In the center of the story is a fourteen-year-old teenager Andrei Tyurin, who, together with his family (mom, dad and younger sister Nastya) travel abroad (somewhere in the Pacific region), where “through connections” and an old institute “acquaintance” he mothers (what else), his father is given the opportunity, so coveted for almost every Soviet citizen, to work abroad as an “inspector”, earn foreign currency, etc. From the very beginning, the Tyurins do not fit into the crowd of “ours there” (there is such a serpentarium there that it is incomprehensible to the mind, everyone is slandering each other, knocking, pestering, the main concern is to “extend” the contract for another year).

First published in the magazine “We” No. 1, 2, 3 for 1990 with drawings by Valery Smirnov.