a guy like that…” “He’s bald.” “That I did not know. He did not take off his hat in the district committee.” Karatai grinned, followed by the chauffeur and Turgat. “They are interesting people,” Turgat said, wanting to show that he knew each of the shepherds well. “Good workers, but, being in the district committee, they do not even guess to remove their little hats.” Two hours later they reached the central estate of the state farm. At the top of the hill, which stood on the border of the state farm, the director and chief specialists were waiting for them. “Cattle are dying out there, and you are sitting at home,” Karatai said, greeting them coldly. “We are meeting with you…” the director began making excuses, but Karatai interrupted him. “Why did you bring whole office? What, you have nothing to do?” “Karatai Isaevich, we wanted you to see that everyone is here in place.” “Their place is where their cattle are dying!” he said, waving his hand to the stormy steppe. “You alone are enough for me. Is there a clear road somewhere here?” “There is. Two graders came and cleared it at night.” “At night? Is this after they knew I was coming? It means that even yesterday the shepherds were cut off from the world. How did you communicate with them? What, did you get helicopters to pick them up?! “Karatai Isaevich, we are not sitting idly by. All of the equipment is on snow retention. Graders had to be brought in from there…” Karatai looked hard at the director and his subordi- nates, who were waiting with obvious fear to see how this conversation would end. “The cattle depot has been built, but where do we get the boards for the poultry farm? From the stockyard! Volodya, give me a magazine!” Karatai’s driver, a Russian guy who knew the Kazakh language perfectly, pulled out the republican satirical magazine “Shmel” from the inner pocket of his sheepskin coat, and showed the director a caricature of the foreman’s conversation with the heads of the economy. “Look here!” Karatai said. “And you’re actually living like this. The equipment given to you for field work, you use to clear the road. It’s necessary to allocate a special, proper grader for this kind of thing! Or do you not know that there are drifts in these parts? Anyway, we’ll talk
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