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Copyright 1968 in the English translation by Michael Glenny
Collins and Harvill Press
London, and Harcourt, Brace & World Inc, New York.
OCR:Scout
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Ooow-ow-ooow-owow! Oh, look at me, I'm dying. There's a snowstorm
moaning a requiem for me in this doorway and I'm howling with it. I'm
finished. Some bastard in a dirty white cap - the cook in the office canteen
at the National Economic Council - spilled some boiling water and scalded my
left side. Filthy swine - and a proletarian, too. Christ, it hurts! That
boiling water scalded me right through to the bone. I can howl and howl, but
what's the use?
What harm was I doing him, anyway? I'm not robbing the National
Economic Council's food supply if I go foraging in their dustbins, am I?
Greedy pig! Just take a look at his ugly mug - it's almost fatter than he
is. Hard-faced crook. Oh people, people. It was midday when that fool doused
me with boiling water, now it's getting dark, must be about four o'clock in
the afternoon judging by the smell of onion coming from the Prechistenka
fire station. Firemen have soup for supper, you know. Not that I care for it
myself. I can manage without soup - don't like mushrooms either. The dogs I
know in Prechistenka Street, by the way, tell me there's a restaurant in
Neglinny Street where they get the chef's special every day - mushroom stew
with relish at 3 roubles and 75 kopecks the portion. All right for
connoisseurs, I suppose. I think eating mushrooms is about as tasty as
licking a pair of galoshes . . . Oow-owowow . . .
My side hurts like hell and I can see just what's going to become of
me. Tomorrow it will break out in ulcers and then how can I make them heal?
In summer you can go and roll in Sokolniki Park where there's a special
grass that does you good. Besides, you can get a free meal of sausage-ends
and there's plenty of greasy bits of food-wrappings to lick. And if it
wasn't for some old groaner singing '0 celeste Aida' out in the moonlight
till it makes you sick, the place would be perfect. But where can I go now?
Haven't I been kicked around enough? Sure I have. Haven't I had enough
bricks thrown at me? Plenty . . . Still, after what I've been through, I can
take a lot. I'm only whining now because of the pain and cold - though I'm
not licked yet ... it takes a lot to keep a good dog down.
But my poor old body's been knocked about by people once too often. The
trouble is that when that cook doused me with boiling water it scalded
through right under my fur and now there's nothing to keep the cold out on
my left side. I could easily get pneumonia - and if I get that, citizens,
I'll die of hunger. When you get pneumonia the only thing to do is to lie up
under someone's front doorstep, and then who's going to run round the
dustbins looking for food for a sick bachelor dog? I shall get a chill on my
lungs, crawl on my belly till I'm so weak that it'll only need one poke of
someone's stick to finish me off. And the dustmen will pick me up by the
legs and sling me on to their cart . . .
Dustmen are the lowest form of proletarian life. Humans' rubbish is the
filthiest stuff there is. Cooks vary - for instance, there was Vlas from
Prechistenka, who's dead now. He saved I don't know how many dogs' lives,
because when you're sick you've simply got to be able to eat and keep your
strength up. And when Vlas used to throw you a bone there was always a good
eighth of an inch of meat on it. He was a great character. God rest his
soul, a gentleman's cook who worked for Count Tolstoy's family and not for
your stinking Food Rationing Board. As for the muck they dish out there as
rations, well it makes even a dog wonder. They make soup out of salt beef
that's gone rotten, the cheats. The poor fools who eat there can't tell the
difference. It's just grab, gobble and gulp.
A typist on salary scale 9 gets 60 roubles a month. Of course her lover
keeps her in silk stockings, but think what she has to put up with in
exchange for silk. He won't just want to make the usual sort of love to her,
he'll make her do it the French way. They're a lot of bastards, those
Frenchmen, if you ask me - though they know how to stuff their guts all
right, and red wine with everything. Well, along comes this little typist
and wants a meal. She can't afford to go into the restaurant on 60 roubles a
month and go to the cinema as well. And the cinema is a woman's one
consolation in life. It's agony for her to have to choose a meal . . . just
think:40 kopecks for two courses, and neither of them is worth more than 15
because the manager has pocketed the other 25 kopecks-worth. Anyhow, is it
the right sort of food for her? She's got a patch on the top of her right
lung, she's having her period, she's had her pay docked at work and they
feed her with any old muck at the canteen, poor girl . . . There she goes
now, running into the doorway in her lover's stockings. Cold legs, and the
wind blows up her belly because even though she has some hair on it like
mine she wears such cold, thin, lacy little pants - just to please her
lover. If she tried to wear flannel ones he'd soon bawl her out for looking
a frump. 'My girl bores me', he'll say, 'I'm fed up with those flannel
knickers of hers, to hell with her. I've made good now and all I make in
graft goes on women, lobsters and champagne. I went hungry often enough as a
kid. So what - you can't take it with you.'
I feel sorry for her, poor thing. But I feel a lot sorrier for myself.
I'm not saying it out of selfishness, not a bit, but because you can't
compare us. She at least has a warm home to go to, but what about me? . . .
Where can I go? Oowow-owow!
'Here, doggy, here, boy! Here, Sharik . . . What are you whining for,
poor little fellow? Did somebody hurt you, then?'
The terrible snowstorm howled around the doorway, buffeting the girl's
ears. It blew her skirt up to her knees, showing her fawn stockings and a
little strip of badly washed lace underwear, drowned her words and covered
the dog in snow.
'My God . . . what weather . . . ugh . . . And my stomach aches. It's
that awful salt beef. When is all this going to end?'
Lowering her head the girl launched into the attack and rushed out of
the doorway. On the street the violent storm spun her like a top, then a
whirlwind of snow spiralled around her and she vanished.
But the dog stayed in the doorway. His scalded flank was so painful
that he pressed himself against the cold wall, gasping for breath, and
decided not to move from the spot. He would die in the doorway. Despair
overcame him. He was so bitter and sick at heart, so lonely and terrified
that little dog's tears, like pimples, trickled down from his eyes, and at
once dried up. His injured side was covered with frozen, dried blood-clots
and between them peeped the angry red patches of the scald. All the fault of
that vicious, thickheaded, stupid cook. 'Sharik' she had called him . . .
What a name to choose! Sharik is the sort of name for a round, fat, stupid
dog that's fed on porridge, a dog with a pedigree, and he was a tattered,
scraggy, filthy stray mongrel with a scalded side.
Across the street the door of a brightly lit store slammed and a
citizen came through it. Not a comrade, but a citizen, or even more likely -
a gentleman. As he came closer it was obvious that he was a gentleman. I
suppose you thought I recognised him by his overcoat? Nonsense. Lots of
proletarians even wear overcoats nowadays. I admit they don't usually have
collars like this one, of course, but even so you can sometimes be mistaken
at a distance. No, it's the eyes: you can't go wrong with those, near or
far. Eyes mean a lot. Like a barometer. They tell you everything - they tell
you who has a heart of stone, who would poke the toe of his boot in your
ribs as soon as look at you - and who's afraid of you. The cowards - they're
the ones whose ankles I like to snap at. If they're scared, I go for them.
Serve them right . . . grrr . . . bow-wow . . .
The gentleman boldly crossed the street in a pillar of whirling snow
and headed for the doorway. Yes, you can tell his sort all right. He
wouldn't eat rotten salt beef, and if anyone did happen to give him any he'd
make a fuss and write to the newspapers - someone has been trying to poison
me - me, Philip Philipovich.
He came nearer and nearer. He's the kind who always eats well and never
steals, he wouldn't kick you, but he's not afraid of anyone either. And he's
never afraid because he always has enough to eat. This man's a brain worker,
with a carefully trimmed, sharp-pointed beard and grey moustaches, bold and
bushy ones like the knights of old. But the smell of him, that came floating
on the wind, was a bad, hospital smell. And cigars.
I wonder why the hell he wants to go into that Co-op? Here he is beside
me . . . What does he want? Oowow, owow . . . What would he want to buy in
that filthy store, surely he can afford to go to the Okhotny Ryad? What's
that he's holding? Sausage. Look sir, if you knew what they put into that
sausage you'd never go near that store. Better give it to me.
The dog gathered the last of his strength and crawled fainting out of
the doorway on to the pavement. The blizzard boomed like gunfire over his
head, flapping a great canvas billboard marked in huge letters, 'Is
Rejuvenation Possible?'
Of course it's possible. The mere smell has rejuvenated me, got me up
off my belly, sent scorching waves through my stomach that's been empty for
two days. The smell that overpowered the hospital smell was the heavenly
aroma of minced horsemeat with garlic and pepper. I feel it, I know -there's
a sausage in his right-hand coat pocket. He's standing over me. Oh, master!
Look at me. I'm dying. I'm so wretched, I'll be your slave for ever!
The dog crawled tearfully forward on his stomach. Look what that cook
did to me. You'll never give me anything, though. I know these rich people.
What good is it to you? What do you want with a bit of rotten old horsemeat?
The Moscow State Food Store only sells muck like that. But you've a good
lunch under your belt, haven't you, you're a world-famous figure thanks to
male sex glands. Oowow-owow . . . What can I do? I'm too young to die yet
and despair's a sin. There's nothing for it, I shall have to lick his hand.
The mysterious gentleman bent down towards the dog, his gold
spectacle-rims flashing, and pulled a long white package out of his
right-hand coat pocket. Without taking off his tan gloves he broke off a
piece of the sausage, which was labelled 'Special Cracower'. And gave it to
the dog. Oh, immaculate personage! Oowow-oowow!
'Here, doggy,' the gentleman whistled, and added sternly, 'Come on!
Take it, Sharik!'
He's christened me Sharik too. Call me what you like. For this you can
do anything you like to me,
In a moment the dog had ripped off the sausage-skin. Mouth watering, he
bit into the Cracower and gobbled it down in two swallows. Tears started to
his eyes as he nearly choked on the string, which in his greed he almost
swallowed. Let me lick your hand again, I'll kiss your boots - you've saved
my life.
