hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. Not ten minutes later he was picked up by the car on duty. The two policemen remained seated, unsure whether this had happened in a dream or in reality. The case raised Ashten’s profile even higher. Time went by, and eventually the sculptors from Alma-Ata said that they couldn’t make it by the dead- line, i.e. the twenty-fourth of October. The district wrote to the region to have the centenary celebrations timed to coincide with the November holidays. But even by 7 November the statue was not ready. A letter was again sent to the region, arguing that the best time to celebrate the anniversary of the tannery was on New Year’s Eve. But the statue was not ready for the new year either. Then the region, as they say, became enraged. The district was accused of failing to keep its word, and the issue of neglected cultural work on the part of district leaders was considered at a meeting, at which Zhanaidarov tried to justify himself and, it must be said, not in the best way. ‘The statue is almost ready,’ he lied without looking at anyone. ‘Only minor details remain: the nose, for example, the eyes and the ears, or rather one ear. This softened the blow and warded off more serious punishments. ‘Well, if it’s only the nose, two eyes and one ear, then never mind,’ the region consoled. ‘And yet, when exactly will the statue be ready?’ they asked menacingly. ‘Does the whole figure have to suffer because of such trifles as eyes, noses and everything else? Will it take five days to glue it all on?’ But even after five days the statue was not ready. He was still noseless, eyeless and earless, but the district could not, so to speak, lose face, and reported back to the region: ‘The statue is ready’. The news that a statue honouring the first tanner in Kazakhstan was to be erected quickly spread around the county. This was widely reported in the district, regional and national press, and even in the central newspaper, Pravda. It seems that the news reached abroad from there. The result was that a delegation from far-away England had the misfortune of visiting the Paradise Centre where it would be unveiled. And yet the statue was still not ready. What to do…? ‘Well, what

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