The denouement between Yerezhep and Yelemes happened on the seventh of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty-six. Only on the face of it did it begin suddenly. In reality, the fight could reasonably have started at any minute of the day or night in recent years. Circumstances, as they sometimes do, just did not seem to be the right ones. Today they couldn\u2019t have come at a better time… Of course, Yerezhep was very unhappy that everything had happened on this particular day, but what could you do, as they say, you could not go against fate… Of course, every fight has its own history. Having been involved in an accident two years ago, Yerezhep lost his front teeth. The upper and lower teeth. Without them, his mouth was no longer a mouth, but empty and black on the inside, like an abandoned wolf\u2019s den. With that \u2018mouth\u2019 Yerezhep lived for two years. Everything he could hear from his peers and children about his \u2018lair\u2019 he had heard a dozen times. But the mockery was nothing. What was unbearable was something else. In public he could not talk or eat at his own leisure. Laughing was out of the question. Of course he could have his teeth done, but usual ones did not suit him, and he had no money for gold ones. There was only one thing to do: to keep his mouth shut and work harder. Silently. A year later, Yerezhep was among the foremost leaders of the state farm. And he was recorded as a speaker in the debates at the district conference. Five days before the event, the director of the state farm remembered that Yerezhep had no teeth and was horrified. \u2018It\u2019s a disgrace! What to do?!\u2019 he shrieked, shooting glances at the party leader and the workers\u2019 committee. \u2018We should call him in for a chat,\u2019 suggested the party leader. \u2018For a listen!\u2019 shouted the director.\u2019 A conversation is when two people are talking. But if he\u2019s going to lisp like that…!\u2019 \u2018They\u2019ll say there\u2019s no one on our state farm with all their teeth,\u2019 said the worker. \u2018They\u2019ll say we don\u2019t take care of public health services\u2026\u2019 \u2018The health of the workers is your direct concern,\u2019 the director reminded the worker, meaningfully. \u2018We have to take urgent action! We cannot send him to the district with a mouth like that! The management will not understand anything about our successes! \u2018Maybe we should send someone who looks like him. I mean, like a double,\u2019 suggested the workman hesitantly, but after examining the director\u2019s gaze he suggested nothing further. The director was anxious to \u2018take urgent action\u2019. \u2018We need to get his teeth put in immediately, at least in the next three days. Where is our dentist?\u2019 \u2018Gone. For an internship in Alma-Ata.\u2019 \u2018When will he be back? \u2018Well, he only left today. This morning.\u2019 \u2018Idiots!\u2019 The director looked fiercely at his comrades-in-arms. \u2018What a mess! Call in that Yerezhep, let\u2019s hear what he thinks about this.\u2019 Fifteen minutes later the director\u2019s Volga took Ye- rezhep to his office. He entered the office and, as befits a senior worker, sat down on a chair. \u2018How are the preparations for the performance going?\u2019 the director asked. Yerezhep was silent. \u2018I\u2019m asking you!\u2019 the director jumped out from behind the desk. \u2018How is the performance?\u2019 Yerezhep shuddered, as if awoken from a bad dream, and said: Halaso. At that, the tip of his red tongue flashed and dis- appeared into the darkness of his mouth. The leaders looked at each other as if they had just been informed of a terrible disaster. All right, you\u2019d better be quiet and listen,\u2019 the director sighed at length. \u2018There\u2019s a conference in three days where you have to speak. We\u2019ll help you with the speech, but what about this…?\u2019 he tapped his teeth with the nail of his index finger. \u2018Look, we don\u2019t have time to talk. I am going to make a call to the neighbouring state farm. Go there and have your teeth in place by tomorrow morning. Got it? That\u2019s it. Take my car and go!\u2019 Yerezhep shook his head. \u2018What don\u2019t you understand?\u2019 The director was stunned. \u2018You don\u2019t want your teeth put in?!\u2019 \u2018I don\u2019t want iron ones,\u2019 said Yerezhep. \u2018I want gold ones\u2026\u2019 \u2018There is currently no gold in the state farm\u2019s cash register for your mouth,\u2019 said the director. \u2018Go and get some teeth put in. Any teeth!