Chapter I
Argentina, the worst place for lovers of lonely walks and of course the best for dancing and all sorts of "dirty" entertainment.
If you go far outside the big city, outside Buenos Aires, you can see such a spectacle.
The silt-covered land stretches for several hundred meters, covered with reeds and various marsh plants. Flocks of mosquitoes in search of blood become victims themselves. Green toads quickly sentence the parasites to death and a delicious meal.
There was a noise! The water shuddered and the river stirred, its smooth surface was muddy and the color resembled fallen leaves.
The river was not too wide, but deep enough for a large boat or something that was floating slowly, like a crocodile, emitting a roar from the engine.
The deck of the boat was not empty, there was a man on it, tanned and sophisticated, in all his appearance he resembled a businessman or a lawyer.
But he was not alone near the side there was another man, thin with yellow skin and a sour face. Coughing into the water and the breeze with saliva, he rejoiced in the sun and his personal victories for spitting into the distance.
In the Cabin, in the "heart" of the boat, there were three more men.
The cabin was not cramped, so the fat Bill fit there, snoring on the couch littered with pornographic magazines. Bill looked like a wild boar, filthy and smelly.
The other two in the cockpit were arguing with each other. Their dispute was not long, one was sure that they had enough money, and the other argued that they were not enough.
Alex was indignant, his face was red and bloody, green eyes flashed.
Richie, who is also the captain of this "ship" was relentless in his righteousness, Richie occasionally glanced at the snoring Bill and turned away with disgust.
-Listen to me! We need some more money for the carve-up.
Alex changed his position and stood closer to the window, looking through the glass at Armand, who was taking a drag on his cigarette.
- Here is Richie, he will help us.
Alex walked over to the table with doors, opened it and laid out the money, counting them, stacking them in fat piles of dollars.
Richie scratched his head, then said
-Okay, the devil can't argue with you four!
First, let's stop by my house, and now get out!
Alex smiled for a smile, slammed the door of the table where the money was and went up to Richie, quite patted him on the cheek, in response, Alex got a sweat in the direction of the door.
-Hey, today we have a case!
Arman narrowed his eyes and silently walked towards the cockpit.
-Alex said we have a case? It's a risky holiday tomorrow, I thought you would disagree, fortunately Alex is able to persuade.
Richie got distracted from the wheel
- Yes, there are many tourists on holidays, we will grab the jackpot!
Look !
Richie went to the valuable table
-We are missing a couple thousand ... hmmm maybe more.
-You keep the money in this safe "safe" with irony said Arman -Put it in the bank, share it to each of them at their own expense.
- I don't trust banks, Richie cried. Armand raised an eyebrow.
- I'm in Richie's business world, I'm used to banks and queues. Arman answered.
-His friend pushed the table door.
-You hunchbacked in the bank for eight years, and then they threw you out like a dog, and now, here you are selling minced meat with us.
Armand lit a cigarette, pushed Bill with his foot, he rolled over on his side.
Richie hid the money.
- We are going to the "bay", we will divide everything there, in the end we cannot screw up. Tomorrow evening we will go hunting, after which we will meet here! Richie pointed to the map.
- This is where our "ship" will be.
-Always new place! Armand was sniffing.
-And further and further from the center.
-You know the rules ... in one place you can't blessed with the back.
- Okay, wake Bill up, we'll share the hunting ground.
Armand got out of the cockpit and went to tell Alex about the general meeting.
The business of these five began not so long ago. But it was enough to raise a lot of money.
All five worked harmoniously, they were all a little over thirty years old and each has a reason why they became traders of "minced meat", namely human organs.
Arman is a businessman, a former bank employee, and has been looking for reliable customers.
Richie had an old "bay" as he called his house, he also had a boat in the past was a fisherman who was abandoned by his wife due to excessive alcohol consumption.