'That's enough . . .' The gentleman barked as though giving an order.
He bent over Sharik, stared with a searching look into his eyes and
unexpectedly stroked the dog gently and intimately along the stomach with
his gloved hand.
'Aha,' he pronounced meaningly. 'No collar. Excellent. You're just what
I want. Follow me.' He clicked his fingers. 'Good dog!'
Follow you? To the end of the earth. Kick me with your felt boots and I
won't say a word.
The street lamps were alight all along Prechistenka Street. His flank
hurt unbearably, but for the moment Sharik forgot about it, absorbed by a
single thought: how to avoid losing sight of this miraculous fur-coated
vision in the hurly-burly of the storm and how to show him his love and
devotion. Seven times along the whole length of Prechistenka Street as far
as the cross-roads at Obukhov Street he showed it. At Myortvy Street he
kissed his boot, he cleared the way by barking at a lady and frightened her
into falling flat on the pavement, and twice he gave a howl to make sure the
gentleman still felt sorry for him.
A filthy, thieving stray torn cat slunk out from behind a drainpipe and
despite the snowstorm, sniffed the Cracower. Sharik went blind with rage at
the thought that this rich eccentric who picked up injured dogs in doorways
might take pity on this robber and make him share the sausage. So he bared
his teeth so fiercely that the cat, with a hiss like a leaky hosepipe,
shinned back up the drainpipe right to the second floor. Grrrr! Woof! Gone!
We can't go handing out Moscow State groceries to all the strays loafing
about Prechistenka Street.
The gentleman noticed the dog's devotion as they passed the fire
station window, out of which came the pleasant sound of a French horn, and
rewarded him with a second piece that was an ounce or two smaller.
Queer chap. He's beckoning to me. Don't worry, I'm not going to run
away. I'll follow you wherever you like. 'Here, doggy, here, boy!'
Obukhov Street? OK by me. I know the place - I've been around.
'Here, doggy!'
Here? Sure . . . Hey, no, wait a minute. No. There's a porters on that
block of flats. My worst enemies, porters, much worse than dustmen. Horrible
lot. Worse than cats. Butchers in gold braid.
'Don't be frightened, come on.' 'Good evening, Philip Philipovich.'
'Good evening, Fyodor.'
What a character. I'm in luck, by God. Who is this genius, who can even
bring stray dogs off the street past a porter? Look at the bastard - not a
move, not a word! He looks grim enough, but he doesn't seem to mind, for all
the gold braid on his cap. That's how it should be, too. Knows his place.
Yes, I'm with this gentleman, so you can keep your hands to yourself. What's
that - did he make a move? Bite him. I wouldn't mind a mouthful of homy
proletarian leg. In exchange for the trouble I've had from all the other
porters and all the times they've poked a broom in my face.
'Come on, come on.'
OK, OK, don't worry. I'll go wherever you go. Just show me the way.
I'll be right behind you. Even if my side does hurt like hell.
From hallway up the staircase: 'Were there any letters for me, Fyodor?'
From below, respectfully: 'No sir, Philip Philipovich' (dropping his
voice and adding intimately), 'but they've just moved some more tenants into
No. 3.'
The dog's dignified benefactor turned sharply round on the step, leaned
over the railing and asked in horror: 'Wh-at?'
His eyes went quite round and his moustache bristled.
The porter looked upwards, put his hand to his lips, nodded and said:
'That's right, four of them.'
'My God! I can just imagine what it must be like in that apartment now.
What sort of people are they?'
'Nobody special, sir.'
'And what's Fyodor Pavolovich doing?'
'He's gone to get some screens and a load of bricks. They're going to
build some partitions in the apartment.'
'God - what is the place coming to?'
'Extra tenants are being moved into every apartment, except yours,
Philip Philipovich. There was a meeting the other day; they elected a new
house committee and kicked out the old one.'
'What will happen next? Oh, God . . .
'Come on, doggy.'
I'm coming as fast as I can. My side is giving me trouble, though. Let
me lick your boot.
The porter's gold braid disappeared from the lobby.
Past warm radiators on a marble landing, another flight of stairs and
then - a mezzanine.
Why bother to leam to read when you can smell meat a mile away? If you
live in Moscow, though, and if you've got an ounce of brain in your head you
can't help learning to read -and without going to night-school either. There
are forty-thousand dogs in Moscow and I'll bet there's not one of them so
stupid he can't spell out the word 'sausage'.
Sharik had begun by learning from colours. When he was just four months
old, blue-green signs started appearing all over Moscow with the letters
MSFS - Moscow State Food Stores - which meant a butcher and delicatessen. I
repeat that he had no need to learn his letters because he could smell the
meat anyway. Once he made a bad mistake: trotting up to a bright blue
shop-sign one day when the smell was drowned by car exhaust, instead of a
butcher's shop he ran into the Polubizner Brothers' electrical goods store
on Myasnitzkaya Street. There the brothers taught him all about insulated
cable, which can be sharper than a cabman's whip. This famous occasion may
be regarded as the beginning of Sharik's education. It was here on the
pavement that Sharik began to realise that 'blue' doesn't always mean
'butcher', and as he squeezed his burningly painful tail between his back
legs and howled, he remembered that on every butcher's shop the first letter
on the left was always gold or brown, bow-legged, and looked like a
toboggan.
After that the lessons were rather easier. 'A' he learned from the
barber on the comer of Mokhovaya Street, followed by 'B' (there was always a
policeman standing in front of the last four letters of the word). Corner
shops faced with tiles always meant 'CHEESE' and the black half-moon at the
beginning of the word stood for the name of their former owners 'Chichkin';
they were full of mountains of red Dutch cheeses, salesmen who hated dogs,
sawdust on the floor and reeking Limburger.
If there was accordion music (which was slightly better than 'Celeste
Aida'), and the place smelted of frankfurters, the first letters on the
white signboards very conveniently | spelled out the word 'NOOB', which was
short for 'No obscene language. No tips.' Sometimes at these places fights
would break out, people would start punching each other in the face with
their fists - sometimes even with napkins or boots.
If there were stale bits of ham and mandarin oranges in the window it
meant a grrr . . . grrocery. If there were black bottles full of evil
liquids it was . . . li-li-liquor . . . formerly Eliseyev Bros.
The unknown gentleman had led the dog to the door of his luxurious flat
on the mezzanine floor, and rang the doorbell. The dog at once looked up at
a big, black, gold-lettered nameplate hanging beside a pink frosted-glass
door. He deciphered the first three letters at once: P-R-O- 'Pro . . .', but
after tliat there was a funny tall thing with a cross bar which he did not
know. Surely he's not a proletarian? thought Sharik with amazement... He
can't be. He lifted up his nose, sniffed the fur coat and said firmly to
himself:
No, this doesn't smell proletarian. Some high-falutin' word. God knows
what it means.
Suddenly a light flashed on cheerfully behind the pink glass door,
throwing the nameplate into even deeper shadow. The door opened soundlessly
and a beautiful young woman in a white apron and lace cap stood before the
dog and his master. A wave of delicious warmth flowed over the dog and the
woman's skirt smelled of carnations.
This I like, thought the dog.
'Come in, Mr Sharik,' said the gentleman ironically and Sharik
respectfully obeyed, wagging his tail.
A great multitude of objects filled the richly furnished hall. Beside
him was a mirror stretching right down to the floor, which instantly
reflected a second dirty, exhausted Sharik. High up on the wall was a
terrifying pair of antlers, there were countless fur coats and pairs of
galoshes and an electric tulip made of opal glass hanging from the ceiling.
'Where on earth did you get that from, Philip Philipovich?' enquired
the woman, smiling as she helped to take off the heavy brown, blue-flecked
fox-fur coat.
'God, he looks lousy.'
'Nonsense. He doesn't look lousy to me,' said the gentleman abruptly.
With his fur coat off he was seen to be wearing a black suit of English
material; a gold chain across his stomach shone with a dull glow.
'Hold still, boy, keep still doggy . . . keep still you little fool.
H'm . . . that's not lice . . . Stand still, will you . . . H'mm . . . aha -
yes . . . It's a scald. Who was mean enough to throw boiling water over you,
I wonder? Eh? Keep still, will you . . .!'
It was that miserable cook, said the dog with his pitiful eyes and gave
a little whimper.
'Zina,' ordered the gentleman, 'take him into the consulting-room at
once and get me a white coat.'
The woman whistled, clicked her fingers and the dog followed her
slightly hesitantly. Together they walked down a narrow, dimly-lit corridor,
passed a varnished door, reached the end then turned left and arrived in a
dark little room which the dog instantly disliked for its ominous smell. The
darkness clicked and was transformed into blinding white which flashed and
shone from every angle.
Oh, no, the dog whined to himself, you won't catch me as easily as
that! I see it now - to hell with them and their sausage. They've tricked me
into a dogs' hospital. Now they'll force me to swallow castor oil and
they'll cut up my side with knives - well, I won't let them touch it.
'Hey - where are you trying to go?' shouted the girl called Zina.
The animal dodged, curled up like a spring and suddenly hit the door
with his unharmed side so hard that the noise reverberated through the whole
apartment. Then he jumped back, spun around on the spot like a top and in
doing so knocked over a white bucket, spilling wads of cotton wool. As he
whirled round there flashed past him shelves full of glittering instruments,
a white apron and a furious woman's face.
'You little devil,' cried Zina in desperation, 'where d'you think
you're going?'
Where's the back door? the dog wondered. He swung round, rolled into a
ball and hurled himself bullet-fashion at a glass in the hope that it was
another door. With a crash and a tinkle a shower of splinters fell down and
a pot-bellied glass jar of some reddish-brown filth shot out and poured
itself over the floor, giving off a sickening stench. The real door swung
open.
'Stop it, you little beast,' shouted the gentleman as he rushed in
pulling on one sleeve of his white coat. He seized the dog by the legs.