\u2019 Yerezhep rose from his chair and headed for the door, but the worker blocked his way. \u2018Where are you going?!\u2019 The director could hardly restrain himself from counting the rest of Yerezhep\u2019s teeth. \u2018Do you want to disgrace the state farm in the eyes of the district management?!\u2019 \u2018They\u2019ll put the iron ones in, and then you\u2019ll have to go to the authorities. I don\u2019t have time for that. I\u2019ll put the gold ones in right away!\u2019 \u2018Alright, alright,\u2019 he sank down exhausted in his chair. \u2018Put the gold ones in. When?\u2019 \u2018As soon as I get the money\u2026\u2019 \u2018And when will you have it, my dear fellow?\u2019 \u2018Thikth munfs.\u2019 \u2018The conference is in three days\u2019 time,\u2019 said the director again. \u2018He doesn\u2019t have the time, he says! And what, we do?!\u2019 \u2018I understand,\u2019 Yerezhep stood with his head low, but was firm. Only I don\u2019t have the money now… \u2018Your teeth are private property and the state farm will not pay for them. It\u2019s not in the budget!\u2019 The di- rector yelled as loud as he could, letting off a stream of indignation. \u2018Borrow from someone\u2026\u2019 The director looked around the room with a heavy stare. \u2018Who will lend him the money?\u2019 The party manager and the representative of the worker\u2019s committee, unable to grasp the meaning of the question, remained silent. They jumped up at the same time, but the worker was more nimble and was the first to leave the office. Soon he was back, leading Yelemes, the driver of the car, by the hand. He followed the worker, not understanding anything, but with no apparent willingness, as if he felt that something unpleasant was about to happen to him. The director did not hesitate to get down to busi- ness. \u2018How much did you get?\u2019 \u2018Four hundred and fifty\u2026\u2019 \u2018How much do you need? \u2018The director looked at Yerezhep with hatred. \u2018Four hundred… Three for the teeth and a hundred for the mouth\u2026\u2019 \u2018Listen, Yelemes… Give this man four hundred roubles. It\u2019s a loan, so to speak, at the request of the state farm administration… he\u2019s going to have his teeth put in!\u2019 \u2018And my wife?! \u2018Yelemes realised that his hunch was right. \u2018What will I tell her? And the children\u2026\u2019 \u2018That\u2019s enough!\u2019 When the director realised there was a way out, he perked up. \u2018Give it back and that\u2019s it. You\u2019ll get your money in a month. I\u2019m a witness! And don\u2019t argue, this case is political!\u2019 Gold teeth could only be inserted in the district centre, and the director personally took Yerezhep there, to make sure the money was used for its intended purpose, to listen to him speak at the conference, and, if all went well, to return home. A year passed and Yerezhep still had not returned the money to Yelemes. Only three years later did he put four hundred roubles in an envelope, told his wife to set the table, and invited Yelemes and his wife to the house to make amends. During the meal, when the guests had quietened down and a suitable atmosphere prevailed, Yerezhep solemnly placed an envelope in front of the tractor driver, on which was written: \u2018Chimkent region, Bugensky district, state farm \u2018Karaspan\u2019, Bayzhansay branch, Yelemes Yestayevich Nuraliyev\u2019. Yelemes opened the envelope and, to everyone\u2019s surprise, immediately started counting the money. After counting it, he carefully folded the notes, put them back into the envelope and muttered: \u2018I won\u2019t take this.\u2019 \u2018Why not?! Yerezhep looked at his guest in amaze- ment. \u2018It\u2019s not enough.\u2019 \u2018What\u2019s not enough?!\u2019 \u2018The money isn\u2019t enough. I won\u2019t take it.\u2019 \u2018It can\u2019t be! It\u2019s exactly four hundred!\u2019 Yerezhep, flashing his golden teeth, started to count the money again, but Yelemes stopped him. \u2018Don\u2019t bother, there\u2019s four hundred there. But when you took money from me, one tooth cost fifty roubles, and and now it\u2019s a hundred.\u2019 Yerezhep looked at his wife in confusion, but she was in need of help herself. Then he turned his gaze to Yelemes\u2019 wife. The wife sat stony-faced. Yerezhep was speechless. \u2018So what you\u2019re saying is… you think I owe you\u2026\u2019 \u2018Exactly. You owe me eight hundred roubles. That\u2019s what you\u2019re going to pay me.