Вот что пока у меня получилось на вторую exercise для инглиша.



Lost friend

Lost friend.

One summer evening as I was coming down a hill on my bike and turning the corner by the village’s only shop I saw a kid face that made me smile. It was Kirill, his upturned nose smudged white with the ice cream he’s been eating. My friends, Alla and Yana, were there too, also eating ice cream bought at the store on the hill. That summer Alla and her family moved to their relatives that happened to be our neighbors in the village. We met in church though and fast became friends. Somehow it’s easier for kids to be friends as one gets older issues start to appear that hold people apart. That didn’t happen to us yet; we were really close with Alla – stayed at her new house a lot, we would have sleepovers at each other’s places. I soon became acquainted with Alla’s third cousins staying with their grandma – our neighbor. They were Alex and Kirill – two very different boys. Alex was older than Alla and me by about 2 or 3 years, so we didn’t play with him much; Kirill was about our age, maybe 11 years old, though he looked younger because he was short. The younger brother tended to stick to our company, though somehow the relative part didn’t really make the kids friends. There was something of rivalry between the boys and the girls (Alla had a younger sister – Yana, and two older sisters). We would play together sometimes but there would be disagreements.



That night Alla, Yana and Kirill were friends eating ice cream. As the bunch saw me approach on my bike they immediately wanted to ride too, pleading with their eyes. The boy’s face made me chuckle a little – it was an amusing sight of straight unruly hair sticking everywhere though cut short, the little upturned nose with ice cream on the tip and a rascal smile spread across the skinny face. I rode up to Alla, stopped and looking at Kirill said, “Oh, look you have ice cream on your nose,” and giggled. As the giggles spread to the other girls, Kirill wiped the smudge and laughed too.



With the cleaning issues finished Alla said, “Could you let me ride on your bike?” I knew she did not have a bike so I said, “Of course,” always eager to play with any of my friends. I wanted them to have fun too and the hills were scary and fun to ride down. I liked when I could give something to my friends because usually it was the other way around. As I was giving the bike to Alla, her younger sister Yana yelled, “Hey, I want to ride too! May I, may I?”



“Wait a bit, Yana, you’re too small to ride down the hill but I’ll let you ride once Alla gets down. There is a nice big flat place over there,” I pointed over the trees down the hill, “we’ll take turns riding the bike.” Yana was jumping up and down causing the thawing ice cream to spill from the half eaten cone and sprinkle on her clothes. We laughed and Alla took position to mount the bike.



As she rode down the bend on the unpaved road with big rocks sticking here and there, everyone followed cutting straight across on the little trail that run through the bushes. Once on flat ground, Alla stopped and gave the bike to Yana.



“Hey girls, can I ride with you too? I don’t have a bike,” pleaded the mischievous eyes now wide with expectation.



“Sure. We’ll take turns. You’ll just have to run to catch us,” I answered and run after the little girl on my big bike.



We took two turns each and then Kirill asked if he could ride another time. I smiled and looked at Alla. “Should we let him ride with us again?” I asked skeptically trying to be funny. “Nay,” she shook her head slowly. “Why should we?” She looked quizzically at me.



“Well, then, it’s decided.” I liked this joking game. Taking the bike’s handles I gave them to little Yana. Happy she mounted the bike and pumped the pedals riding away.



As we ran after her, Kirill started slowly for the bushes. That was it – he was gone. I was just joking and would have gladly let him ride after Yana but he was gone. Later Yana pointed out that he was walking across the hills.



I sighed cringing inside. I didn’t want this to happen.



As the sun was setting down and so were our strength, the biking party started up the hill for home. We didn’t find Kirill there. Alex was concerned about him as we told what happened, and Olga, Alla’s older sister said that she saw Kirill heading down to the big road probably going to that tree growth across the street. We ran down the hill looking for the boy but didn’t find him. As it was getting dark, Alex brought his brother back.



We didn’t see him that night. He was mad. I wished I listened to my heart instead of playing games with my friend listening to Alla. I did want Kirill to ride with us. It was more fun with him. I liked making him laugh and have fun. Instead I shun him away.



Now we are grown up and haven’t seen each other since that summer of 1998. I found out through my friend that the brothers were in the required army for 2 years. Alex just came back and Kirill is deployed right now. Will we ever meet again? Would I have the chance to say that I was sorry? It doesn’t sound like a big deal – just kids quarreling but to me it’s more than that somehow. I feel that with that rejection I lost a friend.



Prompt: Write about a time when you feel you failed. it can be small or big; it can be something only you felt you failed at. Describe the scene or experience and explain why it felt like a failure to you. What did you learn from the experience?