'Zina, grab him by the scruff of the neck, damn him.' 'Oh - these dogs . .
.!'
The door opened wider still and another person of the male sex dashed
in, also wearing a white coat. Crunching over the broken glass he went past
the dog to a cupboard, opened it and the whole room was filled with a sweet,
nauseating smell. Then the person turned the animal over on his back, at
which the dog enthusiastically bit him just above his shoelaces. The person
groaned but kept his head. The nauseating liquid choked the dog's breathing
and his head began to spin, then his legs collapsed and he seemed to be
moving sideways. This is it, he thought dreamily as he collapsed on to the
sharp slivers of glass. Goodbye, Moscow! I shan't see Chichkin or the
proletarians or Cracow sausages again. I'm going to the heaven for
long-suffering dogs. You butchers - why did you have to do this to me? With
that he finally collapsed on to his back and passed out.
When he awoke he felt slightly dizzy and sick to his stomach. His
injured side did not seem to be there at all, but was blissfully painless.
The dog opened a languid right eye and saw out of its corner that he was
tightly bandaged all around his flanks and belly. So those sons of bitches
did cut me up, he thought dully, but I must admit they've made a neat job of
it.
. . . "from Granada to Seville . . . those soft southern nights" . . .'
a muzzy, falsetto voice sang over his head.
Amazed, the dog opened both eyes wide and saw two yards away a man's
leg propped up on a stool. Trousers and sock had been rolled back and the
yellow, naked ankle was smeared with dried blood and iodine.
Swine! thought the dog. He must be the one I bit, so that's my doing.
Now there'll be trouble.
'. . . "the murmur of sweet serenades, the clink of Spanish blades . .
." Now, you little tramp, why did you bite the doctor? Eh? Why did you break
all that glass? M'm?' Oowow, whined the dig miserably. 'All right, lie back
and relax, naughty boy.' 'However did you manage to entice such a nervous,
excitable dog into following you here, Philip Philipovich?' enquired a
pleasant male voice, and a long knitted underpant lowered itself to the
ground. There was a smell of tobacco, and glass phials tinkled in the
closet.
'By kindness. The only possible method when dealing with a living
creature. You'll get nowhere with an animal if you use terror, no matter
what its level of development may be. That I have maintained, do maintain
and always will maintain. People who think you can use terror are quite
wrong. No, terror's useless, whatever its colour - white, red or even brown!
Terror completely paralyses the nervous system. Zina! I bought this little
scamp some Cracow sausage for 1 rouble 40 kopecks. Please see that he is fed
when he gets over his nausea.'
There was a crunching noise as glass splinters were swept up and a
woman's voice said teasingly: 'Cracower! Goodness, you ought to buy him
twenty kopecks-worth of scraps from the butcher. I'd rather eat the Cracower
myself!'
'You just try! That stuff's poison for human stomachs. A grown woman
and you're ready to poke anything into your mouth like a child. Don't you
dare! I warn you that neither I nor Doctor Bormenthal will lift a finger for
you when your stomach finally gives out . . .'
Just then a bell tinkled all through the flat and from far away in the
hall came the sound of voices. The telephone rang. Zina disappeared.
Philip Philipovich threw his cigar butt into the bucket, buttoned up
his white coat, smoothed his bushy moustache in front of a mirror on the
wall and called the dog.
'Come on, boy, you'll be all right. Let's go and see our visitors.'
The dog stood up on wobbly legs, staggered and shivered but quickly
felt better and set off behind the napping hem of Philip Philipovich's coat.
Again the dog walked down the narrow corridor, but saw that this time it was
brightly lit from above by a round cut-glass lamp in the ceiling. When the
varnished door opened he trotted into Philip Philipovich's study. Its luxury
blinded him. Above all it was blazing with light: there was a light hanging
from the moulded ceiling, a light on the desk, lights on the walls, lights
on the glass-fronted cabinets. The light poured over countless knick-knacks,
of which the most striking was an enormous owl perched on a branch fastened
to the wall.
'Lie down,' ordered Philip Philipovich.
The carved door at the other end of the room opened and in came the
doctor who had been bitten. In the bright light he now looked very young and
handsome, with a pointed beard. He put down a sheet of paper and said: 'The
same as before . . .'
Then he silently vanished and Philip Philipovich, spreading his
coat-tails, sat down behind the huge desk and immediately looked extremely
dignified and important.
No, this can't be a hospital, I've landed up somewhere else, the dog
thought confusedly and stretched out on the patterned carpet beside a
massive leather-covered couch. I wish I knew what that owl was doing here .
. .
The door gently opened and in came a man who looked so extraordinary
that the dog gave a timid yelp . . .
'Shut up! . . . My dear fellow, I hardly recognised you!'
Embarrassed, the visitor bowed politely to Philip Philipovich and
giggled nervously.
'You're a wizard, a magician, professor!' he said bashfully.
'Take down your trousers, old man,' ordered Philip Philip-ovich and
stood up.
Christ, thought the dog, what a sight! The man's hair was completely
green, although at the back it shaded off into a brownish tobacco colour,
wrinkles covered his face yet his complexion was as pink as a boy's. His
left leg would not bend and had to be dragged across the carpet, but his
right leg was as springy as a jack-in-the-box. In the buttonhole of his
superb jacket there shone, like an eye, a precious stone.
The dog was so fascinated that he even forgot his nausea. Oow-ow, he
whined softly.
'Quiet! . . . How have you been sleeping!'
The man giggled. 'Are we alone, professor? It's indescribable,' said
the visitor coyly. 'Parole d'honneur - I haven't known anything like it for
twenty-five years . . .' the creature started struggling with his flybuttons
. . . 'Would you believe it, professor - hordes of naked girls every night.
I am absolutely entranced. You're a magician.'
'H'm,' grunted Philip Philipovich, preoccupied as he stared into the
pupils of his visitor's eyes. The man finally succeeded in mastering his
flybuttons and took off his checked trousers, revealing the most
extraordinary pair of pants. They were cream-coloured, embroidered with
black silk cats and they smelled of perfume.
The dog could not resist the cats and gave such a bark that the man
jumped.
'Oh!'
'Quiet - or I'll beat you! . . . Don't worry, he won't bite.'
Won't I? thought the dog in amazement.
Out of the man's trouser pocket a little envelope fell to the floor. It
was decorated with a picture of a naked girl with flowing hair. He gave a
start, bent down to pick it up and blushed violently.
'Look here,' said Philip Philipovich in a tone of grim warning, wagging
a threatening finger, 'you shouldn't overdo it, you know.'
'I'm not overdo . . .' the creature muttered in embarrassment as he
went on undressing. 'It was just a sort of experiment.'
'Well, what were the results?' asked Philip Philipovich sternly.
The man waved his hand in ecstasy. 'I swear to God, professor, I
haven't known anything like it for twenty-five years. The last time was in
1899 in Paris, in the Rue de la Paix.'
'And why have you turned green?'
The visitor's face clouded over. 'That damned stuff! You'd never
believe, professor, what those rogues palmed off on me instead of dye. Just
take a look,' the man muttered, searching for a mirror. 'I'd like to punch
him on the snout,' he added in a rage. 'What am I to do now, professor?' he
asked tearfully.
'H'm. Shave all your hair off.'
'But, professor,' cried the visitor miserably, 'then it would only grow
grey again. Besides, I daren't show my face at the office like this. I
haven't been there for three days. Ah, professor, if only you had discovered
a way of rejuvenating hair!'
'One thing at a time, old man, one thing at a time,' muttered Philip
Philipovich. Bending down, his glittering eyes examined the patient's naked
abdomen.
'Splendid, everything's in great shape. To tell you the truth I didn't
even expect such results. You can get dressed now.'
' "Ah, she's so lovely . . ." ' sang the patient in a voice that
quavered like the sound of someone hitting an old, cracked saucepan.
Beaming, he started to dress. When he was ready he skipped across the floor
in a cloud of perfume, counted out a heap of white banknotes on the
professor's desk and shook him tenderly by both hands.
'You needn't come back for two weeks,' said Philip Philipovich, 'but I
must beg you - be careful.'
The ecstaticvoice replied from behind thedoor: 'Don't worry,
professor.' The creature gave a delighted giggle and went. The doorbell
tinkled through the apartment and the varnished door opened, admitting the
other doctor, who handed Philip Philipovich a sheet of paper and announced:
'She has lied about her age. It's probably about fifty or fifty-five.
Heart-beats muffled.'
He disappeared, to be succeeded by a rustling lady with a hat planted
gaily on one side of her head and with a glittering necklace on her slack,
crumpled neck. There were black bags under her eyes and her cheeks were as
red as a painted doll. She was extremely nervous.
'How old are you, madam?' enquired Philip Philipovich with great
severity.
Frightened, the lady paled under her coating of rouge. 'Professor, I
swear that if you knew the agony I've been going through . . .!'
'How old are you, madam?' repeated Philip Philipovich even more
sternly.
'Honestly . . . well, forty-five . . .'
'Madam,' groaned Philip Philipovich, I am a busy man. Please don't
waste my time. You're not my only patient, you know.'
The lady's bosom heaved violently. 'I've come to you, a great scientist
... I swear to you - it's terrible . . .'
'How old are you?' Philip Philipovich screeched in fury, his spectacles
glittering.
'Fifty-one!' replied the lady, wincing with terror.
'Take off your underwear, please,' said Philip Philipovich with relief,
and pointed to a high white examination table in the comer.
'I swear, professor,' murmured the lady as with trembling fingers she
unbuttoned the fasteners on her belt, 'this boy Moritz ... I honestly admit
to you . . .'
' "From Granada to Seville . . ." ' Philip Philipovich hummed
absentmindedly and pressed the foot-pedal of his marble washbasin. There was
a sound of running water.