Richie's friend - Bobby, he was dull-witted, full of abomination. His father abused him as a child and he went out of phase. Bobby did not complete his training as a surgeon, did not receive a diploma, the passion of all to steal with the mind led him to this "minced meat business" company.
Bill was the strength and power of this group. Bill was mired in debt and knew Armand when he worked at the bank and wrote out loans to him.
Bill killed victims, Bobby said that "not all birds are weak" after one of the "birds" broke a couple of his ribs.
This whole company worked together for the same purpose, enrichment and profit.
They divided the hunting grounds and on the eleventh of September all five were assigned to their places.
The motor of the boat roared at midnight, it was filled with a load of two bodies wrapped in black bags. Two poor fellows lay in the hold, water dripping on their packages and making an inquiring sound.
Five men were pleased with themselves that everything was going "like clockwork".
-Now we go to my "bay" said Richie.
The cove was a rusty house and a large fishing shed where Richie tended the boat. But the basement of his meager house was not so scarce. There was a large room with Bobby's tools and a mini crematorium - an oven for burning unnecessary meat, clothes, documents and other evidence.
Arriving at the place, the bodies were unloaded and brought into the basement, fat Bill could spit it out.
Everything was as usual except for one thing.
The victims were a homeless woman and a visiting tourist.
But one of the corpses perceived the situation differently than the other victim who was lying on the next table.
Bobby, having cut a woman's corpse, found her organs unsuitable for sale, did not suspect what was happening in the head of the dead man lying opposite, his mind flashed with colors and everything became brighter.
There is a large room, a table, a warm sun is shining on the carpet through the window, and I am so happy, sitting at my writing desk in my comfortable chair, as usual writing down what happened and my thoughts.
One of my quirks.
-31 August Monday.
The day turned out to be sunny, I love the last day of summer, in itself it is magical, everything will fall asleep and turn yellow again. The cold will come, then the first snow will fall and
....
A smile touched my face, my wife Katerina entered the cozy office, she brought a large tray, with her foot, gracefully pushing the door.
-What are you writing?
She set the tray down on a small round table.
-So, I write down what day it is and what autumn will be tomorrow.
I got up and went to my wife, kissed her on the cheek and looked with appetite at the tray. It had cheese, ham, slices of toast, butter, grapes, apple wedges, and hot tea with lemon floating in it.
-Vlad, when will your mother arrive? I will become lonely in this huge house, I do not like loneliness.
- My departure is in four days and on Friday I think she will be here with you. With these words, I drew Katerina away in the dance to the place of music, purring an old song, and she laughed contagiously and moved her hips.
Her smile warmed memories, her black hair smelled of raspberries and he could smell her even in this basement.
Really I could not refuse Pyotor Andreyevich that I do not want to go on any business trip. Our company has a lot of personnel who wanted to do business abroad. But he told me
- You are the best in my department and you know the language and in general I will give you a vacation after you arrive. Vlad you will represent the interests of the company in Argentina, at the same time you will see the world. In September, I do not know yet what date, but you will be informed, you can go.
-Close the door behind you ..
Feelings became intense, I remembered my childhood, my mother and my dog, tea with lemon according to Katerina's recipe, I felt its taste on my dead tongue.
Vlad recalled his work and his trip to Argentina. -
Why did I go? The boss insisted on a major deal with a timber sales agency.
And then a blow to the head, inflicted so hard that his death, although painful, came.
The memories were over and the deceased heard what was happening around him. Music played on the radio.
Vlad began to think.
-I was killed, which means it's over ... dark? We must get up!
Bailing on his elbows and then jumping off the table, Vlad saw Bobby, who was gutting his corpse. The ghost realized what was the matter and went to his body. It was like marble and the eyes were open.
-Why was it dark?
The ghost asked a question to himself out loud.
With a scalpel in hand, Bobby changed the wave on the old radio, having achieved his goal, he said
-Well, let's continue handsome?
Richie entered the basement.
- ready? What about the first one?
- She's not good. bobby grunted
-And this one is just right, it’s good that they caught both of them.