\u2019 \u2018But I took four hundred from you\u2026\u2019 \u2018You didn\u2019t just take it, you took it by force with the help of your superiors! I haven\u2019t forgotten how I was dragged into the office like a lamb to the slaughter. You\u2019ll give me 800.\u2019 \u2018What are you talking about?! What\u2019s it got to do with me? You were brought here by the workman\u2026\u2019 \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter. Did you get your teeth put in with my money? Yes, with my money. Did your teeth go up in price? Yes, they went up! You should have given me the money right away, before the inflation. I won\u2019t take four hundred now. Only eight hundred.\u2019 \u2018What would you say if I spent it on something else? That hasn\u2019t gone up in price\u2026\u2019 \u2018Then I would have taken four hundred. In short, you can be offended or not, but you\u2019ll either give me back eight hundred roubles or my teeth.\u2019 \u2018What do you mean, your teeth?!\u2019 \u2018It\u2019s very simple. Eight teeth!\u2019 \u2018I didn\u2019t put in eight, I put in six.\u2019 Yerezhep opened his mouth, presenting his teeth as proof. \u2018And I gave a hundred roubles to the dentist to do it quickly\u2026\u2019 \u2018That\u2019s of no interest to me. It\u2019s up to you, either eight hundred roubles or eight gold teeth. I said\u2026\u2019 Yelemes rose from his chair, indicating that the meal was over. His wife began to get up from the table. But they stopped halfway through when Yerezhep began shouting. \u2018Hey, are you crazy?! I thought he was joking, and he…! What kind of a brain have you got that\u2019s so stupid? You\u2019re asking for your teeth back? Like hell I will! Here\u2019s your money, take it! If you don\u2019t want it, fine, that\u2019s all you\u2019re getting!\u2019 Yerezhep threw the envelope in front of Yelemes, but he flung it back at him. The money scattered, one note falling into a bowl of cold tea. Yerezhep snatched it from the crockery in a lightning motion, slipped it into the envelope, and poked the envelope into the inside pocket of his jacket. \u2018Well, look, it\u2019s my job to offer. I\u2019ve done my duty. Now you\u2019ll never see that money again!\u2019 He was seeth- ing with righteous indignation. \u2018It\u2019s as if I had my teeth put in for nothing! You heard what I had to say at the conference, you politically illiterate…!\u2019 \u2018You don\u2019t confuse your teeth with your politics, got it?!\u2019 said Yelemes, hurt by the sting. \u2018Have you forgotten how you caused the accident? You were drunk, remember? I\u2019ll tell this to the right person and we\u2019ll watch you dance! We\u2019ll see who\u2019s literate then! And remember, those six teeth gleaming in your jaw are mine. I can knock them out at any time too. Gently sup- porting his wife under his arm, Yelemes left Yerezhep\u2019s house. \u2018Swindler! Cheat!\u2019 Yerezhep shouted after him. \u2018And you cooked meat for them?! Throw it to the dogs! Yes, only to the dogs!\u2019 His wife, making it clear that no amount of resentment, not even Yerezhep\u2019s mortal grudge, would make her throw away the meat, pointedly and calmly remarked to him: \u2018Stop shouting at the whole village. You\u2019re a liar! I suspected the accident was caused by drunkenness, and that\u2019s how it turned out! I knew in my heart… You\u2019ll give him eight hundred roubles. Eight hundred, got it?!\u2019 The rumour of this dinner spread quickly through the village and the whole state farm went wild with laughter. But the louder the laughter, the fiercer the relationship between Yerezhep and Yelemes became. The villagers were looking forward to a fight and predicted it was coming… But contrary to these passionate expectations, everything ended quietly and peacefully. Amazed at the cleverness of Yelemes, the director thought that in case of an inquiry the story of Yerezhep\u2019s teeth could backfire on him too, and sent a district officer to see Yelemes. After two visits, Yelemes agreed to pay four hundred roubles and thus the threat to Yerezhep\u2019s teeth was averted. But the resolution of the financial misunderstand- ing did nothing to change their relationship. Yelemes hated Yerezhep for applying administrative pressure when he borrowed money. Yerezhep accused Yelemes of taking