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,