CHAPTER 3. THE COVID-19 VIRUS HAS SPREAD RAPIDLY AROUND THE WORLD — THREE-FOUR

In the morning, before ten o'clock, some of the people were different. Perhaps they work two shifts, part-time? It didn't matter. It was just interesting. Already accustomed to the needle's eye, Ilyich called and said that this time they weren't telling him anything, but wanted to deal with the petitioner personally. The petitioner himself, having returned from his comrade's place, decided to sit in the car a little longer and watch those who entered the building after the start of the working day, to figure out who was an employee and who was an outsider.

“Everything in this turbulent world is ghostly,” the observer finally said.

“There is only a moment,” replied his friend.

"Thank you for your help. If you park much further away from here and wait until I come out, you will know more. Although I'm not sure I'll come out at all. Since they've decided to help, in four hours I could be landed in Israel, packed in a suitcase," I began to say goodbye.

“Yes, I saw how they work in a TV series. They'll get you across in a flash. You won't have time to look back!” he supported my optimism.

“Or they could slit your throat and throw you in a well...” I muttered thoughtfully, lowering the corners of my lips.

“What do you value? What are you risking in this world?” he encouraged me with a new quote.

“A flash! Just a flash! It's good that you understand me. Nice to meet you,” I concluded emphatically.

The door opened, and a homeless-looking, bearded, no-longer-young man with a small suitcase hobbled toward the entrance of the international Zionism nest in hero-city Moscow. In light of yesterday's car conversation, he tried to put two and two together and figure out logically which vaccine those who would now be receiving him should be immunized with. This very topical question he decided to ask when he was inside. Somehow this situation reminded him of a question from the cult film "The Diamond Arm" — about the same thing, but with pearl buttons. He smiled and, in the image of a kind fellow, told security his full name, showed his passport, and announced he was expected.

The young people took an interest in the contents of his pockets, examined his luggage, and even leafed through his notebook. After making a call, they told him the room number and even pointed in the direction he needed to go. Several people were sitting in front of the office, but he found a free seat that allowed for social distancing.

He didn't have to wait long for the door to open. Disagreeing with the very concept of a queue, his surname was quickly announced through the open door, with the addition of “has arrived at your request.” The sidelong glances of those waiting around him were accompanied by a polite request to wait a little longer, and it was not him who entered the office.

Instead, he found himself sitting next to her.