. — the father explained. — Are they okay there? — Lili joined her son. — Yes. They diligently watched our house in our absence and apparently suspected in advance about those robbers. — Ivan answers. — Well, thank God! As you say. — says Eugene and everyone except Xuen, who still did not understand their speech in Russian and did not yet understand why they were laughing.