Birds and a Stone. Anastasia Novykh

      Major sat in the duty room to write a report, but, being regularly distracted by congratulators, he was able to finish only towards evening. People came in one by one. They just seemed to be never tired of talking to him. They were telling their life stories, jokes, sundry trifles only in order to prolong being near Rebrov. In the evening when the bosses had left, in the duty room there gathered a big noisy company. If previously officers hurried home after work, that day no one wanted to leave. Everybody laughed, jested, cheered Major up and “blessed” him for new feats. Men inspired each other with cheerful laughter, finding peace of mind. And the most unbelievable thing was that they neither drank that night nor even thought of alcohol. As the saying goes, when a soul sings a body is thoroughly delighted.

      Rebrov returned home way after midnight. Going to bed, he still could not calm down after the day’s rich impressions. And he felt he continued to change inside all along, although he didn’t have time to conceive and to explain everything with common logic. He now simply trusted his intuition. Rebrov was sure – it knew nearly everything about the world. When he was writing the report that day, his intuition suggested those were his last report papers in the district department though his logic asserted rather the counter. “Well,” he thought, “we shall see what we shall see”.