advantage of the rise in the price of gold to extort him and, in addition, of blabbing the real cause of the accident to the whole village. Thus, their relationship crossed a line beyond which reconciliation was no longer possible. Another wedding was in progress at the state farm. As is the custom on such occasions, there is an intricate and ornate subordination at the table, according to which the guests are seated from the place of honour in the red corner to the chair by the door according to the decreasing degree of authority and influence. For a Kazakh one of the unsolvable problems is his own place at a dastarkhan. Who will sit with whom, what will be put in front of whom, whose name will be mentioned more often (and whose less often) \u2013 all these questions have dignity riding on them, and during banquets these issues become as important as searching for peace in the Middle East… At such a crowded feast, Yelemes was seated \u2018below\u2019 Yerezhep. This meant that from now on, Yerezhep would automatically be considered more respected than Yelemes. It meant that at the table Yerezhep would eat before Yelemes, drink tea before him and make a toast before him… At the dastarkhan everyone should know his place and position, but nevertheless there is an invisible inner confrontation of virtues. Such a confrontation \u2013 of course, masked by delicacy, kindness and generosity \u2013 immediately arose between Yerezhep and Yelemes from the very beginning of the meal. It came to about two o\u2019clock. In the old days that was enough time for a few scandals to erupt at the \u2018lower\u2019 end of the table and a couple of low-powered brawls outside the door. But this wedding did not serve alcohol, and for the whole two hours the guests, demonstrating excellent breeding and restraint, concentrated and drank tea, although none of them was thirsty. And so for these two hours Yelemes was playing on Yerezhep\u2019s nerves. It is known that tea at a dastarkhan is served, so to speak, from the bottom up \u2013 from the door to the most distinguished place. It means that Yelemes had to serve a tea bowl to Ye- rezhep, and the latter had to send it further, towards the most respected person… But every time it was Yerezhep\u2019s turn, the tractor driver gave it to somebody else with an innocent face, or, outrageous as it was, he put it in front of him. This was repeated every time for the entire two hours. A second before giving the bowl directly to Yerezhep, Yelemes would start a very engaged conversation with someone, and seemingly for his own amusement he would put Yerezhep\u2019s bowl in front of him and even take a sip from it! \u2018Rascal!\u2019 Yerezhep shouted to himself. \u2018Like hell you\u2019re listening that attentively! You don\u2019t have enough brains for interesting conversations!\u2019 And Yerezhep snatched his bowl right out of Yelemes\u2019s hands as he brought it to his mouth, and with a clatter put it defiantly in front of him and hissed: \u2018What are you doing, giving the horses a drink? There are three pails in front of you!\u2019 Yelemes heard perfectly well about the horse, but he didn\u2019t even raise an eyebrow. \u2018I am a humble man,\u2019 he muttered through gritted teeth, keeping a nonchalant expression on his face. \u2018I\u2019ve never had a horse. I wanted to get the donkey drunk, but you took the bowl yourself. And thank goodness\u2026\u2019 Yerezhep, savouring his tea, thought for a long time about the meaning of these words. While he guessed, he took a sip of tea from the bowl, but forgot to swallow it. \u2018Son of a bitch!\u2019 Yerezhep culturally wiped his mouth with his handkerchief, \u2018If we were somewhere else I would punch you!\u2019 Yelemes, finding no visible reaction on Yerezhep\u2019s part, leaned towards his ear. \u2018Do you know why Kazakhs need guts?\u2019 \u2018Why? What kind of stupid question is that? \u2018Ye- rezhep looked at the tractor driver as if he was mad. \u2018So they don\u2019t burn their arses when they drink hot tea.\u2019 The guests sitting around them roared deafeningly. \u2018Why aren\u2019t you laughing?