Spirits. Russia

Excerpt of the article Anatoly Kartashkin "Three art in two passes" ("Technique for Youth" No. 3, 1993).

It was in November 1989. Irina Tverdovskaya put the children to bed while she read in the kitchen.

Suddenly a crash! What is it? Three huge cats rushed past from the hallway to the kitchen. They jumped on stools and sat there, staring at me. I can see them–my eyes are already used to the darkness. I speak:

"Get out of here!" she began to drive them away.

They jumped off the stools, and I don't know where they went.

Maybe, I think, they ran into the room? Alyosha and Svetka are sleeping there too! Rushed there. I look, and my daughter is sitting on the floor, playing with a baby goat. An ordinary kid, with horns, with a bell on his neck.

"What games? I fumed. "It's night outside, they're sleeping now!"

As soon as she took a step, the little goat immediately rushed to the window. He jumped – and disappeared, as if through a glass. And I have the fifth floor. And the glass didn't break.

When Svetka woke up in the morning, she told:

"Mom, I was playing with a dog, with a bell!"

I began to talk about the little goat, and in response - a dog and a dog. She's a developed girl, not stupid, she won't talk in vain. And suddenly, come on. Doggie! But this is in the morning. And then…

What kind of jokes are these, I think. Cats, baby goat… Well, maybe they just jumped through the door, I didn't lock it? Pulled – locked. Mechanically she turned the lock and went out onto the landing. And there's a guy standing there looking at me…

A tall man of 45-47 years old, almost to the ceiling, in a shiny black cape, leaning his elbow on the railing, looked straight at him and waved his elastic brush tail with his left hand.

Six months later, this man, but with a changed appearance, with a tail and small horns, reappeared in front of Irina, already in the room.