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Unwanted child - стр. 11

The group walked to one of the outermost doors at the end of the corridor. It was painted a dark purple colour. It was painted dark purple and had volumetric stickers in the form of flasks of various shapes with liquids inside. The headmistress stopped near the entrance and said proudly: ‘And this is one of my favourite classes. The chemistry room.’

Inside the room, the walls were painted the same purple colour, with orange stripes in the middle. There were also small multi-coloured blotches on them, reminiscent of ink stains carelessly left by a poorly-behaved student who couldn't write. The floor was covered with a special waterproof coating that could easily be used to clean up spills. In addition, it was very soft, so the students sitting on it were very comfortable. The kids sat on the floor, and in front of them were long wooden tables on which various liquids were spread out. Those were carefully trying to mix them together, watching with interest as the colour of the solutions changed. The children began to look round at the visitors who had just entered.

Headmistress: ‘Well, let's not distract them from their lessons. Let's move on!’

One of the mothers turned to the centre director, looking worriedly at the students: ‘Isn't this dangerous? Can't the children drink these liquids and get poisoned? What if they get some of it in their eyes?’

Headmistress: ‘Don't worry about anything. All liquids have a special composition that is edible, hypoallergenic and has an unpleasant taste. Therefore, children should only try it once to then stop doing so. Simply put, all liquids are ordinary water, even though they have different colours and mixing them leads to different reactions. The safety of the children is our centre's highest mission.’

The first floor was no different from the first, except for the high glass partitions that enclose the edges of the surface from the chasm in the middle of the floor, from which one escalator takes people up and down to the ground floor and another does the same to the second.

The tour group reached a blue door with a sticker of a crescent moon and a baby sleeping on it. Some of the parents wanted to go inside, but the headmistress stopped them, asking them not to disturb the babies resting there. So the room could only be seen standing on the threshold. It was painted in dark blue colour. It was coloured dark blue, and only a dim night-light in the form of a starry sky illuminated the room. From there came the faint sound of crickets singing, which was meant to lull the babies to sleep. The space was quite large, about 40 square metres. On the floor there were many cots arranged lengthwise and crosswise. Some of them were close to each other, and some on the contrary – at a distance, forming small passages between them. On the frames there were several plates with children's names, as one and the same cot was used by three or even four children in a day.

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