IN THE COLUMBUS THEATRE
Ippolit Matveyevich was slowly becoming a boot-licker. Whenever he
looked at Ostap, his eyes acquired a blue lackeyish tinge.
It was so hot in Ivanopulo's room that Vorobyaninov's chairs creaked
like logs in the fireplace. The smooth operator was having a nap with the
light-blue waistcoat under his head.
Ippolit Matveyevich looked out of the window. A carriage emblazoned
with a coat of arms was moving along the curved side street, past the tiny
Moscow gardens. The black gloss reflected the passers-by one after another,
a horseguard in a brass helmet, society ladies, and fluffy white clouds.
Drumming the roadway with their hooves, the horses drew the carriage past
Ippolit Matveyevich. He winced with disappointment.
The carriage bore the initials of the Moscow communal services and was
being used to carry away refuse; its slatted sides reflected nothing at all.
In the coachman's seat sat a fine-looking old man with a fluffy white
beard. If Ippolit Matveyevich had known that this was none other than Count
Alexei Bulanov, the famous hermit hussar, he would probably have hailed the
old man and chatted with him about the good old days.
Count Bulanov was deeply troubled. As he whipped up the horses, he
mused about the red tape that was strangling the sub-department of
sanitation, and on account of which he had not received for six months the
apron he was entitled to under his contract.
"Listen," said the smooth operator suddenly. "What did they call you as
a boy?"
"What do you want to know for?"
"I just want to know what to call you. I'm sick of calling you
Vorobyaninov, and Ippolit Matveyevich is too stuffy. What were you called?
Ippy?"
"Pussy," replied Ippolit Matveyevich with a snicker.
"That's more like it. So look, Pussy, see what's wrong with my back. It
hurts between the shoulder-blades."
Ostap pulled the cowboy shirt over his head. Before Pussy Vorobyaninov
was revealed the broad back of a provincial Antinous; a back of enchanting
shape, but rather dirty.
"Aha! I see some redness."
Between the smooth operator's shoulders were some strangely shaped
mauve bruises which reflected colours like a rainbow in oil.
"Honestly, it's the number eight," exclaimed Vorobyaninov. "First time
I've ever seen a bruise like that."
"Any other number?" asked Ostap.
"There seems to be a letter P."
"I have no more questions. It's quite clear. That damned pen! You see
how I suffer, Pussy, and what risks I run for your chairs. These
arithmetical figures were branded on me by the huge self-falling pen with a
No. 86 nib. I should point out to you that the damned pen fell on my back at
the very moment I inserted my hands inside the chief editor's chair. But
you! You can't do anything right! Who was it messed up Iznurenkov's chair so
that I had to go and do your work for you? I won't even mention the auction.
A fine time to go woman-chasing. It's simply bad for you at your age to do
that. Look after your health. Take me, on the other hand. I got the widow's
chair. I got the two Shukin chairs. It was me who finally got Iznurenkov's
chair. It was me who went to the newspaper office and to Lapis's. There was
only one chair that you managed to run down, and that was with the help of
your holy enemy, the archbishop."
Silently walking up and down in his bare feet, the technical adviser
reasoned with the submissive Pussy.
The chair which had vanished into the goods yard of October Station was
still a blot on the glossy schedule of the concession. The four chairs in
the Columbus Theatre were a sure bet, but the theatre was about to make a
trip down the Volga aboard the lottery ship, S.S. Scriabin, and was
presenting the premiere of The Marriage that day as the last production of
the season. The partners had to decide whether to stay in Moscow and look
for the chair lost in the wilds of Kalanchev Square, or go on tour with the
troupe. Ostap was in favour of the latter.
"Or perhaps we should split up?" he suggested. "I'll go off with the
theatre and you stay and find out about the chair in the goods yard."
Pussy's grey eyelashes flickered so fearfully, however, that Ostap did
not bother to continue.
"Of the two birds," said Ostap, "the meatier should be chosen. Let's go
together. But the expenses will be considerable. We shall need money. I have
sixty roubles left. How much have you? Oh, I forgot. At your age a maiden's
love is so expensive! I decree that we go together to the premiere of The
Marriage. Don't forget to wear tails. If the chairs are still there and
haven't been sold to pay social-security debts, we can leave tomorrow.
Remember, Vorobyaninov, we've now reached the final act of the comedy My
Mother-in-Low's Treasure. The Finita la Comedia is fast approaching,
Vorobyaninov. Don't gasp, my old friend. The call of the footlights! Oh, my
younger days! Oh, the smell of the wings! So many memories! So many
intrigues and affairs I How talented I was in my time in the role of Hamlet!
In short, the hearing is continued."
For the sake of economy they went to the theatre on foot. It was still
quite light, but the street lamps were already casting their lemon light.