'I swear to God,' said the lady, patches of real colour showing through
the rouge on her cheeks, 'this will be my last affair. Oh, he's such a
brute! Oh, professor! All Moscow knows he's a card-sharper and he can't
resist any little tart of a dressmaker who catches his eye. But he's so
deliciously young . . .'As she talked the lady pulled out a crumpled blob of
lace from under her rustling skirts.
A mist came in front of the dog's eyes and his brain turned a
somersault. To hell with you, he thought vaguely, laying his head on his
paws and closing his eyes with embarrassment. I'm not going to try and guess
what all this is about -it's beyond me, anyway.
He was wakened by a tinkling sound and saw that Philip Philipovich had
tossed some little shining tubes into a basin.
The painted lady, her hands pressed to her bosom, was gazing hopefully
at Philip Philipovich. Frowning impressively he had sat down at his desk and
was writing something.
'I am going to implant some monkey's ovaries into you, madam,' he
announced with a stern look.
'Oh, professor - not monkey's ?'
'Yes,' replied Philip Philipovich inexorably.
'When will you operate?' asked the lady in a weak voice, turning pale.
' ". . . from Granada to Seville . . ." H'm ... on Monday. You must go
into hospital on Monday morning. My assistant will prepare you.'
'Oh, dear. I don't want to go into hospital. Couldn't you operate here,
professor?'
'I only operate here in extreme cases. It would be very expensive - 500
roubles.'
'I'll pay, professor!'
Again came the sound of running water, the feathered hat swayed out, to
be replaced by a head as bald as a dinner-plate which embraced Philip
Philipovich. As his nausea passed, the dog dozed off, luxuriating in the
warmth and the sense of relief as his injury healed. He even snored a little
and managed to enjoy a snatch of a pleasant dream - he dreamed he had torn a
whole tuft of feathers out of the owl's tail . . . until an agitated voice
started yapping above his head.
'I'm too well known in Moscow, professor. What am I to do?'
'Really,' cried Philip Philipovich indignantly, 'you can't behave like
that. You must restrain yourself. How old is she?'
'Fourteen, professor . . . The scandal would ruin me, you see. I'm due
to go abroad on official business any day now.'
'I'm afraid I'm not a lawyer . . . you'd better wait a couple of years
and then marry her.'
'I'm married already, professor.'
'Oh, lord!'
The door opened, faces changed, instruments clattered and Philip
Philipovich worked on unceasingly.
This place is indecent, thought the dog, but I like it! What the hell
can he want me for, though? Is he just going to let me live here? Maybe he's
eccentric. After all, he could get a pedigree dog as easy as winking.
Perhaps I'm good-looking! What luck. As for that stupid owl . . . cheeky
brute.
The dog finally woke up late in the evening when the bells had stopped
ringing and at the very moment when the door admitted some special visitors.
There were four of them at once, all young people and all extremely modestly
dressed.
What's all this? thought the dog in astonishment. Philip Philipovich
treated these visitors with considerable hostility. He stood at his desk,
staring at them like a general confronting the enemy. The nostrils of his
hawk-like nose were dilated. The party shuffled awkwardly across the carpet.
'The reason why we've come to see you, professor . . .' began one of
them, who had a six-inch shock of hair sprouting straight out of his head.
'You ought not to go out in this weather without wearing galoshes,
gentlemen,' Philip Philipovich interrupted in a schoolmasterish voice.
'Firstly you'll catch cold and secondly you've muddied my carpets and all my
carpets are Persian.'
The young man with the shock of hair broke off, and all four stared at
Philip Philipovich in consternation. The silence lasted several minutes and
was only broken by the drumming of Philip Philipovich's fingers on a painted
wooden platter on his desk.
'Firstly, we're not gentlemen,' the youngest of them, with a face like
a peach, said finally.
'Secondly,' Philip Philipovich interrupted him, 'are you a man or a
woman?'
The four were silent again and their mouths dropped open. This time the
shock-haired young man pulled himself together.
'What difference does it make, comrade?' he asked proudly.
'I'm a woman,' confessed the peach-like youth, who was wearing a
leather jerkin, and blushed heavily. For some reason one of the others, a
fair young man in a sheepskin hat, also turned bright red.
'In that case you may leave your cap on, but I must ask you, my dear
sir, to remove your headgear,' said Philip Philipovich imposingly.
'I am not your dear sir,' said the fair youth sharply, pulling off his
sheepskin hat.
'We have come to see you,' the dark shock-headed boy began again.
'First of all - who are 'we'?'
'We are the new management committee of this block of flats,' said the
dark youth with suppressed fury. 'I am Shvonder, her name is Vyazemskaya and
these two are comrades Pestrukhin and Sharovkyan. So we . . .'
'Are you the people who were moved in as extra tenants into Fyodor
Pavlovich Sablin's apartment?' 'Yes, we are,' replied Shvonder.
'God, what is this place coming to!' exclaimed Philip Philipovich in
despair and wrung his hands. 'What are you laughing for, professor?' 'What
do you mean - laughing? I'm in absolute despair,' shouted Philip
Philipovich. 'What's going to become of the central heating now?'
'Are you making fun of us. Professor Preobrazhensky?' 'Why have you
come to see me? Please be as quick as possible. I'm just going in to
supper.'
'We, the house management,' said Shvonder with hatred, 'have come to
see you as a result of a general meeting of the tenants of this block, who
are charged with the problem of increasing the occupancy of this house . .
.' 28
'What d'you mean - charged?' cried Philip Philipovich. 'Please try and
express yourself more clearly.'
'We are charged with increasing the occupancy.'
'All right, I understand! Do you realise that under the regulation of
August 12th this year my apartment is exempt from any increase in
occupancy?'
'We know that,' replied Shvonder, 'but when the general meeting had
examined this question it came to the conclusion that taken all round you
are occupying too much space. Far too much. You are living, alone, in seven
rooms.'
'I live and work in seven rooms,' replied Philip Philipovich, 'and I
could do with eight. I need a room for a library.'
The four were struck dumb.
'Eight! Ha, ha!' said the hatless fair youth. 'That's rich, that is!'
'It's indescribable!' exclaimed the youth who had turned out to be a
woman.
'I have a waiting-room, which you will notice also has to serve as my
library, a dining-room, and my study - that makes three. Consulting-room -
four, operating theatre -five. My bedroom - six, and the servant's room
makes seven. It's not really enough. But that's not the point. My apartment
is exempt, and our conversation is therefore at an end. May I go and have
supper?'
'Excuse me,' said the fourth, who looked like a fat beetle.
'Excuse me,' Shvonder interrupted him, 'but it was just because of your
dining-room and your consulting-room that we came to see you. The general
meeting requests you, as a matter of labour discipline, to give up your
dining-room voluntarily. No one in Moscow has a dining-room.'
'Not even Isadora Duncan,' squeaked the woman. Something happened to
Philip Philipovich which made his face turn gently purple. He said nothing,
waiting to hear what came next.
'And give up your consulting-room too,' Shvonder went on. ' You can
easily combine your consulting-room with your study.'
'Mm'h,' said Philip Philipovich in a strange voice. 'And where am I
supposed to eat?'
'In the bedroom,' answered the four in chorus.
Philip Philipovich's purple complexion took on a faintly grey tinge.
'So I can eat in the bedroom,' he said in a slightly muffled voice,
'read in the consulting-room, dress in the hall, operate in the maid's room
and examine patients in the dining-room. I expect that is what Isadora
Duncan does. Perhaps she eats in her study and dissects rabbits in the
bathroom. Perhaps. But I'm not Isadora Duncan. . . !' he turned yellow. 'I
shall eat in the dining-room and operate in the operating theatre! Tell that
to the general meeting, and meanwhile kindly go and mind your own business
and allow me to have my supper in the place where all normal people eat. I
mean in the dining-room - not in the hall and not in the nursery.'
'In that case, professor, in view of your obstinate refusal,' said the
furious Shvonder, 'we shall lodge a complaint about you with higher
authority.'
'Aha,' said Philip Philipovich, 'so that's your game, is it?' And his
voice took on a suspiciously polite note. 'Please wait one minute.'
What a man, thought the dog with delight, he's just like me. Any minute
now and he'll bite them. I don't know how, but he'll bite them all right ...
Go on! Go for 'em! I could just get that long-legged swine in the tendon
behind his knee . . . ggrrr . . .
Philip Philipovich lifted the telephone receiver, dialled and said into
it: 'Please give me . . . yes . . . thank you. Put me through to Pyotr
Alexandrovich, please. Professor Preobraz-hensky speaking. Pyotr
Alexandrovich? Hello, how are you? I'm so glad I was able to get you.
Thanks, I'm fine. Pyotr Alexandrovich, I'm afraid your operation is
cancelled. What? Cancelled. And so are all my other operations. I'll tell
you why:
I am not going to work in Moscow, in fact I'm not going to work in
Russia any longer . . . I am just having a visit from four people, one of
whom is a woman disguised as a man, and two of whom are armed with
revolvers. They are terrorising me in my own apartment and threatening to
evict me.'
'Hey, now, professor . . .' began Shvonder, his expression changing.
'Excuse me ... I can't repeat all they've been saying. I can't make
sense of it, anyway. Roughly speaking they have told me to give up my
consulting-room, which will oblige me to operate in the room I have used
until now for dissecting rabbits. I not only cannot work under such
conditions - I have no right to. So I am closing down my practice, shutting
up my apartment and going to Sochi. I will give the keys to Shvonder. He can
operate for me.'
The four stood rigid. The snow was melting on their boots. 'Can't be
helped, I'm afraid . . . Of course I'm very upset, but ... What? Oh, no,
Pyotr Alexandrovich! Oh, no. That I must flatly refuse. My patience has
snapped. This is the second time since August . . . What? H'm . . . All
right, if you like. I suppose so. Only this time on one condition: I don't
care who issues it, when they issue it or what they issue, provided it's the
sort of certificate which will mean that neither Shvonder nor anyone else
can so much as knock on my door. The ultimate in certificates. Effective.