Richie put the packets of Vlad's organs in the container and went upstairs.
The ghost thought out loud, as he realized that no one could hear or see him.
-If I went out, then she should!
He went up to the woman and tried to move, but there was nothing in her.
Turning to his body, Vlad saw Bobby pull the heart out of his chest.
The door flew open and Bill burst in. He plunged the body of the homeless woman into the oven.
-So I'm being cremated.
Thought Vlad, his heart also went to the container.
When the last corpse was thrown into the furnace, his spirit was indignant, he decided to be with the body. The ghost entered his abode while the body melted like cheese and burned.
Vlad did not feel anything and again indulged in memories.
- I'll light the fireplace, dear! Mom is always cold. After Vlad got up, he took the dust off his trousers and walked over to his wife who were standing near the door.
-She is about to be! Alarmed said Katherine
-We haven't seen each other for so long, how do I look?
-For me you have looked amazing for six years!
I hugged her and she continued, not letting go of me.
- Do you remember your mom said she didn't like the tablecloth on my round table? I changed it.
Sigh ..
-My mom always finds flaws in our house.
-But I love her as mine, I didn't have a mother, her proposal was cut short.
- Oh pie! She screamed and ran out of the hall.
Vlad was looking at the fireplace with a smile, in which a fire was burning and ate the logs.
The ghost opened his eyes to a circle of darkness. His body did not have physical barriers and as easily as air he left the furnace. -I turned to dust. he thought.
-I was given birth, raised, taught and all this in order to burn me, nameless without a grave and a tombstone.
Vlad ascended to the surface, the sun was not yet there. He saw the five get on the boat and set sail from the shore.
-Well, I'll go with them.
Once on the deck of the boat, Vlad watched his killers.
Armand paced the deck and spoke to customers on the phone.
Richie watched the steering wheel.
Billy was eating chips on the couch and looking at a magazine.
Bobby sat by the portable refrigerators and told them something.
Alex stood on the edge of the deck and urinated into the water.
The boat moored to the shore where two cars were parked, all five got out in the place with the goods, the sixth, namely Vlad, remained on the boat and watched what was happening from him.
Four of them came out of the black cars wearing masks and carrying a briefcase.
Everything was quick and without words.
-Black cars left in a place with my heart ... thought Vlad, as well as lungs, kidneys, liver and eyes.
-We are rich yelled Bobby!
-Now you need to lay low. Richie warned.
-We will divide everything as we promised to whom, then we will leave in all directions.
The gang divided the money as planned, and the boat was placed under a canopy.
Five washed the blood money and fled.
Chapter II
Vlad was in confusion and in fear, anger grew and there was nothing he could not do. Now I'm just a transparent ghost.
Vlad wandered the streets, two months have passed since the day of his death.
I did not find my own kind even in the cemetery, it was lonely. I wanted to return home, realizing that I would watch the suffering of my wife and mother.
But despair overwhelmed me and I made up my mind.
Having overheard a telephone conversation of one of the passers-by I met, I followed him. The man hailed the taxi, ordered to take him to the Airport.
- That's where I need it .. the ghost thought and got into a taxi next to the passenger.
Arriving at the destination, the passenger got out of the car, the second passenger was already at the airport, he stood near the flight schedule and carefully studied it.
Vlad found the plane he needed, which would take him wherever he needed, but he had to wait for the evening.
Sitting on a long bench in the waiting room, Vlad thought about the past again.
- Intricate pictures!
- These are not pictures - these are drawings.
- you need to prepare for exams!
- Oh no Vlad, I won't give him up for nothing! The teacher knocks me for and all goodbye scholarship.
Youth room.
Dark blue curtains, snow-white tulle. Books and drawings are on the table.
The soft bear that my mother gave me for the 5th birthday is well preserved, although it was left without one button eye.
But the most special thing about this room is it, that day, that hour! Yes, she helped me or I rather helped her to prepare for the exam.