Spring was dying before everyone's eyes. Dust chased it from the squares,
and a warm breeze drove it from the side streets. Old women fondled the
beauty and drank tea with it at little round tables in the yards. But
spring's span of life had ended and it could not reach the people. And it so
much wanted to be at the Pushkin monument where the young men were already
strolling about in their jazzy caps, drainpipe trousers, "dog's-delight" bow
ties, and boots.
Mauve-powdered girls circulated between the holy of holies of the
Moscow Consumers' Union and the 'Commune' cooperative. The girls were
swearing audibly. This was the hour when pedestrians slowed down their pace,
though not because Tverskaya Street was becoming crowded. Moscow horses were
no better than the Stargorod ones. They stamped their hooves just as much on
the edges of the roadway. Cyclists rode noiselessly by from their first
large international match at the Young Pioneer stadium. The ice-cream man
trundled along his green trolley full of May Thunder ice-cream, and squinted
timorously at the militiaman; but the latter was chained to the spot by the
flashing signal with which he regulated the traffic, and was not dangerous.
The two friends made their way through the hustle and bustle.
Temptation lay in wait for them at every step. Different types of meat on
skewers were being roasted in full view of the street in the tiny eating
plates. Hot, appetizing fumes rose up to the bright sky. The sound of string
music was wafted from beer halls, small restaurants, and the 'Great Silent
Film' cinema. A loud-speaker raved away at a tram-stop.
It was time to put a spurt on. The friends reached the foyer of the
Columbus Theatre.
Vorobyaninov rushed to the box office and read the list of seat prices.
"Rather expensive, I'm afraid," he said. "Three roubles for the sixteenth
row."
"How I dislike these provincial philistines," Ostap observed. "Where
are you going? Can't you see that's the box office?"
"Where else? We won't get in without tickets."
"Pussy, you're vulgar. In every well-built theatre there are two
windows. Only courting couples and wealthy heirs go to the box-office
window. The other citizens (they make up the majority, you may observe) go
straight to the manager's window."
And, indeed, at the box-office window were only about five modestly
dressed people. They may have been wealthy heirs or courting couples. At the
manager's window, however, there was great activity. A colourful line had
formed. Young men in fashioned jackets and trousers of the same cut (which a
provincial could never have dreamed of owning) were confidently waving notes
from friendly directors, actors, editors, theatrical costumiers, the
district militia chief, and other persons closely connected with the
theatre, such as members of the theatre and film critics' association, the
'Poor Mothers' Tears' society, the school council of the Experimental Circus
Workshop, and some extraordinary name, like Fortinbras at Umslopogas. About
eight people had notes from Espere Eclairovich.
Ostap barged into the line, jostled aside the Fortinbrasites, and, with
a cry of "I only want some information: can't you see I haven't taken my
galoshes off!" pushed his way to the window and peered inside.
The manager was working like a slave. Bright diamonds of __
perspiration irrigated his fat face. The telephone interrupted him all the
time and rang with the obstinacy of a tram trying to pass through the
Smolensk market.
"Hurry up and give me the note!" he shouted at Ostap.
"Two seats," said Ostap quietly, "in the stalls."
"Who for?"
"Me."
"And who might you be?"
"Now surely you know me?"
"No, I don't."
But the stranger's gaze was so innocent and open that the manager's
hand by itself gave Ostap two seats in the eleventh row,
"All kinds come here," said the manager, shrugging his shoulders. "Who
knows who they are? They may be from the Ministry of Education. I seem to
have seen him at the Ministry. Where else could it have been? "
And mechanically issuing passes to the lucky film and theatre critics,
the manager went on quietly trying to remember where he had seen those clear
eyes before.
When all the passes had been issued and the lights went down in the
foyer, he remembered he had seen them in the Taganka prison in 1922, while
he was doing time for some trivial matter.
Laughter echoed from the eleventh row where the concessionaires were
sitting. Ostap liked the musical introduction performed by the orchestra on
bottles, Esmarch douches, saxophones, and large bass drums. A flute whistled
and the curtain went up, wafting a breath of cool air.
To the surprise of Vorobyaninov, who was used to a classical
interpretation of The Marriage, Podkolesin was not on the stage. Searching
around with his eyes, he perceived some plyboard triangles hanging from the
ceiling and painted the primary colours of the spectrum. There "were no
doors or blue muslin windows. Beneath the multicoloured triangles danced
young ladies in large hats from black cardboard. The clinking of bottles
brought forth Podkolesin, who charged into the crowd riding on Stepan's
back. Podkolesin was arrayed in courier's dress. Having dispersed the young
ladies with words which were not in the play, he bawled out :
"Stepan!"
At the same time he leaped to one side and froze in a difficult pose.
The Esmarch douches began to clatter.
"Stepan!" repeated Podkolesin, taking another leap.