Copyright 1968 in the English translation by Michael Glenny
Collins and Harvill Press
London, and Harcourt, Brace & World Inc, New York.
OCR:Scout
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Ooow-ow-ooow-owow! Oh, look at me, I'm dying. There's a snowstorm
moaning a requiem for me in this doorway and I'm howling with it. I'm
finished. Some bastard in a dirty white cap - the cook in the office canteen
at the National Economic Council - spilled some boiling water and scalded my
left side. Filthy swine - and a proletarian, too. Christ, it hurts! That
boiling water scalded me right through to the bone. I can howl and howl, but
what's the use?
What harm was I doing him, anyway? I'm not robbing the National
Economic Council's food supply if I go foraging in their dustbins, am I?
Greedy pig! Just take a look at his ugly mug - it's almost fatter than he
is. Hard-faced crook. Oh people, people. It was midday when that fool doused
me with boiling water, now it's getting dark, must be about four o'clock in
the afternoon judging by the smell of onion coming from the Prechistenka
fire station. Firemen have soup for supper, you know. Not that I care for it
myself. I can manage without soup - don't like mushrooms either. The dogs I
know in Prechistenka Street, by the way, tell me there's a restaurant in
Neglinny Street where they get the chef's special every day - mushroom stew
with relish at 3 roubles and 75 kopecks the portion. All right for
connoisseurs, I suppose. I think eating mushrooms is about as tasty as
licking a pair of galoshes . . . Oow-owowow . . .
My side hurts like hell and I can see just what's going to become of
me. Tomorrow it will break out in ulcers and then how can I make them heal?
In summer you can go and roll in Sokolniki Park where there's a special
grass that does you good. Besides, you can get a free meal of sausage-ends
and there's plenty of greasy bits of food-wrappings to lick. And if it
wasn't for some old groaner singing '0 celeste Aida' out in the moonlight
till it makes you sick, the place would be perfect. But where can I go now?
Haven't I been kicked around enough? Sure I have. Haven't I had enough
bricks thrown at me? Plenty . . . Still, after what I've been through, I can
take a lot. I'm only whining now because of the pain and cold - though I'm
not licked yet ... it takes a lot to keep a good dog down.
But my poor old body's been knocked about by people once too often. The
trouble is that when that cook doused me with boiling water it scalded
through right under my fur and now there's nothing to keep the cold out on
my left side. I could easily get pneumonia - and if I get that, citizens,
I'll die of hunger. When you get pneumonia the only thing to do is to lie up
under someone's front doorstep, and then who's going to run round the
dustbins looking for food for a sick bachelor dog? I shall get a chill on my
lungs, crawl on my belly till I'm so weak that it'll only need one poke of
someone's stick to finish me off. And the dustmen will pick me up by the
legs and sling me on to their cart . . .
Dustmen are the lowest form of proletarian life. Humans' rubbish is the
filthiest stuff there is. Cooks vary - for instance, there was Vlas from
Prechistenka, who's dead now. He saved I don't know how many dogs' lives,
because when you're sick you've simply got to be able to eat and keep your
strength up. And when Vlas used to throw you a bone there was always a good
eighth of an inch of meat on it. He was a great character. God rest his
soul, a gentleman's cook who worked for Count Tolstoy's family and not for
your stinking Food Rationing Board. As for the muck they dish out there as
rations, well it makes even a dog wonder. They make soup out of salt beef
that's gone rotten, the cheats. The poor fools who eat there can't tell the
difference. It's just grab, gobble and gulp.
A typist on salary scale 9 gets 60 roubles a month. Of course her lover
keeps her in silk stockings, but think what she has to put up with in
exchange for silk. He won't just want to make the usual sort of love to her,
he'll make her do it the French way. They're a lot of bastards, those
Frenchmen, if you ask me - though they know how to stuff their guts all
right, and red wine with everything. Well, along comes this little typist
and wants a meal. She can't afford to go into the restaurant on 60 roubles a
month and go to the cinema as well. And the cinema is a woman's one
consolation in life. It's agony for her to have to choose a meal . . . just
think:40 kopecks for two courses, and neither of them is worth more than 15
because the manager has pocketed the other 25 kopecks-worth. Anyhow, is it
the right sort of food for her? She's got a patch on the top of her right
lung, she's having her period, she's had her pay docked at work and they
feed her with any old muck at the canteen, poor girl . . . There she goes
now, running into the doorway in her lover's stockings. Cold legs, and the
wind blows up her belly because even though she has some hair on it like
mine she wears such cold, thin, lacy little pants - just to please her
lover. If she tried to wear flannel ones he'd soon bawl her out for looking
a frump. 'My girl bores me', he'll say, 'I'm fed up with those flannel
knickers of hers, to hell with her. I've made good now and all I make in
graft goes on women, lobsters and champagne. I went hungry often enough as a
kid. So what - you can't take it with you.'
I feel sorry for her, poor thing. But I feel a lot sorrier for myself.
I'm not saying it out of selfishness, not a bit, but because you can't
compare us. She at least has a warm home to go to, but what about me? . . .
Where can I go? Oowow-owow!
'Here, doggy, here, boy! Here, Sharik . . . What are you whining for,
poor little fellow? Did somebody hurt you, then?'
The terrible snowstorm howled around the doorway, buffeting the girl's
ears. It blew her skirt up to her knees, showing her fawn stockings and a
little strip of badly washed lace underwear, drowned her words and covered
the dog in snow.
'My God . . . what weather . . . ugh . . . And my stomach aches. It's
that awful salt beef. When is all this going to end?'
Lowering her head the girl launched into the attack and rushed out of
the doorway. On the street the violent storm spun her like a top, then a
whirlwind of snow spiralled around her and she vanished.
But the dog stayed in the doorway. His scalded flank was so painful
that he pressed himself against the cold wall, gasping for breath, and
decided not to move from the spot. He would die in the doorway. Despair
overcame him. He was so bitter and sick at heart, so lonely and terrified
that little dog's tears, like pimples, trickled down from his eyes, and at
once dried up. His injured side was covered with frozen, dried blood-clots
and between them peeped the angry red patches of the scald. All the fault of
that vicious, thickheaded, stupid cook. 'Sharik' she had called him . . .
What a name to choose! Sharik is the sort of name for a round, fat, stupid
dog that's fed on porridge, a dog with a pedigree, and he was a tattered,
scraggy, filthy stray mongrel with a scalded side.
Across the street the door of a brightly lit store slammed and a
citizen came through it. Not a comrade, but a citizen, or even more likely -
a gentleman. As he came closer it was obvious that he was a gentleman. I
suppose you thought I recognised him by his overcoat? Nonsense. Lots of
proletarians even wear overcoats nowadays. I admit they don't usually have
collars like this one, of course, but even so you can sometimes be mistaken
at a distance. No, it's the eyes: you can't go wrong with those, near or
far. Eyes mean a lot. Like a barometer. They tell you everything - they tell
you who has a heart of stone, who would poke the toe of his boot in your
ribs as soon as look at you - and who's afraid of you. The cowards - they're
the ones whose ankles I like to snap at. If they're scared, I go for them.
Serve them right . . . grrr . . . bow-wow . . .
The gentleman boldly crossed the street in a pillar of whirling snow
and headed for the doorway. Yes, you can tell his sort all right. He
wouldn't eat rotten salt beef, and if anyone did happen to give him any he'd
make a fuss and write to the newspapers - someone has been trying to poison
me - me, Philip Philipovich.
He came nearer and nearer. He's the kind who always eats well and never
steals, he wouldn't kick you, but he's not afraid of anyone either. And he's
never afraid because he always has enough to eat. This man's a brain worker,
with a carefully trimmed, sharp-pointed beard and grey moustaches, bold and
bushy ones like the knights of old. But the smell of him, that came floating
on the wind, was a bad, hospital smell. And cigars.
I wonder why the hell he wants to go into that Co-op? Here he is beside
me . . . What does he want? Oowow, owow . . . What would he want to buy in
that filthy store, surely he can afford to go to the Okhotny Ryad? What's
that he's holding? Sausage. Look sir, if you knew what they put into that
sausage you'd never go near that store. Better give it to me.
The dog gathered the last of his strength and crawled fainting out of
the doorway on to the pavement. The blizzard boomed like gunfire over his
head, flapping a great canvas billboard marked in huge letters, 'Is
Rejuvenation Possible?'
Of course it's possible. The mere smell has rejuvenated me, got me up
off my belly, sent scorching waves through my stomach that's been empty for
two days. The smell that overpowered the hospital smell was the heavenly
aroma of minced horsemeat with garlic and pepper. I feel it, I know -there's
a sausage in his right-hand coat pocket. He's standing over me. Oh, master!
Look at me. I'm dying. I'm so wretched, I'll be your slave for ever!
The dog crawled tearfully forward on his stomach. Look what that cook
did to me. You'll never give me anything, though. I know these rich people.
What good is it to you? What do you want with a bit of rotten old horsemeat?
The Moscow State Food Store only sells muck like that. But you've a good
lunch under your belt, haven't you, you're a world-famous figure thanks to
male sex glands. Oowow-owow . . . What can I do? I'm too young to die yet
and despair's a sin. There's nothing for it, I shall have to lick his hand.
The mysterious gentleman bent down towards the dog, his gold
spectacle-rims flashing, and pulled a long white package out of his
right-hand coat pocket. Without taking off his tan gloves he broke off a
piece of the sausage, which was labelled 'Special Cracower'. And gave it to
the dog. Oh, immaculate personage! Oowow-oowow!
'Here, doggy,' the gentleman whistled, and added sternly, 'Come on!
Take it, Sharik!'
He's christened me Sharik too. Call me what you like. For this you can
do anything you like to me,
In a moment the dog had ripped off the sausage-skin. Mouth watering, he
bit into the Cracower and gobbled it down in two swallows. Tears started to
his eyes as he nearly choked on the string, which in his greed he almost
swallowed. Let me lick your hand again, I'll kiss your boots - you've saved
my life.
