he exclaimed, not taking his eyes off his wife. “And what about the rector? I can’t believe you! “Oh god!” Malika rolled her eyes. Then she shook her head and decided to settle accounts with Sargel for his petty cunning. “He’s a fine man! Soft, playful! It is imperative we call him, he’ll come with an adorned company.” An electrical shiver ran through Sargel’s hide. “Well, since you’re asking like that, you should call him,” he said significantly, filling every word with fog. He wrote the rector’s name in block letters and put a dot in such a way that the paper under the pen burst. Then he threw the pen on the table, lifted his chin, sticking out his throbbing Adam’s apple, and putting his hands behind his back whilst leaving the house. At the banquet they sat like two enemies, watching each other with unblinking eyes dry with hatred. At the general banquet held at the table sat Karatai, who in two days of fuss in Sargel’s house, managed to resolve all the necessary issues in the city. After paying homage at Sargel’s house, he took Sargel, Malika, and his daughter to the mountains. He wanted to be with his eldest, and at the same time Karatai decided to see how and in what direction her life had gone during her stay in the big city. They had a light lunch in an open restaurant, once again celebrating Sargel’s doctorate. July was blazing in the mountains. It was impossible to sit in one place for a long time, and they decided to climb a slope overgrown with fir trees. “How nice!” exclaimed Karatai as he reached a tur- bulent stream that eroded a rocky slope, he sat down on a warm stone. “At least for the sake of this you should come to Almaty more often,” Bagila said jokingly, grabbing her father by the neck. “If only I knew about this stream!” Karatai laughed, and everyone followed him, laughing sincerely and nonchalantly. Sargel also laughed, as Malika would put it, com- pletely in sync with Karatai. “Dad! Why are you making a girl out of me!” Bagila pouted capriciously. “I’m not a child after all!” “Well, do we really have to speak officially!” Karatai kissed his daughter on the cheek. “Yes, let’s talk officially! Every Soviet person has the right to work and rest. And you do not
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