Katerina! Young as I was young at most twenty years.
I saw Katerina in my first year. She was dressed in a white blouse and a light flowing burgundy skirt.
Our eyes met and the world disappeared around us.
After we met, we fell in love, we always did everything together, and after graduation I made her a marriage proposal to which she answered the desired Yes!
- I remember her wedding dress ... Vlad opened his eyes, he often spoke his thoughts, it became a habit and the hope that he might be heard.
On a high gray wall hung a round, gray clock with large black hands, one of which pointed to five o'clock.
- Soon my plane.
Vlad discovered that an elderly woman was sitting next to him.
Her hands are like a desert, and her veins are like pale rivers. She wore a yellow cap with a small blue flower that matched her faded gray eyes. Time moved and took her youth, there were only wrinkles and folds on her neck.
The old woman sat without moving and her neighbor realized that she was blind.
Vlad did not know where this newness came from, he wanted to always sit next to a sweet woman. And his wish did not come true for long.
A deafening bell rang out and the girl's thin voice called to board the plane.
Vlad walked along the ladder and began to look for a place for himself.
- The most pleasant thing in my position is that I don’t need money, Vlad smiled broadly
- and ... there are no queues.
All the participants in the flight fit into the plane in half an hour.
The ghost walked between the cramped economy class seats. He wandered further and saw that old woman who liked his ghostly tastes so much.
Vlad sat down opposite the woman.
- Not when I thought that you have money for a place in the first class. Vlad spoke to his chosen one, looking inquisitively into her face.
She sat as usual without any hesitation.
Vlad was comfortable and for a long time he felt peace. closed his eyes.
- The smell of mint and honey ... the familiar smell of honeymoon.
Shadows of chestnut trees.
No sand, no stinking sea and no traders.
A quiet, cozy gazebo, a mustache of vines sprouted in its wooden burrs.
Katerina was sitting at the table and peeling apples with a sharp small knife.
- I wish I could stay here for the whole summer!
- We only have a lovely month.
She smiled and pointed her finger at the distant pile of apples.
I pushed them towards her.
- Maybe I can persuade my boss Pyotr Andreevich about one more month!
- hmm but mine can not be persuaded.
Quit your job Katya, and I'll go to hell, and we'll live selling your handicrafts.
She dropped the apple and began to laugh, I laughed in the place with her, I could not stop while she makes cute grimaces.
Finally, she wiped the moisture from the laughing voices and spoke in earnest.
- I'm happy to be with you.
My heart skipped a beat and I felt its beating.
I picked up the apple from the floor and took Katya by the hand.
- Do you know how long we will live?
-No
- For a very very long time, we have so much time ahead, crowds of our children will run after us ... we are getting old in place.
- and we will die in one day?
- no..mmm we won't die at all.
She laughed again and, kissing my hands, looked at me and whispered something laughed again.
At that time, I did not know how wrong my prophecies were.
Chapter III
The plane completed its flight at 16:15. Having landed, all its passengers were relieved, secretly praying that everyone was alive and the flying colossus did not collapse.
A sweet blonde flight attendant offered help to my friend.
The old woman smiled with a kind and wise smile
I groped with my hands and found support.
- What gentle, young hands you have ... oh thank you.
The old woman talked to the girl who was helping her about her things, which she took with her.
- You know, I take a little with me, just one handbag. I was allowed to take her here.
I looked at her impressive burden if it stood under her previous seat, and then left on that my "acquaintance" with the blind lady ended.
Walking along the street of my city, I looked at the houses I met on my way, shops, bushes, trees and lampposts, everything familiar and familiar. Every person at least once in his life had such a feeling .. for example, after a long trip you will come home and everything in your monastery is dear to you and you are equally unfamiliar with everything, as if in the first place, the smell and sound of every corner.
I was in no hurry to go home.
People walked past me and sometimes fettered me.