\u2019 Yelemes asked. Yerezhep pursed his lips, showing great dignity. \u2018Your jokes wouldn\u2019t even make an idiot laugh\u2026\u2019 \u2018Right. That\u2019s why you\u2019re not laughing\u2026\u2019 This implied that Yerezhep was an idiot… \u2018We should punch him,\u2019 Yerezhep warmed up to himself. \u2018No, a fight is inevitable. But in front of all the people! In front of the director! So be it. Honour comes first! It\u2019s a shame, of course, but we\u2019ll have to fight. Although it would be better elsewhere, you can\u2019t offend the owners of the house…\u2019 \u2018Yeah, they\u2019ve completely forgotten what a fight is these days. It\u2019s all quiet now,\u2019 one of the elders said dreamily. \u2018That\u2019s right.,\u2019 the second elder supported him. \u2018It\u2019s just like sitting in a cemetery,\u2019 the elder praised the wedding. \u2018Before, every dastarkhan was always fights, police…\u2019 He looked at the police officer nestled at the head of the table, as if he were a highly respected man. \u2018Yes, that\u2019s right,\u2019 the senior lieutenant said, and no one could tell whether there was more joy or regret in his voice. \u2018No fights, no other disturbances of public order,\u2019 the storekeeper interjected, glancing at the stubby neighbourhood officer. \u2018I wonder what you\u2019re going to do now?\u2019 \u2018We\u2019ll find something,\u2019 the police officer smiled meaningfully, to which the storekeeper reacted instantly. \u2018We should call the district,\u2019 he said to the director, \u2018and ask for a reduction in the number of district policemen on our state farm\u2026\u2019 The thought seemed so desirable that he laughed with pleasure, but soon stopped when he saw that he was laughing all alone. Senior Lieutenant Seksenbayev listened to the laughter of the storekeeper and grinned again… The guests began to squirm in their seats, calming down after the storekeeper\u2019s joke, and all of them looked meek and gallant. \u2018What a bunch of goody-goodies,\u2019 Yerezhep said fiercely. \u2018And when you dig into each of them, they all have sins behind them… There, the policeman is sitting like a virgin in the bathhouse, and how about remembering his behaviour after my accident…!\u2019 After the accident Yerezhep threw himself at the policeman\u2019s feet and started complaining that he had hit not a person but a pole, which was in the middle of nowhere, and that therefore the case could be hushed up without any fear. But Mr. Seksenbayev was adamant: he silently wrote up a report of what happened to Yerezhep, put it into a file, and left. Having forgotten about the broken teeth, Yerezhep wandered to the policeman\u2019s house, but he would not let him in even to the yard. In the evening Yerezhep paid another visit to the district police officer, but he was not at home. \u2018He has gone to the district,\u2019 muttered the wife of the senior lieutenant. Yerezhep clutched his head. \u2018That\u2019s it, he\u2019s gone. He\u2019ll report, they\u2019ll record it, they\u2019ll put him in jail.\u2019 And at that moment it dawned on Yerezhep: why was the neighbourhood policeman going to the district at night…? Just then, he saw the policeman\u2019s five-year-old daughter looking for a cat on the porch. Yerezhep took three crisp roubles from his pocket and handed them to the girl. \u2018Tell me where your daddy went and I\u2019ll give you some money. You can use it to buy gum tomorrow.\u2019 \u2018Over there,\u2019 the girl pointed to the grain store with one hand and grabbed the money with the other. He got on the cart and drove off. Yerezhep sat down in the place where the road was closest to the old cemetery. After an hour in the night there was the creaking of a cart. The divisional guard himself remained silent \u2013 apparently it was not very much fun to drive past the cemetery at night, and meeting people was not something he was very keen on doing. As the carriage drew nearer, Yerezhep jumped out onto the road and shouted: \u2018Name! \u2018Sex… Sex…\u2019 Falling to the bottom of the donkey cart, the district officer held back the frightened donkey with all his might. \u2018What kind of sex?!\u2019 Yerezhep shouted. \u2018Speak when you are spoken to!\u2019 \u2018Sex… Seksenbayev..\u2019. \u2018How many bags are you carrying?\u2019 \u2018Eleven\u2026\u2019 \u2018So, citizen Seksenbayev…\u2019 Yerezhep lowered his voice, but did not change his official tone. \u2018Your crime is even worse than mine. So, either you tear up all the paperwork about my accident, or I will go to the police station myself. Good night!\u2019 Now this Seksenbayev was sitting behind the dastarkhan with his eyes downcast, as if there was no man on earth more crystalline and humble… \u2018And this storekeeper\u2026\u2019 Yerezhep blew his nose noisily\u2026 he knew a thing or two about that one… \u2018The hell with them, truly, only babies are innocent.