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Flamy the Dragonet
Flamy the Dragonet
Translated from Russian by Jane H. Buckingham
Translation edited by Shona Brandt
Illustrations by Viktoria Timofeeva
Part One
Flamy the Dragonet
Chapter One
The Bunnies’ Birthday
Late in the evening, when Masha was already asleep, the plush bunnies Sineus and Truvor[1] were celebrating their first birthday in a box under her bed. The bunnies were twins, and if it were not for a spot of watercolour on Sineus’ ear and black threads sewn on Truvor’s tail, it would not be possible to tell them apart.
The cat Muffin, the doll Olga, and the red-haired baby boy doll Pookar were the bunnies’ guests.
Olga was not a slender Barbie, but a respectable Russian doll with strong arms and legs and big blue eyes. When she was turned upside down, she got scared and cried, “Ma-ma!” There is nothing surprising about that. If you, dear reader, were turned upside down, you would also begin to call for mama or even a policeman. Olga did everything in the world correctly. She would always say “thank you” and “please” and only occasionally mixed them up. “Thank give me candy!” or “Please you for lunch!” came out of Olga then.
The bunnies’ other guest, the red-haired baby boy doll Pookar, belonged to the type that always walks around with undone laces, scraped knees, and a black eye. His red hair was tousled, his turned-up nose looked at the world with two cheerful holes, and freckles were scattered across his cheek.
Pookar was dressed in a denim jacket with a lot of pockets: two at the bottom, two on top, and one at the back. Masha, the seven-year-old girl in whose room the toys lived, made him the jacket. It had many pockets, but there is only one Pookar and he could never remember where he put things.
The bunnies Sineus and Truvor were fidgeting on their stools. “When will Birthday come? Why hasn’t he?”
“He’s probably delayed in school,” Pookar decided.