Lion

A few days have passed since that conversation.

During these days, I managed to return to my former state.

Leon came out of my life. But I didn't know for how long.

Having a habit of never getting used to anyone, I continued to write and read. But with every second my thoughts got heavier.

Turns out it's a very horrible feeling when you want to see someone again.

Trying to escape from this feeling, I went to one cafe.

Autumn days dragged on one another.

People's faces became more and more gloomy.

Well, I, still the same Skye, walked on the asphalt with my new suit, which slightly compressed my shoulders and legs.

Taking off my hat and straightening my hair, which as always had been collected in a ponytail, I entered the cafe.

A few people were busy eating and some were reading by the window.

The aroma of coffee and buns awakened my appetite.

I waved to a waiter who knew me well and without any words he nodded back to me already knowing what I needed.

While he was making coffee and waiting for my spinach pie to be ready, I comfortably settled down on one of the seats by the window.

Perhaps looking out the window of this cafe, I liked the most. I liked watching people from this angle. I liked this part of the street where crowds of people were always walking back and forth. Here, I could sit in a cozy chair, listen to Chopin and watch people hurry to live.

"Professor, it is been a while since you have been here."

"Yes. I even missed this place."

"Here's your coffee and your pie. If you need something else then just say it," said the waiter and went away.

While I was chewing spinach, I kept looking out the window.

Suddenly I remembered Ethel. Her paintings.

Why did I suddenly begin to meet people with whom I am so calm and comfortable?

Why people started gathering around me. Friends.

And most importantly, I didn't want to run away from it.

When my plate was empty, I waved and the waiter whose name Elio ran up to me.

"I'd like to order that carrot salad," I said.

Elio smiled and hid behind the door leading to the kitchen.

Beating off the incomprehensible rhythm on the table, my eyes suddenly fell on an elderly man who entered the cafe without any noise.

Like a cat, he took off his hat and just as quietly took off his coat. Then looking around, he took out his handkerchief and wiped the raindrops from his hands.

I noticed he really looked like a cat. His white hair was perfectly combed back. He had a thin moustache, the same white color.

For his age he was very slender, and in his movements, there was still the energy of the former youth.

Most of all in his image, my attention was drawn to his dark green shoes which were as if perfectly polished.

Looks like dark green haunts me everywhere.

The color of his eyes...

From my gaze, the old gentleman also noticed me, and the next second he was already standing in front of me.

"What a wonderful day," he said in a low voice that was barely audible through Chopin's gentle melody.

"Every day is wonderful in its own way, " I replied, and I was surprised by my answer.

"Can I sit here?" he suddenly asked, pointing to the chair opposite me.

"Of course."

Elio, seeing him, ran up to us, and when he asked what the gentleman wanted, he replied that only a glass of water.

"I love autumn," he continued of the theme of the weather and the wonderful day.

"Perhaps Pushkin was right to say that this is the most beautiful time of the year."

"You're right. Pushkin knew a lot about the long rains and the cloudy weather, which whispers to believe in a fairy tale."

I liked the way this old gentleman used to say.

Then, laughing a little, he looked at me and suddenly said, "Why was I sure today that I would meet a new friend."

"Friend?"

"Yes. And when I walked into this cafe, I knew you were a good friend."

He laughed again.

"You must think how weird I am. But I don't like being like all people. I don't like to look cold and dead at a time when I want to approach an interesting person or give my opinion. I'm not used to hiding my thoughts," he said and put his hands on his knees.

"It's nice to know that there are still people like you."

"Yes. After all, you have to live as your soul tells you. And it was today that my soul commanded me to get out of the house at last and go to this cafe."

"You wouldn't believe it, but in my life, too strange things started to happen that I can believe in the antics of fate," I said looking at my salad.

"Well, then there is a fate. It is not for nothing that today, for all these months I have decided to walk and enter this café."

From his manners and thinking, I immediately realized that he is connected with science or with art.

And I was right.

"I suppose you're a scientist?" he suddenly asked me ahead of my question.

"I'm a Philosophy professor."

"I'm a Physics professor. Except I don't teach. You see, I'm on my own. And that's after the university decided to let me go after I almost destroyed the entire lab. And now, I work in my own lab."

"Interesting."

"I've always admired Philosophy. Now tell me, is there free will?"

I stopped chewing my salad since now one of my favorite topics has been touched upon. For me to begin to answer this question epically, Elio had turned on all the lamps standing in the cafe.

"Free will exists. But just to have it you need to have a lot of responsibility and courage."

"Explain," he said after taking a few sips of water.

"A man could have free will. But the only problem is that a person often let go, gives up his freedom in order not to be responsible for anything. A man does not want to be responsible for his life at all. And so, he gives up the luxury of being free and then, ironically, he or she starts complaining about their lives and how unhappy they are. If a person was a little braver, if he or she could be responsible for his agency, now there would be no unloved work, and someone else's life which is now his or her. So, yes, there is free will, but that's just whether people are ready to accept this fact. That's the question."

"So, a person is not even ready to be responsible for his life and live as he or she wants. It's both scary and sad."

"You're right," I said, and tried to hold on to the impending lecture on human freedom. "And what about Physics, what does it say about people? Is there any progress of mankind?"

He shrugged his shoulders and became a little sad. "Perhaps yes. I think so. But Physics is very different. She's a very capricious lady. But the progress of mankind will begin only when it is ready to change. And it's not going to change with technology. And with the help of will, of heart."

"And here you are right too."

Suddenly he jumped out of his chair and held out his hand, laughing, saying, "How embarrassing, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Adelard."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Skyemoone. Just Skye."

"The sky and the moon. It looks like your parents love you very much once endowed with such a beautiful and poetic name," he said shaking my hand. Then, looking at his watch, he frowned and shook his head, "Einstein was right. When you're enjoying someone's company, time flies at the speed of light."

"Is it time for you to leave?"

"Perhaps yes. Physics awaits."

"Don't make this capricious lady wait."

"Thank you for a little lecture."

"And thank you for not acting as a human being and decided to come up and start talking."

"See you soon," he patted me on the back as if he had known me for years.

Wearing his hat and long coat, he did not look at me, quickly left the cafe and in the blink of an eye he was already among the crowd of people.