Tired of indifference and strangers, I finally went down to the street below and walked along the stone-paved path "short way to home"
The first thing I noticed was a cherry tree, a very native plant for me.
I planted it with my mother when I was a boy, but before planting it, we bought it as a small tree. The cherry has waved and scattered its branches, preparing to throw off the last yellowed burden.
Approaching the tree, I hugged him and burst into tears at the explosion .. whipping and sobbing, I clung to the bark with my hands.
-ah ooh ooh ...
The languid sighs reached my ears.
And again
- ah ooh ooh ...
Having bounced off the tree, I began to look around my person with goggling eyes, but there was no one in the vicinity.
The wind lifted the rusty leaves and twisted and swirled and fell again.
- I came closer .. why are you sighing, what are you huh?
Coming up in excitement, leaned back again,
I heard nothing more.
I decided to continue on my way.
I walked through fragrant oak trees. Walking around two willows, I saw a house.
The porch is wooden, the steps are covered with a rug, the windows are hung. -Silence.
Having stepped on the threshold, I did not dare to enter.
I stood for a long time without moving for about an hour, then
turned around, my mother was going to meet me.
Her eyes looked at my face, but she did not see me.
The black hair is paired with gray hair and tucked into a tight bun. Eyes drooping, painful, lips drooping in a grimace of effort and pain.
The neck is stretched out like that of a goose that will not find its brainchild. Passed by, I followed.
Entering the house, I sat down at the first table, which stands near the window, and began to observe.
I was not calm, only my movements were ghostly loving.
But in my disembodied chest, everything was so agitated.
My mother sat down silently and sat .. looked in one direction and waited for something.
- You don’t see, you don’t hear .. I sobbed.
- Oh mom! Mom, I'm here with you.
I walked around to about, I rassakazat everything that happened to me.
In the middle of my disastrous story, there was a knock on the door and I fell silent.
- Come in .. the door is open
She stood up.
A neighbor entered the door.
- How are you Polya? No news.
- I just went to work with my son, they said that they never got in touch. The police say that such cases are not uncommon now and ..
And she began to cry, sobbing and wiping her tears terribly, trying to control herself.
The neighbor did not stand and hugged my mother
- Come back, come back nuu everything .. I will look at you and your daughter-in-law and my heart bloody, I can’t look, and I also burst into tears.
- So do not look ... freeing yourself from the caresses and confessions of your neighbor. She sat down at the table and wiped her tears with a stern glance at her interlocutor.
The neighbor was not a welcome guest for long.
She lamented everything about fate and came up with various excuses if only to calm my mother down.
After the guest had left, Katerina called.
The conversation was short.
- I went ... yes, no, they didn't say anything.
- I'll come tomorrow, good bye.
I got up put my hand on her shoulder
- It's okay mom. I'm back.
She seemed to look at me
- Mother of God! Queen of heaven, help, have mercy.
In the corner there was an icon and candles and my photograph.
- I'm here mom.
She still prayed, but I still could not find peace.
I stayed in my home until the next morning, all night I sat next to my parent. She didn’t sleep well, she shuddered all the time, opened her eyes and looked at the clock, read and sometimes said my name. I, in order to calm my mother, stroked her hair, my hand slipped, transparent hands passed through her shoulder and arms. I cried.
Before leaving, I looked at the sleeping person once more, turned my gaze to the icons, my card next to them immediately fell image down.
- Vladik?
I heard the voice of the awakened mother.
She stood up.
"What a sensitive dream can be, to hear a piece of paper fall" ... I thought: she is waiting for me.
- Why did you fall? So, do not fall yet, not yet time, not yet time she repeated over and over again, put the photo in its original place and whispered words, wiped away her tears.
CHAPTER VI
The morning was cloudy, the first frost appeared on the road and you could feel the coolness judging by the chilly people who went in all directions, to work or according to their needs.
Vlad walked unhurriedly, he thought endless thoughts.
Steps and pillars with sluggish leaves of grapes that had to be cut off grew up with his feet.