But since Stepan, who was standing right there in a leopard skin, did
not respond, Podkolesin asked tragically:
"Why are you silent, like the League of Nations?"
"I'm obviously afraid of Chamberlain," replied Stepan, scratching his
skin.
There was a general feeling that Stepan would oust Podkolesin and
become the chief character in this modernized version of the play.
"Well, is the tailor making a coat?"
A leap. A blow on the Esmarch douches. Stepan stood on his hands with
an effort and, still in that position, answered:
"Yes, he is."
The orchestra played a potpourri from Madam Butterfly. Stepan stood on
his hands the whole time. His face flooded with colour.
"And didn't the tailor ask what the master wanted such good cloth for?"
Stepan, who by this time was pitting in the orchestra cuddling the
conductor, answered: "No, he didn't. He's not a member of the British
Parliament, is he?"
"And didn't the tailor ask whether the master wished to get married?"
"The tailor asked whether the master wanted to pay alimony."
At this point the lights went out and the audience began stamping their
feet. They kept up the stamping until Podkolesin's voice could be heard
saying from the stage:
The Marriage
Text. . . N. V. Gogol
Verse . . . M. Cherchezlafemmov
Adaptation. . . I. Antiokhiisky
Musical accompaniment. . . Kh. Ivanov
Producer . . . Nich. Sestrin
Scenic effects . . . Simbievich-Sindievich
Lighting . . . Platon Plashuk. Sound effects . . . Galkin,
Palkin, Malkin, Chalkin and Zalkind.
Make-up. . . Krult workshops; wigs by Foma Kochur
Furniture by the Fortinbras woodwork shops attached to the
Balthazar Umslopogas
Acrobatics instructress: Georgetta Tiraspolskikh
Hydraulic press operated by Fitter Mechnikov
Programme composed, imposed
and printed by the
KRULT FACTORY SCHOOL
"Citizens! Don't be alarmed! The lights went out on purpose, as part of
the act. It's required for the scenic effects."
The audience gave in. The lights did not go up again until the end of
the act. The drums rolled in complete darkness. A squad of soldiers dressed
as hotel doormen passed by, carrying torches. Then Kochkarev arrived,
apparently on a camel. This could only be judged from the following
dialogue.
"Ouch, how you frightened me! And you came on a camel, too."
"Ah, so you noticed, despite the darkness. I wanted to bring you a
fragrant camellia!"
During the intermission the concessionaires read the programme.
"Do you like it?" Ippolit Matveyevich asked timidly.
"Do you?"
"It's very interesting-only Stepan is rather odd."
"No, I don't like it," said Ostap. "Particularly the fact that the
furniture is from some Vogopas workshops or other. I hope those aren't our
chairs adapted to the new style."
Their fears were unjustified. At the beginning of the second act all
four chairs were brought on to the stage by Negroes in top hats.
The matchmaking scene aroused the greatest interest among the audience.
At the moment Agafya Tikhonovna was coming down a rope stretched across the
entire width of the theatre, the terrifying orchestra let out such a noise
that she nearly fell off into the audience. But on the stage she balanced
perfectly. She was wearing flesh-coloured tights and a bowler. Maintaining
her balance by means of a green parasol on which was written "I want
Podkolesin", she stepped along the wire and everyone below immediately saw
that her feet were dirty. She leaped from the wire straight on to a chair,
whereupon the Negroes, Podkolesin, Kochkarev in a tutu, and the matchmaker
in a bus driver's uniform all turned backward somersaults. Then they had a
five-minute rest, to hide which the lights were turned out again.
The suitors were also very comic, particularly Omlette. In his place a
huge pan of fried eggs was brought on to the stage. The sailor wore a mast
with a sail.
In vain did Starikov the merchant cry out that he was being crippled by
taxes. Agafaya Tikhonovna did not like him. She married Stepan. They both
dived into the fried eggs served by Podkolesin, who had turned into a
footman. Kochkarev and Fekla sang ditties about Chamberlain and the
repayment he hoped to extort from Germany. The Esmarch douches played a hymn
for the dying and the curtain came down, wafting a breath of cool air.
"I'm satisfied with the performance," said Ostap. "The chairs are
intact. But we've no time to lose. If Agafya Tikhonovna is going to land on
those chairs each day, they won't last very long."
Jostling and laughing, the young men in their fashioned jackets
discussed the finer points of the scenic effects.
"You need some shut-eye, Pussy," said Ostap. "We have to stand in line
for tickets early tomorrow morning. The theatre is leaving by express for
Nizhni tomorrow evening at seven. So get two seats in a hard coach to Nizhni
on the Kursk Railway. We'll sit it out. It's only one night."
The next day the Columbus Theatre was sitting in the buffet at Kursk
Station. Having taken steps to see that the scenic effects went by the same
train, Simbievich-Sindievich was having a snack at one of the tables.
