Tulips

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Tulips
Ivan Denisov

The last war was so long, so hard and terrible that humanity, like the Earth itself, has changed beyond recognition.Joshua, a young tulip, by his own sluggishness ends up on someone else’s land, where he begins to understand how unfairly this post-war world is arranged, and his natural interest in a completely different life and events triggers an uncontrollable social process that leads to the disclosure of the monstrous truth to all people.

Tulips

Ivan Denisov

© Ivan Denisov, 2023

ISBN 978-5-0060-7077-6

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Chapter 1

When it was all over, humanity began to look for hope. Endless conflicts and wars have mutilated the old world to such an extent that a new world had to be created…

The war was so horrible and long that people had forgotten how to rejoice and found it hard to appreciate peaceful life, but those who were able to overcome themselves, blessed their descendants for their future endeavors and bequeathed them to create a new dream and grow new tulips…

The founding fathers of this new world settled on a miraculously preserved blooming island that lay in the ocean, separated by a strait from the lifeless desert of the mainland. Civilization was destroyed, nations wiped out, lands scorched, seas and rivers poisoned, and this scrap of land was given to the survivors as a last chance.

The slanting rays of the rising sun slid into the valley and melted the white patina of the night fog. The hills glowed with golden light, giving the emerald valley a jewel-like setting. Instantly the birds awoke and chirped in all their voices, the flowers turned their beautiful heads toward the sun, and the orange fruits on the trees flashed brightly among the dense foliage. The valley was serene and majestic, like an earthly paradise.

The boy took full advantage of the morning silence, disturbed only by the singing of the birds, he nestled comfortably under a tree and indulged in daydreaming.

The sun was beaming on the two young men, as they were walking down the trail, laughing, and chatting merrily despite the early hour. They were walking to the village, which was spreading freely among the gardens at the foot of the mountains.

“Look at him, daydreaming and not noticing his friends at all”, exclaimed Hugo.

The boy opened his eyes, looked in the direction the voice had come from, and smiled at his friends.

“Yeah, shame on you, Joshua,” Alba added, wagging her finger reproachfully.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged,” Joshua smiled even more broadly, without raising his head.

The boy continued to lie undisturbed beneath the sprawling tree, its shade hiding him from both prying eyes and the hot rays of the sun. But it was really time for class. He jumped up, picked up his big tuba with a musical instrument from the ground, and joined his friends.

“What were you dreaming about?” Alba asked.

“I wasn’t dreaming at all. I was just revising history homework. It’s easier to concentrate with your eyes closed, so don’t make up things that didn’t happen,” Joshua answered, slinging the tube over his shoulder.

“What did and didn’t happen will be judged by Ana-Maria, “the girl laughed.

Teasing each other, the kids headed for the academy.

“Wait, wait, history, you say? Well, here’s a question for you. Why did our Founders call the children tulips?” Hugo took Joshua by the hand right at the gate and asked him seriously.

“Because it’s the first flower they ever saw in the new land,” Joshua answered confidently.

“That’s not an answer, that’s some frivolous nonsense”, Alba reproached her friend for his flawed statement.

“Y-yeah, with answers like that you’ll never graduate from the academy,” Hugo added with a shake of his head.

The friends carried on their short journey carefree. Who could have guessed what trials awaited them…

These very young tulips were one of the main units of the new society. Humanity’s future depended on them, and they understood that… or, well, they tried to understand it. In any case, society did its best to raise them into decent people.

The tulips wore bright costumes that symbolized flowers, the sky, the sea, the sun; cloaks that reached to their waists and wide-brimmed hats that protected them from the sun and covered their shoulders in bad weather.

The islanders, the older ones, dressed more modestly, with clothes made of heat-resistant cloth that looked more like bark, stone, moss, or grass in their shades and patterns. The islanders worked every day to help each other survive, and they had little time to dress up. They were focused on the tulips only.

The islanders mostly worked in agriculture, construction, various crafts, and more, but they put the training and education of their tulips at the center of community development. The older people, who could already do physical work with difficulty, served as mentors to them in their professions and were happy to share their life experiences with the kids.

The veterans also looked after each of the crafts, were advisers in affairs and simply teachers to the younger workers. These respected old men wore white suits that covered them from head to toe.

The girls, whether very young or older, wore loose long dresses, decorated with simple but colorful beads and brooches to their liking.

The islanders were always neat and good-looking. This helped them morally in their difficult lives, and their past habits and predilections were forgotten forever.

All citizens on the island, divided by age and occupation, were ruled by the Supreme Ruler, whose name was Isa. Ruling is a strong word, Isa was rather the father of the community, a wise leader of people living in such difficult and unusual conditions.

