were called. They turned out to be livestock breeders, they came when the meeting had already begun. The boy’s father silently listened to all the accusations against his son and, hearing that he wrote such a letter to the daughter of the district leader, looked at his child with furious eyes. “Oh, you fool, did you eat donkey brains!” he shouted, pulling a horse whip from behind his top. “I’ll scratch the skin on your back! You idiot, now I’ll show you…!” The people around them laughed in unison. The meeting has lost all meaning. Nevertheless, a protocol was drawn up, one copy of which was strictly handed over to the boy’s parents. Now, with some kind of self-pity, she realised that two years ago she was just an unintelligent girl, during that time she has matured a lot, and now ten years of school life, flying quickly and irrevocably, have become only a fleeting memory. And while she thought about this bygone sweet time of her life, the feeling of loneliness penetrated even deeper into her heart and responded with acute longing. Suddenly, the image of the lost girl who stood weeping next to the lists appeared before her eyes. “How can I possibly go back to the village? No, I will not go back! Never!” Her sobbing voice came through clearly. And then the snub-nosed dark-haired girl appeared, bouncing in joy, and then hurriedly leaving, waving her handbag about. And then the already indistinct appearance of an unfamiliar person from the train surfaced in her memory. She remembered well only his cold eyes, his biting look, but she still felt how strongly her heart began to beat. Loneliness gradually began to dissolve, like fog under the blows of the morning wind. “Can it be,” she asked herself, “that I really can’t forget him? But why?” For the umpteenth time, succumbing to these thoughts, she did not notice how for some reason, she started looking around, as if she wanted to see someone… into frightening restlessness, feeling an unfamiliar tension and hot, pulsating chills all over the body. She did not want to admit it in any way, she was only surprised that lately it was already impossible not to notice – she had developed that indifference towards him. “It’s all nonsensical, made- up feelings,” she thought at once, and, thinking so, she quickly agreed with this. And this

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