Dipping his moustache into the beer, he asked the fitter nervously:
"The hydraulic press won't get broken on the way, will it?"
"It's not the press that's the trouble," said fitter Mechnikov.
"It's that it only works for five minutes and we have to cart it around
the whole summer."
"Was it any easier with the 'time projector' from the Ideology Powder!"
"Of course it was. The projector was big, but not so fragile."
At the next table sat Agafya Tikhonovna, a youngish woman with hard
shiny legs, like skittles. The sound effects -Galkin, Palkin, Malkin,
Chalkin and Zalkind-fussed around her.
"You didn't keep in time with me yesterday," she complained. "I might
have fallen off."
"What can we do?" clamoured the sound effects. "Two douches broke."
"You think it's easy to get an Esmarch douche from abroad nowadays? "
cried Galkin.
"Just try going to the State Medical Supply Office. It's impossible to
buy a thermometer, let alone an Esmarch douche," added Palkin.
"Do you play thermometers as well?" asked the girl, horrified.
"It's not that we play thermometers," observed Zalkind, "but that the
damned douches are enough to drive you out of your mind and we have to take
our own temperatures."
Nich. Sestrin, stage manager and producer, was strolling along the
platform with his wife. Podkolesin and Kochkarev had downed three vodkas and
were wooing Georgetta Tiraspolskikh, each trying to outdo the other.
The concessionaires had arrived two hours before the train was due to
depart and were now on their sixth round of the garden laid out in front of
the station.
Ippolit Matveyevich's head was whirling. The hunt for the chairs was
entering the last lap. Long shadows fell on the scorching roadway. Dust
settled on their wet, sweaty faces. Cabs rattled past them and there was a
smell of petrol. Hired vehicles set down their passengers. Porters ran up to
them and carried off the bags, while their badges glittered in the sun. The
Muse of Travel had people by the throat.
"Let's get going as well," said Ostap.
Ippolit Matveyevich meekly consented. All of a sudden he came face to
face with Bezenchuk, the undertaker.
"Bezenchuk!" he exclaimed in amazement. "How did you get here?"
Bezenchuk doffed his cap and was speechless with joy. "Mr.
Vorobyaninov," he cried. "Greetin's to an honoured guest."
"Well, how are things?"
"Bad," answered the undertaker.
"Why is that?"
"I'm lookin' for clients. There ain't none about."
"Is the Nymph doing better than you?"
"Likely! Could they do better than me? No chance. Since your
mother-in-law, only Tierre and Constantine' has croaked."
"You don't say! Did he really die?"
"He croaked, Ippolit Matveyevich. He croaked at his post. He was
shavin' Leopold the chemist when he croaked. People said it was his insides
that bust, but I think it was the smell of medicine from the chemist that he
couldn't take."
"Dear me, dear me," muttered Ippolit Matveyevich. "So you buried him,
did you?"
"I buried him. Who else could? Does the Nymph, damn 'em, give tassels?"
"You got in ahead of them, then? "
"Yes, I did, but they beat me up afterwards. Almost beat the guts out
of me. The militia took me away. I was in bed for two days. I cured myself
with spirits."
"You massaged yourself?"
"No, I don't do that with spirits."
"But what made you come here? "
"I've brought my stock."
"What stock?"
"My own. A guard I know helped me bring it here free in the guard's
van. Did it as a friend."
It was only then that Ippolit Matveyevich noticed a neat pile of
coffins on the ground a little way from Bezenchuk. Some had tassels, others
did not. One of them Ippolit Matveyevich recognized immediately. It was the
large, dusty oak coffin from Bezenchuk's shop window.
"Eight of them," said Bezenchuk smugly. "Like gherkins."
"But who needs your coffins here? They have plenty of their own
undertakers."
"What about the flu?"
"What flu?"
"The epidemic. Prusis told me flu was ragin' in Moscow and there was
nothin' to bury people in. All the coffins were used up. So I decided to put
thin's right."
Ostap, who had been listening to the conversation with curiosity,
intervened. "Listen, dad, the flu epidemic is in Paris."
"In Paris?"
"Yes, go to Paris. You'll make money. Admittedly, there may be some
trouble with the visa, but don't give up. If Briand likes you, you'll do
pretty well. They'll set you up as undertaker-royal to the Paris
municipality. Here they have enough of their own undertakers."
Bezenchuk looked around him wildly. Despite the assurances of Prusis,
there were certainly no bodies lying about; people were cheerfully moving
about on their feet, and some were even laughing.
Long after the train had carried off the concessionaires, the Columbus
Theatre, and various other people, Bezenchuk was still standing in a daze by
his coffins. His eyes shone in the approaching darkness with an unfading
light.
PART III
Date: 2015-01-02; view: 775
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