\u2019 It was the seventh day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty-six… The last week was marked in Yerezhep\u2019s house by a rare, lyrical mood \u2013 his wife\u2019s younger sister and her friend, students of the Moscow Schepkin Theatre School, had come to visit them! Both of them were slim, beautiful and smiling, as if they had come out of the poster that hung on the wall of the state farm club. Waiting for the dust to settle and the cooler weather to settle on the main street, they would go out for a walk in the village, and it was impossible to find anyone indifferent to these two figures, wrapped in jeans and tightfitting blouses. The sedate inhabitants of the village had a certain aesthetic interest in the girls, while younger people, and especially the bachelors, looked at them in a fundamentally different way. The most hardened-minded misogynists headed for Yerezhep Street, though their business was in the opposite direction. Yerezhep\u2019s house became a magnet that attracted all the male population of the village, except old men of course, to its porch. For these days, the man of the house returned from work without any delay, took a shower (which he had never done before), and cologned himself from head to toe, in an attempt to look urbane. Then he took the girls under his arm and led them to the club. Oh, how Yerezhep felt in those moments! It was an impossible dream even for the most dapper young men of the village to approach some students from the Schepkin drama school, but Yerezhep, just a driver of an old dump truck, with fuel oil under his nails, held the girls, both at once, under his arms and led them wherever he wanted! If only that! There were moments when the girls, bursting with laughter, rested their heads affectionately on Yerezhep\u2019s shoulders… Yes, the Providence of the Creator works in mysterious ways: one man gets everything and the other gets nothing. The peculiarity of men in our village, as in all the villages on the planet, is that they do not forgive the success of their own kind in front of a beautiful woman. Yelemes and Yerezhep, who grew up in a village where they had never known anything about Schepkin\u2019s school or Schepkin himself, nevertheless had a good understanding of the intricacies of the relationship between a man and a woman and how to make an opponent angry. For the whole week Yerezhep rejoiced. Every evening he led the girls under his arms past Yelemes\u2019 house, feeling how he was ruining and humiliating his mortal enemy every time. So today the girls, who had been the jewels of the village for a whole week, got ready for their journey home. It was decided that Yerezhep would take them to the intercity bus that passes the state farm to Chimkent, and from there they would go by plane to Moscow. What a life, thought Yerezhep, feeling sorry for himself. \u2018And how do I live? Bickering with Yelemes, driving dung on a dump truck. Now they\u2019re moving on, back to their Schepkin school. !\u2019 For the farewell, Yerezhep borrowed a blue Zhiguli from the shepherd Metesh. He could not have driven the girls in his dump truck! But the neighbour\u2019s Zhigu- li was not looking good either \u2013 the side windows had long since fallen through the doors, and the old treads were gleaming like a thoroughly shaved bald spot. \u2018You watch out,\u2019 said Metesh. \u2018If the traffic police catch me they\u2019ll take my car away. I don\u2019t even go out of the gate with these treads.\u2019 For the first half of the day, Yerezhep scrubbed the Zhiguli, especially the interior of the car in which Metesh had recently taken two rams into town to sell. In the evening he opened the doors with a broad gesture, seating the girls in the back and his wife beside him. Almost the whole village came out to see the stu- dents off. The girls were moved by this attention and even shed a few tears. It was all so touching… But as soon as he crossed the village, he saw a Belarus tractor with a trailer far ahead. The tractor was rushing towards the sun, wiggling its trailer playfully. There was no doubt that Yelemes was sitting at the wheel. The next second Yerezhep\u2019s mouth fell open in amazement… The Belarus, instead of driving on the left side of the road as it should, started to take the right