'That's enough . . .' The gentleman barked as though giving an order.
He bent over Sharik, stared with a searching look into his eyes and
unexpectedly stroked the dog gently and intimately along the stomach with
his gloved hand.
'Aha,' he pronounced meaningly. 'No collar. Excellent. You're just what
I want. Follow me.' He clicked his fingers. 'Good dog!'
Follow you? To the end of the earth. Kick me with your felt boots and I
won't say a word.
The street lamps were alight all along Prechistenka Street. His flank
hurt unbearably, but for the moment Sharik forgot about it, absorbed by a
single thought: how to avoid losing sight of this miraculous fur-coated
vision in the hurly-burly of the storm and how to show him his love and
devotion. Seven times along the whole length of Prechistenka Street as far
as the cross-roads at Obukhov Street he showed it. At Myortvy Street he
kissed his boot, he cleared the way by barking at a lady and frightened her
into falling flat on the pavement, and twice he gave a howl to make sure the
gentleman still felt sorry for him.
A filthy, thieving stray torn cat slunk out from behind a drainpipe and
despite the snowstorm, sniffed the Cracower. Sharik went blind with rage at
the thought that this rich eccentric who picked up injured dogs in doorways
might take pity on this robber and make him share the sausage. So he bared
his teeth so fiercely that the cat, with a hiss like a leaky hosepipe,
shinned back up the drainpipe right to the second floor. Grrrr! Woof! Gone!
We can't go handing out Moscow State groceries to all the strays loafing
about Prechistenka Street.
The gentleman noticed the dog's devotion as they passed the fire
station window, out of which came the pleasant sound of a French horn, and
rewarded him with a second piece that was an ounce or two smaller.
Queer chap. He's beckoning to me. Don't worry, I'm not going to run
away. I'll follow you wherever you like. 'Here, doggy, here, boy!'
Obukhov Street? OK by me. I know the place - I've been around.
'Here, doggy!'
Here? Sure . . . Hey, no, wait a minute. No. There's a porters on that
block of flats. My worst enemies, porters, much worse than dustmen. Horrible
lot. Worse than cats. Butchers in gold braid.
'Don't be frightened, come on.' 'Good evening, Philip Philipovich.'
'Good evening, Fyodor.'
What a character. I'm in luck, by God. Who is this genius, who can even
bring stray dogs off the street past a porter? Look at the bastard - not a
move, not a word! He looks grim enough, but he doesn't seem to mind, for all
the gold braid on his cap. That's how it should be, too. Knows his place.
Yes, I'm with this gentleman, so you can keep your hands to yourself. What's
that - did he make a move? Bite him. I wouldn't mind a mouthful of homy
proletarian leg. In exchange for the trouble I've had from all the other
porters and all the times they've poked a broom in my face.
'Come on, come on.'
OK, OK, don't worry. I'll go wherever you go. Just show me the way.
I'll be right behind you. Even if my side does hurt like hell.
From hallway up the staircase: 'Were there any letters for me, Fyodor?'
From below, respectfully: 'No sir, Philip Philipovich' (dropping his
voice and adding intimately), 'but they've just moved some more tenants into
No. 3.'
The dog's dignified benefactor turned sharply round on the step, leaned
over the railing and asked in horror: 'Wh-at?'
His eyes went quite round and his moustache bristled.
The porter looked upwards, put his hand to his lips, nodded and said:
'That's right, four of them.'
'My God! I can just imagine what it must be like in that apartment now.
What sort of people are they?'
'Nobody special, sir.'
'And what's Fyodor Pavolovich doing?'
'He's gone to get some screens and a load of bricks. They're going to
build some partitions in the apartment.'
'God - what is the place coming to?'
'Extra tenants are being moved into every apartment, except yours,
Philip Philipovich. There was a meeting the other day; they elected a new
house committee and kicked out the old one.'
'What will happen next? Oh, God . . .
'Come on, doggy.'
I'm coming as fast as I can. My side is giving me trouble, though. Let
me lick your boot.
The porter's gold braid disappeared from the lobby.
Past warm radiators on a marble landing, another flight of stairs and
then - a mezzanine.
Why bother to leam to read when you can smell meat a mile away? If you
live in Moscow, though, and if you've got an ounce of brain in your head you
can't help learning to read -and without going to night-school either. There
are forty-thousand dogs in Moscow and I'll bet there's not one of them so
stupid he can't spell out the word 'sausage'.
Sharik had begun by learning from colours. When he was just four months
old, blue-green signs started appearing all over Moscow with the letters
MSFS - Moscow State Food Stores - which meant a butcher and delicatessen. I
repeat that he had no need to learn his letters because he could smell the
meat anyway. Once he made a bad mistake: trotting up to a bright blue
shop-sign one day when the smell was drowned by car exhaust, instead of a
butcher's shop he ran into the Polubizner Brothers' electrical goods store
on Myasnitzkaya Street. There the brothers taught him all about insulated
cable, which can be sharper than a cabman's whip. This famous occasion may
be regarded as the beginning of Sharik's education. It was here on the
pavement that Sharik began to realise that 'blue' doesn't always mean
'butcher', and as he squeezed his burningly painful tail between his back
legs and howled, he remembered that on every butcher's shop the first letter
on the left was always gold or brown, bow-legged, and looked like a
toboggan.
After that the lessons were rather easier. 'A' he learned from the
barber on the comer of Mokhovaya Street, followed by 'B' (there was always a
policeman standing in front of the last four letters of the word). Corner
shops faced with tiles always meant 'CHEESE' and the black half-moon at the
beginning of the word stood for the name of their former owners 'Chichkin';
they were full of mountains of red Dutch cheeses, salesmen who hated dogs,
sawdust on the floor and reeking Limburger.
If there was accordion music (which was slightly better than 'Celeste
Aida'), and the place smelted of frankfurters, the first letters on the
white signboards very conveniently | spelled out the word 'NOOB', which was
short for 'No obscene language. No tips.' Sometimes at these places fights
would break out, people would start punching each other in the face with
their fists - sometimes even with napkins or boots.
If there were stale bits of ham and mandarin oranges in the window it
meant a grrr . . . grrocery. If there were black bottles full of evil
liquids it was . . . li-li-liquor . . . formerly Eliseyev Bros.
The unknown gentleman had led the dog to the door of his luxurious flat
on the mezzanine floor, and rang the doorbell. The dog at once looked up at
a big, black, gold-lettered nameplate hanging beside a pink frosted-glass
door. He deciphered the first three letters at once: P-R-O- 'Pro . . .', but
after tliat there was a funny tall thing with a cross bar which he did not
know. Surely he's not a proletarian? thought Sharik with amazement... He
can't be. He lifted up his nose, sniffed the fur coat and said firmly to
himself:
No, this doesn't smell proletarian. Some high-falutin' word. God knows
what it means.
Suddenly a light flashed on cheerfully behind the pink glass door,
throwing the nameplate into even deeper shadow. The door opened soundlessly
and a beautiful young woman in a white apron and lace cap stood before the
dog and his master. A wave of delicious warmth flowed over the dog and the
woman's skirt smelled of carnations.
This I like, thought the dog.
'Come in, Mr Sharik,' said the gentleman ironically and Sharik
respectfully obeyed, wagging his tail.
A great multitude of objects filled the richly furnished hall. Beside
him was a mirror stretching right down to the floor, which instantly
reflected a second dirty, exhausted Sharik. High up on the wall was a
terrifying pair of antlers, there were countless fur coats and pairs of
galoshes and an electric tulip made of opal glass hanging from the ceiling.
'Where on earth did you get that from, Philip Philipovich?' enquired
the woman, smiling as she helped to take off the heavy brown, blue-flecked
fox-fur coat.
'God, he looks lousy.'
'Nonsense. He doesn't look lousy to me,' said the gentleman abruptly.
With his fur coat off he was seen to be wearing a black suit of English
material; a gold chain across his stomach shone with a dull glow.
'Hold still, boy, keep still doggy . . . keep still you little fool.
H'm . . . that's not lice . . . Stand still, will you . . . H'mm . . . aha -
yes . . . It's a scald. Who was mean enough to throw boiling water over you,
I wonder? Eh? Keep still, will you . . .!'
It was that miserable cook, said the dog with his pitiful eyes and gave
a little whimper.
'Zina,' ordered the gentleman, 'take him into the consulting-room at
once and get me a white coat.'
The woman whistled, clicked her fingers and the dog followed her
slightly hesitantly. Together they walked down a narrow, dimly-lit corridor,
passed a varnished door, reached the end then turned left and arrived in a
dark little room which the dog instantly disliked for its ominous smell. The
darkness clicked and was transformed into blinding white which flashed and
shone from every angle.
Oh, no, the dog whined to himself, you won't catch me as easily as
that! I see it now - to hell with them and their sausage. They've tricked me
into a dogs' hospital. Now they'll force me to swallow castor oil and
they'll cut up my side with knives - well, I won't let them touch it.
'Hey - where are you trying to go?' shouted the girl called Zina.
The animal dodged, curled up like a spring and suddenly hit the door
with his unharmed side so hard that the noise reverberated through the whole
apartment. Then he jumped back, spun around on the spot like a top and in
doing so knocked over a white bucket, spilling wads of cotton wool. As he
whirled round there flashed past him shelves full of glittering instruments,
a white apron and a furious woman's face.
'You little devil,' cried Zina in desperation, 'where d'you think
you're going?'
Where's the back door? the dog wondered. He swung round, rolled into a
ball and hurled himself bullet-fashion at a glass in the hope that it was
another door. With a crash and a tinkle a shower of splinters fell down and
a pot-bellied glass jar of some reddish-brown filth shot out and poured
itself over the floor, giving off a sickening stench. The real door swung
open.
'Stop it, you little beast,' shouted the gentleman as he rushed in
pulling on one sleeve of his white coat. He seized the dog by the legs.
