Test-&-mend. Juanna Artmane

on the time-proven concepts, the new President was cultivating his own unique, yet inherent to his nation, policy. Later it came down in history under an acquired nick – “fishegg policy”. Many major alternations were yet to come.

      His reconstruction of the city and minds of the citizens were to be witnessed. Such comforts as regular and stable electricity, hot and cold running water, properly working heating and health-care systems, which were previously seen as luxuries, – slowly but steadily were incorporated in the norms of the whole country. Little by little, the ghost state got filled with blood and flesh, which diluted the greyness of its existence with bright colors. Everyone was pleased with the sight of blooming cities. Comparing the improvements with the former way of life, only the ignorant failed to acknowledge that the First Post was occupied by the right person. There were no evident obstacles for the hope, that prosperity was bound to come.

      The life of the Bakhtulovs’ witnessed considerable changes, too. But the awaited blooming prosperity was not up their street. It took some time for every member of the family to adjust to Ali’s absence. As silly Ulduz once predicted, still talking about the prodigal son and calling out his name, they started to forget, that some months earlier Ali was under the same roof. Each of them found their own ways to accept the loss.

      Entering the middle-age crisis, Abdul was no better than other men in coping with the coming Doom. Futile attempts to prove, that he was no worse than men in their twenties, were exposed through innumerable love affairs. However, he hardly possessed enough strength to keep them up. The desire to grasp his sliding youth was behind his inappropriate behavior. The undertaken actions were typical of an inconsiderate boy – rather than a man of his status. Moreover, all his belongings – a house with a fixed style of life and a conventional wife – now served as reminders of his regularity, the imminent feature of Solid Age. All these conveniences, towards which a man struggles, and achieves through putting his youth on the altar of Life, were a harsh price for the unnoticeably passed yeasty years. Ready to return the irretrievable, Abdul threw his cap over the mill. The luring power of the young careless life dangerously blinded the man.

      Uncertainties, torturing Abdul’s mind were not only bound to the milestone of his age, but to the vast predictable – yet displeasing – shifts in the local authority. The city government had to put on airs of fairness – in order to persuade the citizens in implementing probity in every sphere of the State Machine. To this aim, they carried out some purging, which was absolutely insignificant to bother “superior persons”, standing above. Yet they were too visible to produce an appearance of “clean hands”. They would imprison some minor officials on the take; and made shows out of these cases by broadcasting them on TV. Common people would watch these investigatory reports and pin their faith in the new government: “Finally! Those swindlers must have been put in jail long ago!”.

      Being a “minor official” – just a tiny screw in the gigantic Machine – Abdul could be subjected to this new tendency, either. This “witch-hunt” might inflict something more troublesome on him, worse than a mere loss of his work – his position. On the face of his declining health, a thought of early retirement crossed Abdul’s mind. Over and over again proving to himself the necessity of such a step in his career, he realized the worst: the pathetic sum of money, to which he was compelled to confine in case of retirement, would put him on the same scale with those, he looked down on, mockingly. In reality, salaries of Abdul-likes were no higher than those of other workers; his future pension was to be about the same size as his legal income. The explanation was obvious: once you retire, you are no longer part of the Machine to be taken care of – at least through constant palm-oiling. This loss of benefit would mean a serious blow to his budget. Abdul started to set deadlines to pluck up courage to resign, but constantly put off the full stop with the words: “I will investigate one more case – the last one! There is no way I should refuse it and let down my boss! Besides, it looks rather lucrative. Some spare money will not hurt my wallet, when I retire”. A case after case blinded his mind, ripping him off the possibility to leave the field of evil for good.