Manyunya ends up in Trash Bucket

— BA!!! BA!!! — Manyuni’s scream echoed throughout the area of the house outside. Even the walls could tell she was starting to lose her patience. — Don't yell, Manyunya! I can hear you perfectly. — Ba answers, leaving the house and wiping the washed ladle with rags. — What did you call for me? — Bah, why in class do they always mention the policies of other countries and compare them with ours? It's not at all interesting to me and it's boring. Why should I know about this? Maybe I won’t need this at all in the future? — Where did you get that from? — Ba was surprised. — This knowledge is necessary for the future. Do you think why I have such a strict character and why I can skillfully get everything, despite the fact that everyone is hiding behind shortages and selling everything slightly more expensive? Because I not only know psychology and the concepts of anger, but I also know about the concepts of politics and their differences. — And I don’t want to be like you, Ba. And anyway, I’m not interested in it anyway. — Oh, isn’t it interesting? — Ba became a little indignant and folded her hands with a rag and a ladle at her waist. — So you think you won’t need it? — Yes, never. In general, I consider all this a useless waste of time, which is just needed for nothing, just for the sake of positive ratings and nothing more. — the granddaughter said to her grandmother, and she twirled her index finger and said: — Well, look at me! By chance, sooner or later, for example, you will end up in America, where there is a completely different politics, a different life, and where everything is the other way around, you won’t know anything about how to survive there, and then you will immediately take back your words! — Ha! It didn't scare me at all! You might think that I can get from the S-s-sir to the America? Don't make up horror stories. — Manyunya sincerely believed that Ba was just intimidating her, knowing that she would never really get there. — Not S-s-sir, Manyunya, but Eseseser! — Ba corrected her. — Doesn't matter! However, Ba had much more important things to do than just scold his granddaughter. She was preparing pancakes with meat, and at that time Manyunya went to her room by her own choice, locked herself there and lay down in bed all indignant, folding her arms on her chest and thinking how useless all this is and she doesn’t need to know, because She's not interested in any of this. She didn't even notice how she fell asleep in the middle of the day.

***

      Manyunya woke up inside some old wooden village toilet, sitting on a potty. She opened the door and went outside, when suddenly a strange picture appeared before her eyes. She was somewhere very far from home in a very hot desert, like the Sahara desert in Africa or the one shown in Indian films. There wasn't a single drop of water around. No oceans, no lakes, no rivers, and not even springs with waterfalls. Because to the left of the village toilet, where she woke up, there was a city of very tall buildings and many floors. There were even the tallest buildings, the famous twin towers of the World Trade Center. It was deadly hot outside. The sun was hot, but not too much. All the people and nations who lived in that city went out into the streets almost naked and wore only underwear or swimsuits, like on the beach. Only no towels and no bedspreads. At the same time, they calmly and normally communicated with each other, ignoring this fact. Some of them even bred crocodiles as pets. For some reason only crocodiles. Although the crocodiles themselves behaved like dogs. Some of the people also wore sombreros on their heads and ate only sausages in dough. Suddenly, a man’s rough and low voice was heard from behind the girl: — Welcome to the United Pants of America! Manyunya turned around and saw a tall four-meter man who was looking sternly at her from top to bottom. He himself wore only blue short men's shorts and walked barefoot. — Why are you looking at us like we’re crazy? It's not beautiful! This is not the case here in the USA! You owe us an apology for this! — Apologize? But for what? — Manyunya doesn’t understand. — No, look at this stupid Russian! She also asks! — the man was indignant. — HEY!!! — the girl was no less indignant. — For your information, I am Armenian, although I speak Russian. — What's the difference? You are all Russians the same in your Soviet Union! — the man answers. — Stop staring at me like that, inadequate. Apologize quickly and stop doing this! — Why should I apologize? I don't understand? — asks the girl. — Are you deaf? I told you in English, stop staring at us like we’re crazy. You're acting like you're crazy! Manyunya immediately realized that apparently they have such rules here and this is how it is accepted. In order not to anger this uncle even more, so that he doesn’t hit her, she apologizes to him. He didn’t smile, didn’t even thank her, but simply left. — You won’t even say thank you to me, you brute!” — You yourself are a rude person. — he answers her, without turning around and moves on. — Who are you anyway to treat me so rudely? — asks Manyunya. — Call me Mr. Moorevel! — the man introduced himself also rudely and left. — Moor... Moora... Moori... Ugh! In short, I will simply call you uncle! It's more comfortable for me! And anyway, where am I? — Are you really deaf or what? I told you, you are in the United States of America. Here everything is the other way around, unlike your rotten Scoop! — What other scoop? A dustpan is an object used to collect garbage and sweep it with a broom, and I live in the Soviet Union. This is your Trash Bucket country! — the girl responded rudely in defense of her native country. — We don’t care what you call our country of holy capitalism. You and your pathetic communism will all rot and your entire country will be screwed. And our USA will live forever, unlike your USSR. — Your America will be screwed, so you all know! — the girl justified her house and also turned around, deciding to leave here. She went straight into the desert. She hoped that if she just walked straight all the time, then sooner or later she would go to the water, call one of the sailors there for help and ask to return her home.