'Zina, grab him by the scruff of the neck, damn him.' 'Oh - these dogs . .
.!'
The door opened wider still and another person of the male sex dashed
in, also wearing a white coat. Crunching over the broken glass he went past
the dog to a cupboard, opened it and the whole room was filled with a sweet,
nauseating smell. Then the person turned the animal over on his back, at
which the dog enthusiastically bit him just above his shoelaces. The person
groaned but kept his head. The nauseating liquid choked the dog's breathing
and his head began to spin, then his legs collapsed and he seemed to be
moving sideways. This is it, he thought dreamily as he collapsed on to the
sharp slivers of glass. Goodbye, Moscow! I shan't see Chichkin or the
proletarians or Cracow sausages again. I'm going to the heaven for
long-suffering dogs. You butchers - why did you have to do this to me? With
that he finally collapsed on to his back and passed out.
When he awoke he felt slightly dizzy and sick to his stomach. His
injured side did not seem to be there at all, but was blissfully painless.
The dog opened a languid right eye and saw out of its corner that he was
tightly bandaged all around his flanks and belly. So those sons of bitches
did cut me up, he thought dully, but I must admit they've made a neat job of
it.
. . . "from Granada to Seville . . . those soft southern nights" . . .'
a muzzy, falsetto voice sang over his head.
Amazed, the dog opened both eyes wide and saw two yards away a man's
leg propped up on a stool. Trousers and sock had been rolled back and the
yellow, naked ankle was smeared with dried blood and iodine.
Swine! thought the dog. He must be the one I bit, so that's my doing.
Now there'll be trouble.
'. . . "the murmur of sweet serenades, the clink of Spanish blades . .
." Now, you little tramp, why did you bite the doctor? Eh? Why did you break
all that glass? M'm?' Oowow, whined the dig miserably. 'All right, lie back
and relax, naughty boy.' 'However did you manage to entice such a nervous,
excitable dog into following you here, Philip Philipovich?' enquired a
pleasant male voice, and a long knitted underpant lowered itself to the
ground. There was a smell of tobacco, and glass phials tinkled in the
closet.
'By kindness. The only possible method when dealing with a living
creature. You'll get nowhere with an animal if you use terror, no matter
what its level of development may be. That I have maintained, do maintain
and always will maintain. People who think you can use terror are quite
wrong. No, terror's useless, whatever its colour - white, red or even brown!
Terror completely paralyses the nervous system. Zina! I bought this little
scamp some Cracow sausage for 1 rouble 40 kopecks. Please see that he is fed
when he gets over his nausea.'
There was a crunching noise as glass splinters were swept up and a
woman's voice said teasingly: 'Cracower! Goodness, you ought to buy him
twenty kopecks-worth of scraps from the butcher. I'd rather eat the Cracower
myself!'
'You just try! That stuff's poison for human stomachs. A grown woman
and you're ready to poke anything into your mouth like a child. Don't you
dare! I warn you that neither I nor Doctor Bormenthal will lift a finger for
you when your stomach finally gives out . . .'
Just then a bell tinkled all through the flat and from far away in the
hall came the sound of voices. The telephone rang. Zina disappeared.
Philip Philipovich threw his cigar butt into the bucket, buttoned up
his white coat, smoothed his bushy moustache in front of a mirror on the
wall and called the dog.
'Come on, boy, you'll be all right. Let's go and see our visitors.'
The dog stood up on wobbly legs, staggered and shivered but quickly
felt better and set off behind the napping hem of Philip Philipovich's coat.
Again the dog walked down the narrow corridor, but saw that this time it was
brightly lit from above by a round cut-glass lamp in the ceiling. When the
varnished door opened he trotted into Philip Philipovich's study. Its luxury
blinded him. Above all it was blazing with light: there was a light hanging
from the moulded ceiling, a light on the desk, lights on the walls, lights
on the glass-fronted cabinets. The light poured over countless knick-knacks,
of which the most striking was an enormous owl perched on a branch fastened
to the wall.
'Lie down,' ordered Philip Philipovich.
The carved door at the other end of the room opened and in came the
doctor who had been bitten. In the bright light he now looked very young and
handsome, with a pointed beard. He put down a sheet of paper and said: 'The
same as before . . .'
Then he silently vanished and Philip Philipovich, spreading his
coat-tails, sat down behind the huge desk and immediately looked extremely
dignified and important.
No, this can't be a hospital, I've landed up somewhere else, the dog
thought confusedly and stretched out on the patterned carpet beside a
massive leather-covered couch. I wish I knew what that owl was doing here .
. .
The door gently opened and in came a man who looked so extraordinary
that the dog gave a timid yelp . . .
'Shut up! . . . My dear fellow, I hardly recognised you!'
Embarrassed, the visitor bowed politely to Philip Philipovich and
giggled nervously.
'You're a wizard, a magician, professor!' he said bashfully.
'Take down your trousers, old man,' ordered Philip Philip-ovich and
stood up.
Christ, thought the dog, what a sight! The man's hair was completely
green, although at the back it shaded off into a brownish tobacco colour,
wrinkles covered his face yet his complexion was as pink as a boy's. His
left leg would not bend and had to be dragged across the carpet, but his
right leg was as springy as a jack-in-the-box. In the buttonhole of his
superb jacket there shone, like an eye, a precious stone.
The dog was so fascinated that he even forgot his nausea. Oow-ow, he
whined softly.
'Quiet! . . . How have you been sleeping!'
The man giggled. 'Are we alone, professor? It's indescribable,' said
the visitor coyly. 'Parole d'honneur - I haven't known anything like it for
twenty-five years . . .' the creature started struggling with his flybuttons
. . . 'Would you believe it, professor - hordes of naked girls every night.
I am absolutely entranced. You're a magician.'
'H'm,' grunted Philip Philipovich, preoccupied as he stared into the
pupils of his visitor's eyes. The man finally succeeded in mastering his
flybuttons and took off his checked trousers, revealing the most
extraordinary pair of pants. They were cream-coloured, embroidered with
black silk cats and they smelled of perfume.
The dog could not resist the cats and gave such a bark that the man
jumped.
'Oh!'
'Quiet - or I'll beat you! . . . Don't worry, he won't bite.'
Won't I? thought the dog in amazement.
Out of the man's trouser pocket a little envelope fell to the floor. It
was decorated with a picture of a naked girl with flowing hair. He gave a
start, bent down to pick it up and blushed violently.
'Look here,' said Philip Philipovich in a tone of grim warning, wagging
a threatening finger, 'you shouldn't overdo it, you know.'
'I'm not overdo . . .' the creature muttered in embarrassment as he
went on undressing. 'It was just a sort of experiment.'
'Well, what were the results?' asked Philip Philipovich sternly.
The man waved his hand in ecstasy. 'I swear to God, professor, I
haven't known anything like it for twenty-five years. The last time was in
1899 in Paris, in the Rue de la Paix.'
'And why have you turned green?'
The visitor's face clouded over. 'That damned stuff! You'd never
believe, professor, what those rogues palmed off on me instead of dye. Just
take a look,' the man muttered, searching for a mirror. 'I'd like to punch
him on the snout,' he added in a rage. 'What am I to do now, professor?' he
asked tearfully.
'H'm. Shave all your hair off.'
'But, professor,' cried the visitor miserably, 'then it would only grow
grey again. Besides, I daren't show my face at the office like this. I
haven't been there for three days. Ah, professor, if only you had discovered
a way of rejuvenating hair!'
'One thing at a time, old man, one thing at a time,' muttered Philip
Philipovich. Bending down, his glittering eyes examined the patient's naked
abdomen.
'Splendid, everything's in great shape. To tell you the truth I didn't
even expect such results. You can get dressed now.'
' "Ah, she's so lovely . . ." ' sang the patient in a voice that
quavered like the sound of someone hitting an old, cracked saucepan.
Beaming, he started to dress. When he was ready he skipped across the floor
in a cloud of perfume, counted out a heap of white banknotes on the
professor's desk and shook him tenderly by both hands.
'You needn't come back for two weeks,' said Philip Philipovich, 'but I
must beg you - be careful.'
The ecstaticvoice replied from behind thedoor: 'Don't worry,
professor.' The creature gave a delighted giggle and went. The doorbell
tinkled through the apartment and the varnished door opened, admitting the
other doctor, who handed Philip Philipovich a sheet of paper and announced:
'She has lied about her age. It's probably about fifty or fifty-five.
Heart-beats muffled.'
He disappeared, to be succeeded by a rustling lady with a hat planted
gaily on one side of her head and with a glittering necklace on her slack,
crumpled neck. There were black bags under her eyes and her cheeks were as
red as a painted doll. She was extremely nervous.
'How old are you, madam?' enquired Philip Philipovich with great
severity.
Frightened, the lady paled under her coating of rouge. 'Professor, I
swear that if you knew the agony I've been going through . . .!'
'How old are you, madam?' repeated Philip Philipovich even more
sternly.
'Honestly . . . well, forty-five . . .'
'Madam,' groaned Philip Philipovich, I am a busy man. Please don't
waste my time. You're not my only patient, you know.'
The lady's bosom heaved violently. 'I've come to you, a great scientist
... I swear to you - it's terrible . . .'
'How old are you?' Philip Philipovich screeched in fury, his spectacles
glittering.
'Fifty-one!' replied the lady, wincing with terror.
'Take off your underwear, please,' said Philip Philipovich with relief,
and pointed to a high white examination table in the comer.
'I swear, professor,' murmured the lady as with trembling fingers she
unbuttoned the fasteners on her belt, 'this boy Moritz ... I honestly admit
to you . . .'
' "From Granada to Seville . . ." ' Philip Philipovich hummed
absentmindedly and pressed the foot-pedal of his marble washbasin. There was
a sound of running water.
