9

After the May holidays he approached a neighbor. Petrovich came out to meet his guest in family shorts and an old gray stretchy T-shirt.

- Dim, hello. Come on in.

Having received an invitation, Karpov opened the creaking gate and walked along the brick path to the threshold of the house, which was very similar to his own, only fresher. The same canopy of slate, wide wooden steps, massive wooden pillar-support, and all painted green.

Petrovich took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from a niche under the ceiling. Taking one cigarette for himself, he handed the open pack to his guest.

- Would you like one?

- No, thanks. I quit.

- I respect you," Petrovich nodded, not hiding a satisfied smile. Sharing cigarettes was not very pleasant for him, because they were expensive nowadays, but not offering a cigarette to an acquaintance was worse for his reputation - he would be considered a cheapskate. He put the cigarettes and the lighter back. - I've been smoking for over twenty years, and I still can't quit. No, it's easy to quit, I've done it a hundred times. But not to start smoking again...

- I understand. It's hard to give up harmful substances.

-And I see, - continued Petrovich, - you do not drink for a long time. You don't crave it?

- No," Dmitry answered honestly. With a slight smirk he added in a cheerful tone: - "I wouldn't say no to elven wine , but it is considered as a fiction ..."

Petrovich did not understand the humor, he was a purely pragmatic man.

- Dim, so why are you here? I'm telling you right away, I have no money. I can't lend you money.

- That's not why I'm here. Petrovich, when are you going to the district center? I'm supposed to get my pension on my card. I want to go to an ATM in the district center and withdraw money. At the same time I'll pay you back a part of my debt.

The last phrase pleased Petrovich. Actually, he was going to visit the district center in a week, but for the sake of such a thing as the return of the debt, he was ready to go at least now. But thinking that it was necessary to make a list of purchases, to coordinate it with his wife, so as not to empty flight to the village, he said:

- Let's go tomorrow morning. I have things to do there, too.

- Good," Karpov smiled softly, knowing that Humans like smiles, "then I'll wait.

- And you, Dim, I see that you're often in the woods, - said Petrovich with a squint. He was bursting with curiosity. - Did you find something good or just take a walk?

- Fresh air, - easily answered Dima. - I'm looking for birch and oak branches. I'll sell the brooms to the city baths, and I'll pay you back the debt.

- Wonderful! - was pleasantly surprised by Petrovich. - Good idea. I'd like to do it myself, but I have things to do..." he winked significantly and with a slight nod pointed towards the house, and then added in a whisper: "Tanya will gnaw me, if I spend days in the woods instead of the garden. She'll think I'm there drinking vodka and having chicks. But how can I get both of them in the forest?

- If you can't bring them with you," Linael said.

- Exactly! - nodded Petrovich. - Women! Try to explain to them... By the way, have you ever thought of getting married?

- I thought..." Dima paused meaningfully. - When he was young and foolish.

He thought to himself that it was about six hundred years ago.

- What's wrong with you? - Petrovich flicked a cigarette straight into the tin trash bucket, which stood by the doorstep. - You should get married! It's nice to have a woman.

- Yeah," Dimitri's voice cracked with sarcasm. - You were just complaining about your wife," he grinned.

- So I'm being affectionate! And yet think about it.

- Petrovich, who should I marry in our backwoods? Baba Masha?!

Petrovich smiled merrily, and Linael forced out a painful smile.

- Indeed, we do not have young and unmarried women, - said the neighbor, - but there is still the district center, the city and other villages.

That's not what Linael meant. To him, all the Hooman girls were too young. Elves consider children to be adults at the age of one hundred. If you omit the ethical aspect of xenophilia, that leaves something else. Though intellectually he understood that people grow up and live differently, somewhere on a subconscious level it was fixed that sex with minors under a hundred years of age was a terrible crime. Pedophilia. And sleeping with human women who are over a hundred... You have to find one to start with. But even if you find one, you'd better not. It's even worse. Even in his wildest dreams, Linael couldn't imagine getting a hard-on for such a lady.

He could still imagine pretty girls with looks close to elfish as sexual partners. So it was an age in the mid-twenties. But twenty years old! He only imagined that figure as the image of a little elf girl manifested itself in his mind. It was horrible!

- Have you seen the news? - continued to maintain the dialogue Petrovich.

- On what? I haven't got a TV for a long time. Anything interesting?

- Yesterday it was broadcasted that convicts escaped from the Prison. My Tanya is afraid.

- I don't see any reason to be afraid," Dmitry shrugged.

- You don't say! They say that the escape was from the jail, which is located not far from us.

- Petrovich, the nearest prison is a hundred and fifty kilometers from our village. The convicts will have to walk through the taiga for at least a week. There must be so many coincidences for them to come to our village, that the probability tends to zero. Don't worry about it.

- What do I care? I'm not scared. It's Tanya. And if anything, I've got a gun. Why don't you come to my bathhouse? Yours burned down.

- Yours got hurt, too.

- I already fixed it. And you also need a bath.

- Petrovich, I have no problem with hygiene. As long as it's summer, I take a summer shower.

- I've seen your summer shower," sneered Petrovich. - You put three sticks in the ground, wrapped a tarpaulin around it and hung a watering can!

- I used what I had on hand," said Dmitri nonchalantly. - And not three sticks, but four!

- Ha-ha-ha! - The neighbor became merry. - What a difference!

- Why? The building is multifunctional.

You put the watering can away, the poles apart - the barn! Well, I won't keep you any longer, it's time to go to the woods. What time should I expect you tomorrow?

Petrovich thought for a while, then answered:

- At eight o'clock we'll go. I have to have breakfast and feed the cattle, so definitely not before eight.