-Katerina is probably still sleeping. I'm going to look out the window.
Vlad had a childish feeling .. he didn't just want to enter the house, he wanted Katya to run out to him and hug him or saw him out the window and was delighted.
Having walked around the house, Vlad entered it through the wall and ended up in the bathroom. On the shelves that hung near the mirror, nothing has changed, the ghost saw his brutva, cologne, toothbrush and other scraped off.
“I don’t need you anymore.
-What is this noise?
Vlad went to the hall.
The TV was on and the radio was on the window.
Katya walked from room to room and held an iron in her hands.
Vlad stayed in the doorway and watched.
The phone rang
- Yes, well, what time?
With a nod, she hung up.
She turned off the TV and the receiver.
Vlad noticed her rounded belly and realized that his wife was expecting a baby.
- Kate ! I'm back !
She stopped in her gathering and looked back at the door between which her husband was standing.
Her eyes were dark and her cheeks were once puffy and were born and sunken so that her cheekbones could be seen from afar.
She blinked, squinted, leaned her hands on the table and, after standing in this position for a short time, took in the air and began to continue to collect her travel bag.
Later, Vlad learned that his wife, after two days, after he went on a trip to Argentina, Katya found out that she was already two months pregnant.
- Probably wanted to make a surprise.
The ghost wandered between the two homes and more and more he wanted to find flesh. His wife was in deep sorrow, after she was announced a month later that her husband had received the status of a missing person, she became very ill and her mother-in-law took her to the hospital for safekeeping where she took care of her as her daughter.
It was December, and it snowed in its first week.
Chapter V
Vlad was already accustomed to his ghostly life, he felt fatigue, grief and time that dragged on like plasticine.
The ghost often walked to familiar places of his childhood, to the river where he once broke his arm jumping from the side, to school and even where he had a fight for the first time behind garages.
Another week passed, early in the morning, Vlad decided to visit his wife in the hospital.
I was walking along the road, past a flower shop, across the roadway I saw the entrance to the park where I once went for a walk with my wife.
The park was an alley and on both sides,
dry old trees, bare bushes with caps of snow in a tier below.
The alea, lined with tiles worn down to a gray curvature, was once reddish in color.
The tiles had not been changed for a long time, as were the lampposts, crooked from old age, peeling black paint hung like a fur coat, and rust was drifting under it.
Where the flowers grew in the flower beds, now there are weeds for a long time.
The whole landscape in the park is dark and fabulously mysterious. Patterned, curved benches "benches" betrayed the spirit of antiquity.
The trees are old, most of them are strictly dry, and some are broken.
This park seems lifeless, but there are many squirrels, hedgehogs, pigeons, not counting insects.
The birds' favorite place is the fountain, where they can drink plenty of water.
The fountain, however, was always well-groomed and clean, the local authorities hired workers, as if it were "historical value"
There is a story that a very long time ago, at the place where the fountain is now located, two lovers were executed or killed, or else two lovers committed suicide. There are a lot of different versions, honestly I myself do not know the whole story. There is a small grove around the park, and beyond that there is a cemetery.
The places around the city are vast fields located on a cozy plain with two rivers.
- First date as if it was yesterday
- sigh
- The first kiss on this bench, now I am sitting, no longer having a future and in general ...
- What are you muttering under your breath?
The man's hoarse voice woke up from memories. I did not notice that someone had occupied the next shop.
Vlad saw a man in a coat, a black scarf wound around his neck up to the ears, and a black hat with a leather strap on top of his head.
The man sat on a half-side and Vlad could not see his face.
He twirled the cane in his hand and stamped his foot on which was wearing a long-toed shoe, also brown.
- You hear me?
- And then how, then what do I have ears for?
I did not know how to behave and what to say, I was overwhelmed with excitement and I jumped on the spot.
After a long silence,
the stranger sighed languidly, thrust his hand into the inner pocket of his coat, took out a newspaper, unfolded it and
- Khemm
Then kind of lazily asked me
- Well, how is life?