'I swear to God,' said the lady, patches of real colour showing through
the rouge on her cheeks, 'this will be my last affair. Oh, he's such a
brute! Oh, professor! All Moscow knows he's a card-sharper and he can't
resist any little tart of a dressmaker who catches his eye. But he's so
deliciously young . . .'As she talked the lady pulled out a crumpled blob of
lace from under her rustling skirts.
A mist came in front of the dog's eyes and his brain turned a
somersault. To hell with you, he thought vaguely, laying his head on his
paws and closing his eyes with embarrassment. I'm not going to try and guess
what all this is about -it's beyond me, anyway.
He was wakened by a tinkling sound and saw that Philip Philipovich had
tossed some little shining tubes into a basin.
The painted lady, her hands pressed to her bosom, was gazing hopefully
at Philip Philipovich. Frowning impressively he had sat down at his desk and
was writing something.
'I am going to implant some monkey's ovaries into you, madam,' he
announced with a stern look.
'Oh, professor - not monkey's ?'
'Yes,' replied Philip Philipovich inexorably.
'When will you operate?' asked the lady in a weak voice, turning pale.
' ". . . from Granada to Seville . . ." H'm ... on Monday. You must go
into hospital on Monday morning. My assistant will prepare you.'
'Oh, dear. I don't want to go into hospital. Couldn't you operate here,
professor?'
'I only operate here in extreme cases. It would be very expensive - 500
roubles.'
'I'll pay, professor!'
Again came the sound of running water, the feathered hat swayed out, to
be replaced by a head as bald as a dinner-plate which embraced Philip
Philipovich. As his nausea passed, the dog dozed off, luxuriating in the
warmth and the sense of relief as his injury healed. He even snored a little
and managed to enjoy a snatch of a pleasant dream - he dreamed he had torn a
whole tuft of feathers out of the owl's tail . . . until an agitated voice
started yapping above his head.
'I'm too well known in Moscow, professor. What am I to do?'
'Really,' cried Philip Philipovich indignantly, 'you can't behave like
that. You must restrain yourself. How old is she?'
'Fourteen, professor . . . The scandal would ruin me, you see. I'm due
to go abroad on official business any day now.'
'I'm afraid I'm not a lawyer . . . you'd better wait a couple of years
and then marry her.'
'I'm married already, professor.'
'Oh, lord!'
The door opened, faces changed, instruments clattered and Philip
Philipovich worked on unceasingly.
This place is indecent, thought the dog, but I like it! What the hell
can he want me for, though? Is he just going to let me live here? Maybe he's
eccentric. After all, he could get a pedigree dog as easy as winking.
Perhaps I'm good-looking! What luck. As for that stupid owl . . . cheeky
brute.
The dog finally woke up late in the evening when the bells had stopped
ringing and at the very moment when the door admitted some special visitors.
There were four of them at once, all young people and all extremely modestly
dressed.
What's all this? thought the dog in astonishment. Philip Philipovich
treated these visitors with considerable hostility. He stood at his desk,
staring at them like a general confronting the enemy. The nostrils of his
hawk-like nose were dilated. The party shuffled awkwardly across the carpet.
'The reason why we've come to see you, professor . . .' began one of
them, who had a six-inch shock of hair sprouting straight out of his head.
'You ought not to go out in this weather without wearing galoshes,
gentlemen,' Philip Philipovich interrupted in a schoolmasterish voice.
'Firstly you'll catch cold and secondly you've muddied my carpets and all my
carpets are Persian.'
The young man with the shock of hair broke off, and all four stared at
Philip Philipovich in consternation. The silence lasted several minutes and
was only broken by the drumming of Philip Philipovich's fingers on a painted
wooden platter on his desk.
'Firstly, we're not gentlemen,' the youngest of them, with a face like
a peach, said finally.
'Secondly,' Philip Philipovich interrupted him, 'are you a man or a
woman?'
The four were silent again and their mouths dropped open. This time the
shock-haired young man pulled himself together.
'What difference does it make, comrade?' he asked proudly.
'I'm a woman,' confessed the peach-like youth, who was wearing a
leather jerkin, and blushed heavily. For some reason one of the others, a
fair young man in a sheepskin hat, also turned bright red.
'In that case you may leave your cap on, but I must ask you, my dear
sir, to remove your headgear,' said Philip Philipovich imposingly.
'I am not your dear sir,' said the fair youth sharply, pulling off his
sheepskin hat.
'We have come to see you,' the dark shock-headed boy began again.
'First of all - who are 'we'?'
'We are the new management committee of this block of flats,' said the
dark youth with suppressed fury. 'I am Shvonder, her name is Vyazemskaya and
these two are comrades Pestrukhin and Sharovkyan. So we . . .'
'Are you the people who were moved in as extra tenants into Fyodor
Pavlovich Sablin's apartment?' 'Yes, we are,' replied Shvonder.
'God, what is this place coming to!' exclaimed Philip Philipovich in
despair and wrung his hands. 'What are you laughing for, professor?' 'What
do you mean - laughing? I'm in absolute despair,' shouted Philip
Philipovich. 'What's going to become of the central heating now?'
'Are you making fun of us. Professor Preobrazhensky?' 'Why have you
come to see me? Please be as quick as possible. I'm just going in to
supper.'
'We, the house management,' said Shvonder with hatred, 'have come to
see you as a result of a general meeting of the tenants of this block, who
are charged with the problem of increasing the occupancy of this house . .
.' 28
'What d'you mean - charged?' cried Philip Philipovich. 'Please try and
express yourself more clearly.'
'We are charged with increasing the occupancy.'
'All right, I understand! Do you realise that under the regulation of
August 12th this year my apartment is exempt from any increase in
occupancy?'
'We know that,' replied Shvonder, 'but when the general meeting had
examined this question it came to the conclusion that taken all round you
are occupying too much space. Far too much. You are living, alone, in seven
rooms.'
'I live and work in seven rooms,' replied Philip Philipovich, 'and I
could do with eight. I need a room for a library.'
The four were struck dumb.
'Eight! Ha, ha!' said the hatless fair youth. 'That's rich, that is!'
'It's indescribable!' exclaimed the youth who had turned out to be a
woman.
'I have a waiting-room, which you will notice also has to serve as my
library, a dining-room, and my study - that makes three. Consulting-room -
four, operating theatre -five. My bedroom - six, and the servant's room
makes seven. It's not really enough. But that's not the point. My apartment
is exempt, and our conversation is therefore at an end. May I go and have
supper?'
'Excuse me,' said the fourth, who looked like a fat beetle.
'Excuse me,' Shvonder interrupted him, 'but it was just because of your
dining-room and your consulting-room that we came to see you. The general
meeting requests you, as a matter of labour discipline, to give up your
dining-room voluntarily. No one in Moscow has a dining-room.'
'Not even Isadora Duncan,' squeaked the woman. Something happened to
Philip Philipovich which made his face turn gently purple. He said nothing,
waiting to hear what came next.
'And give up your consulting-room too,' Shvonder went on. ' You can
easily combine your consulting-room with your study.'
'Mm'h,' said Philip Philipovich in a strange voice. 'And where am I
supposed to eat?'
'In the bedroom,' answered the four in chorus.
Philip Philipovich's purple complexion took on a faintly grey tinge.
'So I can eat in the bedroom,' he said in a slightly muffled voice,
'read in the consulting-room, dress in the hall, operate in the maid's room
and examine patients in the dining-room. I expect that is what Isadora
Duncan does. Perhaps she eats in her study and dissects rabbits in the
bathroom. Perhaps. But I'm not Isadora Duncan. . . !' he turned yellow. 'I
shall eat in the dining-room and operate in the operating theatre! Tell that
to the general meeting, and meanwhile kindly go and mind your own business
and allow me to have my supper in the place where all normal people eat. I
mean in the dining-room - not in the hall and not in the nursery.'
'In that case, professor, in view of your obstinate refusal,' said the
furious Shvonder, 'we shall lodge a complaint about you with higher
authority.'
'Aha,' said Philip Philipovich, 'so that's your game, is it?' And his
voice took on a suspiciously polite note. 'Please wait one minute.'
What a man, thought the dog with delight, he's just like me. Any minute
now and he'll bite them. I don't know how, but he'll bite them all right ...
Go on! Go for 'em! I could just get that long-legged swine in the tendon
behind his knee . . . ggrrr . . .
Philip Philipovich lifted the telephone receiver, dialled and said into
it: 'Please give me . . . yes . . . thank you. Put me through to Pyotr
Alexandrovich, please. Professor Preobraz-hensky speaking. Pyotr
Alexandrovich? Hello, how are you? I'm so glad I was able to get you.
Thanks, I'm fine. Pyotr Alexandrovich, I'm afraid your operation is
cancelled. What? Cancelled. And so are all my other operations. I'll tell
you why:
I am not going to work in Moscow, in fact I'm not going to work in
Russia any longer . . . I am just having a visit from four people, one of
whom is a woman disguised as a man, and two of whom are armed with
revolvers. They are terrorising me in my own apartment and threatening to
evict me.'
'Hey, now, professor . . .' began Shvonder, his expression changing.
'Excuse me ... I can't repeat all they've been saying. I can't make
sense of it, anyway. Roughly speaking they have told me to give up my
consulting-room, which will oblige me to operate in the room I have used
until now for dissecting rabbits. I not only cannot work under such
conditions - I have no right to. So I am closing down my practice, shutting
up my apartment and going to Sochi. I will give the keys to Shvonder. He can
operate for me.'
The four stood rigid. The snow was melting on their boots. 'Can't be
helped, I'm afraid . . . Of course I'm very upset, but ... What? Oh, no,
Pyotr Alexandrovich! Oh, no. That I must flatly refuse. My patience has
snapped. This is the second time since August . . . What? H'm . . . All
right, if you like. I suppose so. Only this time on one condition: I don't
care who issues it, when they issue it or what they issue, provided it's the
sort of certificate which will mean that neither Shvonder nor anyone else
can so much as knock on my door. The ultimate in certificates. Effective.