He wore everything black, and on his chest shone the Symbol. A new symbol. The same symbol that had once helped create this new society, the golden rose of the winds. It was so radiant and contrasted so much with his dark clothes that every person who saw the glow of that rose felt touched by the light of hope.

Isa was a rather tall middle-aged man with black eyes, long hair reaching to his shoulders, and a neat beard. Among other things, the Supreme was the spiritual director of the community, so every week he held a service for all the islanders, “There is no power that can break our Rose of the Winds”.

There were always his assistants beside Isa. They wore black uniforms, and their shoulders were covered by short cloaks. These men not only carried out the will of the Supreme, but also helped all the other inhabitants of the island, resolving conflicts and disputes, in essence, being the executors of the ruler’s will. But fortunately, the society was always peaceful, so there was not much disagreement at all. Everyone lived in equal conditions, had equal rights, opportunities, and possessions, so there was no point in dividing anything.

Knock…

Knock, knock …

The game in the meadow was in full swing.

“No-o-o-o-o, you’ve won again!” Alba said with regret.

“It’s my game,” Hugo said with a smirk.

“Yes, you’re a natural, you are,” Joshua confirmed.

“Smart hands and no tricks,” Hugo continued to be amused.

“Let’s do it again,” declared Alba petulantly.

“Aren’t you tired of losing?” Joshua asked.

“Come on, it’s my pleasure to prove my skills,” said Hugo.

“You could give in to a girl for once,” Alba muttered.

“But that would be cheating,” said Hugo indignantly.

“But it would be very pleasant for me”.

“Then we’d both be liars,” the young man smirked.

“Oh, you…” Alba exclaimed and swung her little fist at Hugo.

“Friends, don’t fight, it’s just a game,” Joshua tried to calm the heated heads. “I suggest we take this as a practice, and at the end of the school year, when the graduation contests are held, decide everything honestly, on general terms”.

“You can’t compete with contestants like this,” Hugo sneered.

“Your pride will ruin you. Don’t get burnt by your brilliance,” Alba joked viciously.

“My light is enough for all,” said Hugo pretentiously, and the friends finally laughed.

The students often spent time outdoors, running, jumping, and playing various games on the grass. Their favorite game, taught by their mentors, was to use a club to send a ball into a hole, thereby earning themselves points. It was just one of the games the academy students were taught to develop their dexterity. But active sport was not welcomed by mentors, considering it too dangerous for children’s psyche. The curriculum was mostly simple games, though a competitive version, which did not provoke violent passions as they might have if they had been more adventurous. In this way, the tulips were taught restraint and humbleness, which was a part of their general training.

“Next time we’ll play without him, let him look for an equal opponent,” Alba said.

“Right, let him compete with his teacher,” Joshua added.

“Oh, well… And I thought we were friends,” smirked Hugo.

“We’ll have to be friends off the field, for here we are rivals,” Joshua said.

“I agree, and it’s even better that you play away from us,” Alba continued.

“Let me give you some treats, as an apology for winning and a sign of eternal friendship and love,’ suggested Hugo solemnly.

“Love? We didn’t agree to that,” Alba replied, grimacing.

“Like it, dislike it, bear with me, my beauty,” Hugo laughed.

“I have to be the girl who lost to you to get your treats?” Joshua asked.

“I can’t waste my feelings on everyone else,” Hugo smiled.

“I’ll have to get my own treats,” Joshua sighed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll share it with you,” Alba said.

“There goes the reward for unselfish friendship,” Joshua said contentedly.

Leaving the clubs and balls behind, the tulips picked up their things and headed for their next lesson.

Joshua lingered, still fiddling with the heavy tuba and the broken clasp that wouldn’t go on and off.

“When will you fix the lock?” asked Hugo, seeing the anguish of his friend.

“I can’t get my hands on it,” Joshua answered, “I’ll ask Giuseppe to help me after school, he’s a jack of all trades.”

“Yes, he’ll help,” Hugo added, nodding.

“He will definitely take you under his wing after the exams. He’ll teach you how to make watches, and not just locks,” Alba said.

“I don’t think I’m destined for anything else” Joshua said with a smile.

Tulips headed to a music class where students learned to play various instruments, vocals, and everything else related to music. The academy had its own orchestra where all the gifted children played. One of those gifted children was Joshua, who played the bassoon beautifully. Though, to show his talents, he had to carry a huge tuba for the instrument and bother with its lock. But Tulip loved music and was ready to endure more than such hardships for the sake of it.