- You hear me ? I repeated myself.
- Are you crazy or have you been wandering for a long time?
- No! Just a couple of months or three.
- Well, speak clearly, the interlocutor muttered irritably.
I fell silent and did not dare to open my mouth.
A couple of minutes later, the strange man got up, straightened his hat and walked towards the grove and soon completely disappeared into the depths of the park.
I decided to return tomorrow at the same time.
Chapter Vl
I wandered all night through the courtyards and back streets of the city, looking into the windows.
Finally the sun rose, I stirred in the park in the hope of meeting a strange person.
Arriving, he sat down in his former place and waited.
An hour passed, I did not take my eyes from the end of the alley.
I heard footsteps and a shadow appeared. The old man in the same brown coat and hat was walking along the alley.
He tapped with a cane, his step was careless, without any purpose, as if he were walking a lap dog.
Having reached a nearby shop, the man sat down and took out a newspaper, opened it rustlingly and began to read.
This time I gathered all the determination to question everything in spite of the discontent and to show insolence that was not my own.
-What is your name ?
The man looked up at me.
- Now you don't stutter? I have not met ghosts with diseases, hiccups and stuttering ...
I interrupted him.
I didn't talk to anyone for a long time and that's why I behaved like that.
- Three or two months isn’t long. I knew one in general for a hundred and forty years, I did not speak to anyone.
I paused and decided to continue looking in my head for suitable questions.
But he started faster than me.
- Now you think what to ask is right? You are a ghost, your duty is to walk around and scare children before bed.
He spoke with such a serious air that I would have believed everything and everything he said.
Apparently my face caused him positive emotions and he laughed.
- oh, it's a joke about children.
- Are you local? What is your name.
- I asked first
- call me Listener.
- But that's not your name
is my nickname. So what about you?
- My name is Vlad and I am a local, but they did not kill me here, in a foreign country.
- Clear.
At this the conversation ended, he got up and said that he had to go.
- Do you come every day?
- Yes, except for the resurrection.
- Do you mind talking to me tomorrow?
- I'm a Listener.
The strange man left, but I decided to visit my wife and mother and wait for the Listener again tomorrow morning.
Chapter vii
Two more weeks passed. Vlad talked with the Listener every day except Sunday. He talked about his work, about Argentina and about the five who sold his organs and are probably enjoying life now.
The listener listened attentively to the ghost and sometimes nodded his head.
The third week has come.
I again arrived at the park at the same place and on the same bench.
On Sunday I realized that I was tired of stories about myself and during my lifetime I rarely liked to talk about my person.
It was Monday morning.
Again I heard footsteps and saw the same clothes and hat.
I asked the Listener more than once if he was cold among the snow and frost, because I am a ghost and I don't care.
He answered
- No
Walking up to his place with a careless gait, the Listener sat down.
I didn't waste precious hours of conversation.
- Now tell me what not to be about! I'm tired of my thoughts, now I want to be a listener, and you will become a storyteller.
- I won't talk about myself, I'm not a radio for entertainment! The man in the hat stood up and showed with all his appearance that he was leaving.
- No need about yourself, don't go, maybe you know some story. I would like to forget a little about what happened to me. I will not come again, I do not want to remember any more.
Vlad's interlocutor always sat on a nearby bench and listened to his stories from there.
But this time he sat down next to the ghost.
- There is one story I will tell, but in an hour I have to leave.
- Then you will continue it tomorrow, I was zealous.
The listener looked angrily at Vlad, and said
- Do you know there is a fountain here?
- Everyone knows about this story, lovers committed suicide or something like that.
- No, my listener, by the way, now you are a listener, and I understand the storyteller?
- Understood. I was the first to say this.
Another displeased look.
- What you heard is the nonsense of romantics and gossips. I’ll tell you, just don’t pretend that you know about what you’re about to hear.