Februa..

– No! March: it is now! So –

March 1

In the morning with the clumsy but robust wheelbarrow, I started from the Site to the woods and there cut out ten more poles for the Site fencing. Hauling the poles to the Site was a deadly toil. I got worn-out indeed: the sweat oozing through all the four layers of my clothing.

Valyo jumps to conclusions way too hurriedly because, returning from the Site, I saw in the street Edic the Plumber, a reputed cannabissmoker. He was neatly khakied and carried an AK, and a sheathed knife dangling from his leather belt. He was obviously as respectable a phedayeePHEDAYEE —
     (Armenian borrowing from Greek) "freedom fighter". as one could wish and nothing of a burglar!

After lunch, the mother-in-law sent me to Carina with a cut-up hen from Carina's flock kept in her mother's yard. Recently, the fowl looked suspiciously sad and dull. They opted for slaying the bird before it would die on her own accord and be of no use. When it was safely slaughtered and ripped up, it came to light that the cause for her fatal listlessness was a choked intestine and not the pest. The creature's end was brought on by the incorrect diet.

In Carina-Sashic's underground there was a feast-in-progress. I sat at their table but drank only a cup of tea, in spite of Sashic's oration declaring spirits consumption the must in war times. However, in difference to the like affair in Valyo's underground, I partook of a blade of prickled herb followed by a piece of sugar.

On my way back, I met Edo, Valyo's cousin, the Director of the Computer Center, and asked him for a battery pack for my receiver.

(...I'm obviously turning into a brazen beggar...)

He promised to bring six batteries for me if his business trip to Moscow planned on for the end of this month goes without a hitch.

Then I met and had a talk with Mishic, the phedayeePHEDAYEE —
     (Armenian borrowing from Greek) "freedom fighter". husband of Gaiana. He has evacuated her to the village together with their two-year-old daughter, and the unborn baby Gaiana is presently pregnant with. They live there in an old school house swarming with other refugees. Their apartment block here in the town was hit in a bombardment, but their flat, fortunately, survived.

At home I settled up with Nasic, the landlady, giving her the last twenty-fiver I possessed. It is only half-the-sum we pay monthly, but I've got no more money except three-monet-and-a-few-kopeck.

One page from Joyce. Yoga. Supper.

The day was sunny, at times a bit windy, under the feather-like streaks of high transparent clouds. Now, this first day of spring is over.

Sahtik, while washing Ahshaut in his plastic tub, wondered if we were to see the last day of this same spring. As far as I am concerned—come what may—death is by far more preferable than wounds, and if it is to happen, I insistently want to be the first from the family.

Till then – Good night.