the side of the road, shut off the engine and started fumbling with his hands on the doors in search of the window lift handles. But neither windows nor the handles for them were known to be in the car. Yelemes made a sharp turn around the car, and dashed away from the Zhiguli at an arm’s length… The interior was instantly filled in, as if a sack of cement had been poured into it. Yerezhep turned around, but there was also a thick wall of dust behind him. That was the limit. It was no longer possible to live like this. As soon as the dust had settled, Yerezhep ran after the tractor. Despite the entreaties of his wife and girls, he drove the Zhiguli after enemy number one. The Zhiguli was easy to catch up with. Yelemes leaned out of the cab and smilingly asked: ‘Has something happened? Yerezhep signalled for him to get off the tractor. Yelemes seemed to be waiting for this. He instantly jumped down and stood in front of Yerezhep with a beaming smile on his face. Yerezhep had been thinking for years about how to strike if the last argument in their relationship was with fists, and so he struck quickly and in cold blood. Apparently Yelemes wast- ed no time either, for his fist almost simultaneously jammed into Yerezhep’s cheekbone. By the time the women reached the tractor, Yelemes and Yerezhep had managed to grab onto each other properly. The blows of both were perfectly accurate, and by the time the women arrived to separate them, both were standing with their eyes misted over. Seksenbayev emerged from the cloud of dust and things took a turn for the worse. The dust, the fight, the police – all this was not for the weak hearts of the girls, and their loud crying was added to everything else. But it was the tears of the students of the Schepkin school that caused Yelemes to feel deeply satisfied; he believed they were only crying because they had seen him hit Yerezhep. ‘You can draw up ten reports on me, but don’t detain me now,’ said a frowning Yerezhep. ‘The plane will not wait.’ The police officer released the passengers of the Zhiguli and concentrated on writing up the incident in the report. ‘He’s a good fighter,’ said Yelemes, looking at the car. ‘I should have