***

      She had been walking for about two hours without stopping and was already tired. She turned back and saw that the same toilet and city were still next to her, and for some reason she herself had not moved a step away from them, although she always walked forward and did not turn anywhere. — What the hell is this? Why am I still here? I had already walked through the desert for two hours, but I still hadn’t come to the water. Why am I here again? The same man approached her again and said: — In the United States of America, as I already said, the opposite is true. — Vice versa? What nonsense? — Manyunya didn’t believe it. — This is not nonsense! This is life and politics! — explained Moorevel. — You just tested it on yourself when you went into the desert.” In the USA, we always return to the city instead of leaving it. No matter how much you want, you will never leave here. — Nonsense! I don’t believe in all this, and even more so I’m not interested in hearing about politics. I’d rather walk around the city and find some way out of here myself. — Oh well! Good luck. And yes, in the USA you don’t walk on your own, but your legs walk on their own! — Well, yes! So I believed you. — Manyunya said sarcastically and walked further into the city. While she was walking, she was already tired along the way and her legs hurt. She wanted to stop, but her legs did not obey her and continued to move on, despite the fatigue. — Stop! Stop! Stop walking! I who told to stand! Stop it! — she said to her legs and tried to stop herself, but her legs did not obey her and continued to walk on their own. — Why my legs don't they listen to me! — O! I forgot to warn you! — the same man walked next to her. — In the USA, you don’t tell someone what to do, but you yourself are told what you should do. — What nonsense? It infuriates me? I just want to stop because my legs are already hurting. — Manyunya explained through tears of pain. — In the USA, it’s not you who have to want it, but you yourself have to achieve it in all seriousness. And no one cries in the USA. Tears come out of the eyes themselves if they want it. After hearing this, Manyunya just wanted to cry, but for some reason she couldn’t. It was only now that her legs stopped when she tried to force herself to cry, but nothing worked. But now that she had stopped, she calmly lay down on her back and began to catch her breath. — In the USA, everyone lies not on their backs or sides, but on their face! — the man says and Manyunya, by the power of God, turned her face on the sidewalk against her will. — How I hate this country. — she hummed through the concrete. — In the USA, the concepts of hating and loving are always the opposite! — Okay-okay! Enough! I will continue to be attentive, trusting and careful! — Manyunya stated sternly, getting to her feet and again walking off somewhere. Now she is ready to believe in anything, since in this country everything is the other way around.

***

      After some hours, Manyunya reached the park, where instead of grass there was only sand, and instead of trees there were cacti. She saw everywhere along the way that in all the stores they always sold only sausages in dough and all the people ate only that. She was tired and sat down on some stone. Suddenly she heard the same voice: — In the USA, it is not you who sit on stones, benches or chairs, but the stones, benches and chairs themselves who sit on you! — What? — Manyunya’s eyes bulged, and suddenly the stone itself rose and crushed the girl with its weight. Fortunately, the sand under her was quite soft and therefore she survived, after which she was freed. Then she decided to just sit down on the sand, when suddenly several grains of sand rose up and showered her head and hair. — I hate this country! — America loves you too. — I know. — she grumbled. She felt very hot under such a scorching sun. — Do you have ice cream or anything cold here? — No, in the USA they only sell sausages in dough! We always eat only sausages in dough for breakfast, lunch and dinner. — Well, I'm hot here! I want something cool! — Well, take off all your clothes and walk around like all the normal people here! — the rude man advised and the girl began to undress. — Stop! I forgot to warn you that... — Before he could finish speaking, Manyuni’s clothes tore themselves and flew away. Now she was all naked. — ...In the USA... It’s not you who undresses... It’s the clothes that undress you! — You couldn’t have warned me before! — Manyunya hissed through her teeth. The man only gave her the loincloth of a primitive man in return, so that she could at least wear it. Manyunya now understood that the strangeness of this place was beyond the limit. She even felt sorry for the people who live here. If in this very hot and forgotten place there is anyone at all adequate, like she herself lived. Now she began to understand why politics is so important in life. If you don’t know about the difference in policies, then you won’t be ready to live and survive in other countries with different policies that are not the same as in the Soviet Union. Now, if there was also socialism or communism here, then surely everything would be normal here, just like at her home. On the way, the wind brought a Panama hat and Manyunya picked it up from the ground and decided to try it on. — In the USA, the hat puts on itself to you. — Wait a minute! What the... — before she had time to finish, the hat itself climbed onto her head and covered her eyes. The girl tried to take it off, but the hat stuck to her head like superglue and wouldn’t come off at all. Now she will forever have psychological trauma due to her fear of hats. — In the USA, it’s not you who takes off your hat, but the hat that sits even tighter on you. — Shut up! — Manyunya could not stand it, tired of listening to all this and from all this disgrace that was happening here. — In the USA, it’s not you who shuts everyone up, but you who shut up yourself! — the man explained, and suddenly Manyunya noticed that her mouth was gone. She could no longer speak or breathe without her mouth. She only mooed in attempts to speak or scream.

***

      With a scream, Manyunya jumps up in her bed and wakes up at home with her same mouth and in the same clothes. At this moment Ba comes running into the room. — What happened, Manyunya? — Nothing! — Exactly! — Yes! — Why were you screaming? — No, I... It seems I didn’t notice how I fell asleep and had a nightmare. It’s as if I woke up in America, where everything is the opposite, unlike the Soviet Union. A friend’s familiar voice was immediately heard from the window: — Manyunya, come out and play! Manyunya looked out the window and saw Narine standing near the window and eating a sausage in dough. She decided that probably America's capitalism had already reached them and spoiled their Soviet Union, making everything the same as theirs, after which she fainted. — Manyunya! — Ba was scared for her granddaughter and ran up to her to bring her to her senses. — Ba, what’s wrong with her? — asks Narine. — I just bought myself a sausage in dough at a bakery on the way. Was she scared of sausages in batter or what?