the most final
concluding work

The Chernigov psychiatric hospital was located 4 kilometers from the city, in full correspondence to the nearby bus stop named "The 4th kilometer". The gate in the tall concrete wall of the institution was conveniently nearby the bus stop. The collection of modern huge-block buildings behind the wall would readily beautify even the city center by its architectural style, were it not located outside it.

We bypassed the huge red-tiled forms of various height; some of them were bridged with indoor galleries or connected with lower structures. Eera was obviously oppressed by that stodgy Bau Stile void of fanciful conceits, quite understandably though, not everyone appreciates that particular variety of architecture and I, personally, would sooner pull for works by Corbusier too.

I escorted silent Eera, looking glum and sullen at the moment, to the required building where we were accepted in a small one-window office by a dark-haired woman in a doctor’s smock named Tamara…er…Tamara…well, I am sorry, her patronymic escaped my mind. At the desk by the window, there sat a man of a well-trained carcass, also in white.

Tamara hospitably invited us to get seated on the soft sofa in a white cloth case alongside the wall and retired to the armchair opposite it. There followed a conversation of nothing in particular, but when she asked me about my preferences in music, the man by the window started to prompt, "Variety, of course!" which convinced me that his presence was not for just to ensure Tamara's security, if I were a violently deviated case. So I had to honestly admit having more than one preference: Ella Fitzgerald and Johann Sebastian Bach, because I do not drive a fool about the things that really matter.

Tamara told Eera that deviations of my kind were not of dangerous nature, however, if so was Eera's wish and if I did not mind, they could keep me for more close observation.

I did not mind, only warned that on Saturday it was my brother's wedding to which Eera and I had been invited and, if Tamara considered it acceptable, I would come back to the 4th kilometer on Monday. Upon my word of honor.

Tamara most kindly concurred and saw us out into the corridor. From behind the glazed door in its end, there came a muffled noise of a multitudinous assemblage…

>~ ~ ~

By that time my brother Sasha had already moved from PMS to KhAZ and was working on some sophisticated milling-grinding machine… The KhAZ was not the KhAZ itself, but only a branch of the Kharkov Aviation Plant. They did not assemble any planes at the branch, but produced spare parts of most different configurations, packed them in boxes, and sent to KhAZ or to its other branches in some other cities. In Konotop, the KhAZ branch was named, for shortness, just KhAZ and everyone was eager to get a job there because of high wages. Sasha earned 200 rubles a month! The rest of the workers got a lower payment because there was just one machine tool of so superb high-precision. Another advantage of KhAZ was its location in the Settlement, you could come home for the midday break and have your havvage.

Unfortunately, there was a drawback too, KhAZ made you work longer than just 8 hours a day. No, there were no labor legislation violations. Sasha was leaving his workplace at 5 sharp, but his work overtook him when even at home. He complained to me that even watching football on TV, he contemplated his working plans for the following day: which spare parts to work on in the morning, and which after the midday break. I felt sorry for my brother, but didn't know how to help him out…

In the Settlement, earning 200 rubles a month, you could start up a family of your own without hesitation. Sasha's chosen one, Lyouda, worked at "The Optics" store in Zelenchuk Area and she also was from the Settlement. Besides, she was a really enviable bride having two khuttas or, rather, each of her estranged, though not divorced, parents had a separate one, which guaranteed the young family immediate solution to the problem of housing, one way or the other. Who would decline living in clover? Thus, my brother became an Adoptee.

Eera was going to buy bed linen as the wedding present, but all the traces of such goods since long had disappeared from the stores. The explanation of the fact provided by the planned economy we lived under deducted that particular shortage from the World Olympics which Moscow was to host the following year, and the mentioned commodity would be needed for doing beds in the Olympic Village.

So, for the wedding present Eera bought a nice jug of red transparent glass, wisely reasoning that the bedsheets would wear out very quickly but the jug—if not broken—could stand in the hutch until the golden anniversary…

Since the wedding happened to coincide with our mother's birthday, I wanted to present her flowers. Gaina Mikhailovna insisted that no flowers could be bought on November 24, yet I went to the bazaar all the same.

On the bridge over the Oster, I saw a man holding a bouquet in his hands, in a company of two ladies. They were just standing there, looking anything but traders. However, I felt their presence on the bridge was no accident, came up, and asked if he would sell me the flowers… My mother-in-law's bewilderment had no limits, but I knew that somewhere around Odessa or in the worlds parallel to it, I had done something right, which was not forgotten by the unknown yet grateful allies…

We went to Konotop by 15.15 local train. The wedding party took place in a three-room khutta on Sosnowska Street in the Settlement. The flowers caused surprise even there. The surprise grew exponentially, when I presented them not to the bride. Then Sasha remembered what day it was, and assured the guests it was okay.

The following was a traditional Settlement wedding of an Adoptee. The only difference that at the party I gave up smoking. It happened when my neighbor at the table started to convince me of the impossibility of kicking off the habit, especially at a party of any kind. I put out the lit cigarette and that was all there to it.