The choir and orchestra of the academy performed only those works that were authorized by the Supreme. This did not mean that there was any censorship. Rather, the Supreme, himself having a good taste in music, selected melodious and optimistic songs, symphonies, and suites to please the ears of citizens and educate young people in the right way. There was never any overly loud and informal music, or at least none that anyone remembered. Back in the olden days, the Founders forbade any aggressive music that would evoke unwanted aggressive emotions.

The Young Tulip Orchestra played and sang at all the festivals and was very popular. There were individual singers and musicians too, of course, but due to tradition they were not as successful, and more often performed only at family parties or for friends.

Individualism was not encouraged in the academy at all, which was evident in everything. In sports, work and art. It was considered indecent and not welcomed by the tutors. Such restrictions made it possible to avoid conflicts and did not give people cause for envy. All this was considered vicious.

The Founders, those who survived the Last War, learned a good lesson from the past and drew up a new set of rules and laws for human existence. People wanted to live in peace, in harmony with nature, and to see only the beautiful. That is why those in power decided to create a world like the Garden of Eden, which they had heard about from people who remembered how happily, in their opinion, they had lived before. The Founders had no other sources of information, everything was destroyed by war.

The basis of the new power was faith. Why faith? Because any form of government in the history of mankind has always displeased someone and was constantly questioned. And faith, religion has lived for centuries, albeit changing its attributes, leaving the principles unchanged. Similarly, in times of hardship, living under bombardment and bullets, the Founders saw clearly that people involuntarily rejected technological civilization in their minds and began to reach for nature. This manifested not only in their way of life, but also in their simple clothing. It made both they and their children, young tulips, wear outfits emblematic of the world around them. No wonder, as you see nothing but gloom and death, and flowers are the only thing that can make the soul happy and help it escape its misfortunes.

The wise Founders knew that nature can be cruel for the sake of life itself. They had learned by painful experience that since this life was given to man here and now, the punishment for sins for those who overstep reasonable limits would come at once by the will of the Supreme Ruler, not at some distant afterlife.

Yet the idea of eternal torment, which the Founding Fathers received from the ancestors, they also laid at the foundation of the faith and threatened all unfaithful spirits. All those who did not want to accept the new order were threatened with eternal punishment. Most people followed the Founders, for the horror they had already endured made them trust only in a higher power.

The new human community has resisted and even gradually, year by year, transformed itself to resemble to the kingdom of God.

The islanders called their home Paradise, and the opposite wounded shore, which had endured all the horrors of war, was Hell. It was exactly as their ancestors had told them. Paradise was a blooming land, and Hell was a dead desert, with eerie sounds and the light of devilish flames in the night. On the mainland the earth was so mutilated that its entire surface was covered with a charred crust, and it became impossible to use it for cultivation because it killed any plants. Fortunately, the island and the Black Earth were separated by a Dead Ocean strait with poisoned water. The strait was relatively wide, allowing the inhabitants of Paradise to witness the terrible shadows and infernal outbreaks firsthand. It served as an extra admonition to the inhabitants of the island. Yes, the islanders were very fortunate, for on their land, clear water flowed directly from the mountains, ready for them to enjoy.

As time passed, the misfortunes and the old ways were forgotten, each new generation moved along directly to the course of goodness and peace that the first settlers had instilled in the people since childhood.

It took decades before the principles and ideas that the Founders laid down in the structure of society became common to people and were followed unconditionally.

“Eh… Here you go. The clasp is very flimsy, I suggest you go to Master Alberto, and have it changed,” Giuseppe said as best he could.

“Thank you, I’ll be sure to visit him if I don’t forget,” Joshua replied, bowing.

“The true virtue is to live in harmony with your thoughts, otherwise your life will become chaos,” the smiling grandfather finished his work.

“I can’t do it all, the whole day is packed and there’s no time to think,” Joshua said with a wave of his hands.

“You have to start small and work your way up. Take, for example, that bush you’re pruning. A little seed sprouts out of the ground to become a lush plant, but it takes a step-by-step process to get there. So do you, start with observation, try to write down your day, separately write down the moments in which you fail or that you forget, and solve them in the first place. Paper to the rescue, when you’re foolish,” Giuseppe laughed.

“Did you come up with that all by yourself?” Joshua asked.

“Sure! When I was your age, I was known for my sharp wit, and I wrote many plays that are still in the theater,” the old man answered modestly.

“Is it about the donkey and the goat?” asked the young man with a smirk.

“And not only that, but you young people grab what’s on the surface and don’t see the rest,” Giuseppe replied thoughtfully.