Flamy the Dragonet

Muffin lifted her head and looked at her blearily. “Oh, it’s you! Good that you came, although, in fact, you could also not have come.”

“Why?” Olga was surprised. “You yourself invited me yesterday! You were so cheerful. What happened? You caught a cold? I warned you not to lie in the draught.”

Muffin sighed. “What cold? Can you keep a secret?”

“I can. I can do a lot of things: sew, wash, cook dinner, clean the apartment…” the doll honestly started to itemize, bending her fingers.

“Yes, yes! Well, I’ll tell you anyway! I’ve fallen in love,” the cat purred despondently.

“You don’t say! With whom?” Olga was pleased for Muffin.

“One of the cats. You don’t know him,” Muffin said.

“And who’s he, this cat?”

“No one… Nothing special…”

“Nothing at all?”

“Absolutely. That’s not the point. I love him.”

Olga shook her curls. “I don’t understand! My head’s all muddled!”

“No wonder. You have nothing there. Some holes for the hair,” Muffin snorted.

Olga was not offended. She was too curious to find out the details of Muffin’s love. Why these details were necessary to her, she did not know, but they were somehow important for the one-and-a-half-year-old doll with blue eyes like all dolls.

“Where did you meet this cat? You’re home all the time,” Olga asked.

Muffin turned over onto her stomach, placed her head on her front paws, and heaved a really deep sigh. “I saw him in the window. He was on a nearby roof serenading.”

“Doing what?”

“Singing serenades. Songs.”

“And he sang well?”

“Couldn’t be worse. Very poorly,” Muffin admitted.

“And you fell in love? You heard this no-need-salt[4 - This refers to a 2008 short Russian poem about love that starts with No need salt/No need water/Give me love/…] and fell in love?” The doll Olga became all the more interested.

“Have to fall in love with someone. Indeed, it’s spring,” the cat remarked dejectedly.

“And what’s he like, your cat? Good-looking?”

“Nothing of the kind! An ordinary cat of no pedigree. Most likely lives in a dumpster and feeds on fish tails,” Muffin shuddered.

“What did you see in him?”

“I saw nothing in him. NU-THING! I just fell in love! You, doll, are totally stupid!” the cat shouted. Muffin leaped up and began to pace anxiously around the room. She sniffed, jumped up onto the chairs, started to roll on the floor, and scratched the sofa with her claws.

The tidy Olga did not like this love. It was too restless for her taste. “Why are you suffering? Is it really not possible to love quietly? Curl up by the heater and love!” she advised.

“I’m suffering. You really don’t understand that I’m suffering? I just can’t find a place for myself!”

“Can’t you fall in love with someone else? Why him? Because he sang no-need-salt?”

“You don’t understand!” the cat shook her head. “He has nothing to do with it. Even if it wasn’t him on the roof or he wasn’t serenading, I’d still fall in love. It’s spring after all, understand?”

Olga straightened her bow. “Vaguely. It turns out that I should fall in love with Pookar only because now it’s spring?”

Muffin swished her tail. “What are you talking about? You’re too young. And your Pookar is just an immature baby doll. Love, it’s only for adults. Sometimes you simply want to fall in love and you do. So? It’s nothing!”

Then the cat’s face became dreamy again, and Muffin, meowing, began to roll on the floor. “The funny thing is…” she said and stopped rolling. “The funny thing is that this will all pass. I know exactly what will happen. After two or three days. This has happened to me several times before.”

The doll Olga listened carefully to Muffin, thought a little, and smoothed her pinafore. A dreamy and hesitant expression suddenly appeared on her calm face. “Know what… Only don’t laugh! Can I also fall in love with him?” Olga suddenly blurted out.

Muffin, from surprise, even calmed down temporarily. “With whom?”

“Your cat.”

“Why?”

“Don’t ask. Just say, yes or no?” Olga demanded, turned red, and puffed up like a balloon.

Muffin paused, looked at the doll, smiled, and purred, “You have to go and do the same? Well, your problem… Fall in love as you please!”

* * *

In the evening Muffin and the doll Olga sat on the windowsill and watched the sun setting behind the multi-storied building. Panting was heard. This was Pookar scrambling along the curtains.

“Aha! Now I’ve found you! Hi, Catmuffy! Hi, Olga! What are you doing here?” he shouted merrily.

Olga turned around. “Ah, it’s only you, Pookar! We’re looking out the window. If you want, you can stay. Only, please, don’t make any noise.”

“What haven’t I seen out this window? A thousand million times I look out it… There!” Pookar slid like a wheel, throwing his short legs up high. Olga and Muffin did not pay him any special attention, and Pookar, having calmed down, also began to look out the window.

“Oho!” he suddenly yelled. “I know what you’re staring at! There, that guy is washing his car again. Here’s a fool! The whole day he can’t stop and washes, washes all the time… You’d think that he has fallen in love with the car! Let’s throw a flower pot at him. It’ll be fun!”

“In love with a car! How original!” the cat Muffin, who only heard this from Pookar’s long tirade, sighed.

“Much more original! A common pig!” the doll Olga said.

“You understand nothing again! Nothing at all,” Muffin waved her off.

“Why?”

“It’s not important with whom you love. You can fall in love with anyone or even anything. The object has no significance! What’s important is the state! Love comes not because someone suitable actually appeared beside you, but because it can’t not come. It comes not from outside but inside,” Muffin said.