obviously realised belatedly how these gifts could be the end for him. By syllables and with great anguish, he squeezed out of himself a: “Goodbye!” Since then, Karatai has been afraid to repeat that same banal joke. He took the director into his car, and they drove to the winter hut. Understanding the mood of the secretary, the specialists of the state farm disappeared somewhere. The road that pierced by a grader at night, was already powdered with snow, and the Volga moved with an effort. The frost and wind here were much harsher than in the regional centre. The wipers worked hard, but still did not have time to brush off the snow from the windshield, and the road would either show clearly, or disappeared in a snowy shroud without a moment’s notice. The Volga kept falling into invisible potholes, and the shaking made Karatai’s head spin. “Looks like the grader left the old, compacted snow here,” Volodya remarked. Halfway through, they saw one of the two graders standing dead in the middle of the steppe. Deciding that there was no one inside, Volodya managed to drive around them, but then they saw someone fussing inside, leaning their face against the glass, and Karatai, having stopped the car, went out onto the road. The grader’s driver poked his huge curly head out of the grader cab. His face turned blue from the cold; his thick, horse-like lips began to move. “Oh, good sir, what are you doing here?” Karatai asked, ahead of the director, who again somehow began to fuss about petty things. “What am I doing here? I’m guarding this here coffin,” he blurted out. “Why isn’t your partner helping you?” “Oh, how can he help me! I told him not to waste time on me. Now he is probably already near Burgenda.” A smile formed on the tired, exhausted, sleepless, frosted face of the horseman. The director of the state farm was scared to death because the machine operator was so rude and was so simply talking to the head of the district. “Hey, don’t act all important, get down from there!” shouted the director, shaking his fist from behind Karatai’s back. The man did not even pay attention to the threats, he calmly looked at the director, as if he were an empty place. “I’m not used to walking around idly, why the hell should I
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