takes at least twenty minutes, if not a whole hour, to repair the unit in the electric panel.’ ‘No, it has to be right away, five minutes at the most!’ the instructors almost pleaded. ‘Then there’s only one thing to do,’ the fitter said with a yawn. ‘Connect one phase to the other and then the floodlights will burn out.’ ‘Come on!’ They said to him, ‘Let them blow up, as long as they don’t burn out! Hurry up!’ Having given such an instruction, the two instructors ran to the site, knowing that Atashbayev was there in an agitated state. As they ran towards the square, six floodlights went off one by one and it went pitch black. ‘Well done!’ praised Atashbayev, patting the panting instructors on the back. ‘What speed! And now let’s hurry up and get the guests out of here!’ Half an hour later they were noisily entering the hotel with their guests. Zhanaidarov, having heard about the emergency in the square near the tannery and its successful resolu- tion, sank back in his chair and stretched out to relax. After a while he suddenly burst out laughing loudly, and startled the secretary enough to make him jump out of his seat. He opened his mouth several times to ask ‘What is wrong with you?’, but Zhanaidarov kept on laughing. Then he sank back into his chair and waited patiently for the secretary to stop his wild laughter. Soon, Zhanaidarov, still laughing, said: ‘You said it was frozen ice, didn’t you?’ Without waiting for an answer, he laughed again. ‘Ice! In the pocket of the statue! What ice can there be now, look at the barometer! It is nine degrees above zero. And you’re talking about ice! Hahaha! Did they believe you?’ Only now was Atashbayev’s heart in the right place. ‘I don’t know,’ he replied cheerfully, ‘But at that moment I had to say something, to distract their attention.’ ‘Ah, Ashten, Ashten! Would a half an hour of standing on a plinth kill him without that damned vodka? No, we must take it with us! He’s got some nerve. You don’t say a word to him now and he still replies rudely. He’ll drive us to our grave.’ The head of the propaganda department entered the office. ‘Suyunshi! The sculptors are here!’ he announced loudly. The two secretaries jumped up from their seats. ‘Really?’ ‘Yes,’

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