out your old man is quite special!” Turgat giggled. “He’s been gone for a long time.” “You saw him last year; he hasn’t changed a bit since then…” The fact that she addressed everyone so formally, namely him, offended Turgat to the point that he blushed with indignation. Soon Kolbai appeared, becoming the subject of general conversation. Together with him, a huge cloud of frosty steam burst inside, in which the owner was consumed by for a moment, like in a fairy tale. Having emerged from this cloud, Kolbai stared at the guests with intense attention. He said hello, barely moving his lips, and silently settled himself at the very door he entered from. From his gloomy face, from his weak, indecisive look, it was not difficult to guess that things were not going well. “What are the losses looking like?” Karatai asked bluntly as soon as the host and guests greeted each other. “There are forty now, five more recently fell,” the shep- herd muttered wearily. Silence settled in the room. “What’s the matter?” This question Karatai tormented the director the most. Inwardly shuddering, he waited for what Kolbai would say, and for some reason looked at the front door. “In what…? There are many reasons. I can’t say from the top of my head…” “Name the main ones!” Kolbai could not say anything intelligible for a long time. He well understood that if he spilled the whole truth, he would be putting the director in the crosshairs in front of the none other than the secretary and make himself into such an enemy that even god forbids. But the first secretary silently waited for an answer, and the shepherd was forced to squeeze out: “Today the cattle went into the winter thinner than usual. Also, the shearing was done too late…” “That’s your fault,” Karatai cut him off. “Are there any other reasons?” “What other reasons are there…? It’s all my own fault. We, Kazakhs, are used to sacrificing our lives for the sake of livestock, so I’ll serve my time for this blun- der…” Karatai realised that the shepherd’s obedience was due not to his real guilt, but to something else, which he, the first secretary, did not know and, perhaps, would never know. “If there are no other reasons, sit down,” Karatai remarked and deliberately continued with cold indif- ference: “But don’t think that they will
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