Eva. Valentin Kolesnikov

for such a responsible work… In the center of Belaya Tserkov, there

      was still the same bus on which | arrived. The driver seemed to be waiting for me alone,

      because as soon as | sat down in my seat, | immediately turned on the engine, the bus started

      moving. There was no one in the salon, out of my natural curiosity and asked:

      – You, that me were waitinger for cone alone, that you immediately set off on the road?

      – You see, | stood here for three hours, none of the passengers wanted to go, then | got angry

      and said to myself; – Listen to Petro, if the mountain does not go to Magomed, then Magomed

      goes to the mountain! And as soon as at least one passenger appears, | will immediately take

      him the only one right up to Kyiv, and for free?

      – | agree with you! – said, and sat down in the first place that came across. At the entrance to

      Kiev, a military militiaman looked at me and let the bus pass by the checkpoint, apparently

      thinking that for such an important person as me, they were driving an empty tourist salon for a

      reason. | arrived home at 5:30 pm. Having taken unfinished brandy from the refrigerator,

      poured himself half a glass and drained the drink, he felt a surge of strength and balance. Then

      he took a shower, fried sausages with eggs and had dinner, drinking coffee with cognac… On

      the calendar was the morning of Thursday, August 25, 2022. After a bachelor's breakfast, | went

      to the draft board. The military commissar, seeing me, got up from his place at the desk and

      exclaimed:

      – You?! You again?! – He didn't have enough words for more.

      – The military town and the airfield have been captured, there is a battle with the Russian

      landing force and local territorial defense, it was not possible to get into the service of the

      regiment commander, so | decided to return to Kiev.

      – And what to directly define you as a deserter, or how, you order ?!

      – I do not shy away from service, | just do not like certainty in the actions of the prescription, so

      | returned home, decide where | am now, or give me a delay!

      – For what kind of cases you are supposed to be postponed, | have already reported that the

      order in the number of conscripts has been completed! And here is a deserter in your face,

      what a phenomenon ?! What are you going to do with you, huh?!

      – Postponement, for family reasons, that's all! – in unison with the raised tones in the voice of

      the military commissar, | firmly said.

      – No, you'll go to my penalty baht for evading service! You know, there is a military garrison for

      people like you, near the Arsenalnaya metro station, now a squad is escorting you there, they

      know what to do with such people!

      – You, Major, do not know the laws well, | am not yet a military man, just a mobilized conscript

      and not bound by an oath to the state of Ukraine, therefore | can be subject to a civil court

      under the article of draft evasion for military service, the term is provided there, so shut up

      your garrison, you know where! – With every word | said, the major's eyes popped up on his

      forehead, which suddenly became huge and immobilized from mouse brown ones. And |

      decided to save the state of things, hanging like a thundercloud, threatening to break out with

      thunder and lightning:

      – | think we will agree, – and | boldly laid out on the table pre-prepared 600 dollars, – my

      reprieve!

      The military commissar looked at the money for a long time, not daring to take it, | realized that

      it was not enough, | added another four hundred. Here he quickly scooped them up into the

      junk of the table and said in a meaningful and calm voice, as if had replaced a person in the face

      of a military commissar:

      – Now | will give you an order to installment plans for a year, until the next new year, then we

      will think about what to do with you further, will it suit you?

      – Quite! – answered, as the master of my fate. And the military commissar continued partingly:

      – When the patrol meets you on the street, show this order, – with these words, he took out the

      appropriate form from the safe and began to fill in the data from my passport, sealed and

      handed me this form with his passport, adding, – to | didn't see you again!

      | shoved my passport, along with the deferment form for the military ID, into the inside pocket

      of my jacket and left the military enlistment office. Taking a deep breath of freedom, | again

      found myself in the Velyka Kyshenya store on the way home. With purchases and with a light

      heart, entered the entrance of his house. The next morning | went to the address indicated by

      the lieutenant colonel to coordinate my work with the FSB agent in Kyiv. On the way to the

      metro, | went to the Velyka Kyshenya supermarket and ordered two packs of warmed-up Italian

      pizza with mushrooms in the culinary area, paid, put the pizza in my travel bag and entered the

      metro at the Obolon station. Having left on "Teatralnaya", | went along Vladimirskaya street to

      house number 32. It was a five-story pre-war building dating back to tsarist times. | entered the

      gloomy corridor, and going up to the concierge, who was sitting in a closet under the stairs

      behind a glass window, inquired about the owner of the apartment:

      – Hello! Tell me, please, does Boris Eduardovich Sosnin, the chief architect of Kyiv Gor Stroy, live

      in one hundred and thirty-two?

      The elderly concierge looked at me through tortoise-shell glasses, the thought flashed through

      my mind: “Antiques, definitely inherited,” she finally said:

      – Young man, what is your question to Boris Eduardovich?

      – In our company "Italian Pizza", he often orders it, and | was sent from our company to

      acquaint him, as our client, with bonus offers, since he is a long-term and regular client.

      – Okay, but how to introduce you?

      – Tell me that | am a sales manager, our delivery agent visited him earlier, well, and after the

      decision of the management, the company's managers sent me to Boris Eduardovich.

      – That's what | hear that amazing smell comes from your bag.

      – Well, what is your name?

      – Aunt Valya, you can just Valya. – Smiling with a youthful smile that a woman had some sixty

      years ago, she took a gift copy of pizza from me and added, – Thank you,