side, presumably to let the dust fall on the Zhiguli. Yerezhep, pulling over to the side of the road, shut off the engine and started fumbling with his hands on the doors in search of the window lift handles. But neither windows nor the handles for them were known to be in the car. Yelemes made a sharp turn around the car, and dashed away from the Zhiguli at an arm\u2019s length… The interior was instantly filled in, as if a sack of cement had been poured into it. Yerezhep turned around, but there was also a thick wall of dust behind him. That was the limit. It was no longer possible to live like this. As soon as the dust had settled, Yerezhep ran after the tractor. Despite the entreaties of his wife and girls, he drove the Zhiguli after enemy number one. The Zhiguli was easy to catch up with. Yelemes leaned out of the cab and smilingly asked: \u2018Has something happened? Yerezhep signalled for him to get off the tractor. Yelemes seemed to be waiting for this. He instantly jumped down and stood in front of Yerezhep with a beaming smile on his face. Yerezhep had been thinking for years about how to strike if the last argument in their relationship was with fists, and so he struck quickly and in cold blood. Apparently Yelemes wast- ed no time either, for his fist almost simultaneously jammed into Yerezhep\u2019s cheekbone. By the time the women reached the tractor, Yelemes and Yerezhep had managed to grab onto each other properly. The blows of both were perfectly accurate, and by the time the women arrived to separate them, both were standing with their eyes misted over. Seksenbayev emerged from the cloud of dust and things took a turn for the worse. The dust, the fight, the police \u2013 all this was not for the weak hearts of the girls, and their loud crying was added to everything else. But it was the tears of the students of the Schepkin school that caused Yelemes to feel deeply satisfied; he believed they were only crying because they had seen him hit Yerezhep. \u2018You can draw up ten reports on me, but don\u2019t detain me now,\u2019 said a frowning Yerezhep. \u2018The plane will not wait.\u2019 The police officer released the passengers of the Zhiguli and concentrated on writing up the incident in the report. \u2018He\u2019s a good fighter,\u2019 said Yelemes, looking at the car. \u2018I should have had a little talk with him a long time ago, he walks like a turkey\u2026\u2019 \u2018Here, sign here,\u2019 Seksenbayev handed a pen to Yelemes, who was already settling into the tractor cab. \u2018What do I sign? \u2018It\u2019s about fighting and breaking traffic laws.\u2019 Yelemes looked thoughtfully at the paper and pen handed to him. \u2018Look, it wasn\u2019t a fight. It was a\u2026\u2019 \u2018What was it then, a kiss? I saw it all, now sign it!\u2019 \u2018It wasn\u2019t a fight! You wouldn\u2019t understand!\u2019 He looked down at his feet and saw two of his teeth. \u2018That\u2019s it,\u2019 said Yelemes, carefully picking up his property, lost forever, from the dust. \u2018Now, Comrade Seksenbayev, the confrontation is over.\u2019 \u2018What\u2019s happened?!\u2019 the policeman asked with a grimace of anguish on his face. He was trying to imagine what a man who had just had two teeth knocked out must be going through. \u2018I\u2019m saying, our confrontation is over… \u2018 Here Yelemes stammered. He realised that he could not pronounce that beautiful foreign word \u2018Confrontation\u2019 as it was intended, because he could not make the \u2018r\u2019 sound. Yerezhep, learning of Yelemes\u2019 knocked-out teeth, sent a note to him informing him that he was ready to pay for the insertion of both gold teeth at the new price and immediately return the eight hundred roubles as requested by Yelemes. It is said that on receiving this dispatch, Yelemes almost burned with shame. 1989<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The denouement between Yerezhep and Yelemes happened on the seventh of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty-six. Only on the face of it did it begin suddenly. In reality, the fight could reasonably have started at any minute of the day or night in recent years. Circumstances, as they sometimes do, just did not seem to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":581,"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